Dish Network, or DirecTV?

[The Mad Monk]

I need to choose one, and I will be using it for high-speed internet as well.

Anyone here have experience with either or both systems?

I'm not a sports fan, so DirecTV's sports package means nothing to me. Dish Networks bad storm performance, on the other hand, does.

Please help me decide!

[asleepathewheel]

I love direct tv, have the premier package w/hd. rarely out, and I live in Houston which gets regular rain deluges. HD picture is pretty good.

Biggest complaint is that the dvrs are somewhat flaky, I have both an hd and sd (I don't have the model 3#s handy) as well as an old dtv tivo, (3 dvrs x2 lines each=6 shows recording simultaneously ) and there is quite a downgrade in reliability and features from the tivo. (divorce always hits the children the worst )

I'm not sure about DirectWay or whatever its called these days. I also didn't realize that dish had a similar service. Your farm is too far out for any other options I guess?

[The Mad Monk]

Yep, the network literally ends 100 yards from my home.

[Verto]

Door #3: Verizon FIOS

[asleepathewheel]

I'm guessing if he can't get a cable modem or dsl, he can't get fios.

[Verto]

Yes, I'm almost sure of it, but that shouldn't stop me from rubbing it in his face

[The Mad Monk]

Is it all right if I rub my nine acres, pond, woods and hot tub in your face?

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
Yep, the network literally ends 100 yards from my home.

Pay for the line to be moved on to your house. It will cost some money but you will apreciate it in the end.

JM

[Berzerker]

any cell towers in the area? We have Direct and it cuts out with rain but I cant complain. We use a sprint card and linksys/cisco router for our comps.

[The Mad Monk]

Hmm. I will look into it, but the dish is already there.

[Jon Miller]

The cell might be better then dish. My mom has dish and it is pretty crap often.

JM

[The Mad Monk]

Do you know which one she has? I am starting to see a pattern where DirecTV's service is distinctly superior to Dish.

[rah]

Yeah, even though I have cable, i'd like to know which is preferred in case I get pissed enough to dump them.

What are you experiences folks?

[Aeson]

So you have the dish for... TV or Internet? The DirecWay (Hughsnet) dish is a lot larger than the DirecTV dish. About 4' across vs 18".

I used DirecWay several years ago. Snow and wind are a big problem. High winds can screw up the alignment, and in out of the way areas it can take a while to get someone to come fix it. I adjusted ours about 15 times, but we were up on a rather windy ridgeline. Technically you're not supposed to adjust it yourself, as it's a microwave device, but waiting 3-4 days for the guy who installed it to come out and do it himself just isn't a viable option.

Snow/ice can interrupt the signal for as long as they are present on the dish. During the winter I had to clean off the dish probably upwards of 50 times. Ss make sure it's installed somewhere where you can get at it rather easily with some sort of extension. I used a towel tied around a squeegee with an extension arm that we had for cleaning off the second story windows.

It's also rather expensive (or was).