Dish Network...a small rant

[Retail Associate]

I used to have Comcast whose prices increased monthly it seems and when I reduced my service down to basic cable I started getting harrassed by them. They used to sit across the street in their van, aiming some sort of device at the house. They'd call and ask why I lowered my service. And one day a Comcast employee saw my son out in the driveway, pulled in and asked point blank, "Are you stealing cable?"

That did it. No more Comcast.

I've had Dish Network for just over three years and have never had any serious issues or complaints...until now. The first 18 mos there were no increases in cost but once that 'committment period' ended, the costs have gone up quite a bit. More than $20.00 per month for the package I have.

In October of last year the DVR just gave up the ghost. I pay a monthly rental fee to use their DVR but when it pooped out I had to pay $15.00 in shipping fees to have it replaced. Wasn't too happy about that but I did it.

With Dish Network you are supposed to keep a phone line connected to the DVR. If you don't, they charge an additional $5.00 per month. One day in July of this year I found my phones throughout the house were dead. In a call to the phone company we were able to trace the problem to the DVR. If the phone line was connected to the DVR, the house phones wouldn't work. So, 9 months after replacing the thing, the modem in this DVR decides it doesn't want to work anymore.

I just kept the DVR unplugged from the phone line.

All was okay until this month when Dish Network decided to start charging me the extra $5.00 fee. I called them and once again they will be sending a replacement DVR and I will be paying $15.00 in shipping to send this one back. I tried to find a local retailer that would let me bring this one in, in exchange for a replacement, but none of them will do it.

I'm still going to stick with Dish Network because I absolutely hate Comcast but you'd think they would wave the $5.00 fee on my bill considering it's their equipment that has caused the problem in the first place.

[Eric the Grey]

I had Dish before I moved and we could not set up the dish to point to the satellite. Now I'm stuck with Comcast.

Anyway, when they installed the DVR, the installer had a small device that plugged into a wall socket, and then into my router. This allowed the DVR to connect to the internet and bypass the need for a phone line. That was a good thing, since I didn't have a phone line in the house. We use cellular exclusively and no longer need a land line.

You might see if that's a possibility, unless you're on dial-up.


Eric the Grey

[SteeleDragon78]

just out of curiosity what model dvr do you have, i know some of them have had modem issues and we have been replacing them like crazy.

[CaptainJaneway]

otherwise you can always go with a regular box and get tivo. which has a lot of cool features and you can pay yearly or for a lifetime.

I like the fact with tivo i can transfer shows off of it to my computer or to my mp3 player.

you can order movie tickets, dominoes and music also. You can even do amazon unbox on it.

[Retail Associate]

... unless you're on dial-up.

Unfortunately I have dial-up. The only other option for internet service (besides the outrageous costs of satellite) is Comcast and I can't afford their monthly rates even if I didn't hate them so much. DSL isn't available here, either. I'm too far from the transfer station (or hub, or whatever it's called).

My son didn't have a land line in his place. He never had his Dish Network DVR hooked up to a phone line when he used their service a few years ago and was never charged the additional $5.00. I was hoping I'd be that lucky. It took them 4 months to finally start charging it. And now that a new DVR is on the way, I'm going to lose all my movies, etc that I've saved on this one.

just out of curiosity what model dvr do you have, i know some of them have had modem issues and we have been replacing them like crazy.

Not sure of the model number. It says DP Plus 625 on the front. Just a basic DVR. I have no HD channels. If I understand correctly, in order to receive HD channels I'd need a different dish installed (at around $200.00 +) and would have to upgrade to an HD DVR, plus pay about $10.00 more per month. I have an HDTV that's just over a year old but can't afford the HD service. Pretty stupid, huh?

otherwise you can always go with a regular box and get tivo.

I know nothing about Tivo so I have a couple of stupid questions. Is Tivo a seperate service, similar to Dish or DirecTV, where a satellite dish is used to receive the signal?

OR

Is Tivo just the box (DVR) that can be used with Dish or DirecTV?

OR

Is it something else?

[CaptainJaneway]

tivo is a dvr that can be used with, dish, direct tv and cable.

www.tivo.com

i used to have the direct tv box with tivo built in but i had to pay extra for that feature. Also was having problems at the time and the repair guys kept telling me that it was the box. So i switched back to my old crappy tuner and went and found a good deal on the tivo.

Come to find out the problem was the wire was frayed outside. They were to lazy to want to change out the cables.

Depending what type of service you get you can get hd or regular. If you have cable you can get a tivo that allows you watch one channel and then record another.

You could do it with satellite tv you just have to run another wire if you have another box .

Tivo is a seperate service from the above. When i got mine i paid for three years and got a rebate. I don't rememebr what i paid for the service. If you have internet service you can hook it up too. Though for lifetime i think you pay a 300.00 fee and that is all.

The other neat thing about the tivo dvr if it is connected to the net that you can program it from your cell phone or from another computer. I have done that on several occassions.

[TheSHAD0W]

Consider DirecTV instead. Dish used to have more HD channels than DirecTV, so I called them to order service a couple of years ago... Then they pissed me off. So I never ordered it. Two months later I tried again... And they pissed me off again.

I still don't have TV service at my home.

I have been utilizing DirecTV at a rental place I own; I have worked with their customer service, and they're not bad; and they have more HD channels than Dish does currently.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

You know, if you got Roku (from Netflix) you could conceivably get pretty much everything you want to watch for about ten bucks a months. With no commercials.

That's my "cable" bill. Ten bucks a month. And I'm not paying for a bunch of crap I don't want to see, either, like I was with cable.

Unless you MUST have network news on TV (and all that is available online, so why would you), I highly recommend it.

[SteeleDragon78]

Not sure of the model number. It says DP Plus 625 on the front. Just a basic DVR. I have no HD channels. If I understand correctly, in order to receive HD channels I'd need a different dish installed (at around $200.00 +) and would have to upgrade to an HD DVR, plus pay about $10.00 more per month. I have an HDTV that's just over a year old but can't afford the HD service. Pretty stupid, huh?

the 625 has been a workhorse for dish since it came out, they are reaching the end of their lifecycle though. im concerned about the upgrade price you were quoted, all upgrades that i have performed on standard accounts (not prepaid accounts) were about $100 for everything, receiver and dish install. when did you call for that upgrade and who did you call. i know the retailers can set their own install price and have been known to gouge on occasion. i wont ask specific account stuff of you through a thread, if you want i can check out some things at work and you can contact me via pm for the detals. i cant speak for all the contact centers but i know my center is one of the better ones for getting a better deal on things and my sups are more willing to work with you on upgrades. now for sure 2 things you will need to get a better deal will be a cc and be willing to take a 2 year commitment. and as much as i hate to advocate any sc behavior our loyalty department is able to reduce prices when a customer threatens to cancel, they may also offer a $10 credit for 12 months that would make your hd programing free. as for the additional $10 service per month its not mandatory you take it. if you have all hd equipment in the house you can get just the hd channels for the tier you have or you can just refuse the hd package and keep the standard package. if you decline the hd package addon you will get your local channels in hd if they are broadcast in it.

one nice feature for the hd boxes from dish is they have an archive feature that you pay a one time $39.99 and can connect a usb harddrive to it and archive all your shows so if the box dies you dont lose your recordings.

wow that turned into more of a sales speech than i wanted, sorry for that. i hope this info helps some

[Jester]

I have some comments on this one.

Comcast: I have had no problem with them. We have been with them for years, and have both our internet and our tv service through them. We recently upgraded our boxes to DVR boxes, and I love it! Are they perfect? No. But fortunately for me (and this is part of living on a tiny island), their local office is just around the corner from where I live. Hell, I could WALK to their office in about ten minutes or so if I wasn't so lazy.

DirecTV: I am madder than a hornet right now at their latest ad that I saw, which says the whole thing about losing reception during bad weather is a rumor and a myth, and 99% of their customers never have a weather-related issue. My take on that? 100% utter bullshit. The Bar has DirecTV, and whenever a serious storm comes through (rather common down here in the tropics), the tv's and the music (same system) go out. It may not even be storming HERE, but several miles away, but if that storm is between our receiver and the satellite, forget it. It is not merely common, but predictable, as it happens every time. Now, not every place gets as many serious storms as we do, but most places in this country DO get weather issues, and based on my experience (not limited to just The Bar, mind you), those places would have issues with reception with DirecTV during serious storms. So unless 99% of DirecTV's customers are in freakin' Arizona (a great place to have satellite tv, as they have very few weather issues that would interfere with the signal!), DirecTV is a bald-faced liar.

Dish Network: I have no direct experience with them, but assume they are similar in many ways to DirecTV. Maybe they lie less in their advertising, though.

[draftermatt]

DirecTV: I am madder than a hornet right now at their latest ad that I saw, which says the whole thing about losing reception during bad weather is a rumor and a myth, and 99% of their customers never have a weather-related issue. My take on that? 100% utter bullshit. .

Not so sure about it being BS. You're in the tropics where bad weather is bad weather.

I have DirecTV, it's gone out twice in 2 years.

Everyone else I know who has DirecTV or Dish Network hasn't had big weather issues, only when it get really windy (for up here) or sheets of rain.

[AdminAssistant]

My folks have Dish and have had DirecTV, and both have major problems during thunderstorms. So, I wouldn't blame it on the tropics.

[ditchdj]

To me it's really sad reading all these stories about such piss-poor cable TV services. It amazes me this shit is STILL going on even after Comcast announced that it had hired people solely for the purpose of addressing customer grievances. Even after almost two YEARS after MSNBC put out this piece that explains why service is so bad. You're not a customer, not even a guest to them. You're an "ARPU" (Average Revenue Per User).

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22399227

[Gerrinson]

Not so sure about it being BS. You're in the tropics where bad weather is bad weather.

I'd have to agree with Jester. My parents have had both Dish Network and DirectTV, in the Northeast US (though they now live in Canada and have Rogers, which is whole different thread.)

Their satellite service sucked - cloudy days, flurries, light rain, etc. And forget watching anything during a snowstorm or if there was a thunderstorm anywhere in the area. The TV was unwatchable a lot of the time. After calling to see what could be done about it, the only suggestion was 'move someplace with better weather.'

So, 99% of customers have no issues due to weather? Sorry, I'm not buying it.

[Mr. Rager!]

I've had my run-ins with both Dish Network and DirectTV. If it rains too hard, lose reception or it becomes incredibly piss poor. It snows and any of that accumulates in the dish, until you climb the ladder, forget about TV.

I have Charter and while not the best, still pretty damn good.