Just signed up to Dish-What can I expect?

[kemguy]

Howdy there partners! Big HELLO from the great state of Texas!

I'm an old VOOM user and when they went belly up, I switched to Time Warner Cable. So it's been almost 2 years since I've had Satellite and I've pretty much enjoyed my dual-tuner HD Dvr with about 13 total HD channels. I've missed the Voom channels for sure though!

So my dad, who I got on Voom Christmas of '04 I think(or was that '03?) switched to DISH when VOOM went belly up. At first he HATED Dish.. boy the stuff spewing out of his mouth about Dish customer service and the receivers and the picture quality and .. and .. and <grin> .. anyway he stuck with them (god knows why) and today he's a very happy dish customer. He has the new VIP622 and just raves about it.

So I finally gave in and called dish last night and signed up. I got the Silver package (64.99)-$20 for 10 months (44.99) + 5.98 X 2.

I gave them my cc and they charged me $250 but the $20 a month off for the next 10 months = $200 and I agreed to 18 month contract which took off the $49 so 10 months from now it will all balance to zero.

What I'd like to know is what can I expect in terms of the 622 DVR, picture quality and should I need customer service, how they are today?

I know Dish used to be H O R R I B L E.. but what about today?

Did I screw up by signing up?

Would Y O U sign up today if you weren't already a customer?

 

[daboogas94e]

im a tech for them and by far, i've had the best experience w/ Dish Network. granted, their CSR's arent the brightest but its the holidays and they bring in ALOT of temps. and the 622 is the best, I really like them and wish i could get 1 myself! lol

 

[Poke]

The Dish Rocks! I think you will enjoy the service and I will never go back to cable. Overall I have been happy with the service and since Dish is the HD leader you cant go wrong. Hope things go well for you.

 

[kemguy]

So how did DISH become the HD leader? What the heck happened to Direct TV? Remember their superbowl ad a couple years ago? Talking about 1500 HD channels or some crap like that?

Direct TV was always superior to Dish. Is it the other way around now? What happened?

 

[Poke]

Well Direct has only about 9-12 channels of HD to where Dish has 30 channels of HD. Heck their is not even 1500 Channels of HD so I don't know where anyone could get that one. Right now there is allot of misleading #'s being tossed around. Most of the HD that will be added next year will be "local HD Channels" is all. Due to most "national Channels" have not gotten to HD yet. So if you added 4 local channels per state which is 50 that would be 200 Channels of HD but again those are just locals. Some states will have more than just 4 due to bigger markets in their state. Anyway for now Dish is the HD Leader with 30 channels of HD.

 

[garys]

I've aways believed Direct counted every HD local channel to help pad the 1500 HD channels they advertised.

 

[Poke]

Yeah and heck even if you add all of the local markets in the U.S. I don't think it even over 500. I just know it would only be 200 local HD Channels if you had 50 states with 4 local channels per state. But some states like California might have 12 local markets. But 1500 heck I don't think there is that many world wide. But to me its simple with Dish you have 30 National HD Channels then if you add your 4 locals in HD that would give you 34 with Dish. Direct you might have 12-15 at the very most and that includes your locals in HD. So either way Dish has more HD Channels and Direct might add some more with their new satellites next year but my guess all most all of those will be local channels in HD.

 

[rad]

I've aways believed Direct counted every HD local channel to help pad the 1500 HD channels they advertised.

D* said that they would have the CAPACITY to do 1500 HD Local into Local channels and the CAPACITY to do 150 national HD channels once SW1/2 and D10/11 were active. You're remembering what they said incorrectly.

 

[Jim5506]

It depends on what the meaning is, is.

You know there lies, damn lies, and statistics.