getting a new house in about a month and was wondering about the price differences in the two. I would prefer DirecTv primarily for Sunday ticket but not if it costs a ton more (just talking about the monthly fees without sunday ticket). Just asking people who have experience with both since I've only had TWC about how much more a month it is.

Setup is gonna be- 1 HD DVR receiver, 1 HD receiver, and 3 standard receivers

5/19/2010 9:30:13 PM

one vote for DirecTV

5/20/2010 8:07:11 AM

Dish network is definitley the best, unless you are hard up for one of those internet phone bundles

I'm astraladvent and I appproved this message.

5/20/2010 8:09:49 AM

DirecTV. fantastic picture quality, way more channels in HD than dish, amazing customer service, easy to navigate, add channels from your laptop instantly...

5/20/2010 8:40:44 AM

another vote for DirecTV

5/20/2010 9:14:19 AM

DirecTV

5/20/2010 3:48:16 PM

about how much more a month is it than time warner?

5/20/2010 6:42:27 PM

i swore up and down i didn't want to give another dime to time warner cable. but after being asked to pay to fix a dish that wasn't installed properly by dish network, i dropped them and went back to twc.

5/20/2010 7:02:25 PM

I hate TWC so fucking much. I really need to drop them as well but am wary of the shotty installation/equipment costs that ^ mentioned

5/21/2010 1:22:52 PM

if anyone's gonna sign up for directv, we each get $100 if you use my account code

046561578

8/9/2010 10:38:05 AM

can you people comment on how well your dishes perform in bad weather

8/9/2010 10:45:32 AM

My parents have Direct TV and occasionally when its raining hard, some channels will not come in, other than that is fantastic. I have Digital Cable in my apartment, and to be frank, its been lousy. I got it right when they changed all their channels, so that probably didn't help, but I still get problems where channels don't come in and I have to spend 5 minutes re-booting the unit. The Direct TV interface is much better and offers a lot more options for custom channel lists and whatnot. Go for Direct TV.

8/9/2010 11:37:27 AM

i have 2 gripes with TWC:

1) the DVR lags ridiculously
2) anytime something new comes out (espn3, espn3d, etc), TWC doesn't support it

8/9/2010 11:45:28 AM

I had TWC for ~3 years, and I'm SO glad I switched to DirecTV. For the reasons ^ above, and their customer service is the worst I've experienced. Any time I had any issue or question, I was on hold for 20 minutes, then spoke to someone who listened to my 5 minute story, then said, let me transfer you to ____. Then I'd get disconnected and have to start over. Awful, awful, awful customer service.

I still have RR for internet, but have DirecTV for TV, and the cost of those two together is still $30 less than what I was paying to have both with TWC, and I get TONS more channels with the DirecTV package I chose.

8/9/2010 11:54:45 AM

how much is RR alone?

8/9/2010 12:01:04 PM

im surprised there arent more threads about time warner....

8/9/2010 12:03:52 PM

^^ Ours is $44.95 a month for RR, but we have turbo so its like $54.95

Yea I had a problem with my bill, they had automatically charged me for HBO after my free month was up, and I tried calling for 3 DAYS, every time I called I got the noise like the line was disconnected. Eventually I got through and they told me they were experiencing high call volumes... But yea whenever you call, its a long wait, and then you have to play the transfer game while they bounce you around.

Edit: I cant switch to Direct TV because I'm in an apartment and they would have to mount the dish inside my screened in porch...

[Edited on August 9, 2010 at 12:17 PM. Reason : .]

8/9/2010 12:16:33 PM

We've had DirecTV since February and we love it.

We still have Roadrunner for internet. When TWC heard that we were leaving them for DirecTV, they lowered our RR bill to $29.95/month to keep us as a internet customer.

I'm so glad we switched to DirecTV. I've only had a few times when it was raining pretty hard that the satellite dropped. Other htan that, it's been great. I love having all these HD channels. We had no problems with bad installations

8/9/2010 12:54:06 PM

att uverse if available
>
directv (dtv gets the nod if you're all about sunday ticket)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
dish
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
twc

8/9/2010 2:37:56 PM

yeah ATT > Dish > Direct > TWC

I'm AstralAdvent and i approved this message.

8/9/2010 3:34:17 PM

i have DirecTV and if anyone wants to sign up and use my promo code to get $100 for both you and me, let me know.

I rarely ever lose signal unless its a real bad storm, or if there is snow piled on the dish (which happened once). Other than that, i can honestly say that TWC is an absolute piece of shit compared to DirecTV. its not even close. I will never switch back, ever. the quality is unbelievable compared to TWC.

8/9/2010 3:35:53 PM

what happens if you for whatever reason decide to get rid of it before the 2(?) year contract is up

8/9/2010 3:53:21 PM

they fixate their destroyer satellite on your exact coordinates and blow your house to pieces with one powerful laser pulse

8/9/2010 4:01:22 PM

is that before or after a possible fee

8/9/2010 4:07:04 PM

they charge you a post morten cancellation fee.

8/9/2010 4:16:27 PM

I have TWC.

too many trees for DirecTV and Dish. I've tried.

My gripes with TWC--terrible lag in changing channels, usually have to call because On Demand feature isn't working properly.

Good things--I've been on the phone w/ TWC tech support probably 8 times in the past 6 months, and have never waited more than 3 minutes for help. Ever. And I always hear how bad their customer service is. Compared to clearwire, it's fucking incredible.

the best way to reach local tech support--595-4892

If you try the 800 numbers, etc, you'll wait for fucking ever.

[Edited on August 9, 2010 at 6:56 PM. Reason : fsdsaaa]

8/9/2010 6:56:08 PM

DirecTV

8/9/2010 10:13:23 PM

add me to the list that is switching to directv when our contract is up. for some reason our dvr box responds fine, but the regular hd box in the bedroom takes FOREVER to respond. beyond rebooting the system, customer service was useless

8/9/2010 10:24:01 PM

I just switched to DirecTV and I don't like it as much as TWC.

TWC was available to set up my internet in a day or two, DirecTV made me wait 2 weeks for install.

The on demand channels on DTV suck ass and require you to be connected to the internet.

Even though I got the "Premiere package" with all the channels, there are still a bunch that are grey and I can't access.

DirecTV will get you to sign up at one rate and then jack the price up so be careful about that and make sure you know the length of the special they're signing you up for

Unlike cable where they essentially "turn the whole house on" and you can plug a coaxial into the wall and your tv will work, DTV requires a box no matter what. So if you want more than one TV it is more expensive and if you like putting a shitty tv on the deck during games when the weather is nice, you can't do that unless you get a box for it

So far, I have not found how to automatically record a series, only that I must manually pick what shows I want to record.

The good things are that there are more HD channels and obviously NFL Ticket (why I got DTV in the first place)

8/10/2010 3:22:03 PM

Quote :

"So far, I have not found how to automatically record a series, only that I must manually pick what shows I want to record. "

In guide, press the (R) button twice over the show you want to record. It will record the series. It will also prompt you to goto series manager to choose your retention options

8/10/2010 5:17:36 PM

^^TWC does the same thing with jacking the prices up after your sign up rate ends.

8/10/2010 6:26:00 PM

One vote for TWC

all the gripes about TWC are stupid

Customer service - you can easily get fast service online or your local store, which there are many
Channel problems are very rare, plenty of HD channels, better internet service, etc
people just think the grass is greener

8/10/2010 6:47:54 PM

channel problems aren't rare boss. at least 3 times a week discovery or amc won't work

8/10/2010 6:55:30 PM

sounds like a problem only for you

8/10/2010 7:43:49 PM

you should get your hearing checked

8/10/2010 7:48:09 PM

Doctor said my ear was infected with your BS

8/10/2010 7:52:28 PM

Anyone tried out AT&T's U-Verse? Me and my roommates are thinking about getting that instead of Time Warner.

8/10/2010 8:02:12 PM

^ive heard tales that the HD quality is poor, but them are tales

[Edited on August 10, 2010 at 9:07 PM. Reason : ]

8/10/2010 9:05:42 PM

^^ If the roomates tend to watch diffrerent programs at the same time of day, then U-Verse might not be for you. The entire house gets only four streams. Compare that to TWC, where the house gets as many steams as there are TVs.

But, if the home has only a few viewers, or they tend to congregate in programming, then U-Verse is great.

[Edited on August 11, 2010 at 12:45 AM. Reason : .,.]

8/11/2010 12:44:18 AM

I want to dump TWC. My only qualms on DirectTV is the 2 year contract and I heard the customer service blows major ass.

8/11/2010 11:12:52 AM

I just kicked TWC to the curb last month and switched to Direct TV and am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO glad I did.

There is no comparison in quality at all.

Directv's customer service is nothing special but is by no means worse than TW's. That just isn't possible. What you do gain is overwhelmingly better clarity and a ton of HD channels. One of the greatest things (to me) that Directv has is an option to make your own channel lineups. No more thumbing through 1034585960 channels. Simply take about 15 minutes and edit the ones you don't watch and save it as your own personal guide.


To anyone that is signing up, here is my advice. One thing you should get is an HR 24 receiver but the installers don't like to give out their high end receivers.

When you order Direct TV, do it online. In the last page there is an note or "special instructions" to the installer. In this section, type this message:

Please bring an HR24 receiver to the installation. I will not allow the order to complete or be installed without this receiver.

Setting this tone early is important because these people will try to give you the oldest damn thing they have in the warehouse. Don't take it. The HR24 receiver is considerably faster compared to the rest of the receivers in the Directv lineup. It's worth it. It also manages the HD/DVR HOME service much more efficiently than the other receivers.

Either way, Directv is better than dealing with TW's bullshit.



[Edited on August 11, 2010 at 12:23 PM. Reason : /]

8/11/2010 12:21:54 PM

do you have to *buy* an HD DVR or can you lease them? The default option is the buy one from them for $200 which seems kinda dumb, but in small gray-against-a-lighter-gray-background print it mentions leasing one for $5/month

8/11/2010 12:24:50 PM

when I signed up, I got 2 receivers for free with one leasing fee waived for the first year.


I just checked and the same deal applies to 1 HD DVR (which can power the whole house for DVR service so you only need 1) and a standard HD receiver. If you want a 3rd or 4th, they are $100 each.



and TW cable is doing 2 year contracts that they conveniently reword as "2 year price locks."

[Edited on August 11, 2010 at 12:51 PM. Reason : .]

8/11/2010 12:39:07 PM

fwiw, when i switched back to twc from dish up here in ohio, i got an hd dvr from twc that is a different brand from the ones i had in raleigh/durham and it has made a pretty big difference in performance/reliability. they still need to do a lot of work on their program guide. but it was a nice surprise to have a better performing box than i used to.

8/11/2010 11:11:53 PM

yeah i just moved to the duraleigh area from cary, and we got one of the boxes from their new line. it's the explorer something. still a little lag on the list/guide, but it's a huge improvement over that standard silver box.

8/12/2010 12:35:46 AM

DirecTV. fantastic picture quality, way more channels in HD than dish, amazing customer service, easy to navigate, add channels from your laptop instantly.

TWC is awful, just awful. With regards to customer service, lagging, no NFL network, no Sunday Ticket, HD channels, pretty much everything-awful. (I have them for internet, and that's good).

DTV is baller as fuck. With all the storms this summer I've not once lost a signal due to storms. I lost signal once due to the LNB going out, but they came right out and fixed it. Dude also checked everything else to be sure that things were good. There's not one bad thing I can think of with DTV. Oh, and I picked up that Sunday Ticket, and NFL network is baller.

Plus, I pay LESS with DTV (with more channels) than I did with TWC when I had the internet and cable bundle.

8/12/2010 8:23:39 AM

I have DTV and TWC Road Runner Turbo. Wouldnt go back to TWC Cable if you paid for it

8/12/2010 8:36:51 AM

a lot of you guys asking about directv should read this
http://www.thewolfweb.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=520861

directv's customer service is light years better than twc
so is there picture quality
so is the feature set of their technology (queueing up an ep on my dvr from any browser or web enabled phone is pretty tits imo)
if you sign up through AAA or best buy you get free receivers with no lease fee
etc etc etc most of it is in the thread I linked

8/12/2010 8:40:18 AM

Quote :

"I have DTV and TWC Road Runner Turbo. Wouldnt go back to TWC Cable if you paid for it"

same here

8/12/2010 8:47:20 AM

SET EM UP

8/13/2010 1:25:52 PM