OT: Direct TV, pros and cons

[Improviser]

I currently have Frontier for home phone, internet, and cable. Bill is ridiculous at about $258.

I went to the AT&T store to buy a new cell phone and the rep was pushing for a trial of Direct TV with a package including home phone, and internet with the TV package. He said the switch would save me close to $100 a month. And, he says Frontier won't be upgrading its systems to be supporting TV in the near future and isn't taking new TV customers.

Still, I am not sure of the reliability of Direct TV. Not sure if the phone tech support is reliable or how wifi would hold up, or the quality of the picture on TV or the quality and reliability of the transmission on my computer.

Right now, Frontier with Eero and its phone support and techs who came to my house for phone and TV and wifi computer issues, has been very good.

If anyone has switched from Frontier to Direct TV, what is your take on the reliability of Direct TV?

At this point in my life, reliability and dependability and predictability mean more than saving money.

As always, I look forward to a treasure trove on information from the BY.

 

[Hankster]

When we had it a decade ago every time there was a thunderstorm, the picture froze..........not sure if they have fixed that technical issue over the years but it was a dealbreaker for us.....

They must have. Lately the thunderstorms brought interference, DTV automatically switched to streaming. Years ago ou lost signal for awhile.

 

[Hankster]

I currently have Frontier for home phone, internet, and cable. Bill is ridiculous at about $258.

I went to the AT&T store to buy a new cell phone and the rep was pushing for a trial of Direct TV with a package including home phone, and internet with the TV package. He said the switch would save me close to $100 a month. And, he says Frontier won't be upgrading its systems to be supporting TV in the near future and isn't taking new TV customers.

Still, I am not sure of the reliability of Direct TV. Not sure if the phone tech support is reliable or how wifi would hold up, or the quality of the picture on TV or the quality and reliability of the transmission on my computer.

Right now, Frontier with Eero and its phone support and techs who came to my house for phone and TV and wifi computer issues, has been very good.

If anyone has switched from Frontier to Direct TV, what is your take on the reliability of Direct TV?

At this point in my life, reliability and dependability and predictability mean more than saving money.

As always, I look forward to a treasure trove on information from the BY.

I have Directv in PA since October 15th, 1996. Some bumps in the road, nothing serious. Bought anther home in Savannah area and have Directv here also. We get numerus wicked thunderstorms. Automatically switches to stream. The only problem I had was local channel purchases.

 

[Hunt for 7]

When we had it a decade ago every time there was a thunderstorm, the picture froze..........not sure if they have fixed that technical issue over the years but it was a dealbreaker for us.....

It switches to cable now so you keep the picture but for some reason you cannot record when it switches from the dish to the internet/cable during storms. I have had Direct TV since it came out in the 90’s. Mostly for the sports. I remember the day it was installed and I was able to get all the UConn games. Other than the birth of my children that may have been the happiest day of my life. This was the early mid 90’s no internet and when I initially left CT in July after the dream season one of the biggest factors I had to get past to take the job is how I was going to follow UConn.

At that time the best solution was my best friend recording all the games on vhf tapes sending them to me with copies of all CT newspapers. Wow life was much different back then.

It got worse once AT&T bought it especially with the installers. They are Subcontractors but they were also subs back when DirecTV was a stand alone. For some reason they were better then. When I bought a house in 2012 in FL the DirectTV installers way out performed the Comcast installers. I think DirecTV held them more accountable.

Entertainment expenses are a so expensive but I have kept cable and Direct TV but just the basic packages. I work from home and my wife runs a small administrative business as her side hustle and two kids who play video games on line so absolutely need the highest speed internet so that is $200.00 month same with DirectTV basic package maybe $180 for DirecTV but we have 8 tv’s in our house and what really gets you is all the wireless boxes that you have to connect to the TV at the TV. That’s another $8-10 per tv. So we only have DirectTV and cable on two of our large TV’s.

I will say after the experience with the prime games the years before last, I was suspect about how YTTV would handle the games but all in all was pleasantly surprised and the interface and how you could watch multiple games with more options than DirectTV had.

Biggest issue is exiting the app to watch the games that are blacked out because they are on local tv. That becomes a pain because every time you go between the two you have to log back into YTTV so it is not convenient. With DirectTV I also have the local channels so all it that entailed was changing the channel.

And because of bad mojo I cannot record the game on the same feed I am watching. So I watch the games on DirecTV and record them on Comcast.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Streaming is the present and future DirectTV won’t be around in 3-5 years. That’s probably why the salesperson was pushing it.

Direct TV has a streaming package. Brother In Law s a store manager for Years. They are pushing the DirectTV streaming package, not the satellite.

Here is my suggestion. The load times are not the internet or the app design. It is actually the TV‘s computer chip.

The chip that is on budget tvs is terrible. Go buy Apple TV Box, Fire Cube, or the highest end Roku and the apps will be lightning quick. I have learned not to rely on the native OS on any tvs, even Google, Roku, Fire, because they are super slowl.

 

[QuickDraw]

there are better ways to spend $3000. a year IMO

 

[CL82]

And because of bad mojo I cannot record the game on the same feed I am watching

I love this board.

 

[Hunt for 7]

there are better ways to spend $3000. a year IMO

Absolutely agree. It like most things the older you get it just evolves and all of a sudden you are spending more than is reasonable. There is so much intentional duplication. Eventually right before I retire I will get it in line. Personally I only need, every UConn Men’s BB game, every NFL football game, every Yankee game and every Knicks game other than that maybe the local major affiliate (ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox I guess) channels for news and coverage during storms.

And I do not live in CT so all the local least expensive options are not viable for me.

 

[Scott2Tate]

I am based in CT.

Do you have a landline? That is a necessary item for me. Your plan sounds reasonable, but a standalone landline would add to that figure. Though, all 3 together would be less than I am currently paying.

I have a Samsung Smart TV so I would guess that would support the YouTube channel.

I don’t have a landline. Dropped it more than a decade ago when it seemed like more phone lines were going internet based.

I have LG smart tvs, but I found that the Amazon fire sticks worked better with the YouTubeTv app (and other apps like Netflix, etc). They are a one time only charge of about $25, and you can move it to any other tv you want, as long as the tv has a hdmi/usb port ( think it’s hdmi, but not home so I can’t check at the moment)

 

[JohnFSilver]

I don’t have a landline. Dropped it more than a decade ago when it seemed like more phone lines were going internet based.

I have LG smart tvs, but I found that the Amazon fire sticks worked better with the YouTubeTv app (and other apps like Netflix, etc). They are a one time only charge of about $25, and you can move it to any other tv you want, as long as the tv has a hdmi/usb port ( think it’s hdmi, but not home so I can’t check at the moment)

Spend the $100 to $150’on the Fire Cube, Apple TV Box…trust me. So much better than even fire sticks.

 

[Scott2Tate]

Spend the $100 to $150’on the Fire Cube, Apple TV Box…trust me. So much better than even fire sticks.

Is that per tv?? If so, my cheap ass will stay happy with the fire sticks

 

[3rdbass]

Is that per tv?? If so, my cheap ass will stay happy with the fire sticks

Fire sticks kind of suck. I hate how hard it is find apps at times and also you have to reset the stick all the time. I much prefer my apple tv but I got that for free when I switched from Comcast to AT&T Fiber.

 

[Scott2Tate]

Fire sticks kind of suck. I hate how hard it is find apps at times and also you have to reset the stick all the time. I much prefer my apple tv but I got that for free when I switched from Comcast to AT&T Fiber.

You must use a ton of apps. I only use 5 -10 at most, so it’s real easy to find them in the recently used apps section of the menu.

 

[3rdbass]

You must use a ton of apps. I only use 5 -10 at most, so it’s real easy to find them in the recently used apps section of the menu.

no only about the same. Just fine it so much better on apple tv where all the apps are there on the home screen as soon as you log on. My biggest gripe is that the fire stick has to be reset so much. It is a cheap solution but not the best. Also, it takes up a lot of space on the back of the tv.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Is that per tv?? If so, my cheap ass will stay happy with the fire sticks

Yes. Per tv. But worth it. Lol

 

[AreBee1969]

I was a 20-year DirecTV subscriber and dropped them due to the ever increasing costs. I got tired of calling every year and asking for a break. When they offered me a $10/mo break for 6 months I switched to YTTV ands saved over $120/mo. As a Sox fan and a UConn BB fan, the only drawback for me is no SNY or NESN which were both dropped after I subscribed.

 

[dvegas]

I'm not a fan of Apple products (iPhones, and in commercial real estate, it's a PC world, not Macs), but my Apple TV's are the bomb. I have 3, and generally upgrade the oldest one every 4-5 years, but might not even need to. They have vastly improved the remotes (they used to su*k), but I can use my Samsung or Hisense remotes interchangeably (they work fine)