I had directv for 12+ years and dumped them last fall for dish. One of the best decisions I've ever made. Lower cost, we seem to have less signal problems with bad weather, HD with DVR, all in all we are very happy. I tried to haggle with Directv before switching to no avail.
If sports are your thing.... Direct TV is the way to go imo. Direct TV also seems to have more standard HD Channels.
I've had DirecTV for 6 years and I'm perfectly happy with them. 3 boxes at the house and one at the deer lease camper.
I have had Dish Network for 10 years. I keep threatening to switch to DirectTV or Verizon FIOS but haven't yet . Likely I won't switch but I will eventually upgrade to HD.
Really the only thing I wasn't happy with Dish was the lack of MLB network. Now that they offer it, all is good:p I've had Dish since I moved last year, and my parents have had it for about 8-10 years now, and they're very happy. Can't really comment on DirectTv.
Like said above, it's about what you want to see. Direct has the sports packs and a little know fact you can get single channels in the packs for an a la carte fee. A lot of the included channels on Direct are pay channels on Dish.
Had Dish for I'd say 16 years or so. The Outdoor Channel is an option for $1.50 I was able to get Wasg DC locals where with Direct TV it wasn't at all possable. I have given Verizon, Comcast and Direct all a chance but keep going back to Dish. Have HD and 2 Dual receivers covering 4 TV's. Total bill about a hundred bucks with HBO and Showtime and I think the 120 package.
I have Direct TV at the golf course. I'm not overly excited about them to say the least. Especially their customer service. Seems like I've had way too many more headaches with the dishes then there should be. Always on the phone for stupid little crap. Reception is awful during a storm too. We have 4 tv's in the clubhouse. 2 recievers run 4 tvs. They were all acting crazy. Would be "searching for signal" on channels we should get. Then other channels would come in, some would have pixilation. Next day .. who knows what you're going to get. I went through all the bs trouble shooting on the phone for the 47th time (yes with someone that doesn't speak english which made it take an hour longer). After not resolving anything, I went on the roof and started checking connections etc.... Noticed some corrosion where the two dishes are spliced and come into one line to feed the clubhouse. Cut and replaces that connection. Signal got a little better, but still acting up. So I said screw it I don't have time for this. Called them back for a service call. I had a 48 man mens league coming out that night and I needed my tv's back. He comes out and does his thing. Dish was slightly out of position. He comes back down and still not getting good signal. Goes back up and finds the problem. The box where all the cables from the 2 dishes are linked together was full of crap and water. Obviously I didn't stumble onto that one. So he cleans everything up and good to go working fine. I said what can i do to make sure that doesn't happen again. He tells me oh that's as weather proof as it's going to get nothing is getting in there ever again and all the other splices are weather sealed too. Ok........ ummmm maybe that should have been weather proofed when they originally installed it? Yeah I'm going to call and discuss that. Pretty sure I know how far i'm going to get with it.
I have had Direct in the past and switched to Dish about 6 years ago because Direct couldn't give local channels. Now they can and they are always sending stuff in the mail to get me back. Recently Comcast started to serve the Island and I might get a bundled service from them and give that a try. they are making a very attractive offer at least for a couple of years. One thing I have noticed about the sat TV companies. they are eager to lure you away with lower costs and free installation but if you are an existing customer they always want money for everything.
I called Dish after seeing a promo for free HBO & Showtime for 3 months and a free upgrade to HD DVR with new one or two year commitment for new customers and asked them what they were going to do for me, a 17 year or so customer. They gave me 7 new channels which I never watch and free HBO & Showtime for 3 months which if I didn't called at the end of 3 months it would stay in place and I would start paying. Whippdo.
