Why satellite TV is growing so fast....

[Dr Mordrid]

It sure as hell is why we dropped Comcast cable/internet for Dish Network/SBC DSL;

http://www.detnews.com/2004/business/0412/01/A01-20465.htm

Households with Comcast's 70-channel "preferred basic" analog service will pay between $40.99 and $46.25 a month in 2005.

Satellite providers DirecTV and Dish Network, which offer more than 100 channels for less than $40 a month, earned higher customer satisfaction ratings than all of the major cable companies in an August J.D. Power survey.

Representatives from DirecTV and Dish Network said there are no plans to raise prices in the near future.

See Comcasts 70 channel analog service for $40.99 to $46.25? Believe me, 99% of the time it's the latter.

Dish Network offers 60 channels for $25 and 180 channels for $45, all digital.Dr. Mordrid

[GT98]

Only thing is that DSL can't hold a candle to my Cable Modems Downloads. Theres been talk of Verizon putting in Fiber in the area that would match the speed, but I'll see what happens.

I'm paying $120 bucks a month for my Cable and internet connection, and I don't have any preium channels. I personally dont need that many channels since I'm lucky if I watch 10-15 out of the 100+ I have.

[Dr Mordrid]

Comcast cable @ 3mbps cost me $50 a month and required I purchase their overpriced cable service for it to be that low.

I now have SBC DSL @ 3mbps for $37 a month and with no such requirement. For the cost concious they offer a 1.5mbps service for $27.

We are now paying $78 for 180 basic channels + 10 Showtime, 8 HBO, 8 STARZ and 5 Cinemax. This adds up to more than 230 channels.

We use 'em a lot since we watch a lot of movies, news, craft, home improvement and educational stuff.

Add in $37 for the 3 mbps SBC/DSL internet service and our total cost is $115.

Dr. Mordrid

[Byock]

Wow, Wish I could get DSL that cheap. I pay $45 for 1.5.

[SitFlyer]

My combined Comcast TV & Internet is only $65 / month

[ZokesPro]

I'm not going with satellite, I get such a SWEET deal. employee discount

Edit: I practically have what Liz has (except my phone is a IP phone), but since I get an employee discount, mine costs 6 times less.

[GT98]

How bad is the reception if you can't get a clear shot to the Horizion or if it rains out? I hear lots of complants about that.

My cable company is going all digital in 2006 and just started offereing DVR for an extra 10 bucks a month

[Elie]

Right you are Doc, I have converted all my services to DSL and Satellite, and of course the company employee discound helps it even further.

but to tell you the truth discount asside, cable TV's output quality is poor at best, not all channels are digital, and the compression is horrible, there are too many artifacts, now with satellite it's clear as can be.

Also the cable modem was too slow, in fact you share the infrastructure with all your neighbors, the max I used to get at best 60KB a second!! Now with DSL I get 375KBps, and soon it will be bumped up to 28Mbps

Cheers,
Elie

[Helevitia]

I've had both DirecTV and Comcast.

Although DirecTV is cheaper with more channels and the menuing system is worlds better than Comcasts extremely crappy menu system, I have switched back to Comcast...for now. Why?

Gald you asked

It's simple, I can get all of my local channels in High Definition and they offered me a $25 discount for 2 years if I switched. Now, before you go telling me that I can get OTA HD, I had that already but because I live in the Bay Area where there are many hills and mountains, I lose reception and it gets annoying.

Once satellite finally gets as many local HD channels as Comcast, I will switch back.

[gt40]

Originally posted by GT98
How bad is the reception if you can't get a clear shot to the Horizion or if it rains out? I hear lots of complants about that.

My cable company is going all digital in 2006 and just started offereing DVR for an extra 10 bucks a month

you will need a clear shot roughly 30 degrees above the horizon where you are.
I've only experienced rain fade during very heavy rain, about 3 - 4 times a year.
If you are in an area that experiences alot of heavy rain then switching to a larger dish (30" or larger) will cure most of it.

funny thing about HD, the Canadian providers seem to be ahead of the American in providing this service.

[Dr Mordrid]

We are at 42° 23' latitude, which is a helluva lot further north than most of the continental US, and our ability to "hit" a satellite is EXCELLENT. There are 2 satellites Dish Network can aim at from our locale, so if one is problematic the other is most likely not....unless you live between 2 skyscrapers

We too can get our local channels in broadcast HD, which is one of the reasons why we didn't purchase the local channels option ($5/month). The other is that we have a HUGE roof antenna/rotor and the satellite box has an antenna input for just those people that have 'em.

BTW: all the major channels in Detroit broadcast in both SD and HD.

Elie is correct: the quality on all channels is great with satellite because they're all digital. Not so with Comcast, who seems to reserve digital for only about 50% of the basics and the premium channels. As far as I could tell NONE of their local channels are digital.

AS for the the Dish Network UI: I love it. When you set up timers you have the option of getting just a reminder, setting up an automatic channel change and starting up the VCR to record it.

When recording you can also set them up to record this same time/channel just once, weekly on the same day or just Monday-Friday and you can also set it to start it early and stop it late (up to 60 minutes).

You also can block channels, set passwords and set up a favorites list for each viewer.

We only had rain related problems once, right after installation. When they came out it was discovered that the first installer didn't properly align the dish. This time it was done right (at no cost to us and only a 2 day delay) it's not cut out at all in the intervening 9 months, even during some VERY heavy thunderstorms that cut out the neighbors Comcast for a whole day

Dr. Mordrid

[Helevitia]

Originally posted by Dr Mordrid
Elie is correct: the quality on all channels is great with satellite because they're all digital. Not so with Comcast, who seems to reserve digital for only about 50% of the basics and the premium channels. As far as I could tell NONE of their local channels are digital.

Dr. Mordrid

This is true, but don't sell yousrself short. The compression on Satellite is just as horrible as analog.

[Lizzard[MPE]]

I pay $170 a month and here is what i get:

TV........
256 channels >digital cable

Cable Modem........
3 Mbps Downstream x
256 Kbps Upstream
1 Dynamic IP
7 Email accounts
10MB Webspace
Free Technical Support 24/7

Phone...........
Free Long Distance to US and Canada anytime
Call Waiting
Voicemail
Call Forwarding
Repeat Dialing
Call Transfer
Caller ID Block
Virtual Phone Numbers
Any area code of your choice
Great International Rates...

and i mean great rates as in:

Hong Kong 3¢ /min
London 3¢ /min
Berlin 3¢ /min
Rome 4¢ /min
Singapore 5¢ /min
Paris 3¢ /min
Sydney 4¢ /min
Tel Aviv 4¢ /min
Tokyo 5¢ /min

thats just a sample



im a happy camper with my service.

and all of the digital services i have worked even in the hurricane perfectly fine..well until the electricity went off

[gt40]

Originally posted by Helevitia
This is true, but don't sell yousrself short. The compression on Satellite is just as horrible as analog.

On a good sharp television, the mpg compression artifacts are extrememly noticeable - drove me nuts when I first got it, but it sure beat the snow on cable. Funny thou, nobody else I pointed them out to noticed them.

[The PIT]

I'm just thinking. 180 channels or more of rubbish. Glad I haven't got it.
Internet doesn't look to bad apart from the lack of web space.