WORST EVER A RIP OFF DONT EVER CHOSE DIRECTV IF YOU PUT THERE CHANELS IN A BLENDER AND MIX THEM UP THATS WHAT YOU GET.ITS HARD TO FIND ANYTHING IF YOUR A CHANEL SURFER LIKE ME/ WHEN YOU RECORD SOMETHING AND GO TO THE RECORD LIST IT WONT TELL YOU THE YEAR IT WAS MADE OR WHO PLAYS IN THE MOVIE/SHOW... ONLY SHOWS IN LIVE TV MODE IT ONLY SHOWS WHAT THE SHOWS ABOUT AND IT DONT HAVE THE EPISODE NUMBER EVEN IN LIVE TV MODE.BUT DISH NETWORK WILL THERE THE BEST AND THERE CHANELS ARE MORE ORGANIZED ITS EASY TO FIND CHANELS AND SOMETHING GOOD TO WATCH THAT YOU LIKE EXAMPLE SOME OF THE NEWS CHANELS ARE IN THE 202 AND 204 AND IT JUMPS TO 300'S AND SPORTS ARE EARLY 200'S AND SPEED SPORTS CHANEL JUMPS TO 607 THATS NOT RIGHT DIRECTV'S JUST NOT IN ORDER THERE MIXED UP.I LOVE MY NEW DISH NETWORK ILL NEVER GO BACK TO DIRECTV .CHOOSE DISH NETWORK THERE THE BEST AND CHEAPER

Many people told me about their horrible experiences before I ordered Direct TV. My daughter asked me if I was going to let other people decide what we would have in our home. She went on to say that everybody does not have the same experiences. She also stated that if I did have concerns, could they not be addressed by customer service. She is really excided because she will have a box in her room on her TV. So here we are 5 years later still a Direct TV customer. I have dealt with some horrible customer service agents. However with a little patience, I have been able to speak with the 3rd or 4th agent and they were always able to resolve my concerns. There are many good companies, but for now we are a proud part of the DTV Nation.

After two years, we switched from DirecTV to DISH because DISH was offering an HD package for much less than we were paying for SD on DTV, plus we got a free HD DVR in the bargain. Our one technical complaint was a weird one: almost every time we watched the NBC Nightly News on the local station (that was retransmitted through DISH, we would lose the signal and the box would go through its laborious reboot process. Often this happened several times during the half hour, then after the Nightly News was over, everything was fine. Only that particular channel, and only during that half-hour time slot. Customer and technical service were fairly responsive, and technicians came out several times trying to figure it out. The box was replaced twice, cables were replaced, adjustments were tweaked, but still we kept losing that particular half-hour on NBC. Even though we kept a log of the outages, complete with error codes and satellite transponders involved, the techs started thinking we were making this up. But one agreed to stay late, and the box obligingly conked out for him during the appointed half hour. Huh! Finally, one genius suggested re-aiming the antenna dish towards a different satellite, and the problem magically went away. Seems that for some reason, DISH's system was weakening that particular channel's signal during that particular time, and it would become so weak that the box would lose the signal and go through its infuriating automatic reboot. This whole thing took months! Apart from this technical problem, though, we have had good experience with DISH's customer reps and technicians, certainly far better than DTV's people, who didn't seem to give a damn about us. Now, with DISH jacking up its rates, we've looked again at DTV, but prices still seem better with DISH and certainly our experience with both companies' customer services favors DISH, so we'll likely stay with DISH.

We actually have Dish Network on our houseboat and have been a customer for over 10 years. We have nothing but accolades for the service and their personnel. If we have any questions, they are beyond helpful, appreciative of our business and seem to generally care that we are satisfied. Recently, lightening hit our satelllite dish, my husband contacted Dish and there was someone there within 2 hours to replace one of the "transponders" on the dish. Prior to that, my husband had called Dish and they spent several minutes on the phone diagnosing the problem cordially and patiently as we have found to be the case in all our dealings with them. I don't write reviews typically, but in my case, Dish certainly deserves an excellent one.

I was a DirecTV customer for nearly 7 years. I am now a Dish Network customer. I own property in Indiana & in Jamaica & because I spend quite a bit of time in JA, I was ultimately trying to find a service that I could legitimately have outside of the US. DirecTV does not want you to have the service outside the US & many channels do not come in because they weaken the signal to make such a thing more difficult. This became annoying over time because many of the channels I would like to watch were scrambled. However, while in the US... I loved my DirecTV service (except during heavy storms or when I had to go out & scrape ice off the dish... another reason to be in JA, but I digress). Customer service for DTV was awesome. Always well spoken, intelligent reps that handled the issues quickly & efficiently.

So in my quest to find a better service for myself while in JA I stumbled upon Dish Network. Two of the main selling points they pushed with me was that I could watch ANYWHERE in the world that I have high speed internet with this 'sling box' technology.

First issue... installation charge that I was not aware I would be charged. Not once did they mention it before they charged the fee.

Second issue... Installation tech was sloppy & in reality, should have helped me walk thru some issues rather than helping to create additional issues. I am not tech savvy & an example would be that he should have tested my internet in/out speed at my Indiana property. Now that I am in Jamaica for several months I am finding out that there is an issue with my Indiana internet speeds that are causing me problems with watching on-line movies. Some of you reading this may think this is a small complaint, but if you are trying to watch a movie & constantly having to refresh the movie, then fast forward to where it cut-off... it becomes cumbersome & sometimes I tire of even watching the movie!

Third issue... If you are outside of the country, many of the BEST movies are unavailable because you get an error message that says something like: It appears that you are outside of the US & this channel is currently unavailable outside of the US. Specifically, Hulu & Epix but I am SURE there are others. This is especially troublesome to me because one of the main points the representative used in selling me this service was that I could WATCH ANYWHERE in WORLD! This obviously a slight of the truth... a lie.

Next issue... if you type in the wrong USER NAME or PASSWORD multiple times, the system will lock you out for 1-2 hours. If you call customer service or do the on-line chat, they will tell you there is nothing they can do to help you ... you must just wait & let the system reset. This is incredible to me. It happened to me on a Friday night. All I wanted to do was sit in my bed & watch a movie. Even my on-line banking doesn't lock me out in this way & we're talking about TV SERVICE here people! To add insult to injury, you have to have your receiver number and/or your account number. Now... to all you travelers out there, REMEMBER to pack this information with you somewhere... for heaven's sake! Isn't there some other, EASIER method that Dish can use to verify who I am & help me from a customer service point of view?

Next issue... DVR recordings. There is some issue Dish is currently having with DVR recordings that you try & access from your sling box (ie, when you are away from your home service... traveling) and even though your recordings are there, they don't show up. You have to REFRESH & REFRESH & REFRESH & even then sometimes they won't show up & I was just told last night by customer service that if they won't refresh... 'sorry, there is nothing we can do'. What a crock of steamy crap-o-la.

Next issue... ANY movie I pay for & rent to my DVR is UNAVAILABLE to me when I try & watch it outside of the country. The Sling Box adapter does not support 'out of the country viewing of rentals' ... again, this was a slight of the truth by customer service.

Next issue... movies skip while trying to load when I watch them remotely. You have to continue to hit the pause button & HOPE that the movie 'catches up with itself' or buffers correctly or whatever it's called... I call it annoying.

Finally, to summarize... I had issues when trying to view outside of the country with DirecTV & I have bigger issues when trying to view Dish Network outside of the country... difference is that DISH pushes the sales pitch that you can view anywhere in the world. The long & short of my 3 months with Dish Network is that I can rarely watch what I want to watch while I am outside the US. I spend more time refreshing, pausing & chatting on-line with customer service than I do actually watching a program. I'm not sure that I will continue my service with them & I know I will not go back to DirecTV... perhaps I don't NEED television at all, lol.

Technology really hasn't come all that far it seems...

I absolutely LOVE DirecTv! The only way I would switch to Dish is if Direct seriously pissed me off! I have been with them about 5 years now and have never had an issue. Everytime I call customer service they fix my problem ask if I have any other questions and make sure all my questions are answered before they get off the phone! I love the service, about a year ago we upgraded to HD/DVR and I am in love! When it rains we never lose signal with the new Slimline dish. It has to be pouring! My words to live by are you get what you pay for, yes Dish is cheaper, but if you're going to buy cheap then cheap is what you will get! I recommend ppl to DirecTv all the time! They usually go with Dish because of the price and then after a few months are complaining bc customer service is rude or short with them or because their equipment failed on them! I just say should have paid a little more for better service huh?? I love DirecTv and will stick with them!

I have been very happy with dish. I have never lost a singal so far. I have had them for 6 months now. The monthy bill is just what they told me it would be. The only complait that I have is the installation fee. They told me no installation fee. But it cost me around 50.00 They just called it something else. But Dish is so much cheaper than cable. So far I have been very happy. We had many storms and never lost service and the price is right.

TV service itself is good. Picture is great. HOWEVER...be absolutely, positively sure that your current life WILL NOT change unexpectedly when you sign their 2-year contract. I became engaged after being a customer for 7 months and moved in with my fiance. We couldn't transfer my contract there because he already had Directv service (I had signed him up with the "sign up a new customer and both receive $100 credit deal"). I put my house up for sale and it sold just a little over a year into my Directv contract. They refused to let me out of my contract even though I no longer owned the house where it was installed and obviously no longer lived there! Basically I was required to pay for service that I was no longer receiving. That is THEFT! I finally ended up hiring a lawyer who, after 3 months of trying, finally got them to agree to termination. I will stop watching tv before becoming a Directv customer again and I will recommend to anyone and everyone, DO NOT GET INVOLVED WITH DIRECTV!

Service is generally good. Pricing is deceptive, billing will creep upward. At the end of your service, you will have to return the equipment to one of three locations at a cost of $15. This was never revealed during the entire service term. Outages in areas with heavy cloud cover and stormy weather are fairly common. Heavy rain will result in loss of service. In all, the programing is fairly good, but don't believe the hundreds and hundreds of channel hype. Many are duplicate channels with just a different number designator, or those useless music and sales channels. It's cheaper than Direct or cable, BUT know what you're getting into.

Price is better than DirecTV but customer service is mediocre at best. Canceled the service and will not be back.