I’ve wanted an HDTV for a long time. We’ve had the same 25″ TV since we got married 9 years ago. I’ve been waiting for a big deal. Well, I think I’ve finally found one! Saturday I was in Wal-Mart and saw that they had a 46″ Visio 1080p for $795. That was the best deal I’ve seen on a 46″ 1080p. I was tempted to buy it, but I generally don’t make impulse buys. It tends to get me in trouble. So when I got home I checked the internet and the best deal I could find for a similar model was $900. Well, I just happened to check again and that same model was now $749 on Newegg! It’s a one day only Memorial day sale. It’s got great reviews from what I’ve seen on Newegg and Amazon. Better yet, I don’t have to pay sales tax or shipping! Thanks, yet again, Newegg!

If you’re reading this on 5/25/2009 you can score the same deal by clicking here.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

The top 12 reasons satellite television (i.e. DIRECTV & Dish Network) kick cable’s (i.e. Comcast) Butt:

1. More channels – Satellite providers are available across the country and out of the country even. More customers means more customer demands and hence more channels and packages available. Let’s say a particular channel is popular and available back east and you want to watch it on the west coast. You are much more likely to have this channel included in you satellite package that you would in your cable package. For example, I like watching Braves games and I live in Utah. Many of the games are played on SportsSouth. That channel is available on both DIRECTV & Dish Network, but not available through my local cable provider.
2. Cheaper – Thanks to the two major players in the market, the costs are quite reasonable. You will find by comparing packages that you can get much more for your money than you can with cable.
3. No Activation Fees – Order from either satellite provider and they will be out within a couple days and get you all set up, for free! Cable always tends to tack on a $30-$100 setup fee.
4. Better Equipment – Enjoy top of the line gadgets from the satellite dealers – again, in most cases it is free.
5. Free DVR! – Even with the cheapest satellite plans, you can get multiple DVR’s for free. Once you’ve had a DVR it’s hard to imaging not owning one. Cable’s DVR’s seem a bit out of reach in my mind for the average consumer.
6. All Digital – All channels are digital on the satellite. This is not the case with “digital cable”.
7. More sports – Looking back at reason number 1, you will see why this is the case. Plus, DIRECTV has more sports than any other provider. If you are a true sports fan, DIRECTV is your only options really.
8. And Music – DIRECTV has XM satellite and Dish Network has Sirius. What does Cable have?
9. Customer Satisfaction – OK, everyone will have their complaints and when there are problems with TV service I’ve found that people bark loud! But overall, based on consumer surveys, Dish Network is #1, and DIRECTV is #2. Oddly, is seams customers are more happy when they pay less and get more… go figure.
10. More HDTV – Satellite has led the way when it comes to HD. Soon DIRECTV will air 150 channels in HD including local channels.
11. Availability – This obviously will not apply to MOST people, but if you live in Rural area that doesn’t have a cable company, or a new development where the utilities have not yet come to you, you basically have no other choice.
12. Portability – My mom is weird but, I know whenever they take their camper out, they take along their extra satellite dish and receiver and have satellite TV with them while their camping (if you can call it camping). Have you ever heard of anyone taking their cable with them?

… And the 7 reasons why cable has its strong points:

1. Optional Set top box – It comes with a reciever, which is needed if you want to have the programming guide and On Demand, but it is not really necessary. You can plug the cable right into your old TV, just like the good old days. This also makes it handy if you have a Media Center PC, you don’t have to worry about using an IR blaster.
2. Reliability – I went 5 years without having a problem with my satellite including wind, rain & snow, then one day it went fuzzy. That’s when I switched to the other provider and problem was solved. There may be occasions when snow or some other environmental variable may cause interference with your satellite. You just don’t have this problem with cable. That’s not to say cable is perfect. It seems my cable high speed internet has more outages than my satellite, but that’s a different beast.
3. Local packages – Cable companies are generally local and they know what locals want. The biggest example I can think of is right here in Utah. BYU and University of Utah Football is HUGE in the fall. The mountain west games are now being played on 3 different channels: 1. The Mountain (MTN); 2. Versus; 3. CSTV. Comcast has all three channels in their basic package. Neither DIRECTV nor Dish Network carry the Mountain. It is a new station and they claim they don’t have enough demand yet. I personally thing the real issue is because Comcast owns the Mountain. Damn them all!
4. Package Deals – Sticking with the local them, you can often get your phone and internet through your cable company, which can save you some money.
5. On Demand – Comcast loves to tote their On Demand stuff. This basically lets you choose from a library of shows and movies that you can watch anytime – much like YouTube
6. No Roof Décor – Hey, you can always put the satellite on the side of your house if you don’t like it on the roof
7. No Contract – Often, if you’re going to take advantage of the free equipment and installation with the satellite providers it will require a one or two year contract. With cable there is generally no contract so you can cancel at any time.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

It’s that time of year again. My contract is up on DIRECTV, so I’m preparing to make the switch to Dish Network for some new DVR’s and more channels for the money.

I’m a bit hesitant though. Even though I’m a big fan of satellite television, I’m actually considering Comcast. Why? Well, it’s been over a year, and still the Mountain (mtn) is only available on Comcast. Now, was this some ploy by Comcast to get more subscribers? So what’s a guy to do, be stubborn and say no to the monopoly, or enjoy some BYU & Utah Football?

Decisions… Decisions…

I guess for now, I can do my part by signing online petitions and making my voice heard. I will be sure to tell DIRECTV that the reason I am leaving is because they won’t offer mtn.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I was browsing my DIRECTV account online this morning and noticed that I was eligible for various free upgrades. My first though was, “man, I could have had another DVR all this time… for free?”

But then I read the fine print

Offer for existing residential customers only and requires a two-year programming commitment to any DIRECTV base package or DIRECTV Spanish-language^® package, and activation of DIRECTV^® DVR service.

So I would have to renew my contract for two years, but I would also have to activate DVR service. What if it is already activated?

In any case, after comparing apples to apples the pricing and channels available of various packages, I think I’ll be switching to Dish Network next month anyway.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Recently it seems all my extended family is switching to DIRECTV. We have all been Dish Network customers in the past. The reasons vary, but many are similar.

Why My Family Switched

It has been almost two years now that we have been with DIRECTV. We switched mainly due to reception problems that we starting having out of the blue with Dish Network. The technicians over the phone were a waste of time. I got really frustrated with them. They wanted to charge me to come out and look at the problem. I just told them to forget it and I ordered DIRECTV online and had it installed. When you make the switch you get all the latest hardware – most often for free.

Our package for DIRECTV was essentially the same price, but there are a couple channels we don’t get that we had with Dish Network.

My Mom Switched

My mom has been a long time Dish Network subscriber. She has always paid for more channels that we normally get, and she was the first person I knew that had a DVR and webTV. On occasion she will come to our house and baby sit. While watching TV she really like the features of our TiVo system – Especially watching two shows at once, or recording one show and watching another.

She wanted to get this upgrade with her Dish package, but in the process of pricing it, she also looked at DIRECTV. It has long since been assumed that DIRECTV is more expensive, but she found that for the channels she was paying for, it was actually cheaper. So making the switch was a no-brainer. She got all her equipment and 4 rooms installed for free.

My Mother-In-Law Switched

My mother in law recently switched as well. I’m surprised it took them as long as it did. They were having the same reception problems we were back when we switched, but they stuck it out until things got better. They were never completely better though. I remember a couple of occasions when it blacked out during the Super Bowl! Arg! We had suggested several times that they make the switch. They have had their equipment for about 10 years. Obviously their biggest concern was the hassle of making a change.

Finally, after dealing with frustrations with their old hardware, and also learning that for the channels they were paying for that they could get a better deal with DIRECTV, they also made the switch. They also got it installed in 4 rooms for free. They put DVRs in two of those rooms. I overheard my mother-in-law explaining all she was getting from DIRECTV to her mother. I heard this exclamation proceed from the kitchen, “And I’m paying $xxx for Comcast!” So soon my wife’s grandma will also be a DIRECTV customer.

The Complaints

OK, I can’t say it’s all been a fairy tale ending there have been complaints. The one I hear most – from everyone that has made the switch – is concerning the guide. Dish Network displays channels in red that you are not subscribed to. This makes it really easy to see. With DIRECTV it is more of a guessing game. You select a channel before it tells you that you don’t have it. This was the case 12 years ago when my parents first ordered DIRECTV when I was in high school. I thought back then that it was stupid, I think with all the advancements in 12 years they could have fixed this by now!

Other minor complaints are mainly with getting used to the “new” way of doing old things.

Making The Switch

If you want to make the switch to DIRECTV, I recommend Expert Satellite. Honestly, you will find the same deals and promotions through any subscriber you go through because DIRECTV regulates that with all their resellers. The one I went through is no longer doing service. My mother-in-law used Expert Satellite and was thoroughly impressed with the whole process. You can go to their website, or simply call them at 1-866-296-1516 (use promo code 777).

If you want to compare more features of Dish Network and DIRECTV side-by-side, I recommend visiting http://www.direct-vs-dish.com.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I’ve been a DIRECTV customer for a year and a half now. Overall I am happy, but everyone once in a while I remember what I miss about my old Dish Network account.

First of all there was the DVR. I think with time all DVR systems continue to improve, but what I miss most about my Dish DVR is the ability to skip ahead 30 seconds. This allowed me to press the skip button approximately 4 times and jump through all the commercials. With my current DVR, I have not other option but to fast forward through them. Even at the fastest speed it is not as fast as pressing the “jump ahead” button 4 times. Also, at the fastest speed I have to pay close attention to the scenes or I can easily go past the point I wanted to start watching again.

The second thing I miss most is the display guide. Obviously DIRECTV has a display guide, but I prefer Dish Networks. I still own the 25” TV we purchased at Costco with money we were given at our wedding nearly 7 years ago. Dish Network has a big, easy to read guide. DIRECTV is much more fancy – especially on our TiVo system. Because of this it is much slower and harder to read on our archaic TV.

My third issue always deals with the display guide. On Dish Network, we could easily see from the guide which channels we did not subscribe to. They appeared in red. I don’t know why DIRECTV doesn’t have this feature. You can select the option to only see the channels you subscribe to, but from my experience this doesn’t work very well and you still see way too many channels you don’t want to see. If you don’t have the channel, you don’t really have a way of knowing just from the guide display.

And while I’m still on the topic of the guide, let me bring up another complaint. With our Dish Network system, my wife and I could have our own custom lists of the channels we like to watch most. It was easy to set up and easy to see what list you were on, and very easy to switch between those lists. It seems DIRECTV only has one custom list which we use to filter out all the pay per view and other channels we don’t get or never watch (like all those shopping channels). Plus, changing between viewing all, viewing subscribed, or viewing your custom list is a major ordeal of going into the setup menu and drilling down to the right option. With Dish Network’s system, you just press the guide button again to switch between these lists.

So with everything in life, we can’t have it all. But these four points along with the fact the Dish Network can be owned at a cheaper price make it an appealing choice for much of the TV watching population.

To compare Dish Network and DIRECTV side-by-side visit http://www.Direct-vs-Dish.com

[tags]Dish Network, DIRECTV, Direct TV, TV, Television, Cable, DVR, Dish, TiVo[/tags]

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I have a Satellite Comparison Guide I maintain at Direct-vs-Dish.com. I’ve allowed users to post comments. A recent comment really reflects not only my feelings concerning the company, but customer support in general.

Review of DISH Network by John Lo from San Jose,CA on 2005-09-20 12:45:32:

I have dish network for the past 3 years. Want to upgrade to HD but dish network treats their existing customers like [snip]

Even if I am willing to sign up a contract for 1 yr or so, they will not offer anything close to what they are offering for new customers. I think the CEO of dish network just cannot think. If you can’t satisfy your existing customers, and offer them upgrades for being loyal, you have a very serious problem. Made several calls to dish and I wasted my time and they just don’t care losing you. I even told them that I will disconnect my dish service, I was told that it’s ok. So they only care about new customers, and just don’t bother about existing customers.

I think the reason companies get away with this is because everyone else is doing it. I recently switched from Dish Network to DIRECTV. There are some features I like about DIRECTV, mainly TiVo functions, but all things considered, I think I prefered Dish Network.

Seriously though, why do you have to play games such as cancelling and signing up under you spouses name to get the “new customer” deal. Wouldn’t it make more business sense to keep your current customers happy rather than sending them away to your competition? How hard would it be to say, yeah, well, give you the new DVR and HD if you agree to another 1 year commitment. This has to make more business sense. They keep the customer for one, plus, the installation costs have to be much cheaper if they don’t need a new dish or additional cables, right? Why, why, why?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I don’t know why, but I’m sort of sad about this one. You see, for 4 years I’ve had Dish Network service. In those four years I’ve been nothing but pleased with their products, service and pricing. I’ve even seen many people sign up with them based on my referrals.

Well, in the past months things have gotten bad. I think it started when my wife and I decided we needed to save money, so we decided to cancel our service.

As some of you may know, when you decide to cancel your service, they will transfer you to an account specialist to try to cut you a good deal to get you to stay. Well, we decided to cut our half of our channels to get our payment under $25 per month. The biggest loss for me was ESPN. The biggest loss for my wife was Food Network. But, my wife still had TLC and HGTV, while I had TBS to watch my Braves games… or so I thought.

Shortly after making this change I could rarely get TBS. It kept blacking out and losing the signal. I tried calling twice. Both times the person on the other line would have me walk through all these ridiculous and unnecessary steps, then in the end would tell me my dish or cables are bad. Yeah right! Then they wanted me to pay $100, or $30 plus a monthly warrantee fee to have a technician come out and look at it. My feeling is that it is their equipment, I really don’t feel there is anything wrong with it, and so if you think that is the case, you cover the cost to come look at it.

The reason I don’t think it was my equipment was because every other channel came in just fine. It was only TBS. Support would have me try setting different satellite numbers and transponder numbers. The problem was though, that it didn’t matter what numbers I set, it was always looking for the same transponder number (119 – which had the weakest signal) for TBS only. When I tried to tell this to support, I simply got silence for a few seconds (I can just picture their “deer in the headlights” look), then they would continue on with “…now let’s try this…”. I’m sure they really have now idea what they are doing. They are just some kids working their way through college, following some scripts they see on the screen. Anything out of the ordinary they can’t handle. When they want to charge you to send out a technician, that is company policy so they could care less if you say you would rather just sign up for a competitors’ offer. Really, they’re just punching the clock and they don’t care about the company they work for. Why should they? They’re probably earning about $10-$15 an hour listening to frustrated people all day. I know from experience that this get old fast.

Anyway, I learned from my father in law that about the same time he started having the exact same issues. Half of his channels work perfectly, the other half don’t. He also called support twice with the same results. After we talked about all this, we came to the same conclusion. We just need to quit and give DIRECTV a try. Generally they are a little more expensive as they don’t offer the same (cheaper) package deals, and you have to pay up front if you want DVR service. But I’m quite familiar with all the latest deals as I maintain a comparison chart at http://www.direct-vs-dish.com.

In one last attempt to let them redeem themselves, I emailed them the following letter:

To whom it may concern:
I am writing to let you know that you have some major issues with your set up right now. I’ve tried calling support twice, but I get very frustrated with the guys on the other end of the line. Even though I’ve just told them I reset my equipment while waiting [forever] on hold they still have me do it again – as well as other stupid tasks that have no relevance.
The problem is that for the past month or so I’ve started having issues receiving TBS. It is only this channel that I have problems with. It is always loosing the signal, or cutting in and out. This is happening even though there is no wind and not a cloud in the sky. Support has me playing with different satellite and transponder numbers, but it doesn’t matter what I set in the set up menu, it always looks for the same one when I get the no signal (002) error.
Support then tells me that my equipment or cables are bad and I need to pay $100 or $30 plus a monthly fee to get it fixed. First of all, it’s your equipment. Come fix it free. Second, I HIGHLY DOUBT it is my equipment. I’m guessing your support guys go through a little troubleshooting script and this is their last option – tell you it’s your equipment and to pay to get it fixed.
The other reason I don’t think this is my equipment is because it’s still fairly new. I’ve had your service for 3 ½ years now. I’ve never had problems like this.
My parents are having the same problems. They’ve had your service much longer than I have (maybe 7 years now). In the same time frame (within the last month or so) they been having the same issues – all of a sudden they just can’t get half of their channels.
I have an affiliate web site (http://direct-vs-dish.com) where users post reviews of DIRECTV & Dish Network. Your reviews have all been one-star reviews lately due to the EXACT SAME ISSUES! I’m sure your support guys don’t really care about your company and it doesn’t matter to them if someone says they are going to make the switch to DIRECTV. But someone in your company should be concerned about this because you have a major problem and it needs to be fixed.
My father-in-law is ready to switch to DIRECTV. I’ll make $110 on the deal so I have no reason to discourage him to do so; I can also make $110 each helping other family & friends make the switch to DIRECTV. That’s my plan right now unless you can give me a reason not to.
Sincerely,
Dustin Davis
This is the response I got:

Dear Dustin Davis,
Thank you for your email. We want to apologize for not meeting your expectations in customer service. We pride ourselves with providing each and every customer with a positive experience when contacting us. Feedback from our customers, both positive and negative, drives the quality of our customer service. It is apparent in our quest for providing our customers with world class customer service, we have fallen short. The decisions made are based on company policy. If we find that a policy is negatively impacting the majority of our customer’s satisfaction, that policy is scrutinized for effectiveness. Again, we apologize for any confusion or inconvenience caused by this issue.
As a current customer, you may also use our website to view your current or previous billing statements, add services, or make payments to your account. Please use the link https://customersupport.dishnetwork.com/customercare/UserManagement/login.jsp to visit our Online Customer Support Center.
Your business is greatly appreciated and we thank you for allowing us to be of assistance to you. If you have any further questions or concerns, please refer to www.dishnetwork.com or reply to this email.
Sincerely,
Jose S.
DISH Network eCare
Okay, Jose appears to be very kind and sincere with his elaborate apology, or Jose is another 9 to 5 employee sending me a stupid form letter. I choose to believe the latter. Why? Because he didn’t address a any of my issues other than my complaint against support (which was the least of my concerns).

Plus, another thing I find annoying and slightly comical is the second paragraph. Oh, I can go online to look at my account? That’s great news! That will solve my problems. Duh!!! How do you think I submitted this letter that included all my account information!

Seriously, minutes after receiving this email I was on the phone calling Dish Network. I got my account specialist on the phone and told them I wanted to quit due to bad service. My account specialist (Candice with a reference code of SUV) was not as polite as previous account specialists I’ve had. I think she took it personally when I told her they have bad service. She tried to reason that my there really was a problem with my equipment and that I can pay the monthly warrantee fee of… I cut her short and told her to spare the shpill – I’ve had enough. Obviously there are bigger problems there that they are either unaware of, or just not dealing with properly. She was quite terse with me on the phone and gave me all the information to pack up my equipment and send it back within 15 days or they would charge me for it. Then she added that if I ever wanted service again they would have to charge me a $25.00 fee. Now is that really necessary?

My wife then called her mother and they are going to quit too and give DIRECTV a try.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.