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I have telephone, cable and internet service with Comcast. I've been unhappy with their service, and their pricing. My promo contract with Comcast is about to end in 2 weeks, and my monthly rate is going to increase substantially.
I know I can call and negotiate a new contract with discount pricing, but I'd rather switch to a different provider.
FIOS is not available in my area, so if I were to go to Verizon and get my 3 services from them, I'd have DSL and DirectTV.
I'm sure someone here has made the change, so I have a few questions.
1. Did you order DirectTV thru Verizon, or did you get a better deal and service ordering it directly from DirectTV, and then taking the other 2 services from Verizon?
2. Anyone get Dish Network instead?
3. Are you happier with the change of providers, or was it too much trouble than it was worth and you just traded in one set of problems for another set of problems?
4. Anything else I should consider that maybe I'm not thinking about when it comes to switching my services, other than the initial cost of installation?
5. I know there are many installers who work for and install DirectTV or the Dish Network. I've heard and read about some bad install problems, so I was wondering if there was one particular local or regional installer that comes highly recommended, so I can try and avoid the after install problems that some have experienced.
I know I'm not really answering your question but here is what I considered.
I also live in TR and Verizon is bombarding me with ads to switch. Here is what keeps me with Comcast. When I live up north I had DirectTV. I was very happy with it and I got much better service and many more channels than with Cablevision. That said, the install was a hassle. Basically there was no such thing as "free" install. Because all of the limitations for the "free" pretty much excludes every house ever built. My TR home was wired for cable probably 25 years ago. DirectTV will use the existing cable unless I pay to have the house re-wired (at least that was what I was told a couple of years ago).
Then there is the cost per room. Right now I only have a cable box on 1 tv. I have other tv's hooked up directly without the boxes and although I don't get many stations it's good enough for the other rooms. (this may not apply to everyone since I seem to be in a minority by not having the boxes in every room).
The cost of converting the other rooms to DirectTV for me is approximately an additional $20 per month.
The Verizon/DirectTV offer is only good for 1 year and then the price jumps. So when I compared having to pay for installation and the extra $20 per month for the other Tv's it didn't work out as any savings.
Good luck. I'd like to here what you decide and how it works out for you.
I know it would definitely be cheaper to keep things the way they are right now, and not paying for any new installs.
My house is wired for 7 rooms although at the moment we have 4 TVs hooked up, and 1 digital cable box. The cost just to add 3 more cable boxes is pretty substantial, and I believe there are deals where you get those for free from DTV.
I'm thinking that DTV might want to rewire my house. I had the wiring built into the walls when the house was built in 1987, and there are multiple splitters and pre-digital wiring. I know the cable used today is of a different quality, as I had a few short runs in my house already replaced because my internet was not so great and I was always dropping connections.
Taking all that into consideration, my overall service sucks. There are many times I get a dial tone, dial the number, and get a dial again message. I get TV picture "freezes" where practically every channel is unwatchable. No real problems with the internet that I wouldn't have with any other service.
I'm wondering if anyone can be happy with their service, because of all the internet searching I've done, nobody seems to be happy long term.
I don't have the "feezing" problems you're having with my cable. For a short time the on-demand service was in and out but that seems to have been fixed. The thing about the "free" boxes with DTV is that you still pay for service to each box. I think it's $4.99 per box per month. For me, because I just put the cable wire directly into 4 of my sets I don't pay for them. If I go to DTV, I have the boxes but I'd have to start paying for service to those boxes.
I don't have phone service through the internet. My brother had Vonage and had BIG problems and another brother just got Magic Jack and is also having problems. When you sign up for Phone/internet/tv with verizon do they give you a regular land line or is it internet based?
Truthfully I would call cable and tell them that they have to fix the problems or your leaving. And I would give them the time between now and your 1 year service agreement expiring.
I'm pretty sure that Verizon gives you a regular landline phone connection, which I had before I went with Comcast's phone service. I rarely had any problems with that, and I won't consider Vonage or Magic Jack.
also consider this, the Direct TV on demand service requires you to purchase a wireless adapter if you have a wireless router, or you can use an ethernet cable plugged directly into the gack of the box. you have to download anything on demand. you need an active internet connection (broadband) to use the on demand service on DTV
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