Thinking of switching to Dish Network

[jon_ad]

I currently have TW but I am moving to my new house at the end of the month and I am contemplating moving to Dish Network through ATT&T so that I can get the bundle package pricing .

My question is when ATT&T rolls out the U-verse system in Columbus will moving to it be a break of the 18 month commitment to DN?

Also is the 18-month commitment worth it?

[festivus]

Wow. No replies yet? I don't know anything about the AT&T bundle, but I can write about Dish. I've had it since last summer. Was a TWC customer before that. Switched to Dish for HD for ABC, FOX and ESPN2 and needed the NFL Network.

So far, my feelings are mixed but generally positive about Dish. It took 3 or 4times for the subcontractor to get my dish aimed correctly. And even if you're optimized, you'll still lose the signal, especially to the satellite that provides locals, in moderate to heavy rains. I would say that it happens to me about 10 times a year. Not lately with all of this dry weather. I'm sure that during rainy times it happens more often like when I'm not home or in the middle of the night.

I love the dual tuner DVR and having the ability to see most channels on every TV in the house.

Overall, I'm happy to have made the move. The 18 month commitment wasn't a big deal to me. Takes almost that long for a fair evaluation in my opinion. TWC simply dragged it's feet too long on the ABC/Fox deal with Sinclair. And I still don't know their status with ESPN2 and the NFL Network.

[zelig2]

I also switched from TW to AT&T/Dish. At the time TW didn't have Fox/ABC in HD which was one of my main reasons for switching. For me the service works well and I only rarely loose connection with the sattellite resulting in a loss of signal. I like the amount of HD content on Dish. There are a number of additional channels on Dish and I like to watch a number of them from time to time. I've got the ViP-622 DVR box from Dish right now. It works well for what I need. My main complaint is that HD locals only come from OTA and not from the sattellite and the box only has 1 ATSC tuner so that means I only can record one network show in HD at a time. That really sucks in my opinion. Heroes and 24 are on at the same time. If they made a new box with 2 ATSC tuners or added Columbus to thier Local HD broadcast (or give us access to East/West coast network feeds) I'd be perfectly happy with the service. With TW you can record two network channels at the same time. At this time I don't know if I'd switch to Dish if I was still on TW. My only benifit is the "package" discount of having a bundle of services from AT&T (and soon to have more when I get the iPhone and swtich from Verizon).

[Robbiee19]

I have DirecTV with Local HD and a good HD DVR. I can get OTA or local HD from DirecTV. Use both depending on how I feel. The important part I guess for you is I get the signal except in very heavy rain or very bad thunderstorm. I never have a problem with snow. So, satellite service is good with Dish or DirecTV. I get DSL thru AT&T with my phone service and overall I don't pay that much more compared with the bundle services that are out there.

[festivus]

I agree with Zelig2 about having only one OTA tuner on the 622. Dish needs to step up and provide Columbus locals in HD over the satellite feed. And how about letting the second TV tune in to the OTA tuner?

Regarding this limitation, try explaining it to your wife and to your kids and teaching them to schedule recordings accordingly.

[zelig2]

Yeah, whenever there's a schedule conflict like that my wife will always ask me "why did we switch from Time Warner again...?"

I was hoping the ViP621 was going to beef up it's OTA tuner but no such luck. I'd be up for getting a second ViP622 if I could see all the recorded shows on one box.

[festivus]

I may be getting a second vip622 for my basement. I'm doing either a 106 or a 120 inch screen in the main part The second tuner will go to a "playroom" in the basement. I would LOVE to be able to network the 2 622's together once I get the second one. That would be sweet.

[zelig2]

I just read the latest Charlie Chat in which the DishTV people talk about what's coming up in the future. They said they're still on schedule to deploy two more satellites in December 2007 and one of them will be devoted to local HD channels covering 85% of the market. Since Columbus is number 15 (I think) in the list of markets I think we might have a very good chance at having satellite locals in HD by 2008. Just in time for when 24 returns...

[festivus]

That would be awesome. Hopefully they'll be a bit higher in the sky than the one that does locals now. Having locals in HD via sat and having the OTA feed would solve a lot of my dvr conflicts.