I SO wanted to come back to Dish

[Bobby_M]

I dropped dish last year when I finally wanted HD content. I had the 721 receiver and wasn't prepared to pay for the 921 plus the additional monthly fees.

Cablevision was offering two-tuner HD DVR for an extremly low 12-month rate including HBO, HD channels (basically the equiv of Dish's HDsilver package, and no equipment rental fee (total of $61 with taxes).

I just passed the 12 month mark where the monthly rate went up to $75.

Since I qualify as a new customer and realize Dish has all kinds of new equipment and packages, I gave them a call to see what they could offer.

In order to get a slightly lesser package of channels I'd have to pay $299 upfront (622 receiver) plus $76 per month before taxes (for the bronze package with HBO and locals). Stinky! Cable still has the best game in town.

Bobby in Central NJ

 

[mdonnelly]

Your town, not mine.

 

[sonnyboy11]

Mine neither. And my 'town' is Los Angeles. Dish has more HD channels than any cable provider that I know of.

 

[teamerickson]

Dish has the most HD content.

 

[dimi1963]

*E has better quality too. I was also considering switching to COMCAST Digital Cable with HD, but I changed my mind when I saw that the quality of the picture (PQ) and it was not as good as the one that *E has. I am waiting though on the 622 deal... I have a 942 and i don't want to pay another $299 for the 622... So i decided to wait for the April rebate offer.

 

[Bobby_M]

The CSR also pointed out that they have the most HD content. Well... I reviewed what I'm currently getting and what I'd get with Dish:

CV: CBS, NBC, FOX, ABC, Thirteen, MSG, FSN, ESPN, HBO, Starz!, INHD, Universal HD (they also have TMC, showtime, and Cinemax in HD but I don't get those in my package).

It is true that dish has a lot more channels, but they're also a bit obscure. I didn't see any particular HD channel that is worth laying out $300 for even though I'd really like DiscoveryHD. Is there any one particular channel they have that has great content?

Picture quality for me is excellent so that's a non issue.

Bobby

 

[mdonnelly]

I hang out mostly at Discovery HD and HDNET Movies.

Are you saying there's no monthly rental fee for the HD DVR? Cox in OKC wants $15/month, and $10/month for each digital cable box.

 

[sonnyboy11]

I guess it all depends on what you want to watch. Dish has a few HD channels no one else has in my area that I watch regularly. Rave (which just added the new Queen concert- excellent), KungFu (my wife loves that channel), MonstersHD, HDNET (NHL in HD twice a week, new U2 concert from last tour) and HDNET Movies.

They just added UHD (Battlestar Galactica in HD on Sunday nights), and ESPN2HD. Food Network HD and HGTV HD are both launching soon and my wife is a big fan of those two channels in SD.

The quality of my picture is top notch. There are certainly some down sides to being a Dish customer (just look through these forums!), but there is also a reason lots of us stick around and new people come over from cable and DirecTV (who down-rezzes everything in HD). My cable provider was Adelphia (still is in my area) and the day I got rid of them is one of the best days of my life.

 

[Bobby_M]

Sonny,
I was a dish customer for 5 years prior to disconnecting last year so I know all about the joy and sorrow ;-)

I'm really just comparing service/price and they came up short this year just like last year when cable made two-tuner HD DVRs available.

I did go through the list of HDchannels dish had none of the other channels really appeal to me.. Kung Fu and Monsters? Nah. Cable has INHD which has a big variety of concerts and action sports. I don't watch hockey. I loved dropping Cablevision like a bad habit many years ago, but trust me, they've felt the pain and are really improving their act.

mdonnelly,
I do pay $9.99 for DVR and $5 equipment rental, but overall my out the door monthly price for this entire year is $75 per month (was $61 the first year). I have the equiv of dish's HDsilver package with HBO and locals (minus Discovery HD which I'm still waiting for). It's still not worth $300.

Bobby

 

[sprintcarcrazy]

Cable better, not here ! I got into it with Dish and dropped them, went with cable becasue they said they offered me a sweet deal of $25 off and all that good stuff, plus internet for $29 vs $52. First bill came, $169.00 for 5 HD channels, digital pack that had a crappy picture and 70 stations of analog crap that the picture was so bad I couldn't stand it, on top of that, no locals in HD, I had to get an OTA tuner for my main TV just to get CBS, NBC and ABC in HD. Their internet drops to dial up speed.

So I am back to dish, even with the worst customer service, they have the best product for now.

 

[Carl B]

I've looked at my local Comcast HD DVR package to get about what I get now (Dish 811 w/ HD Pak, AT120, Starz and CM). Total cost would be around $100/month. Lo and behold, my cost for HD DVR upgrade w/ Dish would also be about $100/month, but they want $299 additional up front.

The only HD I care about getting, other than my locals which are available OTA, is ESPN, Discovery, HDNet, Starz, and CM. Guess what, I can get all but HDNet w/ Comcast and I still wouldn't get Starz and CM in HD w/ Dish (at least at this time). All the VOOM stuff is crap for folks who want to watch HD because it is HD rather than watching desired content that has the bonus of being provided in HD.

For now I'm sticking w/ my 811 and HD-Pak. When Dish says thats all the HD for the 811 and I have to take one of their over-priced metallic HD packages, I'm gone. The only way I'd consider staying is if they unbundle their new HD package and make the VOOM channels an extra cost upper tier, w/ the current HD channels back at $10/month (OK $11 or $12/month), and they drop the upgrade fee to LEASE their 622 to $99.

 

[Bobby_M]

Carl,
Does that include any "previous satellite customer" deals from Comcast? As I mentioned, Cablevision really sweetened my deal by offering $20 off per month in the first year, then $10 off the second year. They also waived the cable box lease fee of $5 per month. Granted, I'm in the second year so the price isn't as good, but satellite still can't beat it.

Bobby

 

[navychop]

In some areas, cable is no doubt competitive. Some even have good DVRs. AFAIK, none have the 30 second skip ahead button- something of great value to me. In my area, previous poor service ensures I will NEVER consider returning to the local cableco. I am quite happy, and saving money, with OTA & DISH.

I believe from a maintenance cost standpoint, satellite beats the coax based cablecos. Coax systems require system "balancing" and tweaking to adjust for signal strength and other changes. This is somewhat alleviated by moving to digital from analog and using fiber distribution lines as much as possible. They are more susceptible to physical damage. Trees take down a lot of power and cable lines, but few dishes. Lot's of severed cables from digging. Once the satellite is up, you may get 10 or 15 years out of it. Then you have uplink and customer premises equipment. No balancing. No need to run new cable to new customer areas. More customers means more to spread costs over. It appears to me that the cost per customer for satellite can be lower than cost per customer for cablecos. It's just a question of at what point is this achieved? All fiber solutions like Fios no doubt are much more competitive with satellite.

BTW, DISH cannot make Voom an extra cost tier. Voom now requires all that carry it to carry all 15 channels, and all to be part of the basic HD package.

 

[boba]

Cable has always varied from location to location even with the same franchise, but DISH is now killing the customer with additional fees. It is becoming six of one half dozen of the other.