does dish network have more weather related problems than directv?
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I'll give a generic answer: "It depends". Others can pipe in with experience with both providers, and if one has a stronger signal than the other, thus minimizing issues due to weather. In general, I would believe the answer to be that they're the similar. The basics are similar, each has an antenna aimed at a satellite hovering over the equator, in geostationary orbit a little over 26,000 miles up. Depending on where you are in the country, it will depend on what satellites you're aimed at. Dish's eastern arc satellites (61.5, 72.7 and 77) are generally over South America. The western arc satellites (110/119/129) are out over the Pacific Ocean.
Some things that factor in will be how well the antenna is peaked to get the best signal. If peaked really well, you have more margin to play with before losing signal. If you're somewhere with bad line of sight, the antenna isn't aimed well, or you're way north, you have less margin and can lose signal easier.
That's the best I can do. In my time, I have heard people complain that they lost signal a lot with DirecTV, and not with us, but I have also heard the opposite.
As a Dish employee, my opinions are my own, and do not represent my employer in any way, shape, or form.
thanks for your answer trying to decide about directv and dish from everything i read sofar this is the most important question i have -
if people who have had dish for awhile can answer it would be great im in the east bronx ny 10468
thanks
robert3400
if people who have had dish for awhile can answer it would be great im in the east bronx ny 10468
thanks
robert3400
Me and my brother have dish vs direct. He loves the Sunday ticket. From what I have been able to tell, since the time both our dishes were peaked properly, the only time we lost signal was about 1-2 minutes during that hellish rain storm a couple Mondays ago, in Phoenix,Az. This is going to probably be the largest factor. Keep in mind, the advantage to satellite, is it is all based on an individual's install, instead of having thousands affected because of a line issue. I would say the above post nailed it dead on.
If all things are equal... Dish alignment good etc.
Dish will have worse rain fade on their HD channels than directv does, this is due to dish's lower FEC 2/3 vs directv 5/6
FEC(foward error correction) think of it a signal redundancy. The more you have the more degraded your signal can get and still have a good picture.
Dish has 24 mhz vs directv's 36 mhz transponders
They try to make up for bandwidth differences by using a lower FEC, only drawback to doing that is signal is degraded easier. (Worse rain fade)
Since dish has 9 to 10 HD channels per transponder and directv usually 4 to 5 you can see how bandwidth is an issue with dish so this is a compromise that 99% of the time people won't notice... until it rains hard..
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Dish will have worse rain fade on their HD channels than directv does, this is due to dish's lower FEC 2/3 vs directv 5/6
FEC(foward error correction) think of it a signal redundancy. The more you have the more degraded your signal can get and still have a good picture.
Dish has 24 mhz vs directv's 36 mhz transponders
They try to make up for bandwidth differences by using a lower FEC, only drawback to doing that is signal is degraded easier. (Worse rain fade)
Since dish has 9 to 10 HD channels per transponder and directv usually 4 to 5 you can see how bandwidth is an issue with dish so this is a compromise that 99% of the time people won't notice... until it rains hard..
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Interesting post. Do the HD and bandwidth issues you refer to also impact overall image quality, pixelation during fast transitions and such?
The overloading transponders does effect picture quality, I am honestly quite impressed dish's HD looks as good as it does.
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Looking at it from the uplink side, it does look like Dish has more wide spread outages due to bad weather at their uplink sites then DIRECTV. A number of times I've seen responses from DIRT saying an outage was due to storms at an uplink site.
Whoa... I think you should do some checking...
According to Lyngsat, DirecTV's HD at 103deg is assorted FEC's of 2/3 and 3/4, just like Dish's
http://www.lyngsat.com/Spaceway-1-and-DirecTV-10-12.html
Dish's HD is Ku band and DirecTV's is Ka band. Ka band is a more narrow wave and is generally more sensitive to weather.
I can't find the package info right now but I'm almost positive that DirecTV has way more than 4 or 5 HD channels on each transponder.
So considering those errors in your post which are apparent at first glance I'd be very skeptical about the rest of your speculations.
In my experience with having both Dish and DirecTV at the same time during the same storms, depending on which way the storms come from, they each have about the same resistance to weather.
I've had both services recently. Both have about the same resistance to rain fade in my experience. If there is a big storm between your dish and the satellite, service will generally go out for a few mins. This is not something I would concern myself with when choosing between the two services. They behave the same in this regard.
I the the difference is negligible. This should not be your deciding factor on which provider to choose. Programming, equipment and price should be the major factors.
To the OP - I guarantee there is not enough difference whatever it is to make that any kind of importance in deciding. Forget about it. Go by programming packages, cost, equipment etc...
Since your on the east coast, you will be on the eastern arc(61.5, 72 and maybe 77). So you will have a different experience than those on the western arc.
The angle of the dish will be fairly steep. I'm in upstate NY near Rochester. The only time I have signal loss is during a heavy rainstorm and then it's only for a few minutes. In winter, I only loose signal when there is a heavy wet snow. With most snows, the snow just blows off the dish.
The angle of the dish will be fairly steep. I'm in upstate NY near Rochester. The only time I have signal loss is during a heavy rainstorm and then it's only for a few minutes. In winter, I only loose signal when there is a heavy wet snow. With most snows, the snow just blows off the dish.
I have both and Dish goes out more and easier than DirecTV and they are both peaked and they were both peaked about a month ago on different days and live in midwest here and both have great pictures,equipment etc!!
An ybody replying to the OP should state what arc they are on. Since the OP would be on the eastern, that's what he needs info on.
I am in KY on EA & yes I do have some problems with Dish. It does loose signal when it isn't raining that hard at the house, but I don't know if that is a good measuring stick.
I live in FDL and really don't have that many issues with loosing signal from DISH. We have severe storms all summer (May-Nov) and we very rarely loose the signal. When it was first installed we had issues, but then they aimed the dish properly and things have been good since then.
My deciding factor in that department would be more line of sight (LOS). For me, LOS is fairly comparable for both companies, so I moved onto programming. I'm more a movie nerd, so I went with Dish. At the time they had a better movie offering. I now stay because I like the Hopper and EPIX is only available in my area via Dish. I also like...
Anyway, before my brother moved back home with my parents, he really wanted DIRECT, but the trees in his area blocked access to the satellite. His friend checked and found that he could get Dish, but for him, Comcast's programming gave him what he wanted, NESN and CSN New England in HD 24/7. So, check your LOS. If it works for both, pick the one you want based on programming and pricing (as others are saying).
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Anyway, before my brother moved back home with my parents, he really wanted DIRECT, but the trees in his area blocked access to the satellite. His friend checked and found that he could get Dish, but for him, Comcast's programming gave him what he wanted, NESN and CSN New England in HD 24/7. So, check your LOS. If it works for both, pick the one you want based on programming and pricing (as others are saying).
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