Dish v. Cable

Wife and I are moving to a new house and have the opportunity to get out from under the cable monopoly that our apartment complex has set up. We are exploring our options and noticing that Direct TV has way cheaper options than the local cable company, Cox Cable.

Many of our friends have Cox and are very satisfied with the service and quality they receive but acknowledge the high cost.

My question is whether Direct TV and other satellite options are a good idea in the midwest with the weather and storms. Does anyone out there have any insight/experience with a dish in the midwest that could help me out?

I did the same thing last year. Moved from a cable only apt to a home. I went with Dish (DirecTV) because I like to watch a lot of different sports (gambling related) and they had the best packages. It does get a little pricey, but I enjoy it.

The only complaint I have had is the weather. There are times when my dish goes out or gets the digital pixilated look and it can be very annoying. If you live in an area where you can get whatever you want from cable, I would suggest going with them. It all really depends on what you enjoy watching, how much you'll spend, and how much the storms will bug you.

I was like you about two years ago. I always had cable but then moved into a house where there was Dish Network. You won't lose your service as much as you think due to storms/high winds. When it does happen though, it will drive you nuts...like me, you're used to cable where you never lost service.

A dish will give you many more options, but cable is typically more reliable. To me, it's well worth the chance that crappy weather might interfere with my reception and that's why we have DirecTV.

As far as reliability yes you'll lose signal for a bit at times during a storm but I had such a bad expirience with Mediacom here in Des Moines my cable and internet both were out way more often than I have since I switched to Dish and DSL. I'd recommend making the decision based on pricing if you don't have concerns about service.

I think satellite (I have Dish Network) gives you many more options for programming and is especially good for houses with multiple TVs. We have 10 tvs in our house and the Dish Network setup with the dual tuner receivers works really well.

We had Mediacom before switching to satellite and it just didn't work out very well. At that time, you essentially had to have a separate receiver for each tv. That may have changed in the last three years...

I really haven't had many issues with weather related outages. Maybe 2-3 times per year with a really bad storm but we had that many outages with Mediacom. I do still have Mediacom for internet however because that's my speediest option.

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Originally Posted by Hawkcigar

I think satellite (I have Dish Network) gives you many more options for programming and is especially good for houses with multiple TVs. We have 10 tvs in our house and the Dish Network setup with the dual tuner receivers works really well.

We had Mediacom before switching to satellite and it just didn't work out very well. At that time, you essentially had to have a separate receiver for each tv. That may have changed in the last three years...

I really haven't had many issues with weather related outages. Maybe 2-3 times per year with a really bad storm but we had that many outages with Mediacom. I do still have Mediacom for internet however because that's my speediest option.

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10? Really? 10 TVs? I love to watch TV as much as the next guy, but still only have 2 in my house.

And for what it is worth, I have Dish Network and think it works better, gives more variety and choices then Mediacom ever did through cable.

Dish network here too. I've had Dish for about 10 years and have been quite happy. At least happy enough that I've never considered switching to something else.

I do lose a signal occassionally during a bad T-Storm or Blizzard, but that is quite infrequent and only lasts a short time. When the weather is that bad, I typically want to watch the local channels anyway, to find out more about the weather. So, I bought an over-the-air HD antenna for my TV and when my Dish occassionally goes out, I just watch the 12-15 channels I can get over the air (many in HD). For about $30 (if I remember correctly) I bought an adapter from Dish that allowed me to connect my antenna directly to my Dish Receiver, so switching to the OTA channels is pretty seemless.

The weather issue is severly overblown. If you lose your signal during a storm (and that's a big IF), it is a very short time. I've never lost a signal for more than a couple minutes.

If your dish antenna is partially obstructed by growth, there is opportunity to lose signal more frequently due to weather. An obstructed view of the sky will result in minimal signal loss.

I would say in the course of a year, I can count the number of times I've lost signal on one hand and I watch a lot of television.

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Originally Posted by PabloDiablo

Wife and I are moving to a new house and have the opportunity to get out from under the cable monopoly that our apartment complex has set up. We are exploring our options and noticing that Direct TV has way cheaper options than the local cable company, Cox Cable.

Many of our friends have Cox and are very satisfied with the service and quality they receive but acknowledge the high cost.

My question is whether Direct TV and other satellite options are a good idea in the midwest with the weather and storms. Does anyone out there have any insight/experience with a dish in the midwest that could help me out?

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I only lose signal during the very heaviest of storms. If it's just overcast and sprinkling, my service is fine. That's when a DVR comes in handy ... when you can't watch TV because of a storm, you can always watch something you DVR'd earlier until the storm goes away.

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Originally Posted by kmcbrid

10? Really? 10 TVs? I love to watch TV as much as the next guy, but still only have 2 in my house.

And for what it is worth, I have Dish Network and think it works better, gives more variety and choices then Mediacom ever did through cable.

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No kidding, please list where all these TV are located within your house. We have 4 and 2 of them don't get used a whole lot.

Maybe I've got a great signal or something but I bet I haven't lost my signal for more than an hour in the last 2 years. This is a non issue for me.

Not a big deal for me either, lose it for a few minutes with the heaviest thunderstorms from time to time.

The loss of reception due to a storm is way overblown as others have said.

However, the biggest seller will be HD channels. You have far more HD Options with DirecTv than you do Cable (even the biggest Cable provider doesn't offer as many HD chans as DirecTv). DirecTv and Dish Net provide free HD as long as the channel is in one of your packages. Mediacom has to be one of the worst Cable providers in the country as far as HD goes. Mediacom has 100 channels dedicated to music and we can't get Versus or ESPNU in HD.

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Originally Posted by kmcbrid

10? Really? 10 TVs? I love to watch TV as much as the next guy, but still only have 2 in my house.

And for what it is worth, I have Dish Network and think it works better, gives more variety and choices then Mediacom ever did through cable.

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"Lorraine, he's teasing you. Nobody has 2 television sets!"

Scary to think that I have 4 and I live by myself. :eek: No, I don't throw anything away, but I'm no hoarder!

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Originally Posted by Rogue52

The weather issue is severly overblown. If you lose your signal during a storm (and that's a big IF), it is a very short time. I've never lost a signal for more than a couple minutes.

If your dish antenna is partially obstructed by growth, there is opportunity to lose signal more frequently due to weather. An obstructed view of the sky will result in minimal signal loss.

I would say in the course of a year, I can count the number of times I've lost signal on one hand and I watch a lot of television.

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I would agree with this, even in the Houston area. We get our fair share of heavy rain, but I rarely lose signal. If it's really coming down hard, I'll get the static, but again, that's probably happened fewer than 5 times in the year and a half I've been here. Now I haven't lived through a hurricane, but...:wink: