SteinHewitt823
I'd finally had an adequate amount of cable after their last service hike. The time had come to become listed on the masses of satisfied satellite customers and make the big switch.
But, which to select? In the end, I'd been a tried-and-true cable buyer for thus long; I had no idea which satellite provider was best.
"Oh, just pick one," my neighbor told me. "They're the same."
That couldn't be right, I figured.
Or could it?
And so i began a month-long saga of satellite TV research, comparing Dish Network vs Direct TV every which way until I knew every last detail about each service.
Much to my family's despair, I was going to find out everything I possibly could about the satellite providers available, making an informed consumer choice.
And the issue is, most sites that pretend to tell where to find the best deals are simply plain awful.
Now, I did find three which were worthwhile. To find out what ones those are, you need to scroll right down to the foot of this story where you will find the links.
What's promising, of course, is that there are just two companies to select from - Dish Network and Direct TV. Considering how hard it had been to find many differences between your two (and ultimately decide which one was best), I sure was glad there weren't others.
My main objective was whether I possibly could use both companies my home. That wasn't a problem for me personally, but a friend was told that Direct TV could not provide a signal in his neighborhood due to some large oak trees within the neighbor's yard which interfered with their signal. But, he told me, because the signal from Dish Network originated from the opposite direction (go figure), he could sign on with them - making his decision easier than mine.
Next, I looked at service.
Both companies provided comparable degree of service for relatively the same price. Packages for both Dish Network and Direct TV begin at about $19.99 per month, using their most useful family packages ranging around $50-$60.
I did discover that Direct TV offered more comprehensive sports packages, including the NFL Sunday Ticket (hooray!), in addition to packages covering all of the major college and professional sports teams. They also sport fewer blackout dates in lots of from the big cities like Philadelphia, making their packages well worth the extra money.
While Direct TV also offers other less-popular international sports for example cricket, rugby and soccer, Dish Network has a tendency to concentrate more on the international sports coverage, according to many of the people I talked to.
One of the things that stood out among the Dish network programming appeared to be their number of Latino and International channels and shows. For all those searching for non-American (non-English) programming, Dish might be the approach to take.
Since both companies offered all-digital packages, loads of hi-def channels and plenty of individual packages to choose from, my next concern was at relation to its set-up fees and installation.
So both providers "officially" charge for equipment and installation, however, unless you're the type of individual who walks onto an automobile lot and merely pays car or truck, you shouldn't have to pay for this.
Both Dish Network and Direct TV continually provide a variety of promotions and specials for first-time users that provide basic installation and equipment free of charge, in addition to a myriad of coupons and gift certificates that may be redeemed for additional equipment and/or services including 1-3 months of free service; free pay-per-view movies; channel upgrades and more.
Where do you find these deals?
Again, you actually need to go right down to the foot of this story and then click those links! They'll help you save a lot of time!
So, to the billion dollar question: which service is better?
Believe it or not, after all that research I came away believing that neither service outranks another in additional than the usual few small areas. Both offer between 180-250 channels, a variety of comprehensive sports packages (although Direct TV seems to provide more professional sports game options for the all-around sports lover), 100% all-digital and Definition packages. And they do this for relatively the same price.
In the end, I chose Direct TV since they offered the NFL Sunday Ticket and Dish didn't. Boy, shall we be held glad I did!
As promised, Direct TV has given my loved ones more than 250 channels to select from, loads of sporting events, music concerts and pay-per-view movies. We've never enjoyed this type of crystal clear picture before, and i'm happy to report that we've only lost our signal once, and that was throughout a major snow storm last winter that ended up knocking the electricity, therefore we wouldn't happen to be able to watch TV anyway.
And, when the electricity returned on, so did our satellite signal! (Our neighbors with cable weren't so lucky - their signal was out for 3 days. Hah!)
Shall we be held glad I ditched cable? Without a doubt I am! I've got a clearer picture, more channels to choose from and hassle free service, all for a fraction from the cost!
