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Thinking of moving from E* to D*

2K views 21 replies 19 participants last post by  cwbuckley 
#1 ·
I would be interested in hearing from people that switched from E* to D*. What do you think of D*? Do you regret making the change? What is your opinion of their HD DVR? Anything else you like or dislike. I appreciate all of your opinions.
 
#2 ·
I'm in the process of switching. What I found, price is about the same when comparing both. D* has/will have better programming, E* has better equipment. Both companies are in a dog fight for who has the worst customer service. I think atleast D*'s overmatched CSR's are from the U.S. With E* as soon as you hear the overseas accent you know you are in for frustration.
 
#4 ·
I was with E* several years ago and they were my first sat provider that I had used. I really liked them, but switched to D* when the DTivo's came out. Haven't looked back since. I have had my HR20-100 since August and like it even better than my Tivo.
 
#7 ·
I had Dish for 18 months, now have DirecTV.
I've had similar equipment and packages with both.
Currently (and I hope this changes soon) I would give a slight edge in equipment and picture quality to Dish. The Dish 625 SD DVR was much better than the R15 I have now. The Dish VIP211 was much better than the H20 I have now.
I am getting an HR20 HD/DVR installed Friday so I hope for an improvement with it.
Picture quality on my local channels (SD) and RSN's is pathetic.
I give the edge to DirecTV in customer service.
Overall I'm happy with DirecV. I just hope they improve the picture quality soon.
DirecTV is saving me quite a bit of money in programming cost, especially for the first year.
 
#8 ·
ben arnold said:
I'm in the process of switching. What I found, price is about the same when comparing both. D* has/will have better programming, E* has better equipment. Both companies are in a dog fight for who has the worst customer service. I think atleast D*'s overmatched CSR's are from the U.S. With E* as soon as you hear the overseas accent you know you are in for frustration.
Bluewell, WV is a foreign accent? :eek2:

E* has a call center right next to the Kroger on Rt. 52 on your way to Bramwell.
 
#9 ·
I went with D* when I got to where I could afford Sunday Ticket and HD.

As far as I have been able to determine, I got my HD DVRs and other equipment at much less cost than it would have been with E*. It did take about a year to get it all.
 
#13 ·
I recently helped my dad upgrade his system to HD and he uses Dish Net. I spent some time on the phone with the people there and it was SCARY! Even though I get frustrated with the DirecTV people sometimes for the most part they are not that bad especially when you spend some time on the phone with the Dish Net people. Even the installer they sent out didn't seem on par with the DirecTV installers that have come to my house. He spent the first hour on the phone with people trying to get the work order modified because it was wrong and he said he wouldn't get paid for the work. Nice guy though and in the end he got the job done.
 
#14 ·
After a huge CSR nightmare trying to get HD and a HD-DVR through Dish (2 no-call/no-shows, CSRs lied to us about scheduling, pathetic retention offer ($5 credit for one month when we threatened to cancel)), we moved over to D*. I think the SD quality of D* blows E* out of the water. I definitely like the HR20 more than the 625 I had with E*, and better than my brother-in-law's ViP622. Once the new HD comes live (this week?), I'll be VERY happy with D* all-round.
 
#17 ·
a couple things you might consider is that D* lead all cable and sat providers in customer satisfaction for 3 out of 4 regions in jd power/associates survey. also i know that both D* and E* had approximately the same # of better business bureau complaints last year, which may seem to be equal until you consider D* has i think at last count about 3.5 million more customers. just make sure if you make the switch you get all details about any rebates if you are offered some, most take at least a month or so to process so you probably won't see that special sales price on your first bill.
 
#18 ·
DirecTV since 1994; Echostar/Dish subscriber 1998-2003, currently have all the equipment still (SD receiver, 4 dishes, check out at least once a month for 'operation').

Having both side-by-side for several years, running to/through the same processing equipment and displays, I'd echo those who give DirecTV the SD edge; no HD receiver (E*) so can't compare there; almost bought one, but it would now be obsolete (no Mpeg4).

Have several friends/co-workers I suggested they go with them, simply because at the time they had foreign channels DirecTV didn't (but now has with their push the last couple years for 'international' carriage).

The biggest problem with them (and the reason I dropped what I had) is that they didn't pay good attention to what orbital slots they put their programming on, putting way too much at the 61.5deg location (great for the east coast but virtually not receivable on the west coast); until the got the sats up at 148 and
129, too much programming one paid for was not available, unless you managed to put that extra dish up (and sat was viewable).

This is the reason they got wacked by the FCC a few years ago, by 'splitting' local channels between different sats/dishes.

They lost their bid for Ka-band, by missing several FCC mandated 'benchmarks' (no money basically to pay for construction), so the huge increase in bandwidth DirecTV has been utilizing for almost 2 years now (with the Spaceways and now DirecTV10) they've had to overload the Ku/DBS sats they have with HD (sound familiar to the same bandwidth constraints at Ku/DBS with DirecTV?), but they have also utilized several Ku (non-DBS) sats to carry some programming (again, just like DirecTV), as well as yet more Ku/DBS sats, which means yet MORE dishes!

As far as DVR's and such, others have commented, but first, you need to receive the signal. I always remind folks, that most DirecTV customers require only 20degs of sky (99 to 119) to receive most signals (yes, some locals are over at 70 something and the internationals are at 95), but Echostar is 61.5 to 148. A range of 86.5degs. (Got your chainsaw handy?)

So, moving from Dish to DirecTV should be an extremely easy move; the 'main' slots at 110/119 are the same, all one needs is the small 10degs over to the 99/101/103 slots. Programming is, or shortly will, be about the same, unless they have some HD locals that DirecTV doesn't have yet.
 
#19 ·
I made the switch a few days ago. Actually I was a D* customer about a year ago so I've flitted back and forth. Some thoughts.........

Dish will no longer carry Extra Innings. Strike 1....and two for that matter. They also may not carry Center Ice this year. I can understand if that means nothing to you.

HD programming....Dish by a mile at the moment. But that is promised to change within days. Once D* gets their HD stuff online in the next month or two, there should be little to no difference. I think Voom content is 80% boring, unwatchable and extremely repetitive.

SD programming.....pretty much even. Whenever I've switch in the past I haven't felt like I'm losing out on the small differences that exist.

DVR....close call. I give Dish the edge in winnowing out the non-repeats. The HR20 has a problem with that. On the other hand ff, pause and slo mo is handled better by the HR20. In comparison the 622 is not as precise.

In' not crazy at all about the 622 TV2 approach. It is only coaxial SD. It was OK for awhile but that got old fast. Depending on your watching priorities it may or may not be a big deal. Right now I have a D* HD receiver connected to my second TV which is a HD 32" Toshiba.

Good luck!
 
#21 ·
I was with Dish until late 2002. I really liked them, and always had a lot of affection for them as a more "upstart" type company that alway had an emphasis on value pricing. I actually had some guilt and a little inner turmoil over leaving, I just pictured myself a Dish kind of guy.

I switched for the DTivo when Dish wouldn't give me any kind of break on a DVR at all.

I have to say that D* has exceeded all expectations. The equipment has been good for me, I think the HR-20 is better than the Tivo products, so after all the knashing of teeth (still going on), I'm glad DTV left the Tivo behind (although it was rocky). I have no idea how the HR20 compares to Dish DVR's.

In addition they've been very good with me giving me breaks on programming and equipment when needed, and I never threaten to cancel, just ask nicely.

I never would have expected to have the same sort of affinity for DirecTV I had for Dish, but I do.
 
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