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stefuel
Joined: 07 Mar 2006
Posts: 3353
Location: Green Harbor MA USA
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| Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 3:37 pm Post subject: Slightly OT but HT related |
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My Fios contract is up soon and it's time to consider the options. As far as I'm concearned, Fios is just so so OK.
Anyone have suggestions for a better service? I was a long time Directv customer but when they added new equipment
of their own and notified me that my (owned) receivers would no longer work and refused to give me updated equipment. That pissed me off so I went with Fios. I do not feel any loyalty to either. I just want the best bang for the buck. Thanks,
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Chip
A Barco is only a AmPro with training wheels
Card carrying member of the AVS chain gang.
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ecrabb
Forum Moderator
Joined: 13 Mar 2006
Posts: 15909
Location: Utah
TV/Projector: JVC RS40, Epson 5010
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| Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 4:30 pm Post subject: |
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I don't think there's significant advantage in bang for your buck from anybody else, Chip. From what I've heard Fios is about the best, anyway. DirecTV and Dish Network are certainly nothing to write home about.
I've been a DirecTV subscriber for a long time, and it's just OK, too. There are some good things and some bad things - probably just like Fios. The hardware is nice looking, but IMHO the user interface isn't up to where my Sony DirecTV receivers were back in the late-90's. Yes, it's that bad. I've heard they're bringing back a Tivo-based model sometime this year, but who knows when that will be. The one cool thing that I'm kind of excited about is multi-room viewing. If your DirecTV boxes are connected to your home network, you can record a show on one DVR, but watch it in another room on another DVR, or even on a standard receiver. THAT is cool. That was one of the features that Voom was going to be rolling out what, 4 years ago? Right before they folded... Anyway, the DirecTV MRV software is in beta right now and the last I saw was a summer release.
That's my wrap-up. If you have any DirecTV questions, feel free to ask... But, I'd probably just stay where you are for now.
SC
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ecrabb
Forum Moderator
Joined: 13 Mar 2006
Posts: 15909
Location: Utah
TV/Projector: JVC RS40, Epson 5010
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| Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 4:32 pm Post subject: |
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Oh, and you must have jumped ship just a little too soon... I waited and waited... Eventually, DirecTV replaced my HD DirecTivo HR10-250's with the new HR-22's, and my Samsung TS360's with H22's... free of charge w/a 2-year commitment. It was just about a year ago they did that, IIRC.
SC
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MikeEby
Joined: 24 Jun 2007
Posts: 5237
Location: Osceola, Indiana
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MikeEby
Joined: 24 Jun 2007
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Location: Osceola, Indiana
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stefuel
Joined: 07 Mar 2006
Posts: 3353
Location: Green Harbor MA USA
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| Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 9:13 pm Post subject: |
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| ecrabb wrote: | Oh, and you must have jumped ship just a little too soon... I waited and waited... Eventually, DirecTV replaced my HD DirecTivo HR10-250's with the new HR-22's, and my Samsung TS360's with H22's... free of charge w/a 2-year commitment. It was just about a year ago they did that, IIRC.
SC |
Trust me when I tell you I tried to convince them to upgrade my equipment. I had been a loyal customer since the year after Directv went on line. How long ago was that. Never had a late payment and had the full package since day one. I told them Fios was giving me the equipment with free installation to switch. D wanted something like $800.00 to update my dish and replace two receivers with equipment that they would still own not me. I told them to come to their senses or kiss me good by. It was not until a couple of months after signing the Fios contract that D had a change of heart.
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Chip
A Barco is only a AmPro with training wheels
Card carrying member of the AVS chain gang.
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MikeEby
Joined: 24 Jun 2007
Posts: 5237
Location: Osceola, Indiana
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| Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 3:16 am Post subject: |
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I had similar experience with Direct TV, when I switched to Dish Network they just didn't seem to care until I was gone.
When Dish went MP4-HD they replaced both my receivers free. It was a big deal they had to relocate the dish about 30 feet from the house bury new cable because where the dish was located it could not hit one of the birds.
Just for fun tonight I plugged in an external hard drive to USB Port on my Dish 211, a window popped up telling me a USB hard drive was found call this number to activate DVR functions. I called the number followed the phone prompts to activate and approve the one-time $39.99 charge. The box then verified that I indeed wanted to format the drive. Five minutes later and a couple of reboots and my receivers are now a DVRs. Very clever!
Mike
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ecrabb
Forum Moderator
Joined: 13 Mar 2006
Posts: 15909
Location: Utah
TV/Projector: JVC RS40, Epson 5010
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| Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 5:44 am Post subject: |
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| MikeEby wrote: | | When Dish went MP4-HD they replaced both my receivers free. It was a big deal they had to relocate the dish about 30 feet from the house bury new cable because where the dish was located it could not hit one of the birds. |
DirecTV did the same for me last fall. New dish, new multiswitch, and four new receivers. I might have been a little pissed if I'd spent a grand or more on 2 HD Tivos and a couple of TS360's a few years earlier, but luckily all my equipment was ebay stuff. DirecTV replaced it all with the new MPEG-4 stuff for free w/a 2-year commitment extension.
| MikeEby wrote: | | I had similar experience with Direct TV, when I switched to Dish Network they just didn't seem to care until I was gone. |
Not that they need or deserve any defending, but in all fairness, I don't think DirecTV is any worse than Dish, and both are probably better than any wireless provider, cable co or telco. NONE of them give a sh*t about you until you leave. It's the standard M.O. these days... Bust ass and spend a fortune on marketing and giveaways getting new customers and give them the world. Oh, and the customers you already have? f*ck 'em. Where are they going to go? Another sh*tty provider just like us?
I mean, seriously... The wireless industry talks about their customer base in terms of "churn"... Basically, an acceptable rate of customers coming and going all the time. Just like market pricing, they optimize churn rates. They balance what it costs to acquire new customers versus what it costs to keep existing customers. If what you're asking for is going to cost them more to keep you as a customer than what it costs to acquire a new customer, BUH BYE NOW! It's ALL profit-driven.
SC
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