Starting to dislike Directv

[expensivegift]

A very cloudy day with no sun means no TV as the satellite will keep searching and searching. Will this mean I will have no tv in wintertime? Damn...

UPDATE: So about 20-30 min later I get signal back. yay. But this def happened before. Hopefully this won't happen again and especially during winter. I have to say that the clouds are very heavy. I don't know what happened.

And I would have gotten Fios if my neighborhood had it. According to the Verizon rep some neighborhoods don't have it, particularly older ones. Mine was probably made in the 80's and I think this neighborhood doesn't want their roads to be dug up for Fios. Newer developments should probably have it though but I would definitely have gotten Fios since the price is almost the same (I have Verizon triple play btw) but better performance. Oh well....just as long as I have gotten my tv back I am happy though.

[NewCliche21]

A very cloudy day with no sun means no TV as the satellite will keep searching and searching. Will this mean I will have no tv in wintertime? Damn...

I'd call them. I have Dish and I was watching TV all through the two blizzards. They may have to adjust your signal or come out and redirect your dish, but weather shouldn't be affecting your signal in 2010.

[ACW]

Switch to Comcast :D

[Heisenberg]

A very cloudy day with no sun means no TV as the satellite will keep searching and searching. Will this mean I will have no tv in wintertime? Damn...


Something is wrong with your set up.

As the other poster said I had TV throughout the Blizzard in February with basically no outages.

You shouldn't be having this issue and it probably means that your dish has become misaligned or a tree branch or something has grown in the way.

[Heisenberg]

Switch to Comcast :D


How's Spike HD and all the rest of the HD channels you don't have treating ya?

:D

[GrapeApe]

I had a similar problem. Last month, the slightest clouds would give me the searching for satellite. I called cust service and told them to send someone out, they did, 30 minutes of adjustments (peaking the dish) and now I only have problems in severe down pours and even then it is watchable.

They tried to walk me through checking a bunch of stuff, but I called at night (on purpose) so that I couldn't really do anything.

[Mr. Sinister]

I got rid of mine and switched to Verizon Fios last fall.

[Skins_Fan82]

i've been with direct tv for almost 3 years now, and it destroys the competition. i've had it all. comcast, time-warner, hell even rocked with dish network for a few months.

Direct TV > everything else

definitely call, some clouds shoulnd't make a big difference. i'm here in washington state where its cloudy/raining almost 3 days a week and i've NEVER had a single problem.

[ACW]

How's Spike HD and all the rest of the HD channels you don't have treating ya?

:D:pfft:
At least I can watch SOME version of Spike in this weather.

[greenspandan]

i've had DirecTV for about 6 years now and can count on one hand the number of outages i've had. about once a year, a particularly brutal thunderstorm will pass over and because of the thick cloud cover, reception will get knocked out for about 20 minutes.

the only time it's been longer than that is during our record blizzard this winter. the dish is at such an angle that normally snow doesn't accumulate on it, but because of this storm's severity, we got 12+ inches of snow piled up on the dish and that knocked reception out for about half a day (i remember because it was super bowl sunday, when the caps came back from being down 0-3 to beat the penguins ... reception came back JUST in time).

if you are losing reception on typical cloudy or rainy days, there is something wrong.

[MattFancy]

FiOS is amazing! That is all

[Alvin_Walton40]

i've been with direct tv for almost 3 years now, and it destroys the competition. i've had it all. comcast, time-warner, hell even rocked with dish network for a few months.

Direct TV > everything else

definitely call, some clouds shoulnd't make a big difference. i'm here in washington state where its cloudy/raining almost 3 days a week and i've NEVER had a single problem.


I appreciate your opinion, but I would love a run down on why Direct TV 'destroys' the competition. Also where does FIOS fit in your list?

Please do not say NFL package. B/C here in DC we get the games for free.

Thanks in advance.

[Heisenberg]

:pfft:
At least I can watch SOME version of Spike in this weather.


I can watch Spike and about 100 other channels you're still waiting for in this weather. :)

[Heisenberg]

I appreciate your opinion, but I would love a run down on why Direct TV 'destroys' the competition. Also where does FIOS fit in your list?

Please do not say NFL package. B/C here in DC we get the games for free.

Thanks in advance.


The DVR definitely destroys Fios.

Other than that it's all about preference. I'm still debating whether to switch when I move next month because Fios is better for movies while DirecTV is better for sports. After the last 2 weeks of DirecTV adding more national HD they are about even there with 95%+ of the same HD channels.

There is also concern that Fios has abandoned their Fios service as far as expansion and so you have to wonder if they will spend the money necessary to come out with better DVR's and things like that. They are also running out of room to add more HD (despite people thinking they have unlimited room) are possibly going to start moving some of the SD off to make room.

With that said - Fios and DirecTV are clearly the best options available for TV service.

[greenspandan]

i've got DirecTV and my parents have FIOS. compared to DirecTV, the FIOS channels look badly compressed. watching football at their place, i definitely notice the signal compression moreso than at home.

[Alvin_Walton40]

The DVR definitely destroys Fios.

Other than that it's all about preference. I'm still debating whether to switch when I move next month because Fios is better for movies while DirecTV is better for sports. After the last 2 weeks of DirecTV adding more national HD they are about even there with 95%+ of the same HD channels.


Thanks for the input -

My list of importance -

1) # of HD channels
2) robust DVR
3) How much better the Customer Service experience is VS. Verizon( I can't deal with Verizon Customer service. I believe them to waste more of your time then any other company)

[Heisenberg]

i've got DirecTV and my parents have FIOS. compared to DirecTV, the FIOS channels look badly compressed. watching football at their place, i definitely notice the signal compression moreso than at home.


They might want to call Fios and have them resend the signal. That was the case for my friend and it turned out to be something with his set up and/or his signal.

Fios should be at least as good looking as DirecTV . . . if not better.

[MattFancy]

I've had DirecTV, Comcast, and FiOS at some point. I'd rank them like this:

FiOS
DirecTV
Comcast

FiOS has a great on-demand selection, a bunch of HD movie channels (I'm pretty sure every HBO channel is in HD on FiOS), and I don't have a problem with their DVR. I've got over 10 hours of stuff on there and its like 70% full.

DirecTV is great for sports, but since I live near all the teams I root for, I don't have a need for Sunday Ticket, Extra Innings, etc. But if I lived away from the area, I would definitely have DirecTV to watch the Skins' games.

Comcast was horrible. Their on-demand selection was good, but other than that nothing special. Not nearly as many HD channels as FiOS or DirecTV and their customer service sucked.

[ACW]

I would SERIOUSLY consider switching at least my TV to fIos...if my apartment had it :(

[MattFancy]

3) How much better the Customer Service experience is VS. Verizon( I can't deal with Verizon Customer service. I believe them to waste more of your time then any other company)

That's weird, I just had a great customer service experience with Verizon. We noticed our bill last month was $15 more than last month. Called them and they forgot to add in a $15 credit that we were supposed to get for 6 months. So they added the $15 for an additional 6 months and gave us free HBO and Cinemax for 3 months. Which is great since Entourage started over the weekend. I was happy with that call.

[Heisenberg]

Thanks for the input -

My list of importance -

1) # of HD channels
2) robust DVR
3) How much better the Customer Service experience is VS. Verizon( I can't deal with Verizon Customer service. I believe them to waste more of your time then any other company)


1) They are almost even in the amount of HD channels. National channels are at least 95% the same and probably more. Some notable channels that are being added soon to DirecTV are AMC HD and BBC America HD. I believe Fios has both of these already. Premium channels like HBO Verizon has them all while DirecTV is still adding some of them.

2) DirecTV has a better DVR and it's not even close. The Motorola Fios box is the biggest downside of Fios for me - I have so many shows on auto record that I'd fill that thing up in a few days. DirecTV has at least 5x as much storage space.

3) I've never had a problem with customer service but I can tell you it varies greatly on how good you are at speaking with the right person. If I get a bad CR I usually just hang up and call back or ask for a supervisor. It's rare I'm unhappy with my service so I don't need to do this much.

[Alvin_Walton40]

That's weird, I just had a great customer service experience with Verizon. We noticed our bill last month was $15 more than last month. Called them and they forgot to add in a $15 credit that we were supposed to get for 6 months. So they added the $15 for an additional 6 months and gave us free HBO and Cinemax for 3 months. Which is great since Entourage started over the weekend. I was happy with that call.


I had to deal with Verizon for work, cell and for home service. It just got to the point between the transfers of calls, and all the other BS, I would average 15-30 minutes for any call I made to them.

I have been systematically removing them from my life and I am a much happier man for doing so.

[MattFancy]

I had to deal with Verizon for work, cell and for home service. It just got to the point between the transfers of calls, and all the other BS, I would average 15-30 minutes for any call I made to them.

I have been systematically removing them from my life and I am a much happier man for doing so.

Understandable, I spent 3 hours on the phone with Verizon before trying to get a charge cleared when I never had the service installed. So I know how annoying it can be to deal with them sometimes.

But we have FiOS TV, Phone, and Internet. FiOS internet is amazing. Its really quick and we never have any problems with it. When we had Comcast internet, we had to peridoically reset the router because the internet would just die. Since we've had FiOS, I haven't even touched the router. Plus its nice that you don't need a wireless router because wirless is bulit into Verizon's router.

[ACW]

I actually have had good customer service with Comcast (most notable getting a big reduction in my cable rate while adding Skinemax, TMC, and the Sports Package) :)

[Alvin_Walton40]

Understandable, I spent 3 hours on the phone with Verizon before trying to get a charge cleared when I never had the service installed. So I know how annoying it can be to deal with them sometimes.

But we have FiOS TV, Phone, and Internet. FiOS internet is amazing. Its really quick and we never have any problems with it. When we had Comcast internet, we had to peridoically reset the router because the internet would just die. Since we've had FiOS, I haven't even touched the router. Plus its nice that you don't need a wireless router because wirless is bulit into Verizon's router.



I want FIOS so bad. But I have been boycotting Verizon for the last year....hoping that this thread sways me.

[MattFancy]

I want FIOS so bad. But I have been boycotting Verizon for the last year....hoping that this thread sways me.

Who do you have for cell phone service? We get a discount for having VZW plus the 3 FiOS services.

[Heisenberg]

I actually have had good customer service with Comcast (most notable getting a big reduction in my cable rate while adding Skinemax, TMC, and the Sports Package) :)


You're constantly complaining about not having channels like Spike in HD.

They can't give you channels they don't carry. Quite franky, Comcast is a huge step down from either Fios, DirecTV, or Dish.


I would hope they weren't charging you too much for your 20 ultracompressed HD channels. I'd be asking for comps too.

[TorresA]

I had a similar problem. Last month, the slightest clouds would give me the searching for satellite. I called cust service and told them to send someone out, they did, 30 minutes of adjustments (peaking the dish) and now I only have problems in severe down pours and even then it is watchable.

They tried to walk me through checking a bunch of stuff, but I called at night (on purpose) so that I couldn't really do anything.


I recommend you calling them like Grape did. I had similar issue, and they basically instructed me to put up all my Sat. signals and they were weaker than they should have been. They sent someone out to tweak the dish and hadn't had issues since.


(Note: that I had the issues years after I originally had it installed, I assume the wear and tear of weather and wind knock off the direction slightly over time)

[DButz65]

And I would have gotten Fios if my neighborhood had it. According to the Verizon rep some neighborhoods don't have it, particularly older ones. Mine was probably made in the 80's and I think this neighborhood doesn't want their roads to be dug up for Fios. Newer developments should probably have it though but I would definitely have gotten Fios since the price is almost the same (I have Verizon triple play btw) but better performance. Oh well....just as long as I have gotten my tv back I am happy though.



New or old neighborhoods has nothing to do with it, its limitations in the hardware, sometimes they stop installing fiber in certain areas because of the limitations. My neighborhood was built in the late 70's and I have FIOS.

The person that started this thread works for Verizon (very long thread)
http://forums.somd.com/computers-technology-internet/95845-fios-coming-la-plata.html

Yes this is for my area, but if you go through and read his posts...he explains a lot of technical things as far as verizon fios goes, age of your neighbrhood has nothing to do with it. Happy reading :pfft:

[TheDoyler23]

I loved D-TV, until I tried to upgrade to an HD dish. Apparently, the regular dish was installed by some contractor and not an actual D-TV employee.

It turns out that my setup on the regular dish was not only wrong, but UNSAFE! (The guy didn't group the dish correctly, so if it were to be strick by lightning, it wuld have killed everything electricla in my condo.)

The legit D-TV installer couldn't set up the HD Dish because of the direction and stuff, so I had to punt the service.

I have FIOS now, and it's been great.

[Heisenberg]

:pfft:


Dbutz, any idea if Fios is upgrading the DVR they offer anytime soon?

[DButz65]

Dbutz, any idea if Fios is upgrading the DVR they offer anytime soon?

NO idea, but I remember with comcast they did upgrade their boxes from time to time..and the FIOS ones are almost the same exact models..so IDK *shrug*

[jnhay]

Does anyone else get really bad delay with their directv receiver? My old one was fine, but now I press a button and the receiver could react a full 2 seconds after. Very annoying.

[Heisenberg]

NO idea, but I remember with comcast they did upgrade their boxes from time to time..and the FIOS ones are almost the same exact models..so IDK *shrug*


I'd probably definitely get Fios TV at my house but those DVR's are just too damn small.

I'll definitely have internet and phone through Fios though.

[matty dread]

Yeah something's not right with the OP's setup. I only lose the signal in heavy rain or snow, and even then it's brief. Clouds shouldn't mess things up.

[expensivegift]

Yeah something's not right with the OP's setup. I only lose the signal in heavy rain or snow, and even then it's brief. Clouds shouldn't mess things up.

Is it because the satellite is on my fence? It's pretty much on the first floor in our backyard. There's a fence surrounding our patio and it was between that and drilling holes on the side of our house.

[NewCliche21]

Is it because the satellite is on my fence? It's pretty much on the first floor in our backyard. There's a fence surrounding our patio and it was between that and drilling holes on the side of our house.

No, because if it's ever getting a signal to a sat that's miles above you, then ten feet won't matter. It needs to be adjusted or reset.

Oh, and I would ONLY get Direct TV for the NFL since I'm in Delaware. I have Verizon at my parents' house and have since day one (Columbia was a pilot city), and I'd never, ever look back.

[Heisenberg]

Is it because the satellite is on my fence? It's pretty much on the first floor in our backyard. There's a fence surrounding our patio and it was between that and drilling holes on the side of our house.


Who did your install?

I honestly don't think DirecTV would approve of a dish install on a fence. Was there no place on the roof that would work? I'd make them put up a pole mount before I'd put it on a fence.

[greenspandan]

Does anyone else get really bad delay with their directv receiver? My old one was fine, but now I press a button and the receiver could react a full 2 seconds after. Very annoying.

i have this problem. sometimes i press "Guide" and it takes 5 or 6 seconds to respond. 5 or 6 seconds might not sound like much, but when you are trying to navigate any kind of menu, each button press takes what feels like an eternity. entering numbers (like trying to go to channel 249) is almost impossible, because it "times out" and tries to go to channel 2 before i can even enter the 4 and the 9. this is by far my biggest gripe with dtv.

[Heisenberg]

i have this problem. sometimes i press "Guide" and it takes 5 or 6 seconds to respond. 5 or 6 seconds might not sound like much, but when you are trying to navigate any kind of menu, each button press takes what feels like an eternity. entering numbers (like trying to go to channel 249) is almost impossible, because it "times out" and tries to go to channel 2 before i can even enter the 4 and the 9. this is by far my biggest gripe with dtv.


Yeah, that has been a problem on some of the DVR's. They have recently released a newer one that I've heard has fixed the problem completely. That is one aspect of the DVR that isn't good but on mine it seems to be fine sometimes and then randomly becomes slower.

[illone]

I'm actually considering going to DISH network to save some coin.

[Bubble Screen]

DTV owns all.

[pjfootballer]

i have this problem. sometimes i press "Guide" and it takes 5 or 6 seconds to respond. 5 or 6 seconds might not sound like much, but when you are trying to navigate any kind of menu, each button press takes what feels like an eternity. entering numbers (like trying to go to channel 249) is almost impossible, because it "times out" and tries to go to channel 2 before i can even enter the 4 and the 9. this is by far my biggest gripe with dtv.

Same problem here. It gets so annoying to the point where I'm slamming the remote against the side of my recliner.

[NewCliche21]

I'm actually considering going to DISH network to save some coin.

The DVR rocks (37 hours of SD I think?), but the HD isn't as great. The cost > all of those other points, though.

I've been spoiled and had cable my whole life (Comcast, then FiOS, now Dish because that's what the lady has), and it's not bad.

I'll be switching to FiOS eventually, though, once she cleans out our DVR. But that's only because I'm a Verizon fanboy and we have FiOS internet, phone, and wireless.

[Woofer]

i have this problem. sometimes i press "Guide" and it takes 5 or 6 seconds to respond. 5 or 6 seconds might not sound like much, but when you are trying to navigate any kind of menu, each button press takes what feels like an eternity. entering numbers (like trying to go to channel 249) is almost impossible, because it "times out" and tries to go to channel 2 before i can even enter the 4 and the 9. this is by far my biggest gripe with dtv.


I've had DTV since August 2000. Have never had anything to seriously complain about.
I might consider switching to FIOS but I need the NFL Ticket.

I have the delay problems too. When I press the guide button, it takes two or three seconds to come up, but then the reaction time is "normal".

I've gotten spoiled having the NFL Ticket for so long. I orginally got it to watch the skins, but its pretty awesome to watch any game I want, and the redzone channel is awesome.