Direct TV or Dish Network, plus some questions about sattelite (long) (1 Viewer)

[Keith_R]

My family and I are finally fed up with the rising costs and poor quality of of cable TV and are now considering moving to Satelite.I've started the research (that I was asked to do since I'm the HT freak in the family) by looking at the plans and offers by Direct TV and Dish Network. Which of these two providers is better? it should be mentioned that we are looking at just getting the real basic Top 50 or 100 plan probably with no premium services and no HD (since we do not have a HD TV and have no immediate plans of getting one.) For this kind of service which one will be better? For Direct TV what is the deal with the phone line? why does it need to be hooked up? and does it need to be hooked up all the time? we have 2 TVs in the house are we going to need 2 recievers to get the signal to each TV or is there a easier way to do this? also how does the billing work for a 2 TV household? If we buy into Satelitte what are we going to need to purchase from CC or BB? any recommendations on gear we need? thanks.

 

[Rachmat Hartono]

I just got DirecTV last week after doing some research. I cant really say about Dish since I dont have it, but here is what I know....

I believe DirecTV has better sports selection and Dish has more movies. So far I'm happy with DirecTV. Picture quality is pretty good. You can go to Circuit City and ask for 2 rooms free install (assuming that you are going to subscribe for Total Choice Package for 1 year). BlockBuster also has 2 rooms deal and you get like 53 free rentals if you sign up. Even if you dont have HDTV, I would suggest you to ask for "Para Todos" Package when you sign up. This gives you the flexibility to be compatible with HDTV sets when you get one. For some reason, CC gave me hard time when I'm asking for Para Todos package. I went to BlockBuster and they sign me up without a problem. You dont have to connect the phone lines at all time with DirecTV. The phone line is used to order Pay Per view Movies. Only when you want to order PPV, then you should connect the phone line. As for cost, below is the breakdown:

DirecTV satellite, 2 receivers : free at CC. At most $99 dollars at other places.

Total Choice Package: $31.99 per month

extra receiver : $ 4.99 per month

local channel : $ 4.99 per month

Good luck.