thinking of coming back to directv after 3 year hiatus

[obeythelaw]

I checked and do not see any 4k content when I go to search and browse. I'm not really that concerned about 4K right now because 1)there isn't a lot of content for it and 2) i don't want to pay any extra monthly fees for 4k content. As for the wireless genies, is this something that they can just send me the wireless bridge and the wireless genie and I can hook it up myself or do I need another tech to come out? Also, I would want to wireless genies but I only have one TV set up for that now. Would they permit me to have another wireless genie and then I can connect it once I get the TV?
Lastly, I keep seeing conflicting things concerning the price lock. I only got a 12 month price lock. I told the woman on the phone that the way I read the directv website is that if you have AT&T wireless service and also sign up for Directv service you can get a 24 month price lock. She said no. However, a few posts above seems to indicate that it should be the case. Is there anything definitive?
I also noticed that you can buy the wireless genie clients on Amazon and there is no installation fee. I contacted Directv and they said they have to send another tech out to the house to set it up. I'd prefer not to have to have another tech come and waste part of a day. Is ordering off of amazon, legitimate? I didn't think you can order that stuff except from Directv? Can you order the wireless mini and the appropriate video bridge from Amazon?

 

[EarDemon]

Your wife watches her TV on the phone instead of the TV ?
Do you not have WiFi in the house ?

It really isn’t that hard to use a ton of mobile data, even without streaming hi resolution video. Just got back from a four day trip to NYC and the Greater Hudson Valley region. I used just under 9 gigs of mobile data in that four day span, for a monthly total that’s approaching 20 gigs, my billing cycle ends on Sunday or Monday so it will be reset, and I have Sprint with unlimited data, so I don’t care one bit how much data I used, I was just curious about the usage.


Google Navigation w/ real time traffic data and alerts and the ability to reroute will do it. I do not subscribe to traffic alerts from Sirius XM for my cars infotainment system, so once we got to our hotel, checked in, and did some basic exploring, my phone was my main GPS.

Ever been in East Flashbush, Brooklyn and needed to get back the Financial District in Lower Manhattan to catch the last ferry of the day while it’s still light out to get back to Jersey City to get your car? I was never in that situation until Tuesday. Between looking up info, using various NYC travel apps, using Google Nav for walking directions, pulling up maps of the area. I probably used a lot of data just trying to navigate the largest city in the world by foot. While I generally don’t believe in remote hosting solutions (aka ‘the cloud’), I did upload about 25 hi rez imagines I took with my phone from One World Observatory at the top of 1 WTC to my Google Drive account and my NAS at home. I’m not bumbling around to connect to some shoddy free wifi or CableWifi when I have bare minimum 30Mb Down/10 Mb Up broadband right in the palm of my hand.

The only streaming I did was one hour of video on Tuesday night at the hotel to watch Storage Wars, and one hour of video on Wednesday night to watch The Ultimate Fighter. My wife wanted to go to bed and I didn’t want to disturb her with the hotel TV, and both A&E and FS1 are available for out of home viewing on the Time Warner Cable app so I put in my ear buds and watched them on my phone. I am staunchly against watching TV on a phone, who the hell wants to watch on such a small screen? But it’s only reality TV that I’m watching, so I’m not overly concerned about having the best viewing experience. I did also stream some audio here and there from 1010 WINS while on the ferry to keep abreast of any traffic mishaps on the various limited access highways we traveled.

I average roughly 10-12 GB per month on phone. I usually take two road trips a year, one in the Spring and one in the Fall. During those billing cycles I am at, around or over 20 gigs.

 

[Jimbo]

It really isn’t that hard to use a ton of mobile data, even without streaming hi resolution video. Just got back from a four day trip to NYC and the Greater Hudson Valley region. I used just under 9 gigs of mobile data in that four day span, for a monthly total that’s approaching 20 gigs, my billing cycle ends on Sunday or Monday so it will be reset, and I have Sprint with unlimited data, so I don’t care one bit how much data I used, I was just curious about the usage.


Google Navigation w/ real time traffic data and alerts and the ability to reroute will do it. I do not subscribe to traffic alerts from Sirius XM for my cars infotainment system, so once we got to our hotel, checked in, and did some basic exploring, my phone was my main GPS.

Ever been in East Flashbush, Brooklyn and needed to get back the Financial District in Lower Manhattan to catch the last ferry of the day while it’s still light out to get back to Jersey City to get your car? I was never in that situation until Tuesday. Between looking up info, using various NYC travel apps, using Google Nav for walking directions, pulling up maps of the area. I probably used a lot of data just trying to navigate the largest city in the world by foot. While I generally don’t believe in remote hosting solutions (aka ‘the cloud’), I did upload about 25 hi rez imagines I took with my phone from One World Observatory at the top of 1 WTC to my Google Drive account and my NAS at home. I’m not bumbling around to connect to some shoddy free wifi or CableWifi when I have bare minimum 30Mb Down/10 Mb Up broadband right in the palm of my hand.

The only streaming I did was one hour of video on Tuesday night at the hotel to watch Storage Wars, and one hour of video on Wednesday night to watch The Ultimate Fighter. My wife wanted to go to bed and I didn’t want to disturb her with the hotel TV, and both A&E and FS1 are available for out of home viewing on the Time Warner Cable app so I put in my ear buds and watched them on my phone. I am staunchly against watching TV on a phone, who the hell wants to watch on such a small screen? But it’s only reality TV that I’m watching, so I’m not overly concerned about having the best viewing experience. I did also stream some audio here and there from 1010 WINS while on the ferry to keep abreast of any traffic mishaps on the various limited access highways we traveled.

I average roughly 10-12 GB per month on phone. I usually take two road trips a year, one in the Spring and one in the Fall. During those billing cycles I am at, around or over 20 gigs.

As a rule, I will use a whole lot more data when I'm on Vacation or out of town .... just the way it is.

I DON'T expect cell providers to offer what home computers use.
I wouldn't expect it.

 

[mdram]

As a rule, I will use a whole lot more data when I'm on Vacation or out of town .... just the way it is.

I DON'T expect cell providers to offer what home computers use.
I wouldn't expect it.

its not expected, but it would be nice if they had plans that could fill in

believe it or not, there are areas that cannot get internet any other way (discounting sat)
these areas often have underutilized cell towers

 

[obeythelaw]

Can you have a mix of wired and wireless genie minis? If so, are you limited to how many can be used at once to watch tv?

 

[rad]

Can you have a mix of wired and wireless genie minis? If so, are you limited to how many can be used at once to watch tv?

Yes you can have a mix of wireless and wired clients. Either way max is three concurrent clients.

 

[SatelliteGAL]

I'm waiting to see what you have to say about the picture quality. I currently have FIOS as well. but the offers out there are looking really good.

 

[obeythelaw]

Yes you can have a mix of wireless and wired clients. Either way max is three concurrent clients.

When you say concurrent, does that mean you can be watching the main Genie DVR (the server) and two other genie mini clients or 3 other genie mini clients? And can you turn off a genie client to free it up?

 

[obeythelaw]

I'm waiting to see what you have to say about the picture quality. I currently have FIOS as well. but the offers out there are looking really good.

I think HD has been pretty good by all of the major players over the last couple of years. I do find the Directv HD quality to be on par with Fios. Considering that it is satellite and not "Fiber Optic" is cool. Even the standard def quality is very good and I have a 60 inch LG 4k Ultra HD TV. I have switched to AT&T unlimited on my wireless account and going to see if I get throttled or not. However, I was paying for at least the 20 gig plan and sometimes more so hopefully that works out and I would consider it a plus of being with Directv.

 

[Jimbo]

I'm waiting to see what you have to say about the picture quality. I currently have FIOS as well. but the offers out there are looking really good.

I thought you previously had D* ..... no ?

 

[Jimbo]

I checked and do not see any 4k content when I go to search and browse. I'm not really that concerned about 4K right now because 1)there isn't a lot of content for it and 2) i don't want to pay any extra monthly fees for 4k content. As for the wireless genies, is this something that they can just send me the wireless bridge and the wireless genie and I can hook it up myself or do I need another tech to come out? Also, I would want to wireless genies but I only have one TV set up for that now. Would they permit me to have another wireless genie and then I can connect it once I get the TV?
Lastly, I keep seeing conflicting things concerning the price lock. I only got a 12 month price lock. I told the woman on the phone that the way I read the directv website is that if you have AT&T wireless service and also sign up for Directv service you can get a 24 month price lock. She said no. However, a few posts above seems to indicate that it should be the case. Is there anything definitive?
I also noticed that you can buy the wireless genie clients on Amazon and there is no installation fee. I contacted Directv and they said they have to send another tech out to the house to set it up. I'd prefer not to have to have another tech come and waste part of a day. Is ordering off of amazon, legitimate? I didn't think you can order that stuff except from Directv? Can you order the wireless mini and the appropriate video bridge from Amazon?

Yes, you can order D* stuff thru Amazon asvwell as other sites ...
Keep in mind, they are still a lease.

 

[ninjadave]

New customer here as well - love it so far and I did switch to ATT wireless to get the lock in price on Dtv - $75 per month for ultimate with combined billing ($10 discount) - 24 months - no other fees except sports fee - bill is $84 a month for 24 months that is all - I'm glad I waited to install. The picture quality is better than my old Atlantic Broadband - keep my ABB internet but canceled everything and signed up for internet with new phone # and wife name and got intro rate for 12 months - happy camper!!!!

Also got the HR54 and 2 C51s. Easy install I had new cable line - he used it all works great.