Cable / Direct TV

[Road Guy]

So my local cable company is going to start charging a small fee for every TV to get cable, actually they will give you two "mini-boxes" to get the signal for all channels and any remaining tv's will only get the local channels....

the extra "mini-box" fee is only $1.99 per TV, but I have been spoiled being able to splice my cable to anywhere I want it...

My issue is, like most of us I have several tv's in the house, I like to keep one in the basement, one in our main room, small one in the office, etc, etc,

I have a plain jane package, cnn, espn, fx, amc, etc pretty much everything but HBO, skinimax, etc and I pay about $80 / month...but unless I pay the extra then I will only have that on three tv's (& with 3 kids I need more (Dont we all!!!))

So for those out there with Dishnetwork / direct tv, whats the most # of tv's you can hook up to direct tv and whats the cost breakdown?

trying to see if I should suck it up and pay the nickle and dime $1.99 month for two extra mini-boxes or switch to direct tv.

the thing I hate about direct tv is to get the channels I get now they have them seperated into different groups....which probably ends up costing more than what I pay now...

 

[squishles10]

do you need cable on every tv? can you get digital local channels on a couple and get by? can a couple be dvd/gaming tvs? our guest room doesnt have a box, just a dvd player for this reason. we have uverse and they charge something like $5 per box. for $2, id just pay it. also, you can get those mirrors so you can watch what another tv has on in another room. would that work? probably, id just pay it. $2 is pretty cheap.

 

[jeb6294]

Are you sure it's only local channels on regular TV's? We've got digital cable so we have a box in the family room, but then the rest of the TV's get basic cable...no boxes, just have to run the cable.

I have never been an advocate of dishes. I got one (DirectTV) when I first got my house because they had a better deal than cable but the signal gradually degraded over a couple years to the point that I lost my signal EVERY time it rained or if there was even a stiff breeze. Customer service was non-existent until the cable guys showed up and I called to cancel my service, then I was suddenly their favorite customer.

 

[Flyer_PE]

As an alternative, depending on how many of the sets are in use at any given time, you could split the output from the mini box to go to more than one television. You wind up with the same programming on both sets that way but if you have two that are not usually in use at the same time, it might work. A few companies make RF relays for the remotes so you can control the cable box from another room.

 

[jroyce]

You have to pay for each box/tv with dish tv and directv. I think the charge is 3.99 per tv or something like that. I pay about $75 per month for 3 tvs with the basic directv package and one tv having Tivo.

The signal issue has improved and I very rarely if ever lose my signal anymore. I would say in the past two years that I have been living in my house, I might have lost the signal two times and one of those times was becauseof snow buildup on the actual dish.

 

[GulfCoastCivil]

With DirecTV it's a $5 fee for each tv other than the first one. Even if you buy your own boxes or get one from a garage sale, you still have to pay a $5 Leased Receiver fee. They told me I'm leasing the service to the receiver, and here I thought the monthly fee I pay is for the service.

Not sure about the plans to get the channels you want. We cut down to bare bones and get the $30 a month package, which is not much, but has all the Disney and Nickelodeon.

But, with Dish and Directv you have to check into the rules in your area on local programming. In my area you can't get locals because we are supposed to be able to get them with a regular antaneaa. Which we don't cause I live in the middle of nowhere. My neighbor has been fighting it by getting these waivers signed by the local broadcasters, but some of them won't sign for her.

Personally, I think DirecTV is evil. We are going to be dropping them and all pay tv soon. Our receiver broke in our bedroom. They want me to pay $70 to replace it and I'd still have to pay the $5 leased receiver fee monthly, even though I would own it. I think these tv companies think too high and mighty of themselves and there is no reason for them to rip you off every chance they get. We rarely watch the tv anyway, with netflix streaming, hulu, and such like that there is no need to pay for tv. We have an xbox 360 so can stream netflix right to our tv. And for the others we have a Mac with a big screen in the bedroom so watch tv on that.

 

[udpolo15]

I just moved and about switched to DirectTV because I could save about $40 month over what I was paying comcast (I have their bundle). Comcast ended up matching the savings so I stuck with them.

My parents have had direct tv for at least 10 years and have rarely had problems with it. Sometimes at the start of a strong thunderstorm, it will go out, but come back within a few minutes (this has probably happened less than a dozen times, if even that). From a sports perspective, you can't beat DirectTV.

 

[Road Guy]

so i guess the $1.99 fee per tv isnt bad, I will play with the free ones and see if I can splice into them first though....

I wish they could have an alacart pricing, all I really need is the espn's, FX, discovery channel and AMC.....

 

[Capt Worley PE]

I wish they could have an alacart pricing, all I really need is the espn's, FX, discovery channel and AMC.....

They fight that tooth and nail.

 

[Road Guy]

well I hooked up two of the "digital adaptors" my god they suck, about every 30 minutes the tv blacks out and then goes back to channel 1 (on both tv's)

f'n comcast, not very comcastic at all...

 

[roadwreck]

f'n comcast, not very comcastic at all...

it's craptastic!

I've been waiting for a viable option to dump comcast for a while now. I've had comcast until now b/c they are the only ones that could provide me with TV and internet at a reasonable price. I don't have a home phone, and until recently I wasn't able to get DSL without a home phone line. Even now that I can, the DSL just isn't comperable in speed for the price. But a new service is now available in my area called clear ( www.clear.com )which may allow me to ditch comcast, get decent internet speeds at a fair price and I can switch to one of the dish providers for TV.

I need to look into it a little more, but I could be dumping comcast very shortly.

 

[Flyer_PE]

I know a few people that are using cell networks for their home internet access. I'm keeping Comcast for the simple reason that it's the fastest thing available to me and my employer reimburses me for the expense.

 

[SkyWarp]

Verizon FiOS is $6/monther per box but they have a pretty good deal going if it's available in your area. I've read that their customer service is sketchy though.

 

[TouchDown]

I hate our cable - Mediacom...

But, I won't go back to dish due to the loss of signal during a rain storm or heavy snow. That just bugs me. At a point where I want to watch the weather to be informed - the TV goes out.

They have slowed down installation in our town, but Centurytel (the local telephone provider) had started installations of it's IPTV boxes so they could sell cable TV over the phone lines at a reduced price. Too bad there aren't others out there that if you had a high speed internet connection (through cable or DSL) that you could pay a subscription and get your channels on your TV through the IPTV technology??? Weeding out the Cable / Dish suppliers? Does this exist?

And, whatever happened to the utility companies generating a technology to use utility lines for data / internet? Was it too much noise for the signal to noise ratio / issues with transformers? That would be a cool technology to take advantage of alternate existing wiring and then you could use any plugin in the house to hook up to?

 

[squishles10]

we have att uverse and we love it. its cheaper than cable around here, more reliable than satellites (those darn thunderstorms), and its all digital with no dish on the house. our package has our cell phone, the landline, the internet, and the cable all on it for a discount. (yes we have a landline, we have an alarm, i hate it). id recommend it and have heard that verizons is very similar. in dallas you can only get one or the other but i dont think it matters.

 

[klk]

we have Verizon FiOS. Internet is way faster than comcast but the cable is equal or worse than comcast. The comcast DVR interface is better than verizon IMO and there are a few sports channels we don't get in HD now (that we used to get in HD with comcast). We invited a bunch of friends over to watch a college football game only to find out the day before the game that we couldn't get the HD version. hubby was pissed.

The only reason I would consider getting directTV is for NFL Sunday Ticket.

 

[Supe]

When I first got ATT U-Verse about a year ago it SUCKED. That thing froze and locked up more times than I can count, constant digital "grain" showing up, audio blips, you name it. After Ike hit, they redid a lot of the lines outside, and I don't think I've had a problem since. The interface isn't bad, but the Motorola boxes suck. They lag quite a bit, lose their settings, etc. I think that's just about Motorola EVERYTHING these days though.

Any Time Warner users here? The place I'm looking to move is pre-wired for it, and I'd rather not go dish, especially since I like to keep my cable and internet together for ease of lazy online bill payment.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

I have TWC, but only for TV. Their internet (Roadrunner) is through AOL.

 

[Supe]

I have TWC, but only for TV. Their internet (Roadrunner) is through AOL.

Is their pricing decent based on the bundles they give you?

As much as I HATE everything remotely associated with AOL, I'd rather have cable internet than DSL 99% of the time.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

I don't know. I use them for extended basic, and it is 65 a month, which is highway robbery in my book. They have good bundled deals, but only for 12 months and I've never gotten a straight answer on rates after that, so I don't futz with it.