Dish Network or Direct TV

We have had both. Started with Dish Network and we were with them for years in Arlington. However, once we moved to Dallas, for whatever reason, the customer service went completely down hill. Horrible. Terrible. We switched to Direct TV and have had them for about 6 months and have been very pleased. The Dish Network has a better "system" in my opinion, with easier to operate controls and such, but the customer service is more important to us, so we are now Direct TV people! Hope this helps.

We have had both, but Direct TV for 6 years now. We love it!!! We have the total choice premier package, with 4 receivers, one tivo box, and the protection plan, plus we rent at least 3 movies a month and we pay $125 a month. We get all local and movie channels.

We have Dish Network and like it...BUT AT&T SUCKS. But I digress, Dish bought Voom and they have the most HD programming anywhere if you have an HD TV or plan to get one anytime soon. And in my opinion, customer service doesn't exist anywhere, anymore. Period. Just compare the programming and prices. I might be looking into the Verizon thing...sounds interesting. :)

we had direct tv and just recently switched to dish network. i totally recomment dish network. it's less expensive than direct tv!

I would recommend dish network. I have them and we've been a customer of there's for 4 years. No major problems with them at all. My parents had dish network as well, and they switched to Direct TV when they moved, and hate it. Of course they are stuck in a contract now.
We actually just got the new HD dvr receiver and it's great. A

Good Luck!

We've had DirecTV since '99. I LOVE it!! We've had TiVo for the last couple of years. Now, when people ask, "have you seen that commercial about...", I say no. It's been wonderful not watching those commercials. Also, if you or your family are big NFL fans, they are the only ones that carry NFL Sunday Ticket. The cable companies have been saying they will have it "next year" since 2000. The only complaint about DirecTV is the wait for customer service -- on the phone. It's been a while since we've needed to call, but our waits have been longer than half an hour. But, if you keep pushing, you can get new recievers for free. We got a second TiVo receiver for free even though they "never" give those away free. My husband is great at that.

We have also had both and I now have Dish. I LOVE it and will never go back to Direct TV. I think the menus/channel guide options are easier to navigate and the DVR is great. We have had the same ones for going on 3 yrs and never so much as an issue. I have found the customer service to be very helpful, not sure what the complaints listed here are about. I was surprised to see them acually! We had bad service with Direct TV in CA and my mom has had the same experiences here in TX. I wont switch back.

Hi A.,

I'm with the Direct TV fans! We had Dish Network for 5 years and it seemed that every 6 months, they kept raising their prices. Not only that, their customer service was awful! We, too, asked about the Dual DVR, asking if, since we were great customers for 5 years we could get the DVR for free, as they offered to their new customers. We were surprised to find that not only did they say, "No," but they also didn't seem to care when we told them that when our contract was up we were switching to Direct TV. Direct TV offers better programming, I think, and my husband is happy that they carry the Star's games on the OLN channel, unlike Dish Network. We've been very happy with Direct TV! Good Luck!

I hvae had DISH and Direct- I LOVE Direct TV. They have been very good, even in bad weather. When I called to renew my contract they offered me a really nice deal... so I resigned
:)

Hi

I have been a Time Warner customer for a few years and now that we are moving to Dallas my husband and I decided to switch to Dish Network. I cannot tell you much about the service as I am not going to move for another 3 weeks, however the customer service was very helpful (AT&T). I agree with other comments that it is not always the case, but then I found Time Warner not been very helpful either. What I liked about the Dish Network package was their price. Quite a bit cheaper that Time Warner with more channels. I also do not have to buy their receivers. The only downside is that you can only choose between an HD receiver or a DVR receiver. If you'd like the combo (which is what I have with Time Warner and love!) you need to upgrade for $200.00 (new customer or not) and the receiver is still not yours. I settled for the HD receiver .... not more skipping adverts for us!! Good like in your choice!

Anna,

I have a feeling you'll get a spilt response. We've had both and are currently with Direct. I can't tell you how happy we've been since we switched. The TiVo on Direct is amazing - we've never had a problem and even with a quick power outage the shows still recorded.

We've talked about Verizon Fios, but it's too new and Direct has been really good to us.

We have had DISH for about a year now. As soon as our contract is up we are done!! They have HORRIBLE customer service! About 3 months ago, our service was off for over a week for "unknown reasons." Every time I would call to check on it I would get rude responses. So we had no TV for a week!
Also, my bill goes up almost every month...not a huge difference, but it adds up over the year.
I would go with Direct TV I have heard that they have WONDERFUL customer service!

If you are in an area that can get verizon fiber optics, do it!!!!! They don't have to install a dish on top of your house and you have reception even if there is a storm.

I have had Direct TV and they were good too. I just prefer the fiber.

Jodi

We have Direct TV. It is pretty good the only things is when it rains really bad you don't get any tv channels. We got a package with verizon and got a great deal. Of course we couldn't get cable for 3 months with Time Warner or Comcast so we decided to get Direct TV and we didn't have to wait 3 months for it they were at our house that same week we moved into our house. We get to keep the boxes and the dish so if we move we get to take them with us. Which I doubt we will do.

Good Luck!

I currently use Direct TV and have used Dish network in the past. Both provide pretty much the same channels and are comparably priced. I think when I switched to Direct TV I am paying 5 or 6 dollars more for the same package I had with Dish Network. I know what upset me about Dish Network was that they go into a contract dispute with several of the TV stations over prices and we went for a week or without these stations many of which I watch and I was very unhappy that they would let a dispute as such effect their customers. Their defense was that they were trying to keep cost down, but honestly I would rather pay $5 extra dollars and not have an interuption in my service which is essentially what I did because I switched to Direct TV and have had them for several years now with no problems. I also know that since I have switch over that the same problem happened again with Dish network because it was on the news.

DirecTV--we've had it since '98 and have been happy. They have "real" Tivo. Dish has a copy that isn't as good. If you're interested in getting tivo someday--I recommend DirecTV.

Hello, We atarted out with Direct TV many years ago and the service would go out with the slightest hint of moisture from the sky. We have been with Dish for 7 years and reupped when we moved into this house. No problems with customer service at all. My bill is $71 a month. We don't have the movie channels because we don't have time to watch them. the only thing that bugs me about Dish is that they charged me $5 to eliminate the movie channel, but there is no charge to sign up for them. We also have the old single DVR and the Dual DVR and I love that. HTH, Nana

We left Direct TV for Dish and have been kicking ourself ever since!! I cannot begin to tell you how horrible the experience has been for us. It took 5 weeks and visits from SEVEN different people to get our recievers hooked up. Dish has NO customer service. We left Direct TV because of the whole no loyalty to loyal customers thing. If you are a new customer you get all kinds of great things. So, we switched but wish we hadnt'. Go with Direct TV.

I currently have DISH and have had it for about 3 years. It's been great...we pay $19.99 and get the basic channels plus alot of extras including Nick, Disney, and some other children's channels. Plus stuff like the Fine Living channel, etc. Before this package I think we paid $29.99 and pretty much had all the channels including HGTV and Food Network. There was a problem with our dish, but they came out for free and fixed it. We've been happy with it and it was cheaper at the time for this than for cable.

I would get FIOS. It's fiber optics tv and I love it. Great dual redording boxes. Great picture. Never goes out in bad weather. Reasonalble. It's Verizon FIOS TV.

We had Dish Network in CA and loved it, but when they came to install it here in TX, they sent a sub-contractor who tried to charge us $850 to install it. So, I sent him packing with all of the Dish equipment and we switched to DirecTV, which is great unless you want a DVR. We are on our fourth one and it still isn't working. According to 3 of their employees, their DVR boxes are defective, some sort of software issue. So, we are switching to Verizon FiOs now that it is available here! We had decent service during storms, unless it is extremely windy and rainy, then the service goes out. They installed our dish in a place that is pretty protected. And, they seem to have decent customer service, I just am sick of having problems with the DVR and having to replace it so many times!

Good luck!
S.

Avoid Verizon FIOS at all costs! We had Comcast w/ DVR and switched b/c the tivo service was so terrible (went through a couple of DVR boxes actually) and then went to Verizon. Not only did it take us forever to get someone out here to set it up, it took forever on the phone to discuss Customer Service issues, etc - and the service is terrible on our main TV that has the DVR box on it. It has slow response time, doesn't stop, play, etc when you want it to. We didn't think it could get worse after Comcast but we were wrong. My husband researched and found that tons of Verizon customers have the same problem and it is due to the bad design of that box. From what he's reading - none of them are great, but of all choices, DirectTV might be the best. We may consider switching, but we're now stuck in a 1yr Verizon contract (there is a 30 day money back guarantee that you need to know about - we didn't - if you are unhappy with Verizon).

I vote Direct TV. They have several different plans so you can really customize your service. Also, if you have the receiver which has TIVO you can record your shows. I love it!

My husband and I have had both Direct TV and Dish Network and by FAR we like Direct Tv better. My parents have Dish righ now and they can not get any local chanels beacuse of the contract disputes that Dish is having with the networks. The first time we had Direct TV it was bought by our landlord we now have 155 chanels for 29.99 and that is what my parents are paying for Dish's top 60

We had Dish Network for exactly 7 years. Near the end of our sixth year my husband called Dish Network to ask for updated receivers. He was told that we may purchase new receivers. When he pointed out that we had been faithful customers for over six years and that new sign up customers receive up to four new receivers, free install, etc., he was told unfortunately that was for new members only. He explained that "unfortunately, when our year was up, we would be cancelling our subscription and switching to Direct TV." And, so we did. Direct Tv has been great. My only complaint is the new DVR that Direct TV has created. I prefer the older RCA Direct DVR model; it is more user friendly. Shortly after switching to Direct TV we moved to a new house. The customer service was great and although the installer was late, he stayed until well after midnight to complete the install. Good luck.

We have had direct tv for years with no problems.

Go to Verizon FiOS TV. It is awesome and we've had excellent service!