Dish Network / Comcast

[dan323]

I have had Dish for 7 years. Just a few minor issues until lately when we lost signal during American Idol. My wife was very unhappy. This last week our box has been over heating and we had to shut down and put a fan on it so it cooled off. I also have at&t internet DSL Elite. I usually get 4 meg download sometimes 5 meg. This is normal for At&t DSL.
Comcast was out with a great deal last week and my wife signed up for Digital Preferred with broadband,(25 meg download). Great price with a land line also,which I don't have now.
I just called Dish and told them my Wife signed with Comcast and in 4 days (Saturday)they are coming to install cable. I asked if they could match the price or something so I could convince her to stick with what we have. After 6+ years all they could offer was $5.00 off my bill. WOW. I am not impressed. I thought they might do a little better,maybe $10 off,or some free channels,or a upgrade to a higher package with no increase in monthly price.Maybe even not charge for the DVR. Something !
So now Saturday Comcast will be here. I'll wait to cancel Dish and DSL for a couple days to see how Comcast works. See if their HD and Internet are what they claim. I have 30 days to cancel Comcast with no penalties. Then I'm in for a 2 year contract,which I don't like since at&t and Dish I have no contracts. I was hoping Dish would offer something decent. Maybe they think I was just trying for something for nothing,they will see next week when I call and cancel that this was real.
I'll update here and let you all know how XFINITY works.

 

[benjamming]

I switched from Dish a while back & didn't get any resistance from them to not change. It appears they are used to it.

However, I did get a call from them several months after cancelling service asking what it would take to get me back. I told them to pay for the remaining amount of my contract with Direct (18 months or so left on it). The guy on the other end of the line & I had a good laugh.

 

[sasilverbullet]

Is comcast cheaper? Please give us the "1 month" report comparing the two, prices, quality, channel content, etc.

 

[brandini]

Watch out, if you're watching on a nice TV you can see the video compression on comcast.

Also the 25 meg speed is burst and is only good for a few seconds, great for browsing, bad for downloading large files/multiple computers/netflix streaming.

 

[EricF]

comcast is more like comcrapst.

My primary beef with comcast is their pricing. Under a deal, you're doing good. After that the prices keep slowly creeping up and up. their 25meg speed for internet is irrelevant most of the time. As it was stated, it's a burst speed.
The average website still operates off ofa T1. so you have 1.5mb max from a T1. You have your xfinity at 25 on burst, and avg. of 16. you have 14.5mb of bandwidth you can't use. Given your mileage will vary.

comcast's DVR is [censored].. only 1 program can be recorded at a time.
they have a better internal programming though.

If you can get AT&T U-Verse.. costs less than comcast, you get a DVR with 4 channel you can watch/record. My DVR typically is recording 3-4 shows at a time.
the U-Verse system does NOT have a contract. their HD streams via mpeg-4 compression.. you won't notice the difference.
It'd be like watching from your Dish, but possibly a better picture. the u-verse internet is reasonably priced for what you get and you can adjust the speed setting via the website at will.. of course you pay for the higher speed here & thre as well.
the u-verse phone is a voice over IP (VoIP). works very well, tons of free features. the wi-fi router they give to you is very secure and I like it and I fought with u-verse to keep using my linksys.. but gave in in the end.
the bad part about u-verse.. it's very picky with cable.
It prefers cat5 or better, or quad shield coax (tri-shield is fine). and quality cable splitters.
a bad splitter will cause you havoc. usually the installers will replace everything, primarily the coax jacks and splitters.
some of them will run cat-5 for you too.. depends on the installer and how much time he has.

U-Verse is a better solution.

 

[SEMI_287]

I think comcasts HD picture is 100x better but I like dish.

 

[Al]

I love Comcast. Their service is top notch. Just my experience.

 

[tommygunn]

My LNBF went out the day of Idol too and I got that this didn't happen with cable speech from my wife. She had cable before we married and I have had Dish for 12 years. No problems until we got married and upgraded to HD and now getting a signal from 3 satellites. Now I have had trouble twice in a year, but they do respond fast. Dish thinks that you are suppose to pay them to fix their problem unlike most cable companies and they like to turn on my service plan $6 a month without my consent. Dish has turned into a very unethical company lately trying to increase revenues.

When we got married the contracted sales rep that Dish paid to call us from overseas offered us a better plan that the people located in USA offered and when the installer got here he only had 1 DVR instead of 2 DVR's because the contractor promised something that Dish couldn't offer. Dish also reactivated my service at my old home 3 times after I had called to cancel. Dish once charged my brother at his home with a PPV that he didn't order and told him a child may have accidentally done it. My brother had a 4 year old son and asked me how the kid could have done it and I told him the kid would have a hard time ordering PPV when you have no home phone and it is not connected to the internet. He called Dish to tell them that scenario wasn't possible and then they told him the movie was already on his DVR when he got his Dish system and all he did was activate it!

Anyhoo my contract is up in Oct and I will probably fire them unless the wife stops me or they offer a super good deal.

 

[dan323]

Well I can't get Uverse here were I live. And now that you mention it Dish charged me a few years ago for PPV I never downloaded.I do like Dish and at times change brings more problems then it's worth.I guess I just expected more from Dish. Comcast upgraded out here to Fiber Optic's last year,so I'm hoping Xfinity works good. It's $89.00 a month for 1 year then it goes up $20.00 next year. That puts me $1 dollar difference then Dish and DSL but with way more channels. So I'm saving $20.00 a month for a year.
I will update once Xfinity is up and working. So long as they are on time and don't miss the appointment.

 

[dan323]

Well Xfinity installed today. The internet is way faster. 30 meg download speeds and 4 meg upload. The HD channels are great. Nice and clear. It will take a little getting used to a new channel line up. So far after 12 hours it looks really nice.

 

[mjoekingz28]

I'm a fan of cable.

When there's a storm outside and not much else to do but watch tv is when the satellite is most likely to fail.

Comcast has provided exceptional internet and have excellent customer service when a problem occurs (24hr servcie). I can't think of the last time I've lost a signal besides having to reboot the router.

The hooks are kind of annoying though. I called to check on some prices and they sound pretty decent, then 6 months come and they get worse, then 12 months and its off the charts.


I called about starting up service to an already wired home and it will be a $50 service call. I thought it was free, but understand someone is spending time and using a gas guzzler to get here so its all good.

 

[NHHEMI]

Originally Posted By: EricF

comcast's DVR is [censored].. only 1 program can be recorded at a time.
they have a better internal programming though.


This is incorrect. You can record 2 programs at one time. You can only record one program if you also want to watch TV at the same time.

 

[NHHEMI]

I have Comcast and the service is excellent. My only gripe is they charge way too much IMO for their services. What company doesn't these days though.

 

[beanoil]

Originally Posted By: dan323
I was hoping Dish would offer something decent. Maybe they think I was just trying for something for nothing,they will see next week when I call and cancel that this was real.

Dish won't care. You'll likely get better service from your cable provider. AT&T bundles packages with Direct, you may want to check that out. As far as sat providers, Direct is Cadillac, Dish is Chevy. I rarely got rain fade with Direct, with Dish if a wispy cotton ball floats over the house, I lose it.