I had COX for a long time in Arizona, switched to DirecTV not long ago.
Well, I was first planning on switching to "reduce my bill". After buying all the equipment and the HD box, i spent a few months of cable bill on it all.
COX is due to get the Video On Demand in the near future. They also offer the same HD channels as DirecTV right now, as well as the no rain fade and all that (not really an issue at all in Arizona, if it rains you are not watching TV, you are probably outside seeing what is going on).
Some channels that i watch frequently are not on COX, such as CNBC World (I attend school in Singapore part of the year so I get used to watching Asia squawk box and the like....)
DirecTV certainly has more options right now, especially with the NFL Sunday ticket and all that. I hope that they keep pace with the cable industry in terms of HD content and possibly some sort of video on demand system, that would never really work because of the way the Sat's are set up, but oh well.
If COX had things like NFL Sunday ticket and CNBC World i would not have switched. The upcoming video on demand stuff is going to make me wish i did not switch in the first place.
Pointing a satellite dish and having it hang off of your house/apartment/condo/trailer/whatever is a pain in the neck. Rain fade and weather fade (we get lots of dust storms down here) are also a pain in the neck. PQ is great, but so was COX, not a whole lot different.
Lots more movie channels on Cable than on DirecTV.
I never have gotten into the Tivo and all that stuff, already too much for me to watch, don't need any more options.
I paid about $125 on an average month for Digital Cable (all channels) as well as high speed Internet. Since I canceled my cable, my Internet price went up to $50 instead of $40. My current direct deal $64 or something for 4 months of TC premier and the NFL package plus $11 for the HD, so i pay about $126 right now. Had to go out and buy a $300 HD box, had to buy the dish and stuff initially for $100, and spent a ton on getting the thing mounted the way it needed to be done to abide by the landlords no holes policy....It is more expensive.
Cable certainly does not suck, as the near future will show that Cable can offer a tremendous amount of bandwidth to homes compared to sat. Sat can not handle offering hundreds of video on demand choices instantly, it is just not set up for that and the wireless broadband technology over satellite has never been and never will be as great as wire line communications.
I do expect that to keep up with cable companies sat companies are really going to have to figure something out to offer great products to people. Fighting over being allowed to receiver locals and all this stuff are things many do not want to deal with.
Digital cable everything was right there, no applying for waivers and waiting a year to find out if you are a "grade B" signal or whatever all that crap is about.
If cable starts adding more HD and gets the ball rolling with Video on Demand in many areas (after COX and Comcast get it going) Sat companies are going to find a ton of customers go south with sat and sign up for digital cable.
I am not saving money right now, my Internet price increased, i do not get to look forward to Video on Demand, i had to buy my own equipment, I have to deal with weather effecting the signal, and I have less movie channels.
I do get to watch CNBC Asia though. Eat that you COX folks!!
In hindsight i do not think it was worth it for me to switch to DirecTV, it really lacks any room for growth in the future for new services (vod), has to much complicated equipment hanging off the house and has more room for things to go wrong than cable (weather, dish alignment, etc).
Digital cable certainly does not suck, it really is all based on where you are located and what they offer. Cox is a lot better than most and better than i gave it credit for.
, that is why I QUIT E* after just 4 weeks. But that was a long time ago. You should choose your satellite provider based upon who carries the channels you want ... cuz they all vary. We all already know cable sucks!
