Switching from Dish to Time Warner cable

[capo]

Well, I've had it, waiting to watch HD on the HD ready 55" Mitsu. I've had for 5 yrs. now. I've been waiting patiently for either Dish to offer a decent price on their HD receivers (with DVR) or for HD to be standardized so prices would come down. Now that standardization has been pushed back another 2 1/2 years and Dish still wants exhorbitant prices for their receivers and programming, and, it looks like they're having problems making their MPEG4 work for a soon to be release, Time Warner (at least in Houston) seems to be offering good deals to switch over and with apparantly good quality pictures.

TW is not charging anything for the HD receivers (compared to $700 for Dish) and charge 13.95/mth. extra for the DVR feature (which is only $7/month for the first year). I would even get my locals in HD for free.

To be honest, all this sounds to good to be true after pulling teeth with Dish for so long. Is there something I'm not seeing here before I make the switch?

 

[Ilya]

Welcome to the forum!

Make sure to compare the programming costs and all installation costs.
Sometimes there are hidden fees for activation of additional outlets, internal wiring, wall fishing, etc. Other than that you should be ok. The good thing about cable is that you are normally not locked in into any annual contracts, so you can cancel at any time if you don't like it.

On the other hand, if you decide to stay with E* and want to get the 942 lease for $250, just send a message to DishNetwork (e.g. to ceo@dishnetwork.com, or is it CEO@echostar.com ?) state your case, tell them that you have been a Dish customer for many years and that your contracts have expired, etc. - they might be willing to give it to you.

 

[goaliebob99]

IlyA Beat me

Hi welcome to Satguys's. I find that the 942 is well worth the investment. Have you tryed the lease program, 250 down for the 942 IF not try emailing CEO@echostar.com I think thats the right link. If not someone will chime in with the right link. If I was you I would rethink moving from dish to cable as Dish has the most HD anywhere. Not only that in jan dish will have over 30 hd channels.. Not including local hd channels. Find that on Time warner! D*'s hd dvr reciver is a little cheeper than ours but still quite expensive. That is one advantage that cable does have over dish. If you find your self still wanting to switch after all is said and done keep in mind that we do have cable forums here and your still welcomed

 

[mdonnelly]

Or get the 942 from dishstore.net for $650.00, put it on your credit card, and you own the box, vs owning nothing with lease or TW Cable.

For example:

Principal borrowed: $650.00
Annual Payments: 12 Total Payments: 36
Annual interest rate: 12.00% Periodic interest rate: 1.0000%
Regular Payment amount: $21.59 Final Balloon Payment: $0.00

The following results are estimates which do not account for values being rounded to the nearest cent.
Total Repaid: $777.24
Total Interest Paid: $127.24
Interest as percentage of Principal: 19.575%

 

[aspanjer]

I was on TimeWarner for about a month after Voom went out .. it is not true hi def, it is the worst picture i have ever seen and their program guide and logic is a joke, i wouldn't go time warner if they gave me 2 years free. Also, their installers - ughhhh never mind.

 

[mlb]

I am looking to switch from Time Warner to Dish due to the ridiculous prices I pay. I have 2 DVR's, pay $80 for the base package, and another $26 for the DVR's, putting my bill at $106. I will pay $67 after I switch, only missing HBO and SHO (which I never watch anyway), but I will in turn get the same HD channels + the Voom channels.

The PQ on TWC is great, just the price leaves me unhappy...

 

[goaliebob99]

go to AEP (Americas Everything Pack) aka The almost everything pack... that will eliminate all dvr fees..

 

[Devil24]

Well, I've had it, waiting to watch HD on the HD ready 55" Mitsu. I've had for 5 yrs. now. I've been waiting patiently for either Dish to offer a decent price on their HD receivers (with DVR) or for HD to be standardized so prices would come down. Now that standardization has been pushed back another 2 1/2 years and Dish still wants exhorbitant prices for their receivers and programming, and, it looks like they're having problems making their MPEG4 work for a soon to be release, Time Warner (at least in Houston) seems to be offering good deals to switch over and with apparantly good quality pictures.

TW is not charging anything for the HD receivers (compared to $700 for Dish) and charge 13.95/mth. extra for the DVR feature (which is only $7/month for the first year). I would even get my locals in HD for free.

To be honest, all this sounds to good to be true after pulling teeth with Dish for so long. Is there something I'm not seeing here before I make the switch?

As a fellow Houstonian that went through the same thing a few months ago, you'll be missing Dish (and wanting to come back) in, say, 2-3 weeks... believe me... been there, done that .

 

[capo]

I've tried to get Dish to lease me the 942 for the $250 but they say they're not leasing anymore. I've tried talking to 2 or 3 reps but they won't budge. Dish charges $10-15 extra per month for HD programming that TW Cable includes in their programming package. TW also includes the receiver in the package at no extra cost because they own it. The only thing I would pay extra for is the DVR cost/per receiver that I want it on. Also, TW provides the locals in HD whereas Dish does not and I even have to pay extra for locals through Dish.

TW quoted me 47.99/mth for the programming with HD but said since I was switching from satellite that they would give me a $20/mth. discount on that for a year. Also said that DVR is 13.95/mth. per receiver but would give it to me for 6.95/mth. for the first year. So, what I'm getting from TW is standard and HD programming, including an HD receiver with DVR for $35/mth. for the first year and about $62/mth. after the first year.

I also saw TW's HD picture on a set at the Home Theater store and it was beautiful. An acquaintance at work says they switched from Direct to TW Cable last year and love it.

I'm not saying all this to argue, but just trying to play devil's advocate in order to find out why I shouldn't make the move.

H, exactly why do you say I'll be missing Dish after a few weeks?

Goaliebob, how much extra will I have to pay for those 30 HD channels from Dish in January?

 

[mlb]

The local HD's are free (here in Dayton, Ohio at least), but if you want ESPNHD, DiscoveryHD, TNTHD, INHD/2, HDNET, etc., you have to have it as part of your package.

Time Warner here has also raise prices by 6% twice this year (back in April and again this month), which just further adds to my frustration with them.

You are lucky the prices are that low, however. It costs $40 per month for analog cable without a box. To receive the encrypted HD channels (the locals are broadcasted unencrypted) here in the Western Ohio division (which is merging with the Cincinnati division) you must have their STB. To get digital cable the cheapest package they have is $70 + STB rental fees that would make my bill $96 instead of $106.

 

[T2k]

I was on TimeWarner for about a month after Voom went out .. it is not true hi def, it is the worst picture i have ever seen and their program guide and logic is a joke, i wouldn't go time warner if they gave me 2 years free. Also, their installers - ughhhh never mind.

I second this - I opted for TWCNYC when Voom went dark and I wasn't sure about Dish and the Voom-deal.

Man, what a mistake!
The worst, shittiest picture quality I have EVER seen.
Horrendously compressed, patch-over-patch-looking SD channels.
Crappy compressed, noisy HD channels with pathetic lineup.
Price: a full package was well over 130$!

R.i.P Time Warner as a TV provider - a big pile of crap. In my case it lived about two weeks then I got disconnected.

Their last move was billing me approx. $400 for two weeks, saying I took the STBs - whereas I had the paper with signature of their uninstaller about taking my STBs back, let alone they NEVER honored their discount promise for new customers coming from satellite nor the initial free 30-day tryout periood.
When they haven't stopped calling me but the stupid CSR refused to correct their bill, I just told her I wrote down her name and I won't pay a cent but I'll take TWC to the court for harrasment and I'll mention her name explicitly. She hung up on me but she did make her move: I got a collection agency notice months later. I called them up and I just pushed a button on the phone saying I'm disputing the amount and that's it. Nothing happened ever since.

Time Warner is one of the worst TV provider in this country. I fully agree with you, I wouldn't take it unless they would offer me years of service for free.

 

[Van]

Ok, all channels through DBS providers like dish and direct are digital, cable cant say this no matter what. You pay extra for your locals no matter who you go through including cable, free locals on cable is a myth and nothing more, if you want locals free then get an antena. Your going to pay for hd unless you go the antenna route and only for your local hd. Dish is adding more voom hd content per a post from sean mota and it looks to be like a considerable amount of hd wich if Im right should put dish as the leader in hd.

If you want to pay cheap then expect to get cheap, one of the local cities here in the detroit area has its own cable co and you can get cable tv for $20 a month. Its cheap and so is the quality.

 

[prusakolep]

I have switched from Dish to Time Warner in Cary, NC in September - because Dish refused to get me the $250 offer on 942 receiver (I spoke with Executive office reps several times - they ranged from unhelpful to rude, probably I was not a good candidate for the 942 lease, as I was only subscribing to the basic package...)

Anyway, Time Warner gave me a $50/month deal for a year, including HD DVR, and the basic HD channels - DiscoveryHD, TNT HD, plus almost all locals in HD. That's all I'd watch anyway. The PQ is great, in fact SD picture is MUCH better than I was getting through my Dish 521 receiver. The VOD features is also very neat, and there is a decent selection of VOD available at no extra charge.

The bad: the Scientific Atlanta (8300 HD) receiver sucks in user friendliness as compared to Dish. They seem to be two generations behind. My biggest peeve is that the program guide shows all channels - including the ones you don't subscribe to, and there is no way to configure it to show only your favorite channels or all subscribed channels.

Also the receiver is for one TV only, even though it is a dual tuner receiver (you can record two shows, or record one and watch another). For additional rooms if you want DVR, it's $13 lease fee for additional receivers plus $7 DVR fee, so the total comes out to something totally not worth it. If you need dual TV feature, then 942 may be worth the lease fee just for that reason (IF you can get the lease). For me, I hooked up the RF output of the 8300 HD to the second TV, got a remote extender and a universal remote to use as a second remote, and I get to use the DVR on the second TV, although this way both TVs have the same output, which is not a huge deal for me.

So neither solution is perfect. Maybe one day if Dish begs me to come back, I'll consider, especially when my 1 year of promotional programming fees runs out...

 

[MikeD-C05]

I went with TWC about 3 years ago for one month because they promised the 40.00 bill a month for 12 months for everything except maybe one or two of the premium movie channel packs. I HATED it . The picture was crappy on all of the local channels as well as the first 73 cable channels. The remote control was cartoonish and limited in features. NO favorite channels guides , in fact it made Dish look absolutely Cutting edge in comparison. I went right back to Dish before three weeks was up and I haven't looked back. The only thing that TWC had that Dish doesn't have back then, was that all the premium movie channels were in dolby digital sound. I still don't know how they did that.

Dish is pretty good overall. The 942 is the best damn receiver that Dish has ever made. After the last update, it actually works like it is supposed to . The audio synch problems with Voom are now history. I love the Voom channels and I am looking forward to the rest of them next month - or sooner. I would like to have my local dma up on the satellite but I can wait since I can get them ota in digital with my 942.

Over all I would rate Dish a B + this year. I look to give them a A + next year when they add the rest of the Voom channels and maybe a few more hd in mpeg2. The only thing that would make me drop my rating would be the yearly price increase in February. I sure hope it isn't going to be another $4.00 like last year. They only added a few sports channels and international channels (*excluding Voom), and I sure don't want to subsidize them with another price increase.

 

[Van]

There is the possibility that you may be in an area where the condition of TW's network is in better shape than that of others, I have seen this to be the case with comcast, at&t, adelphia, and wide open west. Before you make the switch talk to your neighbors and see what they have, if they have tw then ask to see how the service looks, this is usually a good indicator of what you can expect though the full outcome will be dependant on the condition of the cable service in your home leading out to the pole.

 

[Texanmutt]

Do the math.

TWC-
$14 a month for the digital box
$7 a month for the dvr feature
$21 a month total
$252 a year
$756 after 3 years

Dishnet-
$5 a month for the DVR
$60 a year
$180 after 3 years
$250 one time free

Savings after 3 years-
$756 Twc
-$430 Dishnet

$326 saved after 3 years

Cable might sound real nice, but they screw you much slower. If dishnet does not want to give you the $250 lease option, then setup a new account by adding #2 to your address and have your spouses (if applicable) name put on the account then cancel you old account. For example, if you live on 123 main street, then setup up your new address as 123 main st #2 or apt B or something like that. Stuff like that is done all the time. I could setup you up if houston wasnt so damn far from here .

 

[Van]

hehehe, I see the apt A, # 2, suite 103, lot 221A, stuff all the time, specialy when I was in Miami.

 

[Texanmutt]

hehehe, I see the apt A, # 2, suite 103, lot 221A, stuff all the time, specialy when I was in Miami.

Yea, same here. I see this about once a week. Makes for a very easy install, and especially great since i get paid for an install for doing the work of an upgrade :haha . If dishnet would start taking care of existing customers, they could save alot of money. Instead of paying a tech to do an upgrade, they end up paying a tech for an install. Go figure

 

[Van]

Its not so much a fault with dish though, its the industry as a whole and not just satellite. Cable and satellite are fighting in the ring for the big prize and thats customers, dish wants to catch directv so there is a big push to hit the next goal of 12 million customers by february, I had expected this to have been done by this past summer but there has been a slow down across the board for all companies. It wasnt that long ago that dish brought in 2 million new subs in one year so it is possible that they will take over directv but to do it they need to go back to some of the promo's they used to have such as the " I like 9" promo where you could get the at 120 for $9 a month for a year.

 

[MikeD-C05]

IF all they are after is more new subs then they wouldn't be so worried about how much we sub to monthly. You notice how they are always trying to get you to sub to Aep to escape the dvr fees? They want every customer to sub to more so they can make more money a month per subsciber. They also hit you with every fee they can come up with in order to nickel and dime you to death . The only way to escape the fees is with a higher programming pack and to keep your receiver plugged into a phone line.

But if they want to add more subs then your suggestion about bringing back " I like 9 " Promotion would definately be a way to get a few more subs. I think they walk a fine line in trying to get new subs and getting the subs to sub to higher programming packs , and to stop churn.