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i blame such comments on boredom and drinkng, this is why we need more green spaces
-- Karl the Druid
-- Karl the Druid
Brooklynian » Forum » Park Slope »
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We're having all kinds of trouble with our TW Cable HD signal and I just can't face yet another round of their surreal, Fawlty-Towers-on-Crack customer service. Costco is giving members a special deal on DirecTV installation and service, and I am very tempted. Does anyone have any experience with DirecTV? How is the signal, how did the installation go, does the signal go out every time it drizzles, does it seem like a good value? -- that sort of thing. I have 2 HD TVs, if that matters. Any info appreciated!
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signal sucks when it rains, its all turns black. but my system is over a decade old. not sure if the newer ones works the same :p.Fight white guilt and injustice by smoking tax free guilt free Reservation Smokes or go gamble in a Native Casino.
I like to stick it to The Man, The Man happens to be Liberal in NYC(power Structure). -
I used to have Time Warner digital cable six years ago and got fed up with it's lousy signal and scrambled shows for no reason. I switched to DirecTV and couldn't be happier. Some people have had problems with signals in the rain or wind but I've only had maybe two incidents in six years. The istallation is a breeze. They do it all for you. If you get one of their DVR's you will be able to record two shows at once while watching a recorded show (very helpful when LOST goes up against American Idol). Their customer service, however, is about as good as TW's. One time my signal kept going out (not weather-related) and no one could figure out the problem. Eventually, I went up to our roof and screwed the cables in that were loose and everything was fine. For their stupidity I made them give me a TiVO (this was when their DVR's were TiVO's) and they did. I still have the same TiVO today- five years later.
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How are the direct tv rates here? I'm getting really annoyed by TW as well--internet signal is off and on and the tv scrambling is incredibly frustrating. My folks had direct tv in AR in the country and I never saw this problem when visiting. The weather was the only one--you could tell about how far a big storm was by when the signal went out. It didn't stay out long and that was real storms (thunder and lightening), not the gentle stuff we get here. They only switched b/c it was cheaper to be a new customer with another company than deal with replacing all the boxes after lightening busted them all a few times.
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Direct TV is wonderful. You may lose the signal for a few minutes during a torrential downpour but that is it. I've had it in two different apts. for 10+ years. You may want to look into combining with Verizon phone and DSL for a good intro rate. I think I pay about $50 a month with no premium channels and no intro deal. The feeling of being free of TW is priceless.
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Mine is around $55 a month. Plus DirecTV has IFC and BBC America all a part of the standard package.
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We got fed up with TW last summer and switched, aside from the upfront costs, which are a bummer, we are very happy with our service. We haven't had any problems during storms (though we haven't had many big ones this year). Installation was easy, showed up on time, did a nice job with running the cabling. We also switched to DSL (3 mb, not the fastest, but it's very reliable - unlike our cable internet connection), and ended up paying a little less combined than we did with TW, plus we have about 30 more HD channels.
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Subject: TW vs Direct TV: HD Channels?
We are currently debating signing up for one service or the other. I was intrigued by the last poster's comment that you get 30 more HD channels with Direct TV than with TW. I'd be grateful for more details. I'm particularly interested in watching sports, although we do watch other stuff too. I wasn't aware that there was such disparity in HD channels, but if the 30 extra are all home improvement channels, to take a random example, then that doesn't really affect us that much. Thanks for any more info you can offer. -
Thanks for all this helpful info, guys. Looks like I'll be able to kick TWC to the curb, hopefully forever.
pastoralia » Their customer service, however, is about as good as TW's. One time my signal kept going out (not weather-related) and no one could figure out the problem. Eventually, I went up to our roof and screwed the cables in that were loose and everything was fine. For their stupidity I made them give me a TiVO (this was when their DVR's were TiVO's) and they did. I still have the same TiVO today- five years later.
I must say, Pastoralia, that if they gave you a TiVO to atone for their mistake, then their service is nothing like TWC's. The best you would have gotten from TWC is the finger, if they bothered to respond to you at all.i blame such comments on boredom and drinkng, this is why we need more green spaces
-- Karl the Druid -
Subject: Re: TW vs Direct TV: HD Channels?
lp » We are currently debating signing up for one service or the other. I was intrigued by the last poster's comment that you get 30 more HD channels with Direct TV than with TW. I'd be grateful for more details. I'm particularly interested in watching sports, although we do watch other stuff too. I wasn't aware that there was such disparity in HD channels, but if the 30 extra are all home improvement channels, to take a random example, then that doesn't really affect us that much. Thanks for any more info you can offer.
The 30 was a random number, it may be more actually. The benefit with Satellite for HD is they have no bandwidth limit. They want more channels, they launch another satellite (they are launching a new one next week). The HD channels they offer are all the standard channels in HD (VH1, Bravo, USA, TBS, FoodNetwork, etc.) For sports you get MSG, FSN, Sky, NFL, ESPN, ESPN2 plus more, you can order the sports package and get all the regional sports networks, most of which have an HD version. The real tipping point for my house was NFL Sunday Ticket, which was pretty great. They also have NBA, NHL, MLB, and MLS packages which have HD options. The one HD channel that you can't get is Mojo, which is owned by the cable companies. They do charge for HD and are about to start a second HD tier, so if you want all 100 channels (or whatever it is) you have to pay extra, which is a drawback. The On Demand stuff is in beta and not as fast as cable. As I said before the upfront costs suck, but the end result we're pretty happy with. -
Unfortunately, they don't appear to have one of the few channels it'll be hard to live without: City Drive Live, which is on Ch. 93 in TWC. It's just traffic cams -- it switches between maybe 20 different cams, seemingly at random. The picture quality is often beyond atrocious, of course. But for some reason, my 2-year-old son loves this channel. He doesn't watch TV, and doesn't seem to have any interest when we have it on. But whenever he's up late at night from sickness or teething, he always asks for "cars." We turn the sound off and he'll watch it for a long, long time as he drifts quietly to sleep. It's going to be really hard to give that up.
Mojo, on the other hand... not a great loss, as far as I'm concerned.i blame such comments on boredom and drinkng, this is why we need more green spaces
-- Karl the Druid -
Brooke Lynn Knight » Unfortunately, they don't appear to have one of the few channels it'll be hard to live without: City Drive Live, which is on Ch. 93 in TWC. It's just traffic cams -- it switches between maybe 20 different cams, seemingly at random. The picture quality is often beyond atrocious, of course. But for some reason, my 2-year-old son loves this channel. He doesn't watch TV, and doesn't seem to have any interest when we have it on. But whenever he's up late at night from sickness or teething, he always asks for "cars." We turn the sound off and he'll watch it for a long, long time as he drifts quietly to sleep. It's going to be really hard to give that up.
Well I guess you could record that channel on your VCR or DVD player on your computer if you have one, then just pop it in for him. If you really need the traffic cams you can get the one you want when you want it ( well if it is up ) http://nyctmc.org/
Mojo, on the other hand... not a great loss, as far as I'm concerned. -
Does Verizon still offer their "tripple play" with POTs telephones, DSL and Direct TV? I checked it out when we moved last but my building won't let me install a dish. Do hvae Verizon phone and DSL and they are fine
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jahverson » ...We also switched to DSL (3 mb, not the fastest, but it's very reliable - unlike our cable internet connection), and ended up paying a little less combined than we did with TW, plus we have about 30 more HD channels.
Agreed--TWC does offer many HD channels and DT seems to have many more. Who do you have DSL with? -
OpossumQueen » Agreed--TWC does offer many HD channels and DT seems to have many more. Who do you have DSL with?
Verizon -
I can't wait for FiOS.
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DirecTV's customer service is appalling. Nearly a year later we're still waiting for our $100 rebate (part of a sign-up offer), a refund for two errors on our bill, and them to explain why they've suddenly moved our bill's due date forward (effectively cutting out half a month's service when we leave). This is in addition to an online/email response system that ignores any question you may ask in favor of trying to sell you some sports package, plus a phone system it's pretty impossible to get through on. Plus the installation was rearranged on the day it was due and no one even bothered to tell us, despite receiving a confirmation call the evening before confirming that it was going ahead as planned. Again, we received not even an apology from their customer service department. The picture quality has been fine, but we'll be terminating the contract soon and moving over to Dish.
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