Backstory:

I'm COMPLETELY FED-UP w/AT&T U-verse. In just over a month, our cable boxes have locked up and we have been unable to watch them for multiple days. Twice we have lost all DVR recordings.

Last week I spent 3 hours online chatting with service about getting our boxes connected again. Yesterday, same thing. The service guy finally came and immediately said our Apple time capsule was the culprit. Apparently if the boxes go out of sync, they can't obtain mac addresses because the time capsule is hogging them.

(I'm already ticked about the Uverse system dumbing-down our time capsule. With Uverse you are unable to to use the router/modem as ONLY a modem. Therefore no matter how much behind the scenes tinkering, I've never been able to get the Uverse router to relinquish power and open all ports to the time capsule, enabling me to connect to any of my computers outside of the home network in order to retrieve files.)

And actually, there are a plethora of issues that we've had within the last year with Uverse. This is about the 5th time I've had them out to the house.

Basically, I'm done with Uverse. I'm interested in opinions on DirectTV.

I'm currently paying $67/month for pretty much basic cable. No HBO, No Skin-e-max, just the basic plus History channel, Discovery, etc. One DVR (NO HD) and one extra cable box.

I'm also currently paying $35/month for internet...giving me this:



I think my only choice for internet is Time Warner Cable, and I'm ok with that, had them before.

I can do TWC internet for $40/month for 15/2. Or a package with TV for $107/month. But I don't think I get to watch my DVR shows on either TV like Uverse or DirectTV.

Yeah, I realize it's a book to read, but I appreciate and greatly value you guys' insight.

Time Warner + Tivo = Win

I wouldnt do internet with directv unless your in an area that does not have easy access to highspeed, we have huges net at work, but the install was about 800 bucks and its 90 dollars a month for about half the speed I get with cox, but I dont reccommend cox internet, stick to fios if you can. But I have had the best service with directv, and even in our almost 3 times yearly hurricans/TS Never lost signal for more than a minuite every 6 hours or so, Other than that crystal clear. What I absolutely love about directv is the receiver in every room, meaning you get 250 channels in every room that has a tv. When I had cox, only my den had the receiver and the rest of the tvs had crappy 99 channel non HD cable. AND I PAID MORE WITH COX. I just got my new DVR and am very new to it, but really like the capability to tell it to record something from work. and be able to watch it at home on 4 of my tvs even though I only have 1 dvr, and when I connect it to my internet thing I will be able to watch it on the computers as well. Had very good customer service with directv as well. I have called at 3 a.m. with problems and always had an american at the other end.

I don't have a Tivo, and would rather not pay for one since anything I would get would have a DVR...

Definately going TWC for internet...$40/month for 15/2.




Glad to hear this...I've never had experiences with satellite so I wondered about signal...years ago I remember a rainstorm throwing out a friend's.

No, I'll get internet through a cable company here. Just shopping for TV now.

DirectTV has an HD DVR, and an extra HD receiver for $44.99/month. Including all my basics plus 40 HD channels (I had none before)

DishNetwork has...well...I can't navigate their site as easily...I think I get the same thing that DirectTV offers but for $31/month...but it's a little vague on the HD as well as being a little hard to follow online.

Anyone have them?

DirecTV has great HD service. Right now with the new slimline 5LNB dishes you get full MPEG4 HD which is much less compressed looking than cable. Unlike cable, DirecTV is locked on to 5 satellites at once with that dish giving them more bandwidth to work with compared to a single cable line. The only downside is that you need a DirecTV box for each TV and the DVRs need two lines if you want to use dual tuner. The boxes are great though, I have always liked the smoothness of the DirecTV guides and menu. Also, 3D is now live if you have a 3D compatible TV. The only downside is that you are locked into a two year agreement since DirecTV does invest a lot of money up front to get you hooked up (the boxes cost them ~$1000 last time I checked) but the service is great. Worse case, just twitter their service team and things will be taken care of. I can actually give you a referral code and get you and I both get $100 of credit on our service if you sign up as a new customer, tell them you were refereed by a friend with the account number 5994074. Also, do a little research and see what promotions are going on.


1. Signal and dish technology is much better these days, the only thing that has knocked our dish out was 5 years worth of LA earthquakes and one time, the multiswitch fried due to a manufacturing defect but DirecTV replaced it for free.

2. Dish gives you less channels, also, they need two dishes for HD which can be a challenge to mount at times. Dish may be cheaper at times but with those two, you get what you pay for. DirecTV seems to have much better equipment and a much better channel selection.

I've had DirecTV for probably 10+ years now, and altho nobody is perfect, I've been very satisfied.

Only real issue I've had in all that time was during an upgrade (dish + receivers) and the install guy just did a very poor job...the install work was just sloppy (wire not secured, bolts half-tight, etc) but I wasn't home during the install, so he did it and ran. I called DTV when I saw the work, and they not only sent out a tech that same day after 6pm, but the manager came with him...and they didn't just clean up the mess, they basically just started over from scratch and did a very clean install. I was so impressed I fed them dinner!

Now maybe all that was because I'm a long-term customer...but still

Awesome...I'm definately leaning toward DirectTV, they seem to be a lot more streamlined in every way I've seen.

Glad to hear about the technology they've been working with.

Quick question you may can help with. My family has a rent house that a family just moved out of. They left a receiver, if it's HD can I use it and still get the whole-house DVR thing to work? I'm assuming it matters which model, but if it works out, does DirectTV let you use YOUR equipment?

e/ Thanks for the referral fried boot...I'm probably going DirectTV and I'll be sure to get you your credit

Awesome RivRunR - that's the kind of thing I've wanted to hear. I've been pleased with the repair guys from AT&T for the most part...it's the shoddy equipment and the fact that everytime I upgrade something in my home network I can't use it's full potential b/c of the AT&T junk.

It does depend, if the box is an HR-20 or newer, then it should work. Is your house wired for DirecTV? In order use the whole house DVR feature, new splitters will need to be installed that create a type of data network between the boxes. If its a new install, they will put that in for you. There is a fee of a few dollars a month to share the DVR recordings across boxes and its recommended that you have an internet connection where the splitters are located. The splitters have an adapter to send the internet signal over the coax in order for the boxes to get it. Its all part of the new system.

Well, when my wife and I bought the house it (still has) both DirectTV and Dish Network satellite's up top, but that's all I know.

I guess I'll go grab that box and call them when I order. It should be relatively easy to install in my house, I have attic access everywhere that I want a box installed.

As long as you have 4 coax lines coming from the dish to a distribution point where the signal switches will be, you will be fine. The DirecTV guys might want to run wires on the outside of the house because just like cable, you sometimes get bad contractors. Just work with them during the install and make sure they dont cut corners.

I'll be with them every step of the way.

Just confirmed. FiOS UNAVAILABLE in my area. They're in every suburb but right here in the middle of Dallas I'm screwed.

FWIW, I just had an experience with DirecTV and my opinion is that what you get on tv is great, but every single add on costs a lot, and they have the worst customer "service" known to man.

Quick story:
I was locked up in a 2 year agreement, but I am a college student and only had a one year lease on a house. So, we moved after one year to a new place that doesn't allow satellites to be put up anywhere on their property (land or house). I call DirecTV, talk to one guy and he says "Oh, that's easy - they can come look at it and just call in that they can't put it up and you get out of your agreement free (vs. $250). It took me probably 3 months and 5 people to come out to my house, amidst hours of yelling at people on the phone to get ANYTHING done with them... and they have no place you can go in person. Such a waste of time, but I did get out of it free.

Yeah that kinda sucks, but we bought our house and we're stuck for a while so I think I'll be fine on that front.

Called AT&T and they prorate the monthly bill, so I can cancel anytime.

Called TWC, set up a date with an internet installer for next Tuesday.

About to Call/Surf DirecTV and set up install with them as well.

Thanks for the info guys. I really wish FiOS was available, but I'll manage with TWCs 15/2 for now.

Call them, probe and see if there any special new customer discounts. Tell them that you are not sure if you want to move over and see if they can do a little better on the price. Say that you were shown the service by a friend and you like it, but it does not seem worth the hassle to move over at the stock price. Unlike the site, the sales people on the phone can, if you make then feel they need to, provide some really nice introductory rates if they think it will help secure you as a customer.

lol were ncis now.

Alright!

First ten months of DirecTV is $35/mo (HD DVR, extra HD receiver, 210 channels)

Next 2 months is $45/mo

Next 12 months is $76/mo (But he told me to call and try and get a new package toward the end of my first year).

Cable is now going to be $40/mo ($5 more than I was paying, but I get to use my own router and instead of 6/1, I get 15/2.

Thanks for the help guys. Appreciate the inputs.

I have DISH Network, and a few relatives of mine have DISH, and others have DirecTV. I would choose either one of those over any cable company in a second!! At least around here DISH is a little cheaper than DirecTV, but they're both great choices IMO. Don't feed into that whole thing about satellite going out all the time in bad weather, I'd say there's maybe 1-2 storms a year that knock our dish out, and even then it's never for a very long time. We had many more signal problems when we had cable then we ever have with our dish.

aggreed. Since satilite does not require a utility wire. Its much harder for equipment to get damaged. I know that we have directv at work as well but at the time when isabel struck we only had cox at home, and cox was out for a week since our utilities got damaged by down trees. Our neighbors had directv back on their generators.

This may sound strange but DirecTV also works anywhere you really want to lug it around in the US. At the end of the summer my family usually rents a house at Lake Tahoe and we go up for a week. Being the geek that I am, I usually haul my spare 3LNB dish up with me and take a few receivers. Just bolt the dish to a log, secure the log to a deck railing using tow straps, and were good to go. Rental houses never have good TV packages but thats not an issue now. I let the DVR fill up with shows while out enjoying the vacation and then on the return trip I use the power inverter to power up the box and then watch the shows off of the DVR once it boots up. Yes, that is a little strange, but it works well and we get to watch a movie on HBO at night when were tired.

Hey that's a pretty good idea. Considering we still have a dish on top of the house, (and I have access to another if we need it) I could feasibly do this as well.

Thanks for the heads up. I won't throw away that boat anchor now.

I had Dish for a while it wash pretty good. Occasional issues during heavy rain but so what, had a DVR. Then the trees in my back yard started to block the signal.

Now on Uverse - I love it. Had it for the past 2 years.

Try this link for Uverse help it is a group mail box monitored by a few Uverse Support people. I gave it a go, within an hour I had a tech support rep calling me . The rep spent an hour on the phone with me troubleshoot and fixed the issue.

Which ever way you go good luck.

To add to what boot was saying...one of my old bosses was from Minnesota, and to avoid having to buy all the sports packages to watch all the Minnesota games, he registered his DirecTV to his sister's house and just paid the bill online, that way he got all the Twin Cities local channels, and could watch every game without having to dish out all that money for all the sports packages. Genius!!

I've had support guys at the house to replace boxes, replace issues with their lines (one had water in it on the power pole in the alley), one made a bad connection in the wall when he rigged the phone outlet, etc.

I've spent an hour (sometimes longer) on the phone with them fixing various issues at least a dozen times over the past year.

Now, I used to like them. I've had them at 3 different houses now. I've also actually had issues at all 3 houses, but I'm a realist, I know things don't always work perfectly. But these last few times have pushed me over the edge.

I don't know how many of you are familiar with apple's time capsule, but it automatically backs up our computers all the time. It can also be used as a router with 2 networks simultaneously (b+g, and n). I can also use it to access my computer's files when I'm on the road. With the Uverse modem/router, however, it restricts all traffic coming in and out so much that I can't use any of the features that I'd like to on the time capsule. (I've manually altered every setting and option known to man or any google search article to no avail) Not to mention Uverse boxes freak out because it also is retrieving MAC addresses from the modem/router.

I'm just ready to go back a little more old school and using my own router. All I want is an internet modem. I'll do the rest.

Uverse should get a little better equipment and let the customer have a little more freedom in setting up his own network if he wants to.\

Then I wouldn't be so unhappy with them.

I have no financial interest in ATT just trying to offer help.

If you go into your Uverse 2Wire config screen you can setup a separate network so that the time capsule will be on a separate subnet. Then you can run all your PCs on that subnet.

Try this post

Maybe you can get it running to make life easier until TWC shows up to move you over.

Wow, that post was today...lol

I've actually tried this. When I had this set up and turned off the wireless under the Uverse config screen it still caused issues.

I was able to get the RG to act just as a bridge and the TC as the router, but it still nulled the TC's ability to run using time machine. And the Uverse residential gateway still restricted any access from outside the network.

Thanks for the heads up though. We've had the TC since Christmas and I just gave up getting it to work around the Uverse RG about a month ago.

And now this

Everything is set up and working. Thanks for all the insight!

Glad you got it working! Time Capsure all set too?

Actually haven't set it all up yet. Was going to rearrange and organize things before I got my entertainment center all set up like I want it.