Directv or Dish?

[DR]

We have not had tv for 5 years? Hard to belive I know!  But by question is which is better or why do you like Dish or Directv over the other?  You could call this a poll but please respond with the pros and cons!!   Thankyou so much!!  DR

[Cary and Don]

We have directv.  I have found that we find the signal easier than people with dish in a lot of places.  We pull a receiver our of the house and plug it in in the bus. I know a number of people that have dish at home, and their main complaints have been the customer service and billing screw ups. You are calling India for customer service with Dish.

Don and Cary
GMC4107

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Hi Cary,

I have been with Direct TV since 95'. They now have me listed as a perferred customer. Which intitles me to a private phone number

that, when needed,  will always be a live person answering my calls that speaks proper english. [ no automation menus']  Now That's Service!

Along with not loosing our picture in over 5 years, and all the cool features we now have in the recievers. I'm not going anywhere!

Good Luck
Nick-

[Dreamscape]

We have Direct TV. Recently moved from CA to TX, called them up to hook up, done. No hassle, a couple of days, no charge. Have had them for 3 years, no problems whatsoever.

Happy Trails,

Paul

Dreamscape

[rip]

We are full timers and have had Direct TV for over 4 yrs. we no complaints.They have great customer service and I have no reason to try another service.
  Don

[Jerry32]

I belong to a camper club and have found here on the west that dish is easier to tune in and for RV use direct was always disconnecting and not updating the recievers so most use dish . Jerry

[Dave Siegel]

I used Direct TV for a couple of years in the house and on the bus. Then one day I fell for one of the offers on Dish Network. They assured me I could use their system in our bus, in a campground. Well for a year we tried and tried. After over a hundred phone calls to customer service they finally released us from our contract if I sent the equipment back. I immediately signed up for Direct TV again and we get satellite service any place we go, very easily, without calling customer service.

I would vote for Direct TV hands down. 100% no question.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Dave Siegel

[baker4106]

We had two Dish receivers in our house and took one on our RV when we went south for the winter.   When Dish found out that one was in our Rv, they shut one off and refused to turn more than one on even though we were paying for two.   When we returned home and put the receiver in the house they still refused to turn both on.   I have Direct now and am happy.    Larry 4106

[Songman]

We have DirecTV. Never actually used it on the bus yet but when we upgraded our dish recently I got the guy to leave the old dish for me. I figured I could put it on a portable tripod and use it until I can afford an in-motion dish later on. I told the guy exactly what I wanted to do with it and he said it would be no problem.

[DavidInWilmNC]

I have Dish and have had absolutely no billing screw ups or non-Engilish speaking customer support reps.  When I've called for customer service (with question), I've been prepared to wait, but I've never had to.  Perhaps Dish had some issues in the past, but I don't hear of a lot of problems now.  A forum I've found useful is http://www.dbstalk.com/index.php.  There are both DirecTV- and Dish Network-specific forums.  Dish can (or may) disable a box if it's not connected to a phone line, but this is avoidable with a $5 charge.  I have a spare receiver that I'm going to use in the bus when we're on a trip.  It'll be plugged in to a phone line at home.  FWIW, my aunt and uncle have put over 57,000 miles on their S&S RV over the past few years.  They've always had Dish.  I asked them a couple of weeks ago how much trouble they'd had with service or with obtaining a signal.  They've had no service problems and only issues with the signal when others (other RV'ers with Dish and DirecTv) did, such as in really shady locations with lots of trees.

David

[JackConrad]

Our first system was DISH. We had that system for a few years, then switched to DIRECT. In addition to much better customer service, we find it easier to find the satellite when setting up at a campground. At least in the Southeast, the DIRECT satellite is higher in the sky, so if you are camped near trees, it is easier to get a signal. We camped 2 different places where our neighbors were watching DIRECT, while we could not get a signal on DISH because of a row of trees. I called DIRECT yesterday to upgrade our home receivers to HD.  Like Nick, we are considered preferred customers, very friendly American girl on the phone confirmed that our new TVs are HD ready, took our order and confirmed an installation date. Only charge is a $20.00 handling charge. I asked the girl where she was located.  She said in West Virginia.  Jack  

[DrivingMissLazy]

Our first system was DISH. We had that system for a few years, then switched to DIRECT. In addition to much better customer service, we find it easier to find the satellite when setting up at a campground. At least in the Southeast, the DIRECT satellite is higher in the sky, so if you are camped near trees, it is easier to get a signal. We camped 2 different places where our neighbors were watching DIRECT, while we could not get a signal on DISH because of a row of trees. I called DIRECT yesterday to upgrade our home receivers to HD.  Like Nick, we are considered preferred customers, very friendly American girl on the phone confirmed that our new TVs are HD ready, took our order and confirmed an installation date. Only charge is a $20.00 handling charge. I asked the girl where she was located. She said in West Virginia. Jack 

I think you will find all WV girls like that. LOL
Richard

[H3Jim]

So what do you guys pay each month for the service?

[Dave Siegel]

$5 a month more for the additional receiver. (I have a reciever just for the bus) And about $6 a month for national networks. It the New York and LA feeds for ABC, NBC,CBS etc. That way we always get the local channels but they come with NY or LA commercials.

Dave

[Songman]

I don't even have my home systems connected to a phone line. They hooked them to the phones when they were installed but I unhooked them after I came home from a trip to find that anyone who had called me for the last week had gotten a busy signal. The culprit was the satellite boxes. When I first had DirecTV a few years ago I didn't leave the boxes connected to a phone line. From time to time it would tell me that it needed to make a call and I would connect it long enough for that. Since I upgraded I have had no such messages. They would have no way of knowing if the box was at my house or somewhere in the bus.