Leaving DirecTV, but no hard feelings... :)

[cparker]

After many years on satellite... first Dish and then DirecTV (switched when Dish had a falling out with MSG and I couldn't watch Sabres games).... I've gone back to cable.

Really it kinda became a money thing. Combined cost for TV, internet, and phone was about $230 when I was on satellite. Now getting all services from Time Warner/Spectrum, I've cut that by $100 a month. When the honeymoon is over, I'll still be saving about $60 a month.

Had an HR34, HR24 and a mini.
Now have 2 Tivo Bolts and a Tivo mini. The 34 was getting weird. It would simply freeze for several seconds and then "catch up". And they'd often lose sight of each other, but overall, not an unpleasant experience.

Had my install on Monday.
Installer was a bit of a ditz and I had to be there to show him a lot of stuff..
"Run your main feed to here (wiring closet) and distribute from here."
I cleared everything to make wire pulling easy. Helped him figure out the patch panel when he had to hook up the phones, stuff like that. He did ok. I did a lot of tidying up after he left.

RESULT:
Internet: 60Mb/sec internet (previously on DSL at 12Mb/s).... pretty nice
Phones: are now VoIP and I have to say the quality seems excellent. Very possibly clearer than previous regular POTS. Lotta features I have yet to explore.
TV: I'm liking the Tivo units. Kinda didn't realize I'd still need tuning adapters. Thought M-Cards handled everything, but apparently not when on a switched digital cable service. Picture quality is actually better than satellite. Noticeably better. My wife commented on it when I was switching back and forth between cable and satellite on the same program.

So.... not gonna rant against DirecTV. I really don't have any ill feelings at all. Just seemed time to make a change. For a lot of reasons. Still have to contact them, cancel service, and make arrangements to send back whatever they want sent back. And do the same with the phone company. And I have no delusions going forward. Anything can happen.

I'll still be here... lurking.... supporting... but... probably have to change my sig..

 

[txfeinbergs]

Picture quality is much better? That I am surprised to hear as I had always heard the opposite. Are we talking hi-def channels here?

How much are you having to pay for all of the cable cards? Did you factor in what you are having to pay Tivo for your cost savings?

 

[Jimbo]

Is it the TW Picture that he's saying is better ?

If so, ya gotta remember with Cable, each neighborhood is different, city wise as well, they could be crappie in one city and very good in another, it's all about what they have done with thier plant in that area.

D* should be the same wherever you are provided LOS isn't an issue and the install was done correctly as they have no Plant to deal with...

 

[camo]

My mom in Sun City Az had both Direct and Cox cable. You could tell Cox had a better picture also but it was close. Cable can be hit and miss depending on lines in neighborhood.

 

[red hazard]

Still have to contact them, cancel service, and make arrangements to send back whatever they want sent back. And do the same with the phone company. And I have no delusions going forward.

If you port your POTS phone number to Charter, your POTS account will automatically be terminated the day the port takes effect.

 

[EarDemon]

That is one of the best things about porting phone numbers to other providers. The end user has to do nothing after the port request, it's all up to the service providers. I cannot stand sales people, and even more so, I cannot stand sales people attempting to talk me in to or out of something. No company cancels your stuff anymore on the first request. There's retention departments where they will do anything to keep your business and employees are evaluated on how well they can swindle you into staying. Screw that! With number porting, you never have to speak to someone from your former provider again, not giving them the opportunity to retain your business. It's a beautiful thing! Ported cell phone numbers many times on phones and USB modems. From Sprint to AT&T back to Sprint to Verizon back to Sprint. With the landline from Verizon to Time Warner. And last year at work porting over 300 DIDs over from Windstream to Time Warner. And once the number is released, ding dong the previous provider is dead.

 

[Jimbo]

That is one of the best things about porting phone numbers to other providers. The end user has to do nothing after the port request, it's all up to the service providers. I cannot stand sales people, and even more so, I cannot stand sales people attempting to talk me in to or out of something. No company cancels your stuff anymore on the first request. There's retention departments where they will do anything to keep your business and employees are evaluated on how well they can swindle you into staying. Screw that! With number porting, you never have to speak to someone from your former provider again, not giving them the opportunity to retain your business. It's a beautiful thing! Ported cell phone numbers many times on phones and USB modems. From Sprint to AT&T back to Sprint to Verizon back to Sprint. With the landline from Verizon to Time Warner. And last year at work porting over 300 DIDs over from Windstream to Time Warner. And once the number is released, ding dong the previous provider is dead.

Only issues you may have with porting numbers is sometimes the company your leaving will take thier good old time releasing it ... they actually have up to 7 days todo so.

Also, many times you will find that VOIP lines will not work for Alarms and also Collect calls.

 

[EarDemon]

Good point. At work when we ported from Windstream to TWC, our local DIDs ported fine but it took 3 business days to get our 800 numbers over. Not a huge deal since long distance charges aren't much of an issue any more. We were considering dumping the toll free numbers, but the good ole marketing dept gave their two cents about how having a toll free number shows 'legitimacy of a business'. Windstream has some policy where they will generally give up local numbers as soon as the new provider submits the request, but toll free numbers only get released after midnight of the next business day. We ported over on a Friday, the weekend caused a delay, and then there was some confusion, and finally the following Wednesday or Thursday our TWC rep informed me that the toll free numbers were now active.

We can't run our alarm system through our PBX, nor would we want to, so I had TWC install two Biz Class DOCSIS phone lines for that. The alarm panel was more sensitive to marginal signal, so an amp had to be installed, but it works fine. Then again cable telephony isn't true VoIP anyway.

 

[DS0816]

After many years on satellite... first Dish and then DirecTV (switched when Dish had a falling out with MSG and I couldn't watch Sabres games).... I've gone back to cable.

Really it kinda became a money thing.…

That is very important.

I am with DirecTV.

I keep check on what competition offers just in case it may be wise to make a move.

I don't perceive satellite as advantageous, over cable, like I did in the late-1990s and nearly all of the 2000s. But, it is personal. One's setup. One's own money.

It is very common for someone who has subscribed to DirecTV or Dish Network to go to a traditional cable operator to combine television and Internet (and maybe phone) for any worthwhile savings. It is understood.

All the best to you, cparker!

 

[robjlevin]

Competition is good...PERIOD!

 

[rapidturtle]

We had some conversation over the holiday about the crazy cost of all of today's technology. Parents, aunts and uncles in their 60's and 70's, who had no cell phones, cable or satellite tv, and no internet, were saying how they had none of these expenses. Doing some quick math in my head, I'm paying for a family of 3, about $4500 a year for all of this crap. That's a lot of money!!
Anyway, I will also be doing a little shopping this year for services. I love Directv, and they even give me some decent discounts, but if I could save $50 to $100 a month with a combined cable bill, I might just have to go that route also....

 

[ibanez_ax]

The Comcast picture quality in the Northwest Philadelphia suburbs is excellent, so yes, it does depend on where you live.

 

[maestro7]

After many years on satellite... first Dish and then DirecTV (switched when Dish had a falling out with MSG and I couldn't watch Sabres games).... I've gone back to cable.

Really it kinda became a money thing. Combined cost for TV, internet, and phone was about $230 when I was on satellite. Now getting all services from Time Warner/Spectrum, I've cut that by $100 a month. When the honeymoon is over, I'll still be saving about $60 a month.

Had an HR34, HR24 and a mini.
Now have 2 Tivo Bolts and a Tivo mini. The 34 was getting weird. It would simply freeze for several seconds and then "catch up". And they'd often lose sight of each other, but overall, not an unpleasant experience.

Had my install on Monday.
Installer was a bit of a ditz and I had to be there to show him a lot of stuff..
"Run your main feed to here (wiring closet) and distribute from here."
I cleared everything to make wire pulling easy. Helped him figure out the patch panel when he had to hook up the phones, stuff like that. He did ok. I did a lot of tidying up after he left.

RESULT:
Internet: 60Mb/sec internet (previously on DSL at 12Mb/s).... pretty nice
Phones: are now VoIP and I have to say the quality seems excellent. Very possibly clearer than previous regular POTS. Lotta features I have yet to explore.
TV: I'm liking the Tivo units. Kinda didn't realize I'd still need tuning adapters. Thought M-Cards handled everything, but apparently not when on a switched digital cable service. Picture quality is actually better than satellite. Noticeably better. My wife commented on it when I was switching back and forth between cable and satellite on the same program.

So.... not gonna rant against DirecTV. I really don't have any ill feelings at all. Just seemed time to make a change. For a lot of reasons. Still have to contact them, cancel service, and make arrangements to send back whatever they want sent back. And do the same with the phone company. And I have no delusions going forward. Anything can happen.

I'll still be here... lurking.... supporting... but... probably have to change my sig..

Sounds to me like you made a great decision.

One of the biggest factors is going to be Internet. As you've noticed, in today's world, DSL at anything less than 6MB is the equivalent of 21st-century dial-up, and if you're served by cable, that can always be alleviated at a pretty good price-point (which you've discovered). Regardless of the video service, Internet from at least 15MB is always a good baseline to consider before everything else.

Video is definitely next. Even though we love DirecTV, I definitely feel your pain in terms of pricing. It's a constant (though pleasant) battle with them in terms of credits, which they always seem to divvy out to us because we've been with them for so long. However, you're like my parents who happened to have gotten an extremely excellent deal with their municipal cable provider with a great deal themselves.

And if you have to choose your video devices, Tivo is definitely one way to go

Do enjoy, even though it'll mean you'll have to mark down your special price anniversary so that you can then go back and renegotiate. Until the content providers are knocked down to size (and not requiring 30%+ price increases every 5 years or so), that's the way it works.

 

[ncted]

Best of luck with the Tuning Adapters. I never could get them to work reliably, but that probably varies as much as PQ. The Bolt is a pretty good platform. I miss the commercial skip from my Roamio.

 

[robjlevin]

Parents, aunts and uncles in their 60's and 70's, who had no cell phones, cable or satellite tv, and no internet, were saying how they had none of these expenses. .

Right. But they also paid through the nose to rent their telephones and calling two towns over was long distance. An international call was something truly special and was something you saved up for.

Look, I get it. I'm not thrilled to be paying these bills either, but I'll be 60 next year so I can very clearly remember the days when none of this tech was available. But I also remember not being able to watch the game I wanted to see or being told to wait until 5:00 to call my grandparents to save on the call. Those aunts and uncles of yours had aunts and uncles that could remember not having a phone or a television at all.

It's all relative (um, no pun intended).

 

[rapidturtle]

Right. But they also paid through the nose to rent their telephones and calling two towns over was long distance. An international call was something truly special and was something you saved up for.

Look, I get it. I'm not thrilled to be paying these bills either, but I'll be 60 next year so I can very clearly remember the days when none of this tech was available. But I also remember not being able to watch the game I wanted to see or being told to wait until 5:00 to call my grandparents to save on the call. Those aunts and uncles of yours had aunts and uncles that could remember not having a phone or a television at all.

It's all relative (um, no pun intended).

The long distance was brought up. Remember 10 cents a minute, and switching might get that down to 5 cents? A few of those Aunts and Uncles mentioned memories of the first time they saw a T.V. It's really amazing how far it has all come in a relatively short amount of time.