D* Questions

[Sgt.Bilbo]

I just recently purchased DirecTV and its scheduled to be installed on Thursday (switching from Comcast). I have a couple of questions.

1) Cable isn't scheduled to be shut off until a week from today, 10/4/05. Will the cable signal interfere w/ my satellite reception inside? I am in an apartment, so they'd be sharing the same coax.

2) What kind of fees does D* tack onto the bill? When I called Comcast, the retention rep stated that my bill will be around $75 because of all the fees they add...is this true?! I'm signing up for the Total Choice w/ 2nd room and DVR. If the bill is going to be this high, maybe this isn't the best choice....

Any info is GREATLY appreciated

 

[damaged]

1) If there is any cable splitters, sat won't work until they are removed(or new rg6 coax is ran for the sat), if the existing cable is rg59, and will be used to deliver the sat signal, it should be replaced by rg6.

2) You do not mention the plan you bought, if you have Total Choice Plus (like I do) it is 43 dollars(includes tax) a month +5 bucks for each receiver after the 1st one(i have 3 regular non-HD/non-DVR receivers, and it comes to 53 and change(includes tax). NOTE: This is AFTER my initial promo wore off, but I still do have a -10 credit per month for the next 15(now 11) months from initial start of contract, so after that expires, I will be paying 63 and change, however I will be of their contract 3 months by that time. Also, mine is with NO DVR, with DVR it is like 6 bucks more a month.

Remember the initial first few months or so (varies depending on the promotion) bills will be lower than what you will be paying once all the promos wear off(this applies to cable offers as well), in my case, it was still cheaper than the equivilent from comcast, and despite the compression issues still better quality than comcast analog(the only service they offered that came close to the price D* offered me, their digital was WAY overpriced imo), not to mention, my dish was up during katrina(when it was just a cat1 in florida) and watched tv the whole time (except for a few minutes of rain fade, and when the power went out) while comcast customers all over the place were down for upto 4 days, even after the power was restored.

 

[Sgt.Bilbo]

I honestly have NO idea what kind of cable is actually in the building. I'm pretty sure its RG6, because someone else in my building has D* already.

I got the Total Choice package. I'm currently too poor to handle anything better at this point. I'm hoping that this change from Comcast turns out to be a good decision...

 

[gibbsjf53]

1. How did you get the apartment management to agree for the installation of the dish? The D receiver puts out voltage to control the lnbf, cable and d should not share the same cable. Also to get the complete use of the dvr it should have 2 cables.

2. Total Choice is 41.99, 4.99 per extra receiver and a 5.99 dvr fee plus tax.

 

[damaged]

There's a fairly good chance it is rg6 then.

Well if you have the base TC, I think that's like 3-4 bucks cheaper than TCPlus, but, with the DVR fee, it evens out to having TCPlus without DVR.

You'll end up paying out (after all promos end) about 53 bucks(63 if you don't get the 15 month $10 credit, or if you do, after 15 months it will go up to 63) a month, not 75.

The 15 month 10 dollar credit iirc was my 150 dollar deposit (they call it simply "Fee") I had to put down, so while I'm getting my D* 10 bucks cheaper for 15 months, I'm really getting my 150 bucks back.

 

[Sgt.Bilbo]

That sounds good to me.

Gibbs, my apartment complex lets us install satellite dishes as long as they don't get installed on the building itself. There are already 2 D* dishes on our building on a side that gets ZERO wind (we're a one-level complex) and a perfect view south, so there shouldn't be any major signal issues. Guess I'll find out on Thursday