Cable TV or Satellite?

[crew]

I recently moved and am still in the process of getting settled.
Last week I had basic cable installed at, what I thought, was a good price and no contract. As soon as it was installed I realized there just weren't enough channels so I upgraded to the next level. I went from $30/month to almost $60/month.
I'm considering going to Direct TV for about $30/month, guaranteed for 1 year but I need to sign a 2 year contract.

I'd be interested in your comments, pro or con, for these two options. Thanks!

[Rbdport]

I've had DISH in the past. On the plus: huge number of channels, on the minus: no signal when raining or heavy snow. Cable may be more expensive but it delivers reliable signal.

[hdrazor251]

I've stuck with cable because I don't want to commit myself to a contract. At least if my cable company drops AMC and Breaking Bad (DISH), I can threaten to leave and negotiate a price reduction.

[East Bay Rider]

Just switched from regular cable (Cox Communications) to fiber optic (Verizon Fios). Much faster Internet and better telephone. Naturally the channels are all different and I can't say whether an improvement or not.
Saved approx. $50/month.

[dba]

Only one cable company where I live, (Charter) so I use them as I also have them as my ISP.

[yakmeister]

Do NOT get DSL. Do NOT get satelite. That being said, Cable or fibre from another source will always be your best bet.

[z32turbo]

I have Diectv and it works great. Even in the rain I don't lose signal.

[kilyung]

Having worked in pay-TV for years (Cox, Vz, TWC, DISH), FIOS is the best service. Satellite is cheapest and has better HD quality than cable. Cable is more reliable but poor picture quality and high cost. If you can't get FIOS, then get Satellite video and Cable Internet.

[mfer]

I think it depends on your area.

I had charter Internet and cable. So upset with Internet constantly going down, I dropped them. Charter always said its my router. It never was.

Then I went AT&T DSL and dish network. Both no problems, but not the fastest Internet. A couple years of that and I went with AT&T Uverse. Internet is awesome! Always up always fast. Their TV was a different story. My TV receivers would constantly crash. I worked with them and they replaced them. Same thing. TVs would have to reboot all the time. Doesn't make sense seeing how Internet always worked....

So now I have uverse Internet and back to dish. I'll take the outage during the HEAVY rainstorms (which aren't common) over the constant issues I've had with both charter and uverse tv.

[seand442]

Just made the switch from cable to Directv. It is cheaper and I managed to get a $200 cash card for it. Picture quality is as good or better than cable. Even with bundling cable and Internet, it will be cheaper. Plus, cable doesn't have NFL Sunday ticket.

[Runnin' Rebel]

I been with DTV for about 7 months, switch from cox and saving close to 60 dollars. If you use my account number you'll save 10 bucks a month for 10 months and so will I

[donas]

I use direct tv and don't have any complaints other than signal goes out every now and then, but never for more than a few minutes.

I had Comcast cable prior and had way more problems with the signal from them, always out -sometimes for hours at a time. Often, the picture was terrible as well.

[wantonebad]

Not to hijack but I've had FiOS for a few months now and I never thought I would say this but I miss having a movie channel. When I had RCN we had Showtime and HBO, I don't miss them cause they had too much of their own BS programming so when I signed up for FiOS I didn't get any movie channels. I'm still not interested in HBO or showtime cause I only want movies, and as many new releases as possible. There was a free preview of epix this weekend and it was pretty good, but no channel is as good as their free preview. Any suggesting for a good movie channel?

[crew]

Originally Posted by wantonebad

Not to hijack but I've had FiOS for a few months now and I never thought I would say this but I miss having a movie channel. When I had RCN we had Showtime and HBO, I don't miss them cause they had too much of their own BS programming so when I signed up for FiOS I didn't get any movie channels. I'm still not interested in HBO or showtime cause I only want movies, and as many new releases as possible. There was a free preview of epix this weekend and it was pretty good, but no channel is as good as their free preview. Any suggesting for a good movie channel?

What about streaming Netflix? I've heard that it works well and the selection is pretty good. At least that's what I've been led to believe.

[Rags]

I've had Directv for years with no problems except during a torrential storm you will lose the picture for a few minutes to maybe 30 minutes. I had cable which would go out very often.

[threemonkeys]

Off topic - but I finally said screw it and cancelled all my cable. It feels quite liberating.

[BarkMaster]

Just switched to back to Direct TV after having Comcast for the last 6 years. After they went all digital, the initial reason I had gone cable (direct plug support for analog TV's) was no longer the case. Had the service been OK, I would have ignored the price... but it went downhill. Now I have awesome TV service. I was told that it has to really rain hard these days to affect the satellite signal. That has not happened since the switch, but I can always stream if needed.

TV: Satellite & Direct Broadcast (local)
ISP: Cable & Cell provider
Phone: Landline & Cell
Other: Ham Radio

I don't like putting all my eggs in one basket. ;)

[wantonebad]

Originally Posted by crew

What about streaming Netflix? I've heard that it works well and the selection is pretty good. At least that's what I've been led to believe.

Nope, former netflix customer and I'm never going back. They lost a lot of their titles and I want a channel I can just click to if I'm avoiding a commercial.