Satellite, dish, what to do?

[TravelGal]

We actually like (d) Time Warner. It reliably gave us all we wanted for reasonable price. Mostly that meant being able to record at least 4 shows at the same time while watching something else and having about 400 hours of storage over two boxes that communicated with each other. Now, after 5 different boxes in 3 weeks, we're finally ready to change. YEARS ago the knock on dish service was that the signal would go out with bad weather or interference with the satellite signal. Is this still true? I don't even know the name of the services. Who is using what? Fire away. I'm ready to change. Thank you.

[gerhard911]

Left TW for DirecTV years ago because of horrible picture quality on cable. PQ is vastly superior unless you watch any channels that are not carried in HiDef on DirecTV. StdDef is really awful on DirecTV. Rain (actually cloud) fade is an occasional problem but it rarely lasts very long. I would imagine in SoCal it would be a whole lot less frequent than what I experience here in SW Ohio.

I recently upgraded to the Genie system which has connected boxes like your TW system. The main Genie box has all of the tuners (5) and acts as the master server for any other boxes connected to the system. Genie mini clients at other locations can play any recordings from the master or or use an available tuner to watch live.

The system works quite well although I have one mini client that has lost contact with the master Genie a couple of times in the 10 months I've had it. When that happens the main unit has to be rebooted (red button reset). That process takes @5-7 minutes during which no other clients can operate.

[Insomniac]

I've had DirecTV for something like 14 years. I get occasional rain fade (more so after they placed the HD dish closer to the roof), otherwise it's been reliable. The DVRs/Genies get slow over time and then you need to agree to a 2 year agreement to get a replacement, and even then, sometimes it's not even the newest one. If you are considering them, I'd try and get them to agree to let you purchase the Genie at the store and reimburse you.

With all that said, this is likely going to be my last year with DirecTV. The cost is way too high compared to the online streaming services. That may be something to consider. There are a lot now:

https://tv.youtube.com/welcome/ (I like what they have, but the big missing piece is time warner channels)
https://www.hulu.com/live-tv (they have additional content, including their own content)
https://www.playstation.com/en-us/network/vue/
https://www.sling.com/
https://www.directvnow.com/ (https://www.att-services.net/directv/directv-now-packages.html)

[WickerBill]

DirecTV since 2001. (The other service is Dish).

Pros:
- HD quality is better than any cable system I've seen.
- I get all the channels I want, and my bill doesn't fluctuate like it always seemed to do with Comcast.
- Sunday Ticket (Denver fan in Indianapolis... it's a necessity)
- I'm used to and love the DVR system.

Cons:
- It ain't cheap
- Rain fade (maybe 5 times a year for me, and it's usually <5 minutes while the heaviest cloud cover passes)
- The app and live streaming options aren't all they could be
- Still, in 2018, no option for one box that can show multi-screen (this would be INCREDIBLE for Sunday Ticket)


I love DirecTV a little less now that AT&T owns it, but I consider AT&T "chaotic neutral" where Comcast is "chaotic evil".

[Insomniac]

Still, in 2018, no option for one box that can show multi-screen (this would be INCREDIBLE for Sunday Ticket)

The Mix channels aren't a bad alternative though.

[chop456]

Dish Network has "full screen" 4X PIP, plus a college sports channel/app that automatically shows any 6 games that are currently on in a tiny square. It'll record 5 shows at once, but one annoying limitation is that it can only record or tune one OTA channel at a time.

[cameraman]

Dropped DISH after well over a decade. Rain, snow, ice & trees are signal killers. You have to be able to easily access that dish in the dark in crap weather or you're reading a book. Also it was very expensive, the two channels I watched (literally 2) were only on the most expensive tier. Switched to high speed (200 mb) cable internet, didn't watch much TV anyway and an old fashioned TV antenna picks up all the local tv channels for free. Nice thing about SLC, all the TV stations broadcast off the same mountain and if you point a decent antenna at it you will get fantastic reception of all the channels.

Things like Sling don't cost much and cover anything that I feel I really need to see.

[Lux Interior]

We've had direct TV for at least ten years now, and bundle it with our AT&T phone and internet. It works well. It will go out during huge rainstorms, but like the comments above, it only happens sparingly. The Genie system is nice. It is pricey though. However, AT&T has packages if you go with them for everything.

[datachicane]

DirecTV since 2001. (The other service is Dish).

Pros:
- HD quality is better than any cable system I've seen.
- I get all the channels I want, and my bill doesn't fluctuate like it always seemed to do with Comcast.
- Sunday Ticket (Denver fan in Indianapolis... it's a necessity)
- I'm used to and love the DVR system.

Cons:
- It ain't cheap
- Rain fade (maybe 5 times a year for me, and it's usually <5 minutes while the heaviest cloud cover passes)
- The app and live streaming options aren't all they could be
- Still, in 2018, no option for one box that can show multi-screen (this would be INCREDIBLE for Sunday Ticket)


I love DirecTV a little less now that AT&T owns it, but I consider AT&T "chaotic neutral" where Comcast is "chaotic evil".

I'm in the same boat and agree on all fronts, with one additional observation. In my area anyway, DirecTV has contracted out their installation services to a consortium jointly managed by Ernst Blofeld and Don Knotts.

Our 1920s-vintage house faces south. Back in 1999 or so, a thoroughly professional DTV installer installed the dish on the fascia edge of a dormer at the back, where it had a nice clear view over the peak of our house. Nice clean job, invisible from the street, barely visible in the back yard.

Fast forward to 2012, and I make the jump to HD, meaning a new dish. A Spectre agent disguised as a local septic evacuation/dog walker shows up two hours after his eight-hour installation window, and promptly tells me that DirecTV corporate won't let him set foot on our roof. He can only install where it's reachable from his ladder, and his professional recommendation is that it go right over the front door. He can even do the installation from his tiptoes, no ladder required! Sensing my discomfort, he sez not to fret, he'll do a neat job of stapling the half-mile of cable over our cedar shingle siding halfway around the house. I tell him I'd switch to Comcast first, or maybe just read more books. I don't want it visible from the street.

He ends up installing it on the extreme back corner of the roof (through the roofing itself- DirecTV policy, dontcha know), where it has a slightly angled shot across the driveway at the satellite. Five days later signal drops to zero, I go take a quick peek, and he's run the cable through the now-full-of-running water gutter, probably to hide the splices between all of the random short pieces of cable he used. I call, get an appointment a week out between the hours of 8AM and 5PM, and am reminded that I'll be responsible for the $2500.00 service charge (I may not have remembered the exact total correctly) if the problem isn't installation related or is caused by any pre-existing stuff, since I didn't buy their warranty package. Since all of the hardware, cable, etc., is fresh, I'm fairly confident on this one.

Different septic guy/exterminator/whatever shows up, replaces the short 24" piece of cable he says is the problem, still leaving the splice in the gutter. I become somewhat animated, he eventually relents and reroutes the thing out of the bottom of the gutter, but he's right put out by my attitude. Five days later signal's at 70% on all satellites, five days after that it's at 50%, and I call again because I'm close to being maxed out on vacation time anyway.

Different nutritional supplement tycoon/whatever shows up, discovers that a tree across the street has grown six inches or so and is blocking my signal. He moves the dish a foot to the right (actually, he doesn't, per DirecTV policy, dontcha know- he leaves the mounting base and pipe where they were, and installs a twin close enough that the bases overlap, right through my fresh asphalt shingles), but in trying to do the fine aim finds that the tree is still in the way. Yep, in goes mounting base and pipe number three, overlapping the other two, since DirecTV policy sez no removing old hardware. I am skeptical, suspecting that 'DirecTV policy' is actually a codeword for 'taking time away from my Shaklee sales gig', and/or 'maximizing revenue for Blofeld et al'.

DirecTV bill hits, featuring two $3500.00 service charges (don't quote me on the precise amount) for 'professional installation services', ringing no bells whatsoever. I call and complain, thankful that I'm not a Comcast customer. Thankful. That's how low we've all sunk. Let that sink in. The helpful DirecTV representative explains that they've been billed by their subcontractor, and that they'll contact them and get it straightened out. They eventually do, but not for several months.

The next day, signal down to 70% on all satellites. I know this music. I call DirecTV and vent some bile and stuff, not anxious for yet another $3500 service charge. DirecTV representative feels my pain, suggest I buy their monthly equipment warranty package, I lose some stuff generally best contained within the bounds of the alimentary canal. Eventually it sinks in that the DirecTV representative is gaming the system on my behalf, offering a pissed-off future Comcast customer credit with coincidentally matches the cost of the equipment warranty package, and telling me that wink wink I can cancel it before next month. I give it a shot, take another day off work.

I swear, I'm not making this up. Different wig repair guy/whatever shows up, declares all of his coworkers incompetent, and says that the only way to get a clear signal is if the dish is in the front. He suggests a pole mount, in the bushes in the side yard- invisible from the street, should work fine as long as we keep the bushes trimmed under 10' or so. Sounds good to me. Bad news is, he can only install the pipe and the dish- another guy has to dig the hole. DirecTV policy, dontcha know. Right, I say, smiling, right. Policy.

Two days later, another day off work, dumping rain, old guy shows up (auto mechanic? plumber? fixer? I dunno, gives the impression of having skills and of having seen, umm, things). Doesn't say much, walks to where the hole is supposed to go, asks if his predecessor had called locate services. Umm, I assume not, given the lack of marks anywhere. We're standing eight feet from a gas meter and six feet from a yard faucet. Well. He asks to see where the original dish was, and I walk him back, past the forest of abandoned DirecTV hardware. Policy, I say, looking for a reaction. Yep, Blofeld Industries policy, he clarifies. Shocked, I am. Not really.

He sees the old SD dish standing proud against the sky, mounted on the fascia, like a beacon of superior installation technique, a message from a simpler time. He walks up on the deck towards the back corner of the house to get a better view of it, something none of his predecessors did. He walks back to his truck, get his ladder, sets it on the deck at a bit of an angle, and plunks the far end maybe two feet from the old dish. He installs the new dish right next to the old (through the roofing rather than the fascia, per Blofeld et al policy). 100% signal on all satellites.

Now all of my History Channel documentaries, reality programming, and Fox News arrive with the finest clarity.

[SteveH]

Satellite/cable stories are at least entertaining. :D

[nrc]

What the DircTV installer is doing is installing leaks in your roof. Most of the time they can glom enough goop around the mounting bracket to keep it sealed when they install. Usually since it's over an eave it won't be obvious to the home owner even if it does leak a bit. But they can never, ever remove the bracket because there's no way that they can reliably seal the holes in your roof without the bracket acting as a cap. It's there until you replace your roof.

We're fortunate enough to have some choice of providers in our area including WOW, who has provided better service than I got from DirecTV before I got rid of them. WOW has been great for years but they're starting to use the "cheap intro prices and jack up prices on existing customers to pay for it" tactic that Dish and DirecTV invented.

I hate that annual fight for better discounts but it helps that my threats to cancel are now real. If they can't keep my price reasonable I'll just cancel Cable TV and switch to antenna and Internet services.

[gerhard911]

It has been widely reported that DirecTV installers are no longer permitted to go onto roofs (OSHA / insurance liability issues) to do new installs. Side of house or yard pole only. I can't vouch for this personally but I do know people who have refused installs in the past that did not meet with their requirements.

[TravelGal]

Thanks, guys. A lot to research. Primarily who does what well in this area. We don't have much rain, snow, sleet, or hail. Wind, yes. I'm leery of anything installed on a pole. I couldn't help but laugh most of the way through datachicane's story. It was worth the time it took to write it. Eerily similar to the stuff we've having with Time Warner/Spectrum. Bozos abound.

We did eventually find the root of the problem. Our service, "whole house," with two units that communicate, is no longer available. We're grandfathered in. Ergo, the boxes themselves are about as old as your grandfather. They work like cr@p. The goal is to get everything stored in the cloud, not on a box, by the end of the year so they don't give the aforementioned cr@p about keeping the oldest equipment in good repair. It remains to be seen what we'll do but I'll let you know. Or, more likely, come back with more questions. Thanks again. :thumbup: