Comcast or Directv?

Topic: Comcast or Directv? (Read 2201 times) previous topic - next topic

Comcast or Directv?

July 07, 2012, 10:23:10 AM

I am going to be dropping Dish this weekend in favor of Comcast cable or Directv. I've never had cable in my entire life due to living out in the country, but where I live now it is an option. My parents and in-laws both have Directv and seem to really like it.

I am tired of Dish dropping programming (WTF dish, bring back AMC! I can't survive without Walking Dead!!), and their customer service is horrible IMO. I've battled with them in the past due to just dropping stations without notice. One benefit I could see to cable would be not losing signal during heavy rain or snow. That happens quite often (well when we arent in the middle of a drought).

What I am looking to do is probably one of the "middle of the road" packages with DVR and I would like to upgrade to HD. Anyone have had both and have a recommendation on which is better? Let me hear your opinions!

Comcast or Directv?

Reply #1 – July 07, 2012, 11:01:00 AM

I have had Directv for the past 8 or 9 years, before that was cable. I started in Florida with it and had zero outage issues with heavy rains. The past 7 years have been in western NY and I can count on one hand the # of times I have lost signal due to weather. Of those the leading cause was wet snow which would coat the dish which once I sprayed a coat of silicone spray on it has not happened since. Customer service the few times I have called has been above average and usually has resulted in them fixing my issue and tossing in a few months of free movie channels.

Comcast or Directv?

Reply #2 – July 07, 2012, 11:24:38 AM

Don't bother with the comcast dvr they suck and are annoyingly slow. I came from dish too and when I got comcast I really missed dish networks dvr's and guide. I loved dn guide because you could just keep it on "sub" and it didn't show you a bunch of you didn't have..

I've hated comcast till I got a cable card and went with tivo for my HD DVR. Just something to consider, I pay $12.95/month for a tivo premiere and the first cable card with comcast is free. The built-in netflixs, and being able to stream to the tivo from my computer is a plus too. Tivo finally has an agreement for on-demand but it didn't hit all the markets yet only a few, doesn't matter I hardly use on-demand on my other tvs with HD boxes.

Comcast or Directv?

Reply #3 – July 07, 2012, 03:10:19 PM

Thanks guys. I have read that comcast's DVR system sucks. The more I look into it, the more I think Direct is the way to go.

Comcast or Directv?

Reply #4 – July 07, 2012, 04:25:22 PM

I had Direct TV and installed the dish myself. That was the way it was dun years back. I mounted it on a big tree and it worked OK Not great Ok. when it snowed NG Heavy rain NG. And the color dropped out almost every day. So off i went and purchased a HIGH DEF TV. Called direct and they explained to me the dish would be installed in the same place in the tree. When the installer came out. it was NO DICE. He wanted to screw it to my ROOF!!!!! Or place it on my LAWN. I wished him a good day and sent him PACKING. Called comcast they turned on my cable and i went to the cable store and picked up a BOX. Plugged it in and BINGO. All the channels in the world at my fingertips. No holes in my brand new ROOF no dish and absolutely no rain or snow fade. I love my cable no dumb thing on my roof and no color drop outs. THE DISH SUCKS BIG TIME. Just me. Could be wrong!!!

Comcast or Directv?

Reply #5 – July 07, 2012, 09:08:02 PM

Comcast is un-reliably slow, and won't fix anything. Our up/down speed isn't much faster then my cricket cell phone. Also our on demand and other "digital" services quit working when its windy, or really cold.

Comcast or Directv?

Reply #6 – July 07, 2012, 09:27:05 PM

Quote from: Haystack;393949

Comcast is un-reliably slow, and won't fix anything. Our up/down speed isn't much faster then my cricket cell phone. Also our on demand and other "digital" services quit working when its windy, or really cold.

Why would the cold or wind effect those things???? I am not a cable guy but i would think that in my case the dish SUCKED BIG TIME. My cable is flawless just me not an expert on cable TV or satelite. But i got tired of raking snow off the dish. The snow used to block the signal. I also experienced drop outs with the dish. And i will let no one drive screws through a perfectly good ROOF. Just me!!!

Comcast or Directv?

Reply #7 – July 07, 2012, 09:31:06 PM

Decided to go with Directv. Tom my buddy had the same deal happen to him when the installers arrived. They wanted to go screw a dish to his new roof...I believe it got a little heated, lol. My dish is in my yard now, but its not that noticable due to the side of the house it is placed on. I figure if the Dish guy could put it there, then the Direct guy should have no problem putting his in the same spot. I will not let them put anything on my roof.

I'm surprised they let anyone put a dish in their tree...I have a huge TV tower for the old aerial tv antenna and mentioned to the Dish guys that they could put it there if they wanted. They told me they were not allowed to install the dish receivers on a tv tower or in a tree due to risk of lightning strikes. Makes sense as about 6 months later my antenna tower got struck.

Comcast or Directv?

Reply #8 – July 07, 2012, 11:45:46 PM

Quote from: TOM Renzo;393950

Why would the cold or wind effect those things???? I am not a cable guy but i would think that in my case the dish SUCKED BIG TIME. My cable is flawless just me not an expert on cable TV or satelite. But i got tired of raking snow off the dish. The snow used to block the signal. I also experienced drop outs with the dish. And i will let no one drive screws through a perfectly good ROOF. Just me!!!

Agc is built into most newer amplifiers. It means automatic gain compensation. The outside edge of coaxial cable is an alluminum something or another allow, insilated with a special type of foam, with a solid copper core. The "gain", basically the amplification, changes with changes in signal flow and resistance that is built into the cable. This is effected even more by weather, heat and cold. The outer jacket of the coaxial cable is very high resistance, hence the repeated amplification.

Most states, the cable is 30-50 years old and you might have several miles of amplified signal feeding your home. Basically, with each amplification and constant signal change, the less reliable the signal will be and the. Greater then chance that your signal will be improperly carried and amplified. They also mix vastly between older and newer systems that are mickey moused a bit to get them to operate together properly. Its only as good as its weakest link.

I spliced and maintained comcast cable for almost 3 years. All things said, I wouldn't be caught dead wish dish. Never tried direct tv, but don't plan to. Its all fed by satilite anyways.

Comcast or Directv?

Reply #9 – July 08, 2012, 06:53:45 AM

What would be the difference between a TREE AND MY HOUSE FOR MOUNTING?????? Does lightning know the difference????

As for comcast i have it in a BUNDLE it works it never drops out other than when we had a HURRICANE last year. And for the cable and amplification that is the cables responsibility to maintain. I have a buddy that works for COMCAST when i see him at the shows i will chat with him. As far as drop outs my dish was the champion. It would drop out all the time. The color was always dropping out and i got tired of shoveling snow off the DISH. That is my experience for whatever it is worth. I am a car guy not a cable GUY. But when i look at my TV and my favorite car shows are FUZZY and not their the DISH HAD TO GO.

Comcast or Directv?

Reply #10 – July 08, 2012, 07:27:28 AM

I was part of the end of a complete cable rebuild for my city. Utah is different because we had a cable ran through nearly the entire state from the getgo. There are also international fiber optics that run straight through i-80 and i-15 and meet up near the airport. When we did some work there, it was a million dollars a minute for an outage. We also have nearly 80% easp00get, meaning all of the poles are in peoples back yards and there aren't service roads. There have been major upgrades in cable and equipment in the last 5 years or so, and the old cable isn't as good.

We actually almost never have more then 2000ft from a node, which is where it goes from fiber optics to coaxial cable. But a lot of our cable is olderand the new equipment doesn't ballance and amplify the signal the same, especially when the cable is old or damaged. I live in an old city built by the kennecot copper mine, and all of our equpment is old. When we lived in a newer city, our cable was fast as could be. We were downloading at over 4mb per second in 1997, back in the dial up days.

As far as the satelites go, I've seen them mounted on sturdy tree's and even decks before. As long as the tree doesn't sway and has a clear signal it shouldn't matter. We had to clear snow off of our dish once or twice a year, but it usally had to cover the whole thing before we had a drop out.

Comcast or Directv?

Reply #11 – July 08, 2012, 06:26:26 PM

Stacks just got back from a show and Paul the cable guy informed me that our cable network is DIGITAL. The cables are FIBER not copper. Either way he explained to me that when it is delivered to my house it is still copper. He explained that the digital system is a much better system now and better than a DISH. With that i gave him a curtisy card for 50 Bucks worth of service on his car. Thanks!!!

Comcast or Directv?

Reply #12 – July 09, 2012, 12:21:30 AM

I don't see a real difference between Dish and Direct TV other than programming and customer service. They both use dishes and hit a bird in the sky. I think a lot of it has to do with who installed it. I have Dish and have never had an issue with it. Storms have to be real bad for service to go away. I live in tornado alley and big storms do happen. I have had no issue with snow either. Yes we get that too. Sometimes 9 or 10 inches at a time. The cable company we have here does not have as many channels as Dish. I would not want to switch.

Comcast or Directv?

Reply #13 – July 09, 2012, 01:33:35 AM

Quote from: TOM Renzo;393993

Stacks just got back from a show and Paul the cable guy informed me that our cable network is DIGITAL. The cables are FIBER not copper. Either way he explained to me that when it is delivered to my house it is still copper. He explained that the digital system is a much better system now and better than a DISH. With that i gave him a curtisy card for 50 Bucks worth of service on his car. Thanks!!!

Good deal.

Digital really doesn't mean anything. It just means that your signal can be sent AND received with computer processing.the backbone is fiber optics, but depending on the area, you can have over 10.000ft of copper/coaxial cable between you and the fiber. It is also always copper coming in or going out of your house. I can almost garentee that you have somewhere in the neighborhood of 2000ft between you and fiber, but it can be much less depending on your location to the node.

When I was in wyoming, we ran over 25 miles of fiber optic back bone for goverment buildings to replace almost 50 year old cable. Comcast also doesn't own the fiber lines, they rent them and hook into a national fiber system. Several times when we replaced fiber lines, we had to notify goverenment agency's before and after any scheduled matinence, and had to be cleared before we could leave.

Even though we have international fiber lines that run throug out our state, everything comcast goes to a head end located in sugarhouse on a big giant dish. I ran some cables inside of the head end, and I'm glad I was just a cable guy and not a tech.

All and all, I don't really like comcast in my area, but it is much better then a dish or telephone company.

Comcast or Directv?

Reply #14 – July 09, 2012, 10:31:19 AM

Quote from: Chrome;394020

I don't see a real difference between Dish and Direct TV other than programming and customer service. They both use dishes and hit a bird in the sky. I think a lot of it has to do with who installed it. I have Dish and have never had an issue with it. Storms have to be real bad for service to go away. I live in tornado alley and big storms do happen. I have had no issue with snow either. Yes we get that too. Sometimes 9 or 10 inches at a time. The cable company we have here does not have as many channels as Dish. I would not want to switch.

^this

I've had Dish Network for 8 years, never any issues except when a cloud is rolling to the south with a lot of moisture and/or hail inside. Only then does it start losing picture (but I like to call it a '10 minute heads-up'), and usually only for 10-15 minutes max. Otherwise, excellent signal and picture. Couldn't be happier.

I live kind of out in the sticks, and it took until 2008 for a REAL cable company to come into town. They restrung the entire area with fiber optic; we have fiber connections from the pole to the house, no hybrid system here. Internet speeds are great. My parents have cable from them...while the picture quality is great, they are offered way fewer channels for more money than what I pay for the dish. I wouldn't say they're getting ripped off but I'm getting a much better bang-for-the-buck deal than they are. If I had to switch to cable, it wouldn't be a terrible proposition, but I'd greatly miss the dish if not for anything but the lower monthly bill, much less the channel lineup.

Ironically, the cable company has restrung many outlying areas such as mine, but cannot fully expand their channel bandwidth due to the two major areas around here that are on the hybrid system (fiber optic on the pole, coax connection to the house). That restricts the amount of HD channels they can carry. So we're all dressed up with nowhere to go LOL.

And I was told at the time of my original dish installation that the signal strength in my yard was exceptionally high, probably due to nothing being out there that can interfere. The dish is pointed through a huge oak tree, in fact, and it has never interfered with the signal. Those installers did a great job with aligning the dish. That has EVERYTHING to do with the signal and picture quality.