f13.net

Okay, I recently got into a little war with my cable company, Charter, when my bill all of a sudden hit $150 a month.  After putting up with a string of their idiot CSR's I told them to kill off all service but my internet connection.  So essentially now I'm paying $55 a month for a pitiful 3 Meg down/30K up connection with no TV to speak of.

Lo and behold, it occurs to me that I should give Dish Network a try, considering that they're far more modestly priced and I can get 27 HD channels for $35 a month for the first few months, and then $50 thereafter.  The problem is that my apartment's patio is facing the wrong way, but I got permission from the apartment owner to go ahead and install it on the roof.  Had him fill out the paperwork, and the whole shebang.  Today was supposed to be the day I got it installed.  The tech (who looks like a complete dirtbag) shows up two hours late (they have a 5 hour window of opportunity) only to proclaim that it can't be installed.  I point to my neighbor's DirectTV dish mounted cozily up on the roof, but this apparently doesn't phase him, and he repeats that it can't be done.

Pissed, I call up Dish Network, and they recommend that I contact a local retailer for a second opinion.  This is just more of the same bullshit I got through my old cable company, but now with the added bonus of installers who won't do their fucking jobs.     :angryfist:

Everyone always tells me to go with satellite because they are so much better than cable, but it's just the same lazy junkies and dirtbags who don't want to fucking work for a living combined with the douchebags in the customer service department who don't give a shit what goes on.  Gee, I dumped my cable company for this?  You have no real choice.

I installed my own wiring and whatnot because of how shitty the typical cable\satellite guy is around here.  It's like they are doing you a favor to show up late and proclaim how hard it is to run a cable down from the roof of the house.  I can yell at myself and save myself the aggravation and service charge.

I'm about ready to tell Dish to reverse the $49.99 they took from my credit card, and I'll just pick up an over the air HD antenna for local programming.  I'm not a complete TV junkie, but I would like something a bit more comprehensive than the local stuff.  Would anybody happen to have a Joost invite they could throw my way?

I've been with Dish for 10 years and have had good success with them. From what I can tell, the installers are all local independent contractors so it is a bit of a lottery. I've had good and bad on that scale but if I had a problem I just called the 800 number and they sent someone else out. Never had two bad ones in a row.

http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=16261631

Isn't bad if you want to actually download your TV legally. Nice big high res videos.

ITunes gives you tiny postage stamp size videos for the same price.

Maybe the DirecTV contractors are not human waste, might give them a try.  Or, might be the same guy with a different magnetic sign.  I have DirecTV and it works well enough, although I do miss the local public-access channel.

I just downloaded and installed the amazon.com viewer, and watched a few previews; the quality is really bad. Tell me that the quality of the download is actual DVD quality or better.

There's also no way in hell I'm paying $2 a pop for a half hour TV show.  I just want something that A) is reasonably priced and B)doesn't give Charter any more of my money.  That's it, really.

Looks fine on my big screen. Quality might vary from show to show.

And I watch so little American TV that I could easily pay 2 bucks per and come in less than my cable bill.

Could just watch Naked News online, what do you need cable for?

You are correct. They are not only local, but the lowest bidders as well, I believe.  It's supposed to be how Dish & DirectTV keep their costs down. Well that, and not having to maintain thousands of miles of in-ground cable.  How that offsets vs putting satellites in the sky I don't know.. but judging from the fact that our local cable is still cheaper than DirectTV, I can't imagine it's much of a savings.

Me, I just plan on getting one of the big satellite dishes at some point and pulling the signals myself.  No homeowner's association ftw.

If you want to download movies, Vongo or bust. They're adding new shit regularly enough.

Unfortunately, most pay-to-download TV places are worse quality than what you can Acquire. That's a problem.

In a weird twist of fate, I was bitching about this at work last night, and come to find out that one of the guys used to be an installer.  Gave me the number to the place he used to work at and assured me that they could hook it up.  I guess the lesson here is that if you can't get your way initially just bitch enough and something will come through.

I've always had great results with DirecTV, and I've had 3 different installers come (once for the original install at my apartment, once for moving to my house and once to put in the second line for the Tivo). All local contractors and all fairly decent and not ratty looking. But again, it's all local contractors so you're going to get the luck of the draw.

As far as I understand, installers get paid per number of installs they do (not doing an install means no money) so it's odd that someone would pass up doing an install - unless he had enough money for booze that night already.

I tried at two different apartments  to get DirectTv installed. Both times, they set up appointments, then came out and said that they couldn't install it (facing the wrong way). I finally bought a house, and was using Comcast for TV and Internet, since I already had an account going with them. After paying another $160 cable bill, I finally had had enough and checked out DirectTv's website. They had a fantastic deal to get the NFL Sunday Ticket package- pay for it, and I would get their top of the line package for free for 4 months. Sign me up!

So, I set up an appointment for them to install on 8/5. They called me a day or two before and said that they didn't have the HD equipment available, but that it would be ready in a couple of days. I rescheduled for 8/11 between 8 and noon. I get out of bed early Saturday morning to be ready. At 10:30 I got a call from the tech saying he would be to my house by 1:30. At 2:25, he finally shows up. He takes a look around with a compass and then tells me that I MIGHT be able to get regular service, but the the tree in my back yard (and one behind it in my neighbor's yard) would interfere with the HD signal "which is good, since I don't have that equipment in my truck." WTF? First, I waited an extra week so you WOULD have the equipment, and secondly, a fucking TREE blocks your signal???

Needless to say, I told him to go fuck himself (far more politely, however), and I am stuck with a high cable bill and no NFL Ticket. DirectTv and their weak signal can kiss my ass.

Yesterday I turned on my cable and saw that all of the "extra" sports channels, like NFL Network and Tennis Channel, are now requesting that I order them.  Motherfucker. We've had these shows since we've had our cable.  We pay a disgusting amount of money already.

Angry phone call time.

I would pay extra to keep the Tennis Channel from befouling my home, but no NFL Network is an outrage.

You know, I really just want all these bitch ass companies, from cable companies to satellite companies to whoever, to be forced to offer a la carte packages as well. Let me pick what channels I want to pay for and get drek like Fox News and the religious channels off my TV. Let some other asshole pay for them.

You people with these obscene cable bills.  You're getting HD service, aren't you.   Been trying to figure out why I'm paying only $90 a month for cable and internet, but seeing numbers much higher quoted.

As for a-la carte.. I've a bad feeling that you'd see a price increase for most of the channels that most of us watch.  Things like Fox news, however, would be bargin-basement because so many people would have it, the company could split the cost out better.

I know I don't relish the idea of paying $40 a month for Sci-Fi network.

I've always just installed them myself as I don't want some dumbass who doesn't care about my house drilling into it.

I'll take a look next time I am over Way.

Digital Cable (which I believe includes one "package") and HD
HBO (wallet rape)
(the above two may be in some sort of rip off package deal, I need to check my bill)
Second cable box for upstairs.
DVR on downstairs cable box.
Intarnets

HBO needs to shape up.  I'm not sure I'm comfortable with paying the disgusting amount I do for Big Love, Entourage (show sucks but it's entertaining), and Flight of the Conchords (which may be canceled).  I usually find more interesting movies on Encore anyways and they have HD offerings where HBO does not.


Hey, fuck you, buddy.   :-D  Tennis Channel has horrible picture quality (some folks get them in HD, we don't) and spotty programming, but they're the only folks that get early rounds of Master's series events and they've got the entire French open.  It's only a matter of time before they pick up the Australian Open and even Wimbledon or the US Open as tennis's popularity wains.

We get HD, DVR, the fastest speed internet, some preferred plus package with HBO, SHO and STARZ (though I only want the HBO and SHOW for series), all the bells and whistles, really.  Today I called Comcast to see if it would be cheaper to get rid of STARZ and just pay for HBO and SHO (John from Cin., Conchords, and Dexter  :-)) seperately.  Unfortunately, it was more expensive to get them any other way than I have them.  So, then I started negotiating, which I've always done from time to time with cable options and credit card interest and got my bill down from $180 to $127.  They knocked my interent down from $53 to $42 if I kept it for a year.  No problem.  We are renewing our lease next month anyway. 

HD package is only $6/mo, no extra charge for the HD set-top box.

I had Direct TV for 2 years.  Every storm, every strong wind, and every lunar eclipse I'd lose signal.  I switched to digital cable and I've never been happier.

Keep in mind that I live at 7300 feet in the Rocky Mts.  My situation may be unique.

Seems to work much better here, closer to the equator.  The satellites are geosynchronous and -- if I recall from Siense Klas -- that means they have an equatorial orbit.

The satellite communications industry has been in the toilet for a while, I believe, so I can imagine that it is much, much cheaper to lease SPAAAAACE-bandwidth than laying miles of cable.

I've always heard the talk about satellite dropping signal, but honestly, for every year I've had the Directv service (coming up on 3 1/2 years) the total outage time due to storms might add up to 30 minutes a year. 2005 had more outage because of Katrina, but that was power outage as much as anything. My position close to the equator may have something to do with it, but I've never had the outage problem that's supposed to dog satellite providers.

Y'all make me so glad I don't watch TV.

I think it's a function of my location.  It wasn't unusual for my satellite to be out for hours at a time due to snow, rain, or winds.  I don't think I've been without a cable signal for more than a few minutes and the weather has been equally unpredictable. 

sounds like they didn't bolt the dish to your house good. Or tune it well to start with. When I had direct TV I think there was one storm during the year I had it that it even got a bit fuzzy. (And I'm located fairly far N).

The sad thing is that I don't, either.

Extra on top of Digital Cable price, right?  I guess that's what does it,  Since I don't have an HDTV, I don't have digital cable.  No difference in programming and no up charge for the extra receivers and crap that goes with digital.   Just trying to figure out what's making it so expensive for all of you, since I can't believe it's honestly cheaper to get cable here vs anywhere else.


Yeah, I'm guessing that's the case with everyone else, too.   I just get basic cable + 'classic package' (For Disney, Family Channel, History Channel, Nick, etc.)

Looking at your package for me;  Digital tacks on $5 plus $5 per set (3 extra) then $8 for HD.  Another $12 for the extra Digital Channels (MTV2, Biography, Sundance, All the Nicks, all the Encores, etc.) $13 for HBO and I could skip the DVR since I'm running a Media Center PC.  So now I'm in the $133 range, which is closer to what everyone else was saying.

Ipes.  Well that explains that, thanks.

See, my thing is that I don't care about sports, so DirectTV really doesn't have any allure for me.  Dish Network, on the other hand, has something like 27 HD channels, which is way more than the 10 super-compressed HD channels charter provided.  Oh, and 2 of those HD channels are the Fu Channel (All kung fu, all the time) and the Monster Channel (Monster Movies, all the time).

Those two channels right there are worth the bill for me.

The only time I lose signal on my DishNetwork dish is when 3 or 4 inches of snow build up on it, which is why I built an 18 foot PVC pipe Scraper of Doom.

Oh, and I'd never get DirectTV because Rupert Murdoch will get none of my money directly if I can help it.

I wish DSL was more competitive, it used to be.  But it's such a pain in the ass now.  I've had Charter before and they were terrible.  Now I'm on Cox, they're actually pretty good when it comes to internet and installs.  BUt it's terribly overpriced and limited.  I get about 6megs down, which is way more than I need but it's nice to have.

I'm thinking about just going to municipal Wi-Fi though.  No installs, only $30 a month in my city.  But the speed is supposed to be something like 1.5-2 megs down.  Don't really watch much cable anyway (oh and as a bonus Cox carries like one local affiliate in HD in my area).

You must have some trees or something that get in the way when it's windy. It sucks that trees can block the signal, but that's the way it is.

We had to move our dish to another part of the house while we rebuilt our garage, and it worked pretty good until the tree started leafing in during the spring .. thankfully, we were done with the garage at that time and moved it back to where it originally was. Before, anytime the tree moved (even without leaves) in front of the dish, it'd break up the signal.


Geosynch != equatorial. Sats like the XM Rock and Roll sats and the DirecTV sats are stationed in geosync above North America. As an example, Rock (or is it Roll?) is setup to cover the west coast and Roll (or is it Rock?) is setup to cover the east coast. If you travel too far south, north, or out into the oceans you won't get coverage.

You will also notice it with DirecTV when flying Frontier to Mexico (say, Cancun) which is even closer to the equator. The service cuts out south of Texas.

NASA (http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/academy/rocket_sci/satellites/geo-high.html)

http://www.multichannel.com/blog/350000435/post/560012856.html

Their doing things like charging 39.99 for the privilege of plugging in a usb external drive doesn't give me a warm fuzzy about dish.

Interesting. The transmitters must be pointed at NA then. Thanks for the correction!

It's a one time charge for the firmware download that then allows you to basically have unlimited DVR space as you can swap external drives. Doesn't seem all that outrageous to me.

I have the Kung Fu Channel!!!

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v490/spaeschke/KungFu.jpg)

All HD, all chop socky/samurai movies, all the time.  Along with the Monster Channel, I can now die a happy man.

That is tempting. Do they have an all anime channel?

I've got an animation channel.  It's a mix of classic stuff, new animation, and (unfortunately, because I hate it) a lot of anime.  Oh, there's also an HD gamers channel.

ETA:  What's strange is that they don't have an HD Western Channel.  That'd be the hat trick, right there; Kung Fu, Monster Movies, and Westerns.  That's a tough line up to beat.

There is always On Demand.

There is an "All Anime" network that is gearing up to launch in the US in the near future, if it has not already occurred. It's the same channel that is big over in Asia. They're also in Canada, and possibly Europe or SA or something.

FIOS needs to get the kung-fu channel. Yesterday.

I'll never get FIOS.  They spy on you through their routers.  I know they do.  They're collecting information.   :tinfoil:

That's why I encrypt all my traffic and bounce it around the globe like in sneakers. Sure, I may have 3000ms latency, but it's worth it. They'll never know I play City of Heroes.

Back when it was still shiny new, my parents got Dish.  It was a good price and great customer support, and they had it set up where they were paying by the year.  About six months ago, they get a letter telling them that the price is going up.  Like, doubled; we aren't talking a small increase.  My father calls them, and this paraphrased conversation ensues:

Him: "Guys, what the hell.  You're charging way more than the competition after this price hike."
Them: "Well, y'know.  Expenses and stuff."
Him: "I've been a customer of yours for ten years, but I don't love you enough to pay this much extra.  DirecTV's channel package is forty bucks a month less, I'm going to have to see about switching."
*TV goes black.*
Him: "...  Did you just disconnect my service?"
Them: "Yeah.  You would've canceled anyways."
Him: "I've prepaid until the end of the year."
Them: "Oh.  Well I can reconnect it.  That'll be a $70 reconnection charge."
Him: "Manager plz."
Manager: "Yello."
Him: "I am the living avatar of Samuel Jackson's rage.  Refund my payment for the remaining months of this year, plus fuck off and die kthx."
Manager: "DirecTV will raise their rates to our price after a year, just wait and see.  You'll be sorry."
Him: "So I'll be sorry about paying more in a year instead of paying more now?  How am I going to be sorry about that?"
Manager: "... Thanks for choosing Dish! *click*"

Which just goes to show how one shitty employee is all it takes to lose a customer for a company.

Heh, we are working on expanding the line-up.


People actually believe this- its bullshit.

You need to pull some strings and get that shit into my neighborhood.

Of course, you'd tell me that.  Where is all the copper?  Where?  What have you done with it all?  What are you building???!!!

Hey cheddar, can you kick whoever designed the new guide in the nuts for me? The UI is fucking RETARDED. Like, designed by chimps-flinging-poo retarded.

The skip improvement is very nice, in fact I am happy with everything once the playback starts, but I want to gouge my own eyes out using everything else.

Functionality (like listing all programs on a channel by program name not by time) seems to have vanished, the damn thing is ugly, it's a pain in the ass to delete stuff, favorites goes to the top instead of what channel you are on, slow, craptastic, frustrating garbage arrrghhhh I almost wish I could go back to the old one. There are so many things wrong with it I don't know where to begin. JUST LICENSE TIVO OS.

Heh, I promise that all the issues listed are known and are being addressed.  The launch in your area was... not well received.  There are also some bugs that somehow made it through when the guide was issued through your Video Head.   Its been a busy week.

ah. Nice. Yes, anyone should have noticed these issues, which is why I'm surprised no one threw up a red flag.

Why would different regions get different software version rollouts? That doesn't make much sense. Either that, or I guess people in my region are pickier than most...

It has to be custom designed due to regional differences blah blah blah.  So far every area has had different issues; Northern VA/MD has been a wee bit of a pain. 

Since we're on the topic of FiOS....

Is it possible to get service if you live in a Townhouse/Condo?

Yes.  You would get either a normal ONT unit (where the fiber is cut over to copper) or have an MDU unit installed.  In the case of MDU's you need a VDSL modem.

That's a lot of Acronyms.

That's funny, DISH lost us as customers over lazy installers. We did four installation appointments, two botched, two missed. We're with Directv and very happy.

On the a la carte thing, be careful what you wish for. Most of the channels nobody watches don't cost much anyway. And the advertising revenue would likely go down for all networks, making the subscription higher. A lot of niche channels wouldn't survive and certainly there would be few new entries into the market. And those irritating religious and shopping channels? They pay to be there, so they'd be there anyway even if we had a la carte--in fact there might be even more of them.

This just in: FiOS will be launching WWE Premium soon! Wooha!

People love WWE.