We have had Directv and now have Dish. I can see really no difference in service, but the price of Dish is a bit less, but not much. We have a "bundle" deal which includes Dish, Internet service, and telephone, so maybe that is the difference.

Helen

My Direct TV quit working today. It stays on one screen and will never move forward. I went through all the things the service dept on the phone told me to do. Finally he said they would have to send out a service man which would cost me $49.95 or I could buy the insurance for so much a month. I told him I didn't think it was right for me to pay them to come fix their equipment. I told him I would have to think about it and might just get a converter box and save my money. That's what I really should do and save that $60 something a month.
My DS and DIL use Dish and they have no problems with it.

In my area, I can't get ABC local network at all without getting it on satellite, and we switched to Direct TV a couple of years ago because of that. I don't know if they solved that problem yet or not, because that gives ,e no choice if they haven't fixed it.

The Dish hardware/software was better. We keep having to re-program the DVR every few months with Direct TV.

MaryAnn, check your cables... that was our problem the first time. Make sure all connections are tight. But we still have to reprogram every few months.

I think the Dish hardware/software were better, but I'm stuck with Direct TV here if I want to every see ABC.

Thanks much for the replies! There really doesn't seem to be much difference then. I think I'll call Directv once more, and if they won't budge, I'll cancel and we'll sign up for Dish Network.

We started with Direct and then got an offer we thought was better with Dish, so we changed. WE have had it about 3 years, and we are probably going to return to Direct. The DishNet DVR has a lot of problems, and they install them anyway. My DGD has worked in the call center as a service tech, for both and said Direct had a lot less trouble. The other thing to concider, if you are sports fans is that Direct has baseball and a couple other sports, locked in for several more years. I am a baseball fan, so I know for sure we can't buy a baseball package, but DH and son complained about at least one other sport not being available.
One more issue for me is that Dish and our CBS provider couldn't reach an agreement so we have been without CBS for months. When it all is said and done however, except for the lack of sport packages and the contract dispute, I think they are the same.

Cathyid, you might want to check with them, supposedly they came to an agreement with CBS in February and are able to broadcast again.

I have had dirctv for years but am also thinking about switching to dish....our neighbors just got dish so I was going to give it a month and see how they like theirs....Stacy

I have had DirecTV for about five years. DH likes their channels. We have one problem- we can't order Pat Per View movies thru our DirecTV remote. DH has changed the remote but no good. DTV has tried to fix the problem but no good. We like their service otherwise. Dish doesn't have all the same channels as DTV. So we remain customers. Oh, if we call them they send out a signal so we can watch Par Per View. It only works for one movie at a time.

I have Dish now, and have had for about 6 years, after having cable. One winter when mom and I stayed in Texas for the winter I had DirectTV. When I tried to go back with Direct TV because they had a good offer, they wouldn't let me. Said I wasn't able to get the special because I'd already been a subscriber. So I went to Dish. Now I get an application every month from DirectTV. No deal.
Leslie

Hmm, we might do something radical! We just discussed that we just aren't getting that much out of television, even with premium channels there never seems to be anything to watch. So, instead of switching, we just might cancel everything and just keep our Netflix subscription. We'll try that for a while and see if we miss TV. If so, we can sign back up again. If not, we save a bunch of money every month. :o)

Sushipup, I have Dish and they offer us a local tv package. ABC, CBS, and NBC. Give them a call. I'll bet it is available to you as well.

Helen

We have had Dish Network for several years, and are very pleased with it. I don't know how I ever existed without DVR! The company that installed it also installs DirecTV and they recommended Dish. We have since talked to another place that installs both, and they highly recommend Dish.

Petra, the contract dispute is between the broadcaster and DishNet, not CBS. The broadcaster has different networks, so depending on what city you're talking about, it could be NBC or ABC, what ever Fisher Broadcasting owns in that market.

petra -- I don't know if this might help, but last month when I finally moved to a less expensive package with AT&T for our landline, they said they partner with DirecTV. They couldn't sweeten my package with DirecTV (HD-DVR) but I could have saved a bit if I had a more plain vanilla package. Then everything (TV, Phone, Computer) would all come on one bill.

Cathy, I didn't know that. I hope they work it out and you get CBS soon.

Wanda and Chisue, we've taken the plunge and canceled Directv as of the 18th. We'll try it for a while, and if we get too TV deprived, we'll sign up with Dish Network. Directv made hubby mad, when he called to cancel, suddenly everything that wasn't doable when I called yesterday was no problem.

Well, I'm glad I opened this post because I was thinking of switching to Direct TV. My Dish bill keeps going up.

We have had directv for years and friends have dish. They said, some of there channels gets dropped every once in awhile. In the kitchen we didn't get local channels and i called directv and they told me i would have to pay $79 for an upgrade, i left it for a few months and called back this person told me no charge and they would send someone out to even change it. I think it's who you talk to at the time.

We've had both in the past and really didn't notice any difference. Just make sure you can get local network channels. We couldn't get ABC for a long time because we were supposedly too close to the nearest station and could get it with an antenna. We would've had to have a very tall antenna installed (just under $1000 at that time). That's when we switched from whichever one we had at the time, because the other one got us ABC with no problem.

I switched from cable to DTV this spring. Cable never could get ABC to come in clearly on my living room TV. I am very happy with DTV, picture is crystal clear all the time and I save a little money. When I visited St Louis this spring both hotels I stayed in had DTV.

I guess I'll keep Direct TV for a while anyway. I was able to get it going by myself. The tech guy had told me that it sounded like it was a connector or cable gone bad. I replaced the cable going from the wall outlet to the satellite box and that took care of it! Yeah! I don't know why I'm so happy. I seldom watch tv. :o)