I want "cable" TV, but Mediacom is EXPENSIVE. What can you tell me about Direct TV & Dish Network?

I don't know much about either Direct TV or Dish Network, but their prices and channel selection look amazing in comparison to Mediacom and I'm wondering if people who have Direct TV or Dish Network are satisfied with their service. I also need to know if you have to have an active land phone line for either to work, because I just use a cell phone. Also, if you don't get the DVR devices to pause/rewind live TV, can you still connect a regular VCR to your TV and record programs? Any other general information you can give me about other cable options would also be much appreciated. Thank you!|||I have had Dish for about 5 years now. I'm happy with it. Yes, you can record programs with your vcr. You also get an all-in-one remote that controls everything except a DVD player. You do not have to have a land line phone. If you want to order a PPV movie or event, you can call it in, or order on their website. We order a PPV movie about once a week (we ordered two today, Failure to Launch and Jarhead) via the internet, and it's always on within a couple minutes. It's an all day ticket too, so you can watch the movie over and over. We had some problems recently with the dish not receiving signal. We called them, and they were going to send out a repai guy. It would cost $90 up front, but they said we could get a repair service plan for $3.95 a month, and it would cost only 25 for the repair man. We signed up that day, he came the next, moved the dish, and we cancelled the service plan the next day. They said we can add the service plan anytime we want. We pay about 50 a month for our package, and that's only because we have to pay extra for our local channels. But, if you can pick up locals with an antenna, you wouldn't need to pay their 7 bucks a month for them.|||aside from the crdit check to start it up, getting locked into a contract which they will force you to pay if you leave early, and the boxes they will make you send back then charge you for anyway. Its decent, but when it rains no picture. When it snows no picture.

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|||Direct TV Dish Network


Popularity Most popular with more than 10 million customers in the United States. Also very popular with millions of customers and growing rapidly.


Transmission


Quality 100% Digital high quality signal 100% Digital high quality signal


Programming





Direct TV has exclusive rights to some sports channels but you need to pay an extra fee to get these channels. The exclusive sports packages include NHL Center Ice, MLB Extra Innings, NY Yankee Games, NBA League Pass and NFL Sunday Ticket which gives you access to almost every NFL game.








Great range of programming including many sports channels. Has more comprehensive international programming with additional foreign language programming packages.








Cities Direct TV has access to some cities that Dish Network does not: Las Vegas, Memphis, Milwaukee, Columbus and Baltimore. Dish Network has access to the follwoing cities that Direct TV does not: Oklahoma City, Albuquerque, Honolulu and Grand Rapids.


Pricing Basic packages' prices range are between $39.99 to $90.99. Basic packages' prices range are between $24.99 to $77.99. Promotions are more aggressive. You can get installation of up to four receivers for free if you commit to 12 months of service.


Personal Video Recording Personal Video Recording (or PVR) is a great new technology where you can record as many programs as you like, and you can even pause or rewind in the middle of live programming! Both DirectTV and Dish Network offer these technologies, but with Dish Network you do not have to pay an additional monthly fee to access the technology.


Customer Service They both offer online services like viewing current and prior statements, add packages and make payments to your account.


They also provide online user manuals and installation guides.


Warranty They both offer 12 months of warranty from the day of activation and a


24 hours customer service line but Dish Network's customer service is done in-house so it may be of a higher quality.|||I switched from Dish to Cable and regret it. Prices seem to always go up with Cable and yet they don't provide any better service. The DVR software on the Dish was superior to the clunky receiver I got from Comcast Cable. Also, you could block out the 300 useless channels from your receiver (and the guide channel). You can't do that on Comcast, so you end up having to scroll and scroll through listings to find what you want to watch. If I had a choice, I would switch back to Dish in a heartbeat.|||if your smart you can get satellite TV for free... lol do a web search, you can hack the older cards. not that I would ever do that though ;)





oh and the dish we have here at work it cuts out and dies every time a storm comes threw, it sucks.|||I have dish network. We pay about 80$ a month with the America's Top 180 package and 3 additional receivers. I love the programing, there is so much to choose from. People say that it goes out during thunder storms but it hardly goes out. I have had it for 5 years and it went out 2 times. Dish network offers a wide range of packages and services. (If you are interested in HD then you should look into they HD Packages. With Dish network if you get the 120 package or better you also get SIRIUS sat music which is great. I loved that so much that I bought it for my car. I hope that this was helpful.|||We had Dish network, and they were pretty good, but one time they messed up our bill and told us we owed more than we did, so we dumped them and got directv. In my opinion directv is better because, unlike cable, you can browse through all the channels and see what's on at any time, and on directv they have this cool little turbo feature, which lets you set up a few of your favorite channels and switch between them with ease and see what program is on.|||i have dish and yes to all you questions . only drawback seems to be a BAD thunderstorm, you lose signal|||You can check out dish online:


Free installation of up to 4 receivers in 4 rooms from Dish Network. Switch and Finally get DVR!


http://www.dpbolvw.net/email-1937303-7285204