Changing From Cable to Dish or Direct

[Dave]

It seems that people would rather put up with bad service and high prices, rather than switch to Dish or Direct TV or another alternative. Too many people do not want to put up with the hassle and aggravation of doing the switch over. Perhaps some of the horror stories we see on here and at other Forums are making the rounds, and maybe hurting the different providers reps.
I do understand someone who has heard from a friend or neighbor that they ordered a Dish or Direct system and had a scheduled appointment for 9 AM and no one showed until 4PM. It is happening more and more of late. Or you have a scheduled install and the installer says Oh thats going to be $100 extra for that install because of whatever. If you say it includes install then don't try and screw the customer. Show up on time and keep your record clean. Or you do lose business. You don't get new customers and you lose revenue. Yes people would rather keep cable than change to a better service. These are some of the reasons. It is a fact, they won't change to put up with the hassles of changing.
This is the fault of Dish, DirectV or whoever.

[CCarncross]

Many of the un-informed dont bother to look into whats considered part of the free install....

http://www.dbsinstall.com/Directv/Directv.htm

Tells it well...

They also many times won't go through the hassle of replacing much of their inferior interior wiring either, which can make a huge difference. I dont care who's service you have, get rid of that old RG-59, it stinks for todays modern services...

The rest, well many of them probably dont care....


;)

[harsh]

It seems that people would rather put up with bad service and high prices, rather than switch to Dish or Direct TV or another alternative.You've come to the wrong place to make statements like that. Almost all who frequent here have already made that switch.I do understand someone who has heard from a friend or neighbor that they ordered a Dish or Direct system and had a scheduled appointment for 9 AM and no one showed until 4PM.My local cable provider, Comcast, like the local satellite installers, schedules in half-day increments.Oh thats going to be $100 extra for that install because of whatever.Which is why it is probably a good idea to contact a local installer in the first place. Almost everyone (including cable companies) uses subcontractors, so you stand a better chance by having a relationship with the company that is going to perform the installation as you will be more than a work order to them.

[Dave]

Yes, but most people do not frequent this and other forums. I got rid of cable 9 years ago and have never looked back. I check in on the forums daily to see if there is new knowledge available to me here and other places.
What I am saying is that the majority of the TV watchers out there do not have any idea what they are getting into with Dish, Direct, or what ever different provider they look into. All they know about is the commercial on TV telling them to make the switch. When you recommend Dish or Direct to a friend or family member do you tell them all they are getting into as far as the installation part.
Or do you just say what a great picture you have, and you are all digital already for no extra cost like cable? If you tell your mom or dad, hey get Dish it is great. And leave at that, or do you say I have Dish and this is what could happen during the installation. So I guess what I am saying is that people do not know what is going to happen. If all they hear are the horror stories from there neighbors and friends, they will not make the switch. They will pay the cable cost and just live with a bad picture on there TV.

[Steve Mehs]

It seems that people would rather put up with bad service and high prices, rather than switch to Dish or Direct TV or another alternative.

Is bad service a squished cable line due to a concrete driveway settling when it's not Time Warner's fault, but I get a free month of service anyway? Is it bad service getting that cable line replaced within 24 hours of the initial call, on Easter Sunday when the guy was here at 8:30AM and ran new cable lines and by 8:50 we we're on our way to 9:30 Easter Mass? Is it bad service that, that is the only cable outage in 18 months as a Road Runner subscriber that I had?

Is high cost a $700 HD DVR that will have to be replaced when MPEG 4 becomes standard, or a free HD DVR that costs an extra $5 a month that will be replaced for free if it dies or when better technology becomes avaiable?

They will pay the cable cost and just live with a bad picture on there TV.

What bad picture? I'm getting a greatly less pixelated picture on my TV from Time Warner Cable then DirecTV. DirecTV was great on a 32" SD CRT, put that same image on a 42" HD LCD and it looks awful, Time Warner on the other hand, very little pixelation and crisper picture on the digital channels.

I do understand someone who has heard from a friend or neighbor that they ordered a Dish or Direct system and had a scheduled appointment for 9 AM and no one showed until 4PM.

See I could never get that lucky with Time Warner. When they say we'll be here from 8AM-Noon, noon-4PM or 4PM-7PM they are always within the window. Otherwise I get a $20 service credit as per Customer Service Policy. Do Dish or DirecTV offer this?

[Nick]

What Steve said.

[G Dubble]

Thank the Lord for a site like this. I am new to this site and I find some interesting goings on about the classic argument of cable vs. satellite. I live in a remote part of Northern California where the nearest big city is a 4 hour drive from here. So the local television media isn't as progressive as I would like it to be. I the reason why I am posting an opinion on here is that the local cable company is stuck like in the Stone Ages. They don't even offer Hi-Def programming. I won't mention names ( ahem! Cox Cable!!!) and when I talked to a CSR, she told me that they don't have plans to provide it also in the near future. That is the reason why I went to D*. When I bought my TV, I had HD through another cable system. But when I moved here, there was no such thing as HD locally. Also, the Sunday Ticket on D* has me giddy all season long!!! Anyway, I am glad I ditched cable for D*, but for reasons of not providing HD, not for preference.

[G Dubble]

Thank the Lord for a site like this. I am new to this site and I find some interesting goings on about the classic argument of cable vs. satellite. I live in a remote part of Northern California where the nearest big city is a 4 hour drive from here. So the local television media isn't as progressive as I would like it to be. I the reason why I am posting an opinion on here is that the local cable company is stuck like in the Stone Ages. They don't even offer Hi-Def programming. I won't mention names ( ahem! Cox Cable!!!) and when I talked to a CSR, she told me that they don't have plans to provide it also in the near future. That is the reason why I went to D*. When I bought my TV, I had HD through another cable system. But when I moved here, there was no such thing as HD locally. Also, the Sunday Ticket on D* has me giddy all season long!!! Anyway, I am glad I ditched cable for D*, but for reasons of not providing HD, not for preference.

"He who eyes can see, he who has ears can hear" - Burning Spear