DishNetwork Can Rot *Warning, Long*

[Clonehomer]

The key with Dish network is that for installation and support, go to the local guys. They are usually more helpful and don't charge a ton for little service charges. Plus they'll give you a better time frame for install. (In Ames I like the Satelitte Communications on the corner of Duff and LW)

[cytech]

My cable full price is $65 a month for starz and hbo and all the other jazz that mediacom has.
I just don't think it is worth it to change to dish or direct tv and have to pay 2 bills a month instead of one.
Because there is no way I would be able to down grade to DSL if I switched my cable.

[ISUFan22]

You can bundle with Qwest - we're going to give that a shot here at the end of the month.

Route our phone, internet and DirecTV with Qwest. I'm not thrilled about the switch to DSL either, but I don't have Mediacom in our new area yet. I can't say I'm sad to "lose" their horrific service.

[cycloneworld]

You can bundle with Qwest - we're going to give that a shot here at the end of the month.

Is that what DirectTV advertises on their website as DSL? They just team with Quest and don't have their own service? I just saw online that they had internet service in my area...

[Drew21]

Good luck contacting them...be prepared to wait 10-45 minutes on the phone.

Anyone have Direct's DSL service? It's only $10 per month with your Direct package. If so, what's it like?

O sweet jesus your not kidding. I had to wait an hour once and missed almost a whole Basketball game because they had some dumb soap opera on. Some Indian man had no idea what I wanted and i just said screw it. Good thing it was Lake Superior State. They will never see another dime from me.

[ISUFan22]

Is that what DirectTV advertises on their website as DSL? They just team with Quest and don't have their own service? I just saw online that they had internet service in my area...

It's basically just routing your billing through Qwest from what I understand.

If you have your internet, phone, cell phone and DirecTV through Qwest - it can save you a ton of money.

We're locked into a cell phone contract right now, otherwise we'd consider switching.

[ISU_phoria]

I love DishNetwork. Have never once had a problem. Always had problems with DirectTV when we had it.

I agree, I've had all three options and would choose Dish Network over the others any day.

The Fox Sports thing got me too, but fortunately I had a knowledgable rep talking to me telling me that nobody can get all those fox channels, but only their local one. All of them are listed because those are all offered, but each person only get their local fox sports channel.

[Cyclone_MI]

The key with Dish network is that for installation and support, go to the local guys. They are usually more helpful and don't charge a ton for little service charges. Plus they'll give you a better time frame for install. (In Ames I like the Satelitte Communications on the corner of Duff and LW)

I had the same experience. The people that work for Dish Network suck, go with a local guy and he'll set up the whole thing for you in about half the time it would take the DN people.

[CY ST8T]

You should call their tech support Cy St8t. One thing about mediacom is they will keep coming to your house over and over and over until the problem is fixed. Problem being it sometimes takes them several tries to track the real issue down. ;)

I've been on the phone with them more times this year than with my mom. They just tell me to wait a minute while they send a stronger signal and then it resets everything. They also sent someone out, but it didn't do much good. The point is that I shouldn't have to tolerate it and Dish Network did me well and will continue to when I go back to them in March. There DVR units are much more reliable.

[Dave19642006]

someone explain when we have a problem with anything - our customer service is in India?

[cycloneworld]

someone explain when we have a problem with anything - our customer service is in India?

That is an easy question...$$$ (which is the answer to most questions dealing with businesses)

[tigershoops31]

After a week of agonizing over my decision to switch, I finally pulled the plug on DishNetwork today. I was sick to death of having them tell me they'd give me whatever they thought I wanted to hear and then call back and they hadn't given me the credit or whatever price they promised. After the "high up" lady last time promised me $48 a month for 10 months, when I quit today the lady said I was currently paying $78 a month. I withstood the urge to explode. She offered me a couple months for free and to knock it down to $48, but after all of the bs they'd fed me I'm convinced they would have just kept making crazy offers and then not holding up to them. Now trust me, I think Mediacom sucks too, but I was more than happy to go back to my internet, digital cable with HD, starz, showtime, tmc, on demand, and the sports pack for a total of $80 a month. After it was all set up and I'd quit Dishnetwork and taken back Mediacom, I went over to plug my cable box back in and the commy from Dish had cut all my cable stuff outside. If I could have gotten satisfaction within 15-20 minutes calling back in I would have reemed somebody out, but I decided to channel my negative energy towards hooking the stubs in myself. It took some serious drill work, but in the end I was back to having cable by this afternoon. After dealing with all sides involved for the last couple weeks, I would definitely say there are disadvantages on both sides. I think it takes forever to get through to either of them (slight edge to Dish here), it takes forever to get somebody to get out to your place to actually do something (although Mediacom gets there a lot faster). It's a pain in the butt to turn equipment back in (driving over to Mediacom's office vs. making 5 calls back and forth between Dish and the installer and finally waiting a week for a box to mail it in). In the end though, I think I'll take the lesser of two evils and go with the product that is actually going to give you what you ask for at the price they quote you. True the picture quality isn't as good on regular channels, but you do get the Mediacom channel for a lot of ISU games and I get it a heck of a lot cheaper with my internet. Hopefully someday there will be a better quality alternative!

[birdflu]

LOL- I have to give mediacom credit. I requested the free antena from their website and 2 days later it arrived with the cable and other supplies to hook it up. I'm all set for Jan 5

[CYdTracked]

Sorry to hear you had bad luck with DishNetwork tiger. I switched to them this spring and wish I had ditched Mediacom long before them. It's weird how some people have different expiriences with some companies good or bad to the extremes. I personally will never do business again with US Cellular or Mediacom after my first expiriences with them. Dish, Qwest, and Verizon all have been head over heels better as far as price and customer service for me since I switched services and I'd probably even pay slightly more if I had to for better customer service than have to have headaches over billing discrepancies, service outages, etc. plus then have to deal with the bad customer service on top of those problems.

[statman]

I haven't had any issues w/ Dish and really like having the Voom HD channels, NFL Network HD and Bulls games on Comcast Sports Net. The HD-DVR w/ built in OTA HD tuner to pick up the locals in high quality at no extra cost also rocks. Service tech's have been good, and customer service calls have also gone pretty good. Just depends on who you happen to get, I guess.

I wouldn't go back to Medicom for anything after having Dish. I use Qwest for DSL, but wish I had an affordable alternative to Qwest & Mediacom there. Phones are hooked up to a SIPphone device carrying VOIP through both ProjectGizmo & StanaPhone (no local area code) to save cost over having a standard Qwest phone line. Don't use the regular phone much w/ the cell phone around anyway. I've had multiple poor customer service experiences w/ Qwest.