What do you have? Mediacom, Directv, Dish, other?

jdoggivjc · 11-30-2007, 10:29 AM

Mediascam must love those of us that have north-facing apartments where our only choice is cable. In January we move to a condo that faces south - I'm seriously considering a switch to DirecTV.

mike4cy · 11-30-2007, 10:34 AM

I am looking at getting Dish Network (seems cheaper than DTV and I hate mediacom. Anyone have gripes with or praises for Dish Network?

garn91 · 11-30-2007, 11:03 AM

Originally Posted by mike4cy

I am looking at getting Dish Network (seems cheaper than DTV and I hate mediacom. Anyone have gripes with or praises for Dish Network?

Yes, Dish Network is a tad cheaper than DirecTV, but it comes at a cost...seems like i'm always reading about Dish Network involved in a programming dispute, their CEO, Charlie Ergen is a tight a$$.

mustangwinner97 · 11-30-2007, 11:07 AM

Originally Posted by thunderdave

I have both Mediacom and DirecTV.

I have thought about doing this as well and canceling my local channels on DTV. What's the most basic package cost(ballpark) that would allow me to receive the mediacom connections channel?

wonkadog · 11-30-2007, 11:20 AM

I seriously think Mediacom is probably just happy enough making all their money in Ames off of the apartment complexes. When I lived in apartments I could never get satellite but everyone in the buildings always couldn't wait to move out so they could ditch Mediacom.

Another addition to this discussion, if you're trying to decide between cable & satellite, don't worry about losing your satellite signal unless there is an unbelievably heavy rain or snow. I've had DirecTv for 2 months now and it hasn't cut out once. I think interruptions in satellite service were a lot more prevalent 10 years ago.

cycloneworld · 11-30-2007, 11:25 AM

Originally Posted by wonkadog

Another addition to this discussion, if you're trying to decide between cable & satellite, don't worry about losing your satellite signal unless there is an unbelievably heavy rain or snow. I've had DirecTv for 2 months now and it hasn't cut out once. I think interruptions in satellite service were a lot more prevalent 10 years ago.

I've had a few outages over the last year. It can be annoying (when it went out during the last 15 minutes of the season finale of Lost) but usually its only out for a few minutes and then comes back.

You will have to clean snow off the dish because that can be a problem some times. (And just because 22 keeps up with the Rex Grossman talk) You can spray SPAM on the dish which will keep the snow from freezing on it.

SuperCy · 11-30-2007, 11:31 AM

Originally Posted by cycloneworld

You can spray SPAM on the dish which will keep the snow from freezing on it.

SPAM or PAM?

I think the SPAM chunks would freeze to the dish.

ISUFan22 · 11-30-2007, 11:34 AM

Originally Posted by SuperCy

SPAM or PAM?

I think the SPAM chunks would freeze to the dish.

Yeah, really. Cycloneworld, what are you thinking???

What kind of moron puts Spam on their dish?

1100011CS · 11-30-2007, 11:37 AM

Originally Posted by garn91

Yes, Dish Network is a tad cheaper than DirecTV, but it comes at a cost...seems like i'm always reading about Dish Network involved in a programming dispute, their CEO, Charlie Ergen is a tight a$$.

Huh, I have Dish Network and I was under the impression (from things I've read here and ads I've seen) that DirectTV is cheaper. Can someone post what they pay for DirectTV including HD and DVR services?

Dish Network:
DIGITAL HOME ADVANTAGE AMERICA'S TOP 100 WITH LOCALS 34.99
DISH HOME PROTECTION PLAN (DHPP) 5.99
DISH NETWORK DVR SERVICEFEE 5.98
DISHHD 20.00

I'm getting HD "free" for 6 months although they charged me $149 for an upgrade fee and $50 for installation.

Just put up an antenna last week and now I get TONS of HD channels.

CYEATHAWK · 11-30-2007, 11:41 AM

Had mediacom forever, switched to Direct this fall...................for a week. Promptly called mediacom back, and have not looked back since. Reason, like I posted a few months ago: fuzzy picture on every channel except HD and the first rain lost signal for most of the day. The package I have with mediacom now, the few extra GW's I would have saved with Direct were not worth the fuzzy reception and the "excuse me" outages. And the digital picture I have with mediacom is much better than everything Direct offered outside of the HD channels. Again, the little savings isn't worth it IMO.

dustinal · 11-30-2007, 11:43 AM

For those out there who are comfortable divulging it, I'd like to know what people are paying for their service. What packages do you have, and how much do you pay?

I'm kind of cheap, so we got Mediacom digital basic when we moved into our house last summer because it was cheapest option I could find at the time. The introductory price for digital basic was actually less than the regular price for expanded basic. About $30 a month when you combine it with internet for another $30. But that introductory price will expire for me next summer.

The other factor is that I have an HDTV, but the only HD channels I have are the locals via antenna. I badly want some more HD channels, but I don't want to pay Mediacom another $10 a month just to get the ESPNs and a couple of others. I keep seeing the ads for DirecTV and their millions of HD channels, but I just want to know how much more I'd be paying for them.

ajjohnson · 11-30-2007, 11:44 AM

Direct TV has 16 million subscribers
Dish Network has 13 million

There are around 110 million households in the US.

Angie · 11-30-2007, 11:44 AM

Originally Posted by hort4cy

We've got Dish Network. It's great unless the Clones are just on Mediacomm then it sucks which seems to be happening more frequently lately. We have the DVR which is fantastic we almost never watch a show at its regularly scheduled time, just set it to tape a show for the season and watch after the kids go to bed with no commercials. And the pausing option is super. You can pause a show/game for up to 2 hours, great for those runs to the fridge and bathroom.

Same here - DishNetwork and DVR. The DVR is good, but we had TiVo when we still had MediaCom, and I miss it a ton. There were some cool features that they just can't quite replicate on the DVR.

ajjohnson · 11-30-2007, 11:49 AM

Originally Posted by cytech

I think your poll will be a little skewed here, because I think it is mostly sports fans that have the dish options and people who may not care as much about sports just stick with cable.

Another reason for the poll being skewed, in larger cities a higher percentage of people live in high rise buildings and in apartments/condos in general that can't have dishes, where in Iowa a higher percentage of people live in houses.

wonkadog · 11-30-2007, 11:52 AM

Originally Posted by CYEATHAWK

Had mediacom forever, switched to Direct this fall...................for a week. Promptly called mediacom back, and have not looked back since. Reason, like I posted a few months ago: fuzzy picture on every channel except HD and the first rain lost signal for most of the day. The package I have with mediacom now, the few extra GW's I would have saved with Direct were not worth the fuzzy reception and the "excuse me" outages. And the digital picture I have with mediacom is much better than everything Direct offered outside of the HD channels. Again, the little savings isn't worth it IMO.

I think you're confusing DirecTv with just using rabbit ears to get your local channels. But seriously, I'm not a DirecTv employee (just a mediacom hater ;)) but I've never heard of anyone who has DirecTv complaining about the picture being fuzzy.