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cmego posted 1/25/2014 08:57 AM

I am moving soon and really tired of my cable bill. $190/ month seems ridiculous. That is for 3 tvs, phone and internet.

I received an advertisement for Dish and it looks much cheaper. I don't care about the home phone, it is just something I had to bundle in. But decent channels (don't need movie channels) like HGTV, local news and decent tween channels.

BTW, when I first started with my cable company, my bill was $140, 3 years ago, it has just slowly increased. Now I'm paying close to what my car payment is for cable.

Any yeahs or nays?

Whalers11 posted 1/25/2014 09:21 AM

I have Dish and I love it. They have a variety of different channel packages - I have the all inclusive package with all the movie channels and pay $149/month.

Experience with customer service has always been positive, too.

cmego posted 1/25/2014 10:01 AM

Do you have internet through them?? My school is full-time online, so I need very consistent service (don't we all!).

Dreamboat posted 1/25/2014 10:48 AM

I used to have direct TV which is also satellite. It went down every time there was a thunderstorm. Every single time. I live in the south and in the spring and summer we get a lot of thunderstorms.

I agree that cable bills are outrageous. They have been nickle and diming me to death. But I like the speed of cable internet as compared to DSL.

One thing to be careful if you switch because many companies offer this great price but in the fine print it says that the low prices is only for a few months. The cable company did that to me too.

sadtoo posted 1/25/2014 10:54 AM

We moved from the city to the country and now have DISH.

LOVE IT!! Our bill in the city was almost $200 too. Insane. Now we have 5 tv's, cable, DVR's on all tv's (no movie channels) Internet, (no home phone) and our bill is $90.00 per month!

People talk about losing the signal during bad weather, etc. we have been here for three years. We have had thunderstorms, blizzards, 60mph winds, etc. We have maybe had it go "fuzzy" for a couple seconds once or twice in three years. So would I pay that $3600 I've saved over the last three years to get rid of the couple seconds of "fuzz"? NO WAY!!

Whalers11 posted 1/25/2014 11:21 AM

I don't have internet with them - just the tv package.

Mama_of_3_Kids posted 1/25/2014 11:56 AM

We just have satellite, and they're decent. We've hardly ever lost signal and their customer service is pretty good. We pay about $60/mo; we have two receivers and three TV's. We don't have their internet, b/c the cost to add it is about the same as what we pay with our current internet company (about $35).

Lucky2HaveMe posted 1/25/2014 12:27 PM

We loved Dish. We switched to cable because they gave us a 2yr deal we couldn't refuse. That deal expires in May and I will play the game again if need be to get a decent price.

That said, talk to any neighbors who might have Dish. My sister lives more in a *valley* and she would lose reception at the least little storm. We, apparently, are a bit higher (20 mi from her) and I think lost reception maybe 2-3 times in the 10 yrs we had it.

Lionne posted 1/25/2014 13:16 PM

Directv here. We lose it in some severe storms. But then I just turn on anything I've dvred and play that. We don't usually lose internet access when the satellite tv goes out, don't know why.

Our only complaint is that the cable company owns the franchise for the local baseball team so we don't get to see those games. Otherwise it is MUCH cheaper and the selection is fine. I think I pay less than $70 for two receivers with dvr and insurance, $30 for internet. I don't have any premium channels, don't need them.

persevere posted 1/25/2014 14:12 PM

I have Dish, and I've liked it. Some of the channels have had occasional reception issues, but overall it's been good, and much cheaper than Uverse. After my pay channel special was over I was back up at the Uverse price (which I had no pay channels with), but I just cancelled that and the bill is going down approx $50 per month.

The only thing I don't like is that I'm stuck in a two year contract - I'd prefer no contract.

Sad in AZ posted 1/25/2014 15:08 PM

I had Dish in Houston; it cost $109/mo--no premium channels. It went out whenever it rained. I heard bad things about their internet--from my DS, the IT person, so I went with another carrier for it. Then my apartment complex decided to outlaw it--but I guess they ran into legalities, so they had to wait till tenants moved.

The kicker was the contract--if you cancel before 2-years, you have to pay a huge fine. Yes, you can take it with you when you move--IF the place you're moving to allows satallite dishes. My new apartment complex does not.

purplejacket4 posted 1/25/2014 15:36 PM

I had Dish TV before and although it was cheaper I got SO tired of certain things:

1) the trees matured and one spring the TV just didn't work because the leaves were in the way. Had to pay to move the receiver
2) every storm the dish went out ( there's a commercial making fun of this)
3) every damn time it snowed I had to get out a damn ladder, climb up and remove all snow/ice.

The PPV wasn't as good and there was no internet with it.

[This message edited by purplejacket4 at 3:37 PM, January 25th (Saturday)]

cmego posted 1/25/2014 18:01 PM

I'm not a huge TV user. Seriously, HGTV on during the day, or a cooking show. I like to watch local news and the Today show as background noise in the morning. The kids like to watch a few shows…but that is it.

Movies I can rent or buy.

Mostly I want local news, HGTV, a few kid channels.

The internet is imperative.

I live in a two story house, there will be no climbing on anything during the snow…that would be a problem.

unbreak_my_heart posted 1/25/2014 20:54 PM

we "cut the cord" almost a year ago... We have TWC for internet only, Hulu plus and NetFlix with over air TV. DO NOT regret it! We save over $90 a month...

Rebreather posted 1/26/2014 11:03 AM

We use a dish and have the Hopper. We do lose signal when we have snow build up, but you can be proactive about where you receiver is placed. We don't have internet or any movie channels and I think we pay about $90/m. I like it a lot ; although we don't have cable here so I really don't have many other options.

Jeaniegirl posted 1/26/2014 12:44 PM

I have Dish Network and it costs $77 per month. I have some movie channels but not HBO. It's okay, I guess. Price does not include internet or home phone as that is not an option available to me yet, in my area. So I pay $89 for a home phone and internet but never use the home phone. I live out in the country and thunderstorms always interrupt my cable. It can sit there simmering for 30 minutes or so as it seems to have to download every time it's interrupted by a storm.

I'm only interested in the news channels, A&E, the History and Animal planet channels and HGTV .. and my local television stations - yet my package includes 100 different 'sports' channels. Ugh.

sisoon posted 1/26/2014 14:54 PM

I call my cable provider and tell 'em I'm switching unless they cut my bill. They then give me the promotional price for my package. I had two 12 month promo packages that covered 24 months. Now I'm on a 6 month package, which is annoying, but even so, a 15 minute phone call saved me $180, which is a lot better rate than I make in my business.

I'd go Dish, but Internet service is either wireless, which provided very irregular response when I tried it a few years ago, or DSL, which is too slow to meet my needs.

I could save $240 over the next 2 years by switching, but that's just not enough savings to justify signing up for an iron-clad 2 year commitment. JMO.

I'd go cable internet, over the air TV, and Hulu + Netflix. That would save about $500/year, but 2 local channels that are important to us just don't come in clearly in my location.

[This message edited by sisoon at 3:02 PM, January 26th (Sunday)]