Directv is not for me........
Written: Mar 18 '01 (Updated Mar 21 '01)
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Pros: Plenty of options, if you're willing to pay for them
Cons: No local channels
The Bottom Line: Avoid Directv at all costs if possible, please read on and you'll see what I'm talking about...........
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| james.dedik's Full Review: RCA DS2122RD Single LNB DIRECTV System |
Directv definitely did not turn out to be what I expected it to be. We recently moved out of our in-town apartment to a rural location where cable TV was not available. The previous tenant was an acquaintance of ours that already had Directv hooked up. She offered it to us for, what I thought, was a pretty decent price($50), so we bought it. Considering our options, I thought this was a pretty good deal.
After getting over the first road block, which was getting an access card of our own(god only knows why they couldn't just transfer our friend's card to us), we were finally ready to make the call to set up service.
At this point, we weren't very impressed with the way Directv handled things. We had to return the old access card in order to receive our new access card and Directv charged us a $50 deposit on the old card(not our friend, us!). This seemed ridiculous, but we played along, it's been over a month now and we still haven't seen the $50 credit to our account. Every time I call they say, "It takes up to 3 weeks after we receive the old card to credit your account". In today's day and age, this does not seem right, but we figured we'd give them the benefit of the doubt anyway.
We called the customer service line to set up our service and the representative just didn't want to accept the fact that we only wanted the $31 total choice package (the most basic package). We didn't want HBO, Showtime or Encore, although I'm sure these are very good channels, we just weren't interested. We just wanted to check out the service and then decide on what we wanted in addition to the basic service, but she just wouldn't take no for an answer.
After finally getting it across that I didn't want the "gold" package, the "local" package, the "sports" package, or any package as a matter of fact, we finally had our service turned up. After a few days of browsing the multitude of channels, we did decide that we'd go ahead and purchase the "local channel" package and the "sports package". This was an extra $5.99 for the local channels and $10 for the sports package, which we would have gladly paid to get our prime time TV programs back. Upon calling to request this upgrade to our service, we found out that they didn't offer a local package in our area(please recall, this was one of the packages I was initially offered), so I just ended up with the sports package.
The representative that we spoke to this time around told me that I could get an antenna to pick up the major networks(she obviously had no clue as to where I lived). I can't pick up AM radio stations let alone TV stations.
Okay, so no major networks and we're still paying $31+$10 for the sports package = $41 a month for the service. My prior eagerness to see what satellite service would be like was quickly disintegrating into disappointment. At this point, I'd do anything for get our $38/month analog cable TV service back. Adelphia Cable was a lot better then this, in value and service.
I'm not sure how much others are paying for their cable service, but if it's anything like what I used to pay, I would recommend you stick with cable. Satellite service just isn't worth the hassle or the cost of changing over to it.
I guess satellite would be a good option if your in an area where cable prices are outrageous, but other than that, I really can't say that I'd recommend it to anyone. Besides, from what I’ve heard, most areas offer digital cable which is supposed to be a lot like satellite. I’d imagine that getting digital cable hooked up wouldn’t be any more of a pain in the rear then getting Directv up and running.
UPDATE 3/22/01:
Well, there is one thing that I missed and it's a big one! Now I have to admit, I have no idea what goes into the installation of the actual dish, since this particular dish was already there when I moved into the house. One thing I do know though is that the dish was definitely installed by a professional.
Today we got pounded with wet heavy snow here in the northeast. When I woke up, there was about 2-3 inches of snow on the ground. Two to three inches of snow is a sore site since it's March, but it is by no means a "blizzard".
I went downstairs to watch some TV and low and behold, I get a message on my screen that says "Please wait, searching for signal". So, I called up the customer service line and followed all there recommendations to try and remedy the problem and of course, nothing worked.
Luckily, I'm a telecommunications technician and I spent 6 years in Alaska working communications for a small CLEC in Anchorage, so I had plenty of "hands-on" with Satellite communications.
One of the things I remember quite well was a degraded or lost satellite signal due to the de-ice function of the dish malfunctioning. With this in mind, I proceeded to crawl out of our second story window onto the garage roof (where our dish is located) with a broom in hand (I would not suggest that anyone try this at there home, luckily our roof pitch isn't that steep, so I didn't break my neck!).
The dish had "minuet" traces of snow on it (nothing major, or at least I thought), so I brushed it off anyway since I was already out there. Low and behold, there was my picture again, at this point I felt pretty good about myself. I troubleshoot and fixed the trouble all by myself.
So there I sat in my robe, awaiting the start of the newest episode of South Park and BAM! Just like that the signal started to go, again! It had only been about an hour since I'd cleaned it last.
Well, to make a long story short, I figured "screw it", hopefully it'll be nice enough tomorrow and all the snow will melt (yeah, right!) and I'll have my picture back without having to risk life and limb to climb out onto the garage roof to sweep the stupid dish off again.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot (you probably aren't going to believe this, but I do have a witness). Right after sweeping the dish off and getting my signal back, a Directv representative called my house and my girlfriend answered. When she told me it was Directv, I thought maybe they were calling to see if I got my signal back. You know, I figured they had some way of knowing I wasn't seeing the "bird" anymore, so they decided to call to see if everything was okay. Well, I was wrong! It was a telemarketer trying to get me to upgrade my service! Can you believe it! I couldn't, in fact, instead of ordering one of there other so called "special offers", I decided to drop the "sports package" to get back to the original "total choice package" $31 per month.
I think this confused them a little, but maybe they'll learn. I didn't order Directv so I could have a telemarketer calling me every week to try and sell me an upgrade to my service, I have enough of those already (long distance anyone?). Besides, the "sports package" isn't even close to being worth the $10 extra bucks a month.
All the Fox Sports Nets that they give you all run 'Paid Programming' advertisements 20 out of the 24 hours a day and the golf channel doesn't get any of the major tour events, since NBC already has all of them(and please recall, I can't get NBC through Directv!) and they also run there share of 'paid programming' advertisements (I'm tired of hearing how much the Pure Spin Irons will help my game!).
Just thought I'd update the epinion, I felt I owed it to the community to be thorough.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): $50
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Epinions.com ID:
james.dedik
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Member: Jim Dedik
Location: Pennsylvania
Reviews written: 45
Trusted by: 20 members
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