Leaving Dish for Adelphia Cable

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

We have a town here where Adelphia just raised the price $9.00 / month. May also see a big increase when Time Warner or Comcast takes over. I sell Dish service and Adelphia is my favorite cable company. It has made me a lot of money!

You could very well be right about that. I look at it this way-going to analog cable buys me some time to think things over (without buying any equipment) and look at some other options. If they do raise prices that will bring Dish back into the equation and after enough time goes by I may be able to talk them ino reconnecting me free or at a big discount (over the at least $150 I was looking at with my problems). Or I may look at Directv or a Canadian service such as Star Choice which happens to carry my locals (Buffalo).

Time will tell.

 

[Winged Wheels]

With the almost $20 I am saving I can rent a couple DVDs a month and still be ahead. IMO the variety and quality of movies offered in Top 180 has decreased. PQ on Adelphia in my area has improved over the years (my mother-in-law has cable so I check it out there) although it is still not as good as Dish. The way Dish compresses some channels ought to be against the law though. So there are certainly pros and cons as with any decision.

With $20 a month join Netflix and get as many movies as you want in the time you can watch them and get them back & forth in the mail (could be as many as 12 a month or more)!

 

[JimP]

The grass is always greener............................

 

[Ceas2182]

I go with dish... Adelphia has extra charges and hidden fees.

 

[GaryPen]

I go with dish... Adelphia has extra charges and hidden fees.

As oppsed to say...a $5 charge for downgrading service, or a $5 charge for paying by credit card on the phone, or $5.99 per month for a warranty on leased equipment, or a $5 fee per DVR per month even if you own the DVR? You're right! Those charges are bogus. But wait. It isn't Adelphia who charges those fees. Who could it be? Hmmmmm. Could it be...oh...I don't know...Satan!?

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

With $20 a month join Netflix and get as many movies as you want in the time you can watch them and get them back & forth in the mail (could be as many as 12 a month or more)!

Good point.

 

[sonnyboy11]

Oh man, you poor poor soul. Seriously, I am not trying to be condescending when I say that. But Adelphia is easily the worst service I have ever had. Dish is far superior in every way imaginable to Adelphia and it is worth whatever extra you need to pay, imo. I threw a party the day I went from Adelphia to Dish (sadly I am still stuck with Adelphia HSI). Your only silver lining will be that Adelphia is being bought out by Time Warner and they will eventually be your cable company. Time Warner is not bad.

 

[SatelliteGAL]

I am in a suburb of Buffalo also and a couple months ago I decided to give Adelphia a try after many years with dish. I didnt last a month and I am still paying for it. I hope you fare better than I did.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

I can understand the frustration with the extra maintenance with a DBS provider. Cable is a LOT simpler.

I checked out my cable options earlier this year. I too would have saved about $20 a month with a combined TV/Broadband offer. But then I checked out the picture quality on my neighbor's TV. It was far worse than Dish. As I was picking up a new HDTV set, there was no way I was going to feed it the crap that I saw on his set.

But if one isn't a stickler for picture quality, and many people aren't, then cable can be a good deal.

 

[rad]

But if one isn't a stickler for picture quality, and many people aren't, then cable can be a good deal.

Everyone's cable system is different so that's too general a statement (if you have cable then you don't care about PQ is how your response reads). Even within the same town PQ can vary so there's no real way to know until you actually install it and see how it looks. The cable system I'm on isn't perfect but even the analog channels look better then the over compresses channels that D* or E* put out. There's more noise on the cable channels but no digital artifacts.

 

[larrystotler]

I just dumped my Adelphia cable modem. They tried to double my rate and then we had another issue, so I told that if they canceled my account(which they said they had to do since I had moved and technically wasn't allowed the modem here even tho it worked fine and was temporary) that I would NEVER be a customer of theirs again.....so, it's gone. Their loss.....

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

Well it's been a couple weeks since I dumped Dish-here's an update:

No doubt Dish has a better picture. After watching cable for a week I put in a movie I had recorded from Dish with my Pioneer DVD recorder and I felt like I was looking at a regular DVD. Even the compression I used to hate didn't seem so objectionable to me.

But, I am still happy with my decision. I have had Dish call twice already to try and get me to come back. One reason they are working so hard (I think) is that I have a credit of $50 coming. So I know I can get Dish anytime and they will fix my problem free. BTW, Adelphia is currently working to improve the picture (which has issues on a few selected channels such as AMC). They are supposed to install a "node" and call me back so we'll see.

Bottom line, I am going to keep it through the summer and see how I feel then.

 

[purwater]

Back in 1998 a blizzard of over 3 ft of snow broke power lines and cable lines all over the area. I was told by Charter it might be a month or longer to fix my cable. So that day I stopped by a local dealer and purchased my first Dish 300 with 4000 receiver for the low price of $349. I added the $149 second receiver a month later and never looked back. I have tried cable again twice since 2000. I know I can save money by having Chater for tv and internet so I figure it's worth a try every couple of years to see the quality of their product. In 2001 I tried it for 2 weeks and cancelled as my Dish was still active. In 2004 I tried again and the picture quality was still horrible. After a week I dropped my digital boxes off at the local office and kept my Dish. The sad thing is my uncle lives about 300 yards away and has great picture quality. Just a month ago I had Charter come out to fix a drop that was hanging too low and had them check the signal at my house. The guy said your signal here at the splitter on your house is great. It must be your inside home wiring. Well I said I'm using the cable your guy made me last time I tried the tv service and it goes straight from this splitter to the tv. I still keep the cable connected to the tv so I can periodically check the quality since the channels come in anyway with my modem. He said man that's snowy, but if you switch to our tv service again we'll stay here till the picture is clear. I thought if the signal is perfect then what can they do. I mean I only have one guest room so they'd be staying a long time to make the picture clear. I'm gonna stay with Dish till I see the mpeg 4 play out and if Dish doesn't offer a good deal on upgrading my equipment then I'll have the Directv card to play since I'd be a new customer. But I can't complain about my Dish. I've had one model 1000 receiver die in 7+ years and have had good service.

 

[sonnyboy11]

"They are supposed to install a "node" and call me back so we'll see."

Dude, I just want to reiterate that I am NOT trying to bust your chops for your decision to go with Adelphia. But their CS has given me the "node" line so many times it's not funny anymore. For my HSI, I have been getting credit ($40) for the last 5 months straight because the line quality is nowhere near what it is supposed to be. Even though it's close to being free for me, Adelphia service is still barely worth it. If you are really concerned about the way Dish is treating you and your money, you may be better off waiting until Time Warner (or Charter depending on the area) moves in and takes over. Then you would have a decent alternative to Satellite providers. Not sure what the time frame for that is, but I would guess another 6-12 months before it happens.

 

[JamesJ]

"They are supposed to install a "node" and call me back so we'll see."

Dude, I just want to reiterate that I am NOT trying to bust your chops for your decision to go with Adelphia. But their CS has given me the "node" line so many times it's not funny anymore. For my HSI, I have been getting credit ($40) for the last 5 months straight because the line quality is nowhere near what it is supposed to be. Even though it's close to being free for me, Adelphia service is still barely worth it. If you are really concerned about the way Dish is treating you and your money, you may be better off waiting until Time Warner (or Charter depending on the area) moves in and takes over. Then you would have a decent alternative to Satellite providers. Not sure what the time frame for that is, but I would guess another 6-12 months before it happens.

just to point out, I left time warner recently for the whole signal is perfect but your channels look like crap routine, 3 service calls and nothing. It really just depends on where you are at! cable is not perfect nothing is. Good luck

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

"They are supposed to install a "node" and call me back so we'll see."

Dude, I just want to reiterate that I am NOT trying to bust your chops for your decision to go with Adelphia. But their CS has given me the "node" line so many times it's not funny anymore. For my HSI, I have been getting credit ($40) for the last 5 months straight because the line quality is nowhere near what it is supposed to be. Even though it's close to being free for me, Adelphia service is still barely worth it. If you are really concerned about the way Dish is treating you and your money, you may be better off waiting until Time Warner (or Charter depending on the area) moves in and takes over. Then you would have a decent alternative to Satellite providers. Not sure what the time frame for that is, but I would guess another 6-12 months before it happens.

Thanks for your comments.

I realize that the picture will probably not get any better. I am guessing I am older than you and I remember very well when tv was completely free. I live in a rural area and when my wife and I moved to our current location in 1997 you still couldn't even get cable here-didn't exist. I put up an OTA antenna and used that for some time before getting Dish. The point is, I probably have a different perspective on tv than you. I could go back to OTA if I have to. Adelphia is not that bad-just not as good as Dish.

Now Internet-there is something I would not want to be without. But I could live with minimal tv if needed.

 

[keno]

Thanks for your comments.

I realize that the picture will probably not get any better. I am guessing I am older than you and I remember very well when tv was completely free. I live in a rural area and when my wife and I moved to our current location in 1997 you still couldn't even get cable here-didn't exist. I put up an OTA antenna and used that for some time before getting Dish. The point is, I probably have a different perspective on tv than you. I could go back to OTA if I have to. Adelphia is not that bad-just not as good as Dish.

Now Internet-there is something I would not want to be without. But I could live with minimal tv if needed.

Adelphia seems to be different from city to city. I dropped Dish about six months ago and never looked back. Sure, Adelphia has some analog channels, but I never watched these channels even on Dish. Most people never watch all the channels available anyway. The channels I do watch, and is why I dropped Dish, are the locals in HD (NBC-HD,CBS-HD, ABC-HD, FOX-HD, PBS-HD), plus INHD1 and INHD2. I watch about 10 HD channels total, and they're all in HD on Adelphia (they offer other HD channels but don't watch them). Plus their HD-DVR rocks with no front-end cost! And the internet service is very very fast (6 mbps). Plus, my house was built for cable so there's a connection in every room. Plus, the service is fantastic (they're out the same or next day if there is a problem). Plus, I don't have that unsightly dish in my yard you see so often in trailer parks. Yes, I pay a few more dollars a month, but you get what you pay for.

But, to each his own and like I said, the service, the quality, and the availabilty of channels is different from city to city. Good luck with Adelphia.

 

[smooth28la]

I didn't dump DISH but had to subscribe to Adelphia when the 921 was stripped of its firewire feature.

Because of that decision, I have to extra $60 to Adelphia just for the ability to record.

I'm keeping DISH for the international channels and its HD/VOOM pak.

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

Adelphia seems to be different from city to city. I dropped Dish about six months ago and never looked back. Sure, Adelphia has some analog channels, but I never watched these channels even on Dish. Most people never watch all the channels available anyway. The channels I do watch, and is why I dropped Dish, are the locals in HD (NBC-HD,CBS-HD, ABC-HD, FOX-HD, PBS-HD), plus INHD1 and INHD2. I watch about 10 HD channels total, and they're all in HD on Adelphia (they offer other HD channels but don't watch them). Plus their HD-DVR rocks with no front-end cost! And the internet service is very very fast (6 mbps). Plus, my house was built for cable so there's a connection in every room. Plus, the service is fantastic (they're out the same or next day if there is a problem). Plus, I don't have that unsightly dish in my yard you see so often in trailer parks. Yes, I pay a few more dollars a month, but you get what you pay for.

But, to each his own and like I said, the service, the quality, and the availabilty of channels is different from city to city. Good luck with Adelphia.

Yes, I am sure you are correct the quality situation varies from place to place. As I said, they only came to this rural outpost a short time ago (about 5 years I believe). So who knows what type of cable infastructure is in place.

I have never had digital cable, so I can't say anything about that. Like you I also like their Internet service. It is fast and has little down time. So I will be keeping the cable Internet until something better comes along and analog tv for now. You make another good point-how many channels can you really watch anyway? I had the Top 180 and I never came close to using it all.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

My local cable, Charter, carries most of the popular channels in its analog tier. Their analog/digital split is very close to putting all of the AT60 channels and the 10 most popular channels in the AT120 tier on analog. Then the rest of AT120 and AT180 channels as digital channels. So ESPN, Bravo, Sci-Fi, TBS, TNT, Discover, Spike, MTV, and so on, are all on inferior analog channels.

Anyone switching to cable here gets to enjoy all of this low quality, plus fewer HD channels than Dish, and no HD-DVR option, unless you put something in between the cable box and the TV.

Thus I gladly pay about $20 extra per month to get Dish over going with a cable/broadband combo from Charter.