questions → directv or dish (or fios)?

vote-for14vote-against

Directv or Dish (or Fios)?

Dec 24, 2011 2:49 PM

Gah, Time Warner just raised it's rates on me yet again providing no additional value for the service I'm getting and I'm pretty fed up.

The into rates at both Directv and Dish look pretty good but I can't seem to dig through the fine print to figure out what additional hidden fees there are and what the rate kicks up to after the promotional period ends.

Our set up at home is a roku, logitech revue, and an LG internet TV with netcast. We don't get any of the pay movie channels but do get a higher tier than basic cable to get some of the non-pay movie channels and most of the news channels. We're not really much of a sports household so sports channels or lack there of is a non-issue.

As for FIOS, they just recently laid lines in our area so I would guess within the next year FIOS would be available to us.

Thoughts? Benefits/Negatives? Secret Fees?

Who's the best value?

yrguide yrguide

10 Answers answer

Sort By:

vote-for6vote-against

I've had dish a couple years now and their service is good. My signal is almost never interrupted (better up-time than cable) and the channel selection is better. After the low-price introduction period the first year (which saved some bucks), I pay about $100 a month for ~300 HD channels, 2 premium channels, and 3 receivers (2 of them are HD-DVR).

liquidblue1 liquidblue1
vote-for3vote-against

@liquidblue1: Is that the all in, including tax? How much are your premium channels? Also, how much are you being charged per receiver? We'll only need two, 1 of them being an HD-DVR.

yrguide yrguide
vote-for4vote-against

Any which way, you're still going to need internet access, so with that in mind, FIOS may be the more cost effective result.

narfcake narfcake
vote-for4vote-against

@yrguide: That's the bottom line price. The 2 premium channels (HBO and SHO) are 24 total, 10 per HD-DVR and 6 for DVR service. The base service I have is 45, then there's the protection plan that's 6, but I don't think I've used it. Tax is 3.

liquidblue1 liquidblue1
vote-for3vote-against

@narfcake: Yes, but if I cobble together cable internet sans the cable which is $41.99 plus tax so about $46 all in and couple that with @liquidblue1's rates which for me should be the $100 less the $24 less the $10 I'm looking at $112-ish all in where TWC is charging me $145 a month after the latest increase.

FIOS would be a good option but I have no idea when they are going to make it available.

yrguide yrguide
vote-for4vote-against

I've had Dish for over 10 years and am reasonably happy with them. One little-known option that I use is annual payment (rather than monthly). It saves about 1 month's fee.

turbinator42 turbinator42
vote-for3vote-against

@turbinator42: Oh wow...ok, this is def another bonus. Thanks!

yrguide yrguide
vote-for3vote-against

Here's an example of a DirecTV bill (with all channels and whole home HD)

12/19 01/18 PREMIER Monthly 114.99

12/19 01/18 DIRECTV Protection Plan Monthly 5.99

12/19 01/18 DIRECTV HD EXTRA PACK Monthly 4.99

12/19 01/18 HD Access Monthly 10.00

12/19 01/18 Block Viewing Data Collection 0.00

12/19 01/18 DIRECTV DVR Service Monthly 7.00

12/19 01/18 DIRECTV CINEMA Tune to Ch. 1000 for more info 0.00

12/19 01/18 DIRECTV Whole-Home DVR Service Monthly 3.00

Fees

12/20 Leased Receiver 6.00

12/20 Primary Leased Receiver 6.00

Adjustments & Credits

12/17 Cash Back for 12 Months -5.00 Credit

12/19 01/18 PREMIER 24 Mo Rebate: Mos 1-12 -24.00 Credit

12/19 01/18 PREMIER Rebate Redeemed Online -5.00 Credit

12/19 01/18 HD Access Free HD Access w/Auto Bill Pay -10.00 Credit

12/20 Primary Leased Receiver -6.00 Credit

thumperchick thumperchick
vote-for3vote-against

In our area, FIOS contracts with DirecTV for their cable/sat provider. Overall, they all nickel and dime you.

thumperchick thumperchick
vote-for2vote-against

Direct since 2003 when I dumped Comcast...
The big tree in my Neighbor's yard has gotten taller so when i get the roof done the antenna moves to the top of the roof...
Been Waiting for FIOS for a long time... Individual contracts with each town where we live... :-(

hobbitss hobbitss

Stats

Asked
Dec 24, 2011 2:49 PM
Asked By
yrguide
Answered
10 times
Viewed
810 times
Voted Against
0 times
Voted For
14 times

Similar Questions

Related Deals

Not a farewell, just a forced redirect.

It's true, Local.Woot is no longer, but please don't despair.

Never-ending savings are still to be found on Deals.Woot each and every day, so come on in. Don't think of it as a time for tears. Think of it as a way to bring us all closer together under one roof.

Sorry

This is only for people who have bought woots

We restrict voting to users who have purchased something from one of the other Woot stores. It's not just because we want your money (which we do) - it's the best way to be sure all the votes are coming from real people and not spam-bots or phony accounts. The best way we can think of, anyway. For now.

You can always get voting rights by buying something from one of Woot's other sites:

Purchases through Deals.Woot don't count, because in that case you're not buying anything from us. And we don't have your account information for those purchases.

If you think you've bought something from Woot before and still can't vote, make sure you're logged in with the same account you used to buy from us.

Geez, why so negative?

You have to vote up more before you can vote down.

Don't get us wrong. Negativity has its place. And downvotes are just as essential as upvotes when it comes to making Deals.Woot a useful place to find deals.

But when your votes lean so heavily toward the dark side, we have to wonder. Go vote up a few things. Accentuate the positive for a little while. It'll do you some good, and it'll do the site some good, too. Then you can get back to dealing out the smackdowns, OK?

Too late, we all heard you!

Hmm... you're wanting to take your vote back?

Well, that's a bit tricky. See, we do a lot of stuff with your vote, using it to work out the popularity of what you voted for, compare that to all the other things voted on, tally up our leaderboard, work out your reputation. Someday we'll do a little cartoon showing just how hard your vote is working.

Anyway, taking votes back messes all that up, so we give you five minutes, in case you just mis-clicked. After that we've got to say no take-backs. Luckily, votes are free, so feel free to throw them around left and right wherever you see fit.