DIRECTV vs. DISH

I liked my service I had with Directv, but they didn’t have a wide variety of international channels. I am interest in the French package, Direct didn’t carry it. My contract ends this month, therefore I will take the opportunity to try Dish Network. As soon as my 24 months are up I will switch back if Direct add more international channels.

I am not a Dish Network customer and after the experience I had over the phone with one of their managers I will never be. On Tuesday I called looking for quotes on services provided in my area, Richlands, NC. The lady I spoke with ran an application, although I only wanted quotes for cable, internet, and possibly phone. When I stated I was not interested in starting services, she stated that she would have to have a manger close the application. The manager that I spoke to was rude, pushy, and hung up on me not giving me the opportunity to get quotes on anything but cable. This was after I tried to explain to him the point of my phone call, he wanted to hear nothing that I had to say except to tell me “we all have bills to pay, and our services are the cheapest.” The point of this email is to inform you that people are not always looking for the cheapest deals. Many customers are looking for getting the best deal for their dollar, and above all else customer service. I signed up with Direct TV this week, and they are by far the cheapest, but their level of professionalism is worth not having to deal with the disrespect that Dish network gave me. I am sure they will not lose money over not having me as a customer, but rest assured that I will educate anyone interested in their services and what they may have to deal with a one time or another.

I just switched from DishNetwork to Direct TV a month ago and I really miss my Dish!
The Cons of Direct TV: The guide display on Direct sucks… It cuts off the titles in the box and only displays what will play for the next hour vs. Dish, where you could see the next few hours.
Direct TV has a tiny fraction of the storage space for recordings vs Dish. I had hundreds of shows recorded and never filled it up on Dish. With Direct TV, I have maybe 50 shows and it’s at 50% capacity.
The remote function: There is no toggle to go back and forth on Direct TV between 2 shows like with Dish. Direct TV says to hit the arrow down button twice, but it always goes to some random channel I have never clicked on before rather than what I was last watching!
For the second TV in a second room: WIth Direct TV you have to have a second machine (with Dish, one machine runs 2 rooms). You cannot pause live TV on that second TV, and it totally sucks because we use that function all the time.
On Direct TV, while skipping through commercials that are recorded, it’s more like fast forwarding. It jumps in short increments. With Dish, it will skip an entire commercial with one click. For Direct, it takes 2-4 clicks to get through one commercial.
There is a big delay on the receiver from the remote. In guide, I’ll be scrolling down and it will often be 5 ro 6 clicks behind me and I’ll have to wait for it to catch up . The receiver just doesn’t get the signal nearly as fast. With Dish, it was instant. It’s a real pain to wait. It’s like going back to dial up vs. a cable connection.
The Pros of Direct TV:
When you record a bunch of one show, it only shows one heading for that show so you don’t have to scroll through 100 of the same title when searching recordings. Just click it and all the episodes will drop down.
If you are watching a show and press the guide, you can still pause, rewind, etc. whatever you are watching even though it’s only the tiny box in the corner. With Dish, the controls don’t work on the program while in guide mode.
Smart search is just a couple clicks away on Direct ( But more necesary because only one or two at a time is displayed at a time in the guide)
I definately like Dish better. The most used functions are much more effective, faster and more convenient.

I just switched from DishNetwork to Direct TV a month ago and I really miss my Dish!
The Cons of Direct TV: The guide display on Direct sucks… It cuts off the titles in the box and only displays what will play for the next hour vs. Dish, where you could see the next few hours.
Direct TV has a tiny fraction of the storage space for recordings vs Dish. I had hundreds of shows recorded and never filled it up on Dish. With Direct TV, I have maybe 50 shows and it’s at 50% capacity.
The remote function: There is no toggle to go back and forth on Direct TV between 2 shows like with Dish. Direct TV says to hit the arrow down button twice, but it always goes to some random channel I have never clicked on before rather than what I was last watching!
For the second TV in a second room: WIth Direct TV you have to have a second machine (with dish, one machine runs 2 rooms). You cannot pause live TV on that second TV, and it totally sucks because we use that function all the time.
On Direct TV, while skipping through commercials that are recorded, it’s more like fast forwarding. It jumps in short increments. With Dish, it will skip an entire commercial with one click. For Direct, it takes 2-4 clicks to get through one commercial.
The Pros of Direct TV:
When you record a bunch of one show, it only shows one heading for that show so you don’t have to scroll through 100 of the same title when searching recordings. Just click it and all the episodes will drop down.
If you are watching a show and press the guide, you can still pause, rewind, etc. whatever you are watching even though it’s only the tiny box in the corner. With Dish, the controls don’t work on the program while in guide mode.
Smart search is just a couple clicks away on Direct ( But more necesary because only one or two at a time is displayed at a time in the guide)
I definately like Dish better. The most used functions are much more effective, faster and more convenient.TV and it’s fast and easy to search for programs

I’m a customer service representative for DirecTV. I appreciate customers who works with the representative to solve their issues. We’re just simply doing our job. We’re here to provide GREAT customer service experience every time you pick that phone. Consider a rep that’s taking almost 60-80 calls per day, you don’t have any idea how exhausted or stressed out for that rep to manage his/her calls. Then, all you need to is yell, curse or bad mouth the rep. We’re not your enemy, we’re here to help our customers and hope that at the end of the day we put a smile on our customers face.

I have had both Dish and now Direct. Direct has a far better program search than does Dish…it’s intuitive, Dish’s is NOT.

Although Direct claims they have all room capability, that’s not totally true. 1. Each room has to have there own mini receivers. Unless it is a recorded show you CANNOT pause the show, go back a couple seconds or pause and then FF through the commercial. 2. You cannot have all your TV’s slaving off the main…that is have the same program being viewed and it be at the same point if it is a recording. Unless you have everyone in the house hold a remote and then yell, “NOW” to start them all.

On Dish 1. You can wire your main HD TV off the DVR and then wire the other rooms to run from the secondary output on the DVR to other TV’s using a splitter if you need it. The other rooms will not be HD. For some one living alone who wants all the TV’s synchronized so as to walk around the house at be able to freeze shows or advance using one UHF remote no matter where you are in the house, Dish is the only one that will do that…NO Cable will.

Both systems suffer atmospheric issues when there is an electrical storm…....this is far better than the every other month I had to call Time Warner to 'tweak’ my reception because some of the channels were no longer clear.

Dish, when I left them also had an issue with stopping a recording of a programmed show BEFORE it was over by 1 minute. (It has been 2 years since I had Dish…this may have been solved)

Direct seems to have far more knowledgeable teackies whom seem to be on our shore with a good grip of the English language.

I switched from Dish to Direct because Dish did not offer local channels in my area (They do now) AND stopping recordings before the end of the show.

I am a customer service representative at DirecTV. I am very pleased with how DirecTV works with the exception of a technician coming out to your home. Technicians are contracted out to a local tech company in your area so getting there’s a 50/50 chance you will get an unreliable tech and sit at home all day only to call me and yell in my ear and in the end just reschedule.
One more thing that ALL customers of both DirecTV and Dish need to understand is the FULLPRICE OF THEIRPACKAGE. Dont get caught up in the 3 month promotions here and one year promotions there. Understand your package will cost you $85, however, both companies will give you promotions for a limited time, BUTYOUR TV PACKAGECOSTS $85..not $34.99.
All in all… Dish costs 74.99. DirecTV costs 75.99. DirecTV has more sports programming options. Other than that, the companies are identical. Both have terrible technicians. Both have new customer promotions. Both have great/bad reviews. Both have Video On Demand (DTV calls CinemaPlus).

I originally had DirecTV, but had to cancel due to hurricane damage. After the hurricane, DirecTV would take weeks to hook-up, so I switched to Dish. I regreted it on a daily basis. Every time my electricity went out, the reciever would break. I went through two recievers before I finally cancelled and returned to DirecTV. I have been with DirecTV for over a year (longer than DISH) and my reciever has given me NO problems. I always tell people to go with DirecTV NOT Dish. Buyer BEWARE if you choose DISH. You will loose money and service!

Every time it starts raining even if it’s a drizzle the tv goes out. If you was under a tornado warning you wouldn’t be able hear anything about it. All you get to watch is info-mercials. Their hardly any good shows on. We did get the cheaper package so they tell us if we want to get better channels we have to up grade to more money. We received better channels through the box you get from Wal-mart. We can’t wait till our contract is over with.We really didn’t want dish or any other service we were trying to get internet and went to wize guys to bundle and they talked us into dish and then we never received the other services because they forgot to put in the paperwork. So we cancelled everything else but Dish wouldn’t let us cancel them. We wouldn’t recommend Dish to any one.

I had Dish Network for about 10 years and was overall happy BUT decided to change to get the free NFL Sunday pkg. My system was installed 48 hours ago and i have had 3 outages, system is currently out and has been for last 8+ hours. Keep getting a 771 code and have called 3 times today to try to get someone back out here to correct the problem. Now they say it will be 2 days before they can come out when 2 hours ago my wife was told someone would call and set a time for this afternoon.

I want DISH back!!!!!!