Satellite TV - Good Deal - Maybe
Written: May 25 '01 (Updated May 25 '01)
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Pros: Lots of channels, great customer service
Cons: Expensive, Billing is confusing, Some channels are garbage
The Bottom Line: I do recommend this product only if you don't have access to a good cable system in your area.
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| kbmg's Full Review: RCA DS5230RBC Dual LNB DIRECTV System |
My husband is an electronic wizard. He is the kind of person who can hook up a VCR or DVD player without looking at the directions. He loves to have electronic gadgets in the house. When Satellite TV came out we knew we just had to have it!! We bought the RCA Satellite system 3 years ago.
We got this product at a special deal advertised in the paper of $49.99 for a dish and receiver if you hook it up yourself. This was no problem for my husband and he was easily able to do that. Unless you know someone who really knows how to do this procedure, I recommend you pay the extra money and have someone else do it. It will be worth it since hooking it up is very complicated.
As I mentioned we only bought one receiver. We have 4 TV's in our house that we watch and at that time satellite was not offering local channels so we had to keep basic cable in our house. This was not expensive in the beginning because we got all the channels free on our satellite for a month!! Wow, we had all kinds of sports channels and movie channels. We had something like 900 channels to watch. The first week I was dizzy just trying to decide was to see next. Another nice feature about this satellite service is the quality of the picture and sound on the TV. It gives you digital quality which is very nice and the sound is crisper.
Ok, so I enjoy my satellite for a whole month and then on the first second of the end of the month I loose just about everything!!!! What happened, oh yea it is the end of the month and I have to choose a package. I call Direct TV. Someone answered the phone in 20 seconds and said hello and knew my name. Now that is customer service! I got a package that gave me some premium movie channels and a few extra channels. This was around 40 dollars a month. But I figured this was ok because I was getting 7 HBOs and all kinds of cool channels. Of course now I was paying 45 dollars for cable and 40 dollars for satellite. I was still trying to tell myself this was worth it.
We have had the satellite now for more than 3 years. Since that time Direct TV has added local channels to the line up. This is a nice feature but you have to pay to get it of course. That would be nice but then I would still need more receivers for my other TV's, so I could not cancel basic cable yet. If you do get the local channels on the satellite it can be a really nice feature. You get programs on the West Coast and East Coast. Say you love to watch your favorite show at 4:00 but you miss it. It will be replayed on the west coast channel a few hours later.
Over the past 3 years of having Satellite I have been able to weed through the many, many channels and unfortunately most I no longer watch. It was so fun to have a game show channel with old game shows from the past playing 24 hours a day, but after a few minutes of this channel I realized why those shows were canceled. There are a lot of channels like that on satellite.
Renting a movie on satellite was the greatest feature of all in my eyes. I could order a movie right on the screen without leaving the comfort of my home. Since I have kids, leaving the house to go anywhere is a huge project, so this made my life easier. Direct TV offers an "all day ticket" where you can view this movie over and over until 6:00 the next morning. That is nice if you want to watch the movie again and again after you just watched it.
As I said Customer service with Direct TV is outstanding. You get someone on the phone right away and can change your programming in an instant without any problems. Just note that if you downgrade your programs you get a fine. (yes a fine for changing your mind). They also have this weird retroactive billing system that after 3 years I have yet to figure out.
I live in Florida so for most of the summer it rains in the afternoon. As soon as a big cloud comes in, you loose the satellite signal. This can be a big problem when your 4 year old is watching his favorite show and he loses the signal. It is awful when you are in the middle of a great movie and you lose what ever you were watching. Satellite sometimes comes back quick and sometimes it takes and hour.
After realizing I was paying more than 100 dollars for cable and satellite I knew it was getting out of hand. I decided to make a change. Cable in my area has changed much in the past 3 years. I can now get digital cable in my area of Florida with more channels than I need. I still will get 5 HBO's, (I only need one) and all the channels the kids love. I am getting the same digital quality and I am getting more channels on my other TV's. I can now order any movies I want on the screen just like satellite offers. I am getting all of this for only 44 dollars. Yes, a special deal, but so was my satellite 3 years ago. You just have to call around and check your newspapers to find these deals, they are available if you ask for them.
So, what am I doing? I am dropping my satellite. Years ago it was the only thing around with the channels and features I wanted. Since then, cable has changed and grown to compete with these dishes. Do I recommend satellite, well yes, I am still going to recommend it. It is great if you do not have any kind of digital cable in your area. It is a great feature if you only have one TV and you don't need basic cable elsewhere. In that case it is worth the price. If you have access to digital cable, I think that is a better value. I hope my experience with both cable TV and Satellite/Direct TV will help you in your decision.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 49.99
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Epinions.com ID:
kbmg
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Member: Bernadette G
Location: Ft. Lauderdale
Reviews written: 100
Trusted by: 26 members
About Me:
I am back and writing again.
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