Cable company fires back at Dish

[Jarrett76]

I was at a friends house today, and charter communications(altoona, pa) is firing back at dish network since we got our local channels. I saw three messages scroll at the bottom of the weather channels local on the 8's. Here they are from what I remember:

Attention charter customers, dish companies are offering you 60 channels with locals for $29.95, but did you know there are 13 shopping channels, and 16 public interest channels?

Charter communications helps the LOCAL economy! We employ LOCAL people who pay LOCAL taxes, and support the LOCAL ecomony unlike dish companies.

Did you know dish service calls cost $50.00 even if weather related? They dont tell you this in the TV ads.


I knew they would be in trouble quick. Oink Oink charter.

[stickyfingers]

Well if they threw in the religious channels they could have added four more, for a total of 33 channels or 55% of the total channels in AT60 are fluff. I guess AT27 didn't roll off the tongue as well as AT60... ;)

Brian

[88fan]

Service calls may cost $50, but lets face it, when was the last time anybody had to have somebody from dish come and repair something? Most problems with Dish can be solved over the phone. I'm sure the cable company has more service calls than Dish. Matter of fact I know they do, I use to work for them. LOL

[stickyfingers]

Yeah...and the "local economy" thing is a farce too, all companies require "local" installers. The poo that makes up the bulk of AT60 is valid point though...

Brian

[88fan]

True, sticky. But charter has a lot of crap channels also. The government makes satellite and cable providers cary so many "public interest channels". As for the local economy, Charter use to hire outside help to do their modem installs. They had guys driving from Cumberland, MD to do work in Altoona. As for dish and the local economy, the last I checked I live in the area I install dishes. Pretty good for me. LOL

[pinkertonfloyd]

Hey Comcast here just decided to bore their new digital pipe through my sewer main. I've spent all week trying to get Comcast to pay up for the repair ($1724!). They weren't too thrilled when I called them and they were trying to figure out why my name wasn't in the computer. "I'm not a customer, I have Dish Network".

After a ton of "on holds" and I asking to talk to a supervisor, we're now on our 4th person, this time a sub-contractor that did the work in our area. Who was supposed to stop by and pick up copies of our receipts 3 hours ago.

Heh...

Comcast also runs ads at the sports arenas with the same things. Never mind the fact that they have as many or more "junk" channels, and I personally have never, ever had to re-align my dishes (if they're installed correctly, you shouldn't). In fact my first dish install (1995) is at my mom's house... still going strong!!! Same house before dish would loose cable about 1-2 days per month on average... never had an outage more than a minute or two (Sun Spots, which the cable companies get also).


Only thing I can say... is that they must be hurting, Dish and DirectTV must really be cutting into profits. My whole street has only a couple Cable subs on it, everyone has a dish on the roof of some sort. And the Cable-Modems are about $15 more a month than the 1.2 Meg DSL the local phone company offers.

[cameron119]

If only Bellsouth would sell DSL a la carte. I don't need their phone service. If they didn't make me pay 49.00/month for 1.5/256 (I pay 39.95 for 2.0/256 from Charter) I would jump on them in a heartbeat.

[pinkertonfloyd]

Also, they like the throw around the "Cable in the Classroom" stuff (We hook up schools).

I work for a school dist, in the Tech dept.

1) It takes us about 2 Years to get the cable company to "hook up a school".

2) We pay for the hook up, only the "basic (non-scrambled) programming is free.

3) We get one wire for the whole school, we have to buy are own distribution networks (big $$$$) basically we get their feed, and then feed it into basically our own in house CATV system. (Each school's video room looks just like a cable-tv head, we use basically the same equiptment).

4) cable goes down... :we'll get someone out there" (in a few weeks).

5) "Oops, we didn't have you on record , and we disconnected your service". (We've had one school cut twice, then waited 3 weeks to have it redone).

Now the little secret is that DirectTV (I havent seen Dish's program if any) offers free basic packages to schools, you just buy the setup at your local dealer, get a form, select the channels you want and sign the contract... and it's activated for the school for free! I looked itno this but when the cable company found out we were asking a sub about configuring for DirectTV... Comcast magically sends a truck over to get the cable pulled into the school! =-)

[homeskillet]

I used to work in the tech department of a high school here in Kansas. The cable system head-end was across the street from our high school (still about 3 miles outside of town) and they refused to supply us with cable, so we called up the local DirecTV reseller and we got DirecTV installed for free. They even gave us a free "signal booster" for a cable run we had that was 600 feet from the tv out of the reciever to a new video room for the addition we had done to our school.

The only thing now is we are waiting on getting our dish upgrated to get the Topeka locals in April.

Our cable company had a severe storm come through a few years ago, and cable was out for the entire town 3 WEEKS! (When I got my first Dish Network system in 1997) and I've been with Dish ever sense. But this deal with Topeka locals is starting to make me look more into DirecTV because they are already converting people's dishes around her and said it will be live in April. Dish Network just says Topeka "is planned" and that is it.

[James Long]

I cancelled Comcast (internet, no video) early in December, before the Dec-Jan bill was due. They still sent me a Jan-Feb bill, along with the past due for Dec-Jan service (dates AFTER the cancellation). I called and they said they couldn't cancel the billing until they physically disconnected the house. They do have the modem, since that was rented and regardless, why should *I* should pay just because THEY have a bad billing system. (And they did kill service on day one - the modem connection went bye bye!)

The Feb-Mar bill should be on its way now so I called again to see what the status was. Would they actually bill me for three months of service after disconnect? If so, that bill would have gone straight to the state attourney general. Fraudlent billing is SO not cool.

They finally zeroed my bill and sent me a check for $3 for the days I had paid for between disconnect and the end of November-December's billing period. It only took two months to get it straight.

Cable is bad. The only use I have for cable is to get my satellite signals from dish to receivers, and even THAT cable is better than what Comcast would install.

BTW: The Charter ad is also misleading as it says "dish companies". Only one dish company has 60 for $29.99 (including locals). The plural is incorrect. They also don't tell you that 60 channels for $29.99 gives you 74 channels. Yes, it includes 13 shopping, 23 PI channels (6 on wings, so 68 total / 17 PI channels if you don't have a side slot dish) and 2 ESPN alts. And for $5 more you can get ALL the sports networks for your region, and alts. On E* I get two FSN feeds, and the four FSN alts. Cable subscribers are lucky to get one. And, big bonus, the $29.99 includes access to PPV. I'd have to pay Comcast $50 per month to have PPV access. But then Charter ads don't have to be true ... they just have to be persuasive ...

E* channel counts below ...

JL

[shilton]

I was at a friends house today, and charter communications(altoona, pa) is firing back at dish network since we got our local channels. I saw three messages scroll at the bottom of the weather channels local on the 8's. Here they are from what I remember:

Attention charter customers, dish companies are offering you 60 channels with locals for $29.95, but did you know there are 13 shopping channels, and 16 public interest channels?

Charter communications helps the LOCAL economy! We employ LOCAL people who pay LOCAL taxes, and support the LOCAL ecomony unlike dish companies.

Did you know dish service calls cost $50.00 even if weather related? They dont tell you this in the TV ads.

I knew they would be in trouble quick. Oink Oink charter.
Charter is next to bankruptcy and also attempting to push through a sale to get themselves out of debt in Altoona. They are dying. This is a mere act of desperation...and are you going to tell me if your cable goes out they won't charge you for a service call??? I know they do.

[Slordak]

I was a Comcast customer for 4 years (actually they weren't named "Comcast" the entire time), and dutifully paid my bills on time every month, without a single late payment. Yes, the channels looked bad, but I accepted it, and I accepted the "Add $7 for tax and franchise fees" junk.

One day, Comcast decided to cut my service. I called them up and asked what the problem was, and of course they said it must be my internal wiring (inside the apartment, this is, which had never been touched and had always worked) or my television. Never mind that both televisions had no service. Eventually I got them to agree to send someone out, but they said they couldn't be out earlier than about a week later. I got home from work early to wait for the cable guy, but of course, he never showed up.

The next day, the cable guy did finally show up. He hooked the cable back up again outside (took him a grand total of about 5 minutes), and I had service once again. I asked him why exactly my service had been cut, and he indicated that they didn't know I was a customer. What? I'd been paying my bills for 4 years and they thought my cable line was just unused and could be given to the lady living downstairs?? He generously offered not to charge me for the service call.

I called up Comcast to complain that I had no service for 8-9 days, that it was a wrongful disconnection, and that I was upset. The best I could wrangle out of them was a week's credit (only on the programming, not on all the fees and taxes) on my bill. I threatened them that if they ever pulled this crap again, they could consider me an ex-customer.

When I finally got a house of my own, I got Dish Network and haven't looked back or contacted Comcast since. Screw Comcast. They also kept telling me that cable modems would be "coming soon" to my area, ever since I moved there, and now (5 years later), they're finally getting around to adding the necessary infrastructure. That's OK; I have DSL (and had it at my old place) and it works just fine.

[Bif]

Charter Digital Cable is crystal clear--much better than grainy/blurry satellite. also, charter digital cable has hd locals which is cool. charter's equipment also is not substandard like satellite.

[rvd420]

Charter Digital Cable is crystal clear--much better than grainy/blurry satellite. also, charter digital cable has hd locals which is cool. charter's equipment also is not substandard like satellite.


/me thinks Bif works for Charter.....or is brainwashed.

[Mark Holtz]

There are some cable companies which outperform the DBS companies. Those are few and far between. According to Comcast's site, there is no DVR service available yet in my area. Gee, I had a DVR since I subscribed to DBS in September, 2001. In fact, both Dish and DirecTV had DVR products. In fact, DirecTV has two different DVR products that could record two programs at once.

My Dish Network dish had to be realigned ONCE after install. This was after a period of extremely nasty windy weather, and pushed the dish down enough so that I wasn't able to reliably receive 110/29 which uses an older E* satellite and is in a slightly different location. Most programming on 110, however, is on the stronger E*8 satellite, and wasn't affected, but the poor 501 had problems getting a program guide.

Oh yeah, I had complained to the local cable commission about the bad billing practice which made me switch in the first place as well as the local operations manager of the cableco and the corporate headquarters. They said that they were going to give everyone a free month of Disney channel. Slight problem... they always have a freeview at that time, and Disney was being moved from the premiums to the basics.

Since 2001, it appears that there are more dishes on the roofs of people in my neighborhood.

[lesmoss]

/me thinks Bif works for Charter.....or is brainwashed.

I don't work for Charter, but I can support Bif on this one. My Charter ANALOG cable is superior to Dish's SD channels. I use Dish only for HD, which my Charter location does not offer yet. I will probably dump Dish when they do.

A good (fiber optic) cable sytem can deliver an amazingly good picture. My local NBC affiliate's live broadcasts are near DVD quality.

[cameron119]

/me thinks Bif works for Charter.....or is brainwashed.

Well, I work for Charter-and I don't exactly share the sentiment that DBS equipment is substandard. The Dish 508 is 50.00 more in bulk than the Scientific Atlanta Explorer 3200. Granted, you get DVR features. I really can't imagine where he was going with the substandard equipment line. I had to get satellite a year ago because we purchased a home on a farm about ten miles from the nearest cable plant. I truly enjoy my Dish Network service. I have a 508, 2 301's, and an 811. I don't really miss the DAVIC return path on the box, because the interactive features barely use a return path at all-let alone 1.5Mbps. As far as the picture statement, I have to say it all depends on the level of compression. I can say that on the "standard" digital tier we offer, the compression is above 13:1. We even get a "delay" according to the SA DCT's because the compression is so high. The premiums are on-par with Echostar or DirecTV. The basic lineup on Dish Network far surpasses the quality of the analog and digital (standard tier) channels on Charter. So, with Dish Network, I get ALL of my channels in a format that is more pleasing than the basic digital package that Charter offers, and excellent premium channels as well. As a customer, Dish Network is my best value. As a video/audio enthusiast, Dish Network is my best value. As a plant manager at Charter, I just keep quiet about my service from the "dark side".

[ehren]

I have the Charter HD box for my HD locals and it's a pretty fine unit, I just don't know where the stretch feature is!!!! Probably b/c it doesn't have one!

[normang]

Bif is a troll.. Turn off guest access...

[cameron119]

I don't work for Charter, but I can support Bif on this one. My Charter ANALOG cable is superior to Dish's SD channels. I use Dish only for HD, which my Charter location does not offer yet. I will probably dump Dish when they do.

A good (fiber optic) cable sytem can deliver an amazingly good picture. My local NBC affiliate's live broadcasts are near DVD quality.

Problem is, many cable systems don't maintain a good, clean signal to the point of termination (which would be a tv, etc.) Analog, if it was completely clean and free of noise, would be the sharpest, most accurate reproduction of a scene available. This simply doesn't exist in the real world. C-band offers this from what I've heard. Anyway, a digital signal maintains its integrity much better than analog. That's why most people see a better picture on DBS-because the picture is clear and pristine-noise free. Beyond that, it's all about perception. The problem with HFC is the C. There is no such thing as perfect plant. Some people are lucky and have the best in wiring, next to node that is well-maintained, etc. Even so, there will still be some noise.

[lesmoss]

There are two important issues. Noise AND compression. Analog cable gives me low noise and no compression. DBS gives me no noise but lots of compression. The SD picture on most dish channels (via an 811 at 1080i) is no better than my cable was before it was rebuilt (copper->fiber). I do admit that before I moved to this area my cable was terrible - noticeably worse than Dish SD. The point here is: Don't assume DBS will improve your SD picture quality (as I did). Test it before you disconnect cable.

What does HFC stand for? Given what you say, digital cable might be worse than analog for me and as bad as DBS. How do the compression ratios Charter digital uses compare to those used by Dish?

Anyway, a digital signal maintains its integrity much better than analog. That's why most people see a better picture on DBS-because the picture is clear and pristine-noise free. Beyond that, it's all about perception. The problem with HFC is the C. There is no such thing as perfect plant. Some people are lucky and have the best in wiring, next to node that is well-maintained, etc. Even so, there will still be some noise.

[88fan]

Bif , that was poor comparison to dish. Are you contacting us from the Mars rover?....LOL.....Because I know there is no place on Earth where cable has better picture quality than satellite.

[msgph]

Comcast ran an ad in today's Kansas City Star offering $400 for anyone to switch from satellite to cable. The offer was for $25 a month credit for 16 months.

I was at a friends house today, and charter communications(altoona, pa) is firing back at dish network since we got our local channels. I saw three messages scroll at the bottom of the weather channels local on the 8's. Here they are from what I remember:

Attention charter customers, dish companies are offering you 60 channels with locals for $29.95, but did you know there are 13 shopping channels, and 16 public interest channels?

Charter communications helps the LOCAL economy! We employ LOCAL people who pay LOCAL taxes, and support the LOCAL ecomony unlike dish companies.

Did you know dish service calls cost $50.00 even if weather related? They dont tell you this in the TV ads.


I knew they would be in trouble quick. Oink Oink charter.

[DishCSR]

/me thinks Bif works for Charter.....or is brainwashed.

ROFLMAO

[stickyfingers]

Bif , that was poor comparison to dish. Are you contacting us from the Mars rover?....LOL.....Because I know there is no place on Earth where cable has better picture quality than satellite.Well my locals (the channels that I spend 80% of my time watching) are of ENORMOUSLY lesser quality via E* than they are via cable. The rest of the channels are mostly a wash, some are better on E* some are better on cable and most of 'em are about equal. E* has butchered, at least mine, locals.

Brian

[Mark Holtz]

It would help if the DBS providers didn't have to carry the stations which are essentially repeaters of national feeds. Univision 19 in Sacramento does carry most of the Univision feed, but also has a good news operation, so they would qualify.

The AT-60 (http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/programming/packages/at_50/index.asp?viewby=1&packid=10049&sortby=1) package is a bit thin, but it does have many of the more popular channels, including ESPN, CNN, and C-SPAN. (C-SPAN, by the way, is a public interest channel, so that makes 14 PI channels, not 13. Under the FCC rules, C-SPAN 2 cannot be qualified as a PI channel). The only thing that I would be missing from that package is Turner Classic movies and Another Movie Channel.

[James Long]

The AT-60 (http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/programming/packages/at_50/index.asp?viewby=1&packid=10049&sortby=1) package is a bit thin, but it does have many of the more popular channels, including ESPN, CNN, and C-SPAN. (C-SPAN, by the way, is a public interest channel, so that makes 14 PI channels, not 13. Under the FCC rules, C-SPAN 2 cannot be qualified as a PI channel). The only thing that I would be missing from that package is Turner Classic movies and Another Movie Channel.
Actually, I see 23 PI channels - 17 of them on Dish500 and 6 on the wings.
Low numbered PIs include:
210 C-SPAN
213 NASA Select TV
260 Trinity Broadcasting Network
261 Eternal Word TV
262 Angel One
Other Dish500 PI channels
9400 Research Channel
9401 HITN
9402 PBS You
9403 BYU TV
9404 University of Washington TV
9407 Colours TV
9408 Daystar
9409 RFD-TV
9410 WorldLink TV
9411 N. Arizona University House
9412 University of California TV
9415 Free Speech TV
PIs requiring a wing dish
9405 Health TV
9406 Arts Showcase
9413 Educating Everyone
9414 FamilyNet
9416 Good Samaritan Network
9418 Panhandle Area Ed. Consortium
And, of course, we have our 13 shopping channels. Three or four of those would be typical for cable operators, but satellite gives you more programming choices!

JL

[BarryO]

I cancelled Comcast (internet, no video) early in December, before the Dec-Jan bill was due. They still sent me a Jan-Feb bill, along with the past due for Dec-Jan service (dates AFTER the cancellation). I called and they said they couldn't cancel the billing until they physically disconnected the house. They do have the modem, since that was rented and regardless, why should *I* should pay just because THEY have a bad billing system. (And they did kill service on day one - the modem connection went bye bye!)

The Feb-Mar bill should be on its way now so I called again to see what the status was. Would they actually bill me for three months of service after disconnect? If so, that bill would have gone straight to the state attourney general. Fraudlent billing is SO not cool.

This must be on Page 213 of the cable operators' "How to Screw the Public Handbook". 'same thing happened to me in the 1980's in Los Angeles, when I tried to disconnect cable service. The business office of the cable company was just down the block from my workplace, so I went down there at lunch and told them I was moving in 2 weeks, and to disconnect service on that date. The receptionist said (as if she was repeating it from a script) that the earliest they could possibly do it was 4 weeks, and I would be charged until they actually did do the disconnect, since they had no way of knowing if I was going to be stealing service until that time (yeh, she actually said that)! No wonder there were alot of one-way mirrors, no doubt bulletproof, in the reception area.

Now this particular company served a low-income area, and no doubt alot of their customers would have meekly slinked off and put up with it. I went back to work and called the city cable franchise commision, who told me they must do any work within two weeks.

SO, I go back down to the office, "remember me?", told them I spoke to their regulators, found out they were attempting to violate their franchise agreement with the city, and (again) asked to be disconnected 2 week hence, or I would file a formal complaint with the city and ask that fines be levied. She disappears behind the one-way glass, where I guess they decide I'm not one of the poor folks they regularly rip off and are afraid to cause them any trouble, so she comes back out and says OK, they can do the disconnect on that date.

In the present situation, this is even more bogus, as the IP address lease for the cable modem can be pulled with a few keystrokes. After that, it's only good as a doorstop.

[James Long]

In the present situation, this is even more bogus, as the IP address lease for the cable modem can be pulled with a few keystrokes. After that, it's only good as a doorstop.
And it was. By the time I hung up the call cancelling the modem was dead and the email accounts were deleted. The only thing it took six weeks to stop was the billing.

JL

[Tyralak]

I was at a friends house today, and charter communications(altoona, pa) is firing back at dish network since we got our local channels. I saw three messages scroll at the bottom of the weather channels local on the 8's. Here they are from what I remember:

Attention charter customers, dish companies are offering you 60 channels with locals for $29.95, but did you know there are 13 shopping channels, and 16 public interest channels?



And how is this different than Charter? I happen to have Charter, and there are a HUGE amount of those bogus shopping channels, a bunch of local "interest" channels (I find nothing interesting about them) and a bunch of religious channels.

It's a lot like another commercial from Charter that has Dan Akroyd as some sort "Dish Patrol" running up to someone's house to "save" them from Dish. He adds up all the extra fees Dish has on his little calculator. i.e. Service plan fee, extra outlet fee, etc. Which incidently enough are the SAME fees Charter has and charges MORE for. Talk about chutzpah. :nono2:

Three words Charter: POT KETTLE BLACK

[Tyralak]

/me thinks Bif works for Charter.....or is brainwashed.

Or doesn't have those abominable DCT2000 digital recievers that Charter pushes on us. Horribly slow and scarce on features.

[Tyralak]

There are some cable companies which outperform the DBS companies. Those are few and far between. According to Comcast's site, there is no DVR service available yet in my area. Gee, I had a DVR since I subscribed to DBS in September, 2001. In fact, both Dish and DirecTV had DVR products. In fact, DirecTV has two different DVR products that could record two programs at once.


Besides, their idea of "DVR" is those horrible Scientific Atlanta recievers that make the Dish 501 look like something from Star Trek. Plus they want $10 a month for it. You could get a real stand alone Tivo for nearly that!

[Tyralak]

I don't work for Charter, but I can support Bif on this one. My Charter ANALOG cable is superior to Dish's SD channels. I use Dish only for HD, which my Charter location does not offer yet. I will probably dump Dish when they do.

A good (fiber optic) cable sytem can deliver an amazingly good picture. My local NBC affiliate's live broadcasts are near DVD quality.

Well, I do have to agree on that last bit. In some parts of the Sacramento area, you can get Surewest Broadband which is a next generation distributed fiber network. They actually pull fiber up to the customer's HOME. Internet is 10Mbps, and the picture quality is impressive. No nasty compression artifacts. Unfortunatly, this type of this is extrodinarily rare.

[Tyralak]

It would help if the DBS providers didn't have to carry the stations which are essentially repeaters of national feeds. Univision 19 in Sacramento does carry most of the Univision feed, but also has a good news operation, so they would qualify.

The AT-60 (http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/programming/packages/at_50/index.asp?viewby=1&packid=10049&sortby=1) package is a bit thin, but it does have many of the more popular channels, including ESPN, CNN, and C-SPAN. (C-SPAN, by the way, is a public interest channel, so that makes 14 PI channels, not 13. Under the FCC rules, C-SPAN 2 cannot be qualified as a PI channel). The only thing that I would be missing from that package is Turner Classic movies and Another Movie Channel.


If Fox news was in the AT60, it would be a decent package, but you have to go to the AT100 to get it.

[DS0816]

I'm in the Detroit market. We have two competing cable companies in Wayne county (the fifth most populated in the U.S.): Comcast and WOW (Wide Open West). They're both really good at competing with each other. For me, it's personal. I want an extensive channel package for my programming. But when it comes to Internet service, I want high-speed, whether I get that through cable or DSL, and I proved to myself more than a year ago that AOL was worth dumping because it had s-s-slow dial-up.

I can believe someone has a supreme cable company at a local level. But this so rare, that most people in this country evidently have to laugh at such possibility.

For programming, it's all based on value -- what you're wanting, what you're getting, and especially what you're paying. No matter how you cut, there is a set standard; nowadays you can expect to pay $40 -- a few years ago it was $30 -- and don't expect any premiums to go along with your standard cable lineup of local network affiliates and CNN, USA, A&E, Lifetime, MTV, TNT, and so on.

[Mark Holtz]

Well, I do have to agree on that last bit. In some parts of the Sacramento area, you can get Surewest Broadband which is a next generation distributed fiber network. They actually pull fiber up to the customer's HOME. Internet is 10Mbps, and the picture quality is impressive. No nasty compression artifacts. Unfortunatly, this type of this is extrodinarily rare.SureWest Broadband purchased WinFirst who was in bankruptcy. SureWest was known as Roseville Telephone, which provides the voice service where I live. And, as far as I know, there are no immediate plans to lay down lines in my area.

[gjrhine]

It's a lot like another commercial from Charter that has Dan Akroyd as some sort "Dish Patrol" running up to someone's house to "save" them from Dish. He adds up all the extra fees Dish has on his little calculator. i.e. Service plan fee, extra outlet fee, etc. Which incidently enough are the SAME fees Charter has and charges MORE for. Talk about chutzpah. :nono2:

Three words Charter: POT KETTLE BLACK

I suppose cable pig commercials are in a lot better taste.

[Tyralak]

I suppose cable pig commercials are in a lot better taste.

Not really, but they're actually funny and creative, unlike the Charter ads. Plus the pig ads are mostly true. The Charter ads are completly misleading, if not downright false.

[Tyralak]

SureWest Broadband purchased WinFirst who was in bankruptcy. SureWest was known as Roseville Telephone, which provides the voice service where I live. And, as far as I know, there are no immediate plans to lay down lines in my area.

I live in West Sacramento. We won't get it here until sometime next century. :lol:

As far as I know, it's only availible in Arden Park, and parts of Natomas. I remember Winfirst. It was a great idea, but poorly ran.

[James Long]

If Fox news was in the AT60, it would be a decent package, but you have to go to the AT100 to get it.
FNC is included in our local cable "lifeline" package.

JL

[Tyralak]

FNC is included in our local cable "lifeline" package.

JL

Lucky. All we get is C-Span.

[ehren]

My father gets ESPN and ESPN2 on his basic cable and I get ESPN in my area. Well Feb 15th Golf Channel and ESPN are switching so I guess ESPN got the word.

[Mike Richardson]

Interestingly, here in Houston, the Time Warner lifeline/economy cable includes locals and city channels, plus WGN, TechTV, and CNN International. WGN isin't too crazy but the other two are. I think they only carry them in lifeline because outside the city limits the city channels are replaced with these two channels and they are too lazy to filter out just one channel.

[James Long]

The non-locals included on my town's cable "lifeline" are only included because it is easier to build a blocker that kills cable 23 and up than one that kills cable 14-22 as well as 23 and up. (14-22 are between channel 6 and 7 on the spectrum. Two of those channels are scrambled movie channels.)

Lifeline isn't too bad here, with Discovery, ESPN and ESPN2 included the last time I looked. Also TBS, WGN, CSPAN and FNC.

But on the bad side: For shopping, lifeline cable provides QVC and HSN. You have to get up to the $68.99 level to get a third shopping channel. With E* I can get 13 shopping channels for $29.99! Also cable has ONE PI channel plus CSPAN ... E* gives 16 plus CSPAN on Dish500.

JL

[garypen]

If Fox news was in the AT60, it would be a decent package, but you have to go to the AT100 to get it.

That's almost a good enough reason to downgrade to AT60.

[Mike Richardson]

I wonder if the cable company is paying for these channels :lol: or just slips them in "accidentally"

[Tyralak]

That's almost a good enough reason to downgrade to AT60.

If you don't like FOX, don't watch it. The same thing I have to do with all your worthless sports crap that clogs up my channel guide.

[Tyralak]

The non-locals included on my town's cable "lifeline" are only included because it is easier to build a blocker that kills cable 23 and up than one that kills cable 14-22 as well as 23 and up. (14-22 are between channel 6 and 7 on the spectrum. Two of those channels are scrambled movie channels.)

Lifeline isn't too bad here, with Discovery, ESPN and ESPN2 included the last time I looked. Also TBS, WGN, CSPAN and FNC.

But on the bad side: For shopping, lifeline cable provides QVC and HSN. You have to get up to the $68.99 level to get a third shopping channel. With E* I can get 13 shopping channels for $29.99! Also cable has ONE PI channel plus CSPAN ... E* gives 16 plus CSPAN on Dish500.

JL


You actually WANT those shopping channels? Now I've seen everything.

[James Long]

But on the bad side: For shopping, lifeline cable provides QVC and HSN. You have to get up to the $68.99 level to get a third shopping channel. With E* I can get 13 shopping channels for $29.99! Also cable has ONE PI channel plus CSPAN ... E* gives 16 plus CSPAN on Dish500.
You actually WANT those shopping channels? Now I've seen everything.
The most compelling content Charlie can offer. :lol:

BTW: The following was missing from my post ...
:uglyhamme

JL

[midnight75]

LOL....yet more proof that the cable companies are feeling the impact of DirecTV & Dish Network.

[ehren]

Boy I hope Charter goes under and we get Time Warner!

[Darkman]

hehe - the OLDIE but Goodie i see is back (re: This Thread) :D

[BurgEnder]

Charter Digital Cable is crystal clear--much better than grainy/blurry satellite. also, charter digital cable has hd locals which is cool. charter's equipment also is not substandard like satellite.Standard garden variety unregistered troll. Bif, this site is called DBSTalk for a reason. :nono2:

[Jacob S]

Isn't there any cable forums out there somewhere?

[ypsiguy]

The only thing Comcrap has over Dish in my area is internet access. Their TV/music service is wretched. Only reason I have their lifeline basic is that it drops their internet price by a few bucks.

[Jason Nipp]

The only thing Comcrap has over Dish in my area is internet access. Their TV/music service is wretched. Only reason I have their lifeline basic is that it drops their internet price by a few bucks.

Are we forgetting about Directway and Starband? :D

But seriously, in my area, rural as it is...(They still accept farm animals as payment for services rendered at the local Ford dealer...hehe :lol: ) we have wireless internet, up to 1.5MB bursts. Fairly reliable 2 way data transfer, you need line of site but the installers have come up with some very creative installs. If this is new to you you can check out the details of how it works at http://www.t6wireless.com. :rolleyes:

Jason

[Tyralak]

Are we forgetting about Directway and Starband? :D


Nope. Those two have decent downstream, but have atrocious latency. It makes them practically worthless for online gaming, webcam, and VPN.

But seriously, in my area, rural as it is...(They still except farm animals as payment for services rendered at the local Ford dealer...hehe :lol: )

What kind of car can you get for 4 goats, 2 sheep and a contankerous Armadillo? :D

we have wireless internet. up to 1.5MB bursts. Fairly reliable 2 way data transfer, you need line of site but the installers have come up with some very creative installs. If this is new to you you can check out the details of how it works at http://www.t6wireless.com. :rolleyes:

Jason

I've seen that kind of thing. The latency is the same as a cable modem, being that the signal doesn't have to go 22,500 miles both ways, like Starband does. They have it here, but it's pretty pricy.

[Jason Nipp]

What kind of car can you get for 4 goats, 2 sheep and a contankerous Armadillo? :D

Didn't know Armadillo's migrated to Cali....hehe :lol:

Jason

[Tyralak]

Didn't know Armadillo's migrated to Cali....hehe :lol:

Jason

I'm from Texas originally. Had several that used to frequent my yard. :) I HAVE been tempted, however, to introduce them to Northern CA. !Devil_lol

[Jason Nipp]

I'm from Texas originally. Had several that used to frequent my yard. :) I HAVE been tempted, however, to introduce them to Northern CA. !Devil_lol

Nothing like having an armor plated Rat run across the 401!.....hehehe !rolling

Jason

[Bobby94928]

I'm from Texas originally. Had several that used to frequent my yard. :) I HAVE been tempted, however, to introduce them to Northern CA. !Devil_lol

DON'T YOU DARE!!! :grin:

[red hazard]

Standard garden variety unregistered troll. Bif, this site is called DBSTalk for a reason. :nono2:

Bif obviously is ignorant of how digital cable and digital satellite work. If the compression algorithm, bit rate, and the BER (Bit Error Rate) are same then the picture will be the same regardless of transmission channel.