# Good-bye DirecTV, it was nice...



## terpfan1980 (Jan 28, 2002)

I see a few other Good-Bye DirecTV threads, including this one: Bye Bye DirecTV, hello Series3! and this one: D* Good Bye and Good Riddence, as well as this one: Another Good-bye to D*. In those 3, I'd be guessing that none were all that complimentary to DirecTV, and certainly there are plenty of people that have been here at TCF, or over at DBSTalk or other sites that have trashed DirecTV pretty hard for what they deemed to be rip-offs, broken promises, and more. I'm not here for that though.

I'm here to say that I enjoyed my time (for the most part) with DirecTV while I had them in my most current round of service. I had them at one point back in the 90's but left because they had pulled shennigans on how they offered NASA-TV and because I could easily jump ship over to Dish Network and pay a little less each month than I had been paying to DirecTV. After getting completely fed up with the lack of reliability of the Dish Players (thanks for nothing Dish and Microsoft!!! ), I wound up moving back to DirecTV when the TiVo boxes were first becoming available and I'd been pretty happy with them ever since.

Yeah, I hated on the extra receiver fees (mirroring charges) and I disliked the fight between DirecTV and Versus. I wasn't thrilled about the idea that FOX/News Corp would own DirecTV for a while either as I feared what it might mean for customers of all services. But... well, for the most part I've been a very happy customer and still would be if not for the finances of it all that no longer make sense.

I've had Verizon FiOS for several years now, paying for a triple play bundle but only getting service on one TV. That changed when I picked up a couple of TiVo Premiere boxes (and recently added a 3rd via the Woot refurb offer a few weeks back) and when I saw that the Ceton InfiniTV Cable Card PCI-E tuners were finally becoming a reality. Rather than continuing to pay for two providers, I've kicked DirecTV to the curb. I'm sad at doing so really as I had decent service with them. Yeah heavy rains and ice or snow would knock out service, but it was never out that long and for the most part I just had good TV service with them. They didn't screw up my bills, they didn't rip me off, and their customer service was always nice to deal with.

So while I say Good-bye DirecTV, I'm not doing so with any malice. I wish them and their customers all the best. For many customers they may still be the best choice. Either way, I want the competition between them and everyone else as it is pretty much the only way we'll continue to see rates kept in check and more features become available for all of us to enjoy. :up:


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## joed32 (Jul 9, 2005)

Good bye and good luck to you.


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## p_wallace (Feb 24, 2008)

I wish I had another choice. Where I live there are three choices DTV, Dish, and Time Warner. My Mother In Law has Dish and it pretty much sucks. Time Warner has less choices for about the same dollars as DTV. I get really mad some times at the stupidity and ridiculous charges and I swear that DTV monitors what you watch and then block it so you will buy some package that then allows you to watch those events. But I just don't have a better choice. 
Pete


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## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

Same here, but the choice for cable is Comcast. No FiOS TV-like product is likely to ever be available here. DirecTV is my best choice.


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## Admdata (May 10, 2010)

Here it is Dish, Directv or Blue Ridge cable (had them they suck!!)


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## bearbig (Jan 25, 2007)

Lucky you all that have a choice. DTV is my only choice for "cable" shows. I can't "see" Dish's satellites, and there is no cable service in my neighborhood.


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## terpfan1980 (Jan 28, 2002)

A good friend of mine lives in an area where he can't get cable service at all. Actually two different homes, in two different locations, where that is the case. One home is actually fairly close to the cable lines but the cable company wants something like $3,000 to run the cable back to his house from the main road way. In the other case his home is well back on farm land and isn't anywhere near cable service for the small town his home is located by.

In his case he's lucky enough to be able to see DirecTV's satellites from both locations, though I believe at one (the one that might be able to get cable service if he forked over the ransom) he's limited by trees that would block him from getting HD service.

Another friend lives in a good-sized town/small city. In his case he has DirecTV by choice, but also has Verizon FiOS for service. He prefers DirecTV because of the sports packages -- especially the Sunday Ticket. Unfortunately for him trees block his potential reception of the HD signals.

While I am original trailer trash, living in a double-wide mobile home, I count my lucky stars that I have my choice of service providers. I have had Dish, DirecTV, and Comcast as well as the current provider (Verizon FiOS). I despised Comcast (who was originally Jones and I believe had another name along the way too) because they were too cheap to upgrade their infrastructure and back when I had them they didn't offer very many channels on their old analog system. That was back in the 80's and 90's and their system had a total of about 20 "pay channels" -- not premiums, just channels that you couldn't get except from a cable company. No Sci-fi, no Cartoon Network, and a long list of other channels that just weren't available. 20+ locals (with 2 each of ABC, NBC and CBS, plus one FOX, an indy that later became UPN, and another that became WB, and 3 PBS stations included in the mix). Adding in the "educational" channels and "local access" programming filled out most of the locals/broadcast networks half of their service offerings.

I jumped to DirecTV and USSB (if anyone remembers them) back in the mid-90's because they offered the cheapest path to the channels I wanted, even when I had to pay a small fortune in equipment costs to get connected up. I stuck with them until the late 90's and jumped over to Dish for a while because they were cheaper and offered a few channels that DirecTV didn't back then. I swear as much of a pain as it was to call into USSB and play CSR roulette, I still miss it somewhat since they always seemed to have some deal or another to offer that could get you a bunch of pay channels without having to actually pay all that much for them.

If Dish/Microsoft hadn't totally screwed up the Dish Players, I might have stuck with Dish over the last decade, but those boxes went from fairly usable to absolutely horrid over the time I had them and eventually I sold out of that equipment and jumped back to DirecTV for the original TiVo-based boxes they offered.

With DirecTV having switched to a leasing model for their newest equipment, I didn't "own" the equipment when I cancelled service and had to just return the receivers back to them. I don't mind doing that, though I wish I could have gotten back some of the "advanced receiver" up-front fees that I had paid out not all that long ago. Had I forseen where things were going to wind up, I probably wouldn't have added a fourth DirecTV HD DVR to my house, but oh well.

Anyway, again, I do count myself as lucky having choices for TV service. While I was far less lucky about high-speed internet (DSL service was never an option for me and I was stuck on dial-up internet until Comcast finally upgraded their equipment and began offering High-speed Internet service back in the mid-2000's), I at least had some options for TV service and I did take advantage of them as best I could. None of those options have been that cheap, but at least I had options


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## TVCricket (Mar 7, 2010)

Left them in December and glad I did. ESPN is the only thing I miss.


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## Hexerott (Jan 1, 2007)

I am officially leaving DTV on 2/14. My DirecTivo has finally bitten the dust and I am done waiting for the new DirecTivo. I've had DTV since 1997..... kind of a bummer it had to end this way.


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## stargazer21 (May 22, 2002)

As I'm writing this, the Verizon guy is outside disconnecting my DirecTV and hooking up FIOS. Like terpfan, I really have nothing bad to say about DTV, and I'm really sad to lose my TiVo. But we just couldn't get on the same page for upgrading me to HD, and Verizon has made it easier.

However, I've always been lousy at breakups, so I'm just going to suspend my DTV for a little while, and see what happens with them and TiVo.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

TiVo works fine with Verizon FIOS.


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## DreadPirateRob (Nov 12, 2002)

I've had DirecTV for 12+ years, and during that I always had a DirecTivo, until 2 months ago when I got 2 HR24s. I have to say, I don't miss my Tivos all that much. Sure, they do some things better than the HRs do, but the HRs do other things better than the Tivos did.


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## bigpuma (Aug 12, 2003)

DreadPirateRob said:


> I've had DirecTV for 12+ years, and during that I always had a DirecTivo, until 2 months ago when I got 2 HR24s. I have to say, I don't miss my Tivos all that much. Sure, they do some things better than the HRs do, but the HRs do other things better than the Tivos did.


Did they have DirecTiVos 12 years ago?


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## DreadPirateRob (Nov 12, 2002)

bigpuma said:


> Did they have DirecTiVos 12 years ago?


My bad. I forgot that the first year I had DirecTV I only had generic receivers. I got my DirecTivo in early 2001. So I guess for 10 years I had one.


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## mdigi (Dec 4, 2003)

just disconnected from d*tv last week. I had been a subscriber since '02. I received a deal I couldn't say no to from cable for a bundle service and purchased a couple of premiere's (nice with cable card) and Tv's (long overdue) to replace my R10's and CRT's. 

Got to the point where i couldn't wait for the new tivo's anymore. Hopefully, they come out soon, the reports about features in the units are wrong and they are better than everyone is anticipating. 

Best of luck!


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## NetWrench (Aug 27, 2006)

Several years ago, I finally got Directv to stop charging me for the Tivo service since I had paid the $250 for lifetime, but I don't have the original receiver any more. Would Tivo honor the lifetime service if I was to switch to Verizon?


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## archer75 (Apr 13, 2004)

I have dish now and for the past several years and they've been great. Reception is great. I pay a whopping $41/month for HD and DVR so it's been the best value by far. 
Though I am thinking of cancelling and just going OTA to save a few bucks. I'm also looking into FIOS but our provider here is Frontier and there are rumors they are wanting to get out of the TV business. Good news is there's no contract to sign.
I'm just hoping the OTA tuner in the Tivo premiere is as strong or stronger than my Dish VIP722 receiver.


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## sbourgeo (Nov 10, 2000)

NetWrench said:


> Several years ago, I finally got Directv to stop charging me for the Tivo service since I had paid the $250 for lifetime, but I don't have the original receiver any more. Would Tivo honor the lifetime service if I was to switch to Verizon?


Unfortunately, no. The DirecTiVo lifetime is tied to a DirecTV account, so it is useless with other providers.


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## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

TiVo did have an offer open to holders of DirecTV TiVo lifetime accounts to transfer the lifetime for a fee. I don't know if it is still open.


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## dstoffa (Dec 14, 2005)

terpfan1980 said:


> A good friend of mine lives in an area where he can't get cable service at all. Actually two different homes, in two different locations, where that is the case. One home is actually fairly close to the cable lines but the cable company wants something like $3,000 to run the cable back to his house from the main road way. In the other case his home is well back on farm land and isn't anywhere near cable service for the small town his home is located by.


Time Warner Cable (Hudson Valley, New York) will gladly run CableTV to your location from the nearest served location at the discount price of $4 / ft. You are looking at $20,000 / mi.

Apparently there isn't much ROI in wiring new areas.

Cheers!
-Doug


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## gpejsa (Jan 27, 2002)

I am bumping this thread back up. I am moving in a few weeks and am vacilating back and forth between going FIOS versus DirecTV. I have been doing DirecTV since the beginning of time and love it. I also have FIOS for my phone, internet, and one tv slot (the HD receiver). I've been testing the FIOS HD DVR for about a year and like it.

What do you all think about the cost between having 4 DirecTV DVRs versus 4 similarly equipped FIOS boxes? 

Any suggestions or points of comparison will be welcomed!

Thanks


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## dstoffa (Dec 14, 2005)

gpejsa said:


> What do you all think about the cost between having 4 DirecTV DVRs versus 4 similarly equipped FIOS boxes?
> 
> Any suggestions or points of comparison will be welcomed!
> 
> Thanks


Cost may be negotiable in terms of new-customer deals... However, it may simply come down to programming.

Are the services you want available on FIOS? AKA - Do you want NFL Sunday Ticket? For many, that is the deciding factor.

Cheers!
-Doug


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## gpejsa (Jan 27, 2002)

No Sunday ticket for me. I think the TV choices are about the same for what I watch. I am thinking my comparison choice is to come up with a mix of High Def DVR capabilities. I would like to record from at least 3 locations and maybe watch from one additional location (though cost may limit me).

Currently we have 4 Directv HD DVRs and have loved them, but in moving to our new place, the simplicity of the FIOS HD DVR may be better (or perhaps a combo of the multi room DVR and a couple of set top boxes)

Thanks for your thoughts!


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## terpfan1980 (Jan 28, 2002)

Knowing Mr. gpejsa as well as I do  I'd recommend making the jump to FiOS and the TiVo boxes that are available... well, either that, or a couple of TiVo Premieres and perhaps a Ceton InfiniTV equipped media PC added into the mix.

Premiere XL TiVo boxes should be $299 up front, plus the cost of Lifetime service if you opt to go that way (and I'd recommend that, though would note that it takes a while for that lifetime fee to amortize away...) Paying the monthly fee just seems silly when you can pay once and be done with all of the fees on the TiVo side.

On the FiOS side, you'd be paying $3.99 (I believe that is the fee, or something very close to it) for the Cablecard. An M-card (multi-stream capable, so only one card needed per box). One card per TiVo box that can be used for the two channels that can be recorded simultaneously on a Premiere or a Premiere XL. Sorry, the Premiere Q or whatever isn't out yet, that would allow for 4 live channels per box (which the Ceton InfiniTV card can do currently).

The Ceton card is nice and would work well for the man of the house, but I'm not sure the women in Mr. gpejsa's lfe would appreciate that solution as much. Up front cost on that card is down from it's initial high, and availability is way up, but it's still a factor to consider. With that card though there is no more fees after initial purchase, at least not currently. No fee for guide updates, etc. So basically it's a lifetime'd card in a PC. 4 streams can be recorded concurrently.

There'd be no pay-per-view on either of those solutions, at least not currently, but I don't think that would be an issue for my friend here either.

DirecTV's solution is nice, and the requester here (gpejsa) could easily move his equipment just by calling up DirecTV and taking advantage of the Mover's connection deal, but given the bundling that can and does happen with Verizon FiOS, I think I'd take that approach and kick DirecTV to the curb.

Go with the higher end Verizon FiOS bundle, FiOS TV Ultimate HD and the higher end internet speed (which is a required combo if you go with that bundle) and you'll be screaming along on the 'net and enjoying the plethora of channels available to you and the family. :up:


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## terpfan1980 (Jan 28, 2002)

Oh, I should add that the MRV (multi-room viewing) on the TiVo boxes is different than the whole home network features of the DirecTV boxes. I can explain that better in phone conversation if desired


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## bajabingo (Jul 12, 2011)

i hate direct tv


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## bajabingo (Jul 12, 2011)

really really hate them


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## litzdog911 (Oct 18, 2002)

bajabingo said:


> i hate direct tv


OK.


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## scottt (Sep 6, 2002)

gpejsa said:


> I am bumping this thread back up. I am moving in a few weeks and am vacilating back and forth between going FIOS versus DirecTV. I have been doing DirecTV since the beginning of time and love it. I also have FIOS for my phone, internet, and one tv slot (the HD receiver). I've been testing the FIOS HD DVR for about a year and like it.
> 
> What do you all think about the cost between having 4 DirecTV DVRs versus 4 similarly equipped FIOS boxes?
> 
> ...


DTV charges $6 per DVR (not counting the DVR fee). FIOS charges $15.99 per DVR.

Made the choice quite simple for me.


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## HarryD (Jan 10, 2002)

After my 9 year old Philips DSR 7000 DirecTivo died last April, I had a decision to make... call D* and get a replacment recv (along with a new 18 month commitment)... or make the switch to RCN and get a bundled package w/ Tivo. I chose to switch and I'm glad I did. RCN's package is saving me around $60 bucks a month over the DirecTV, Verizon phone, and RCN internet. I do think DirecTV is excellent though... never really had any big problems... ever.


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## Satchel (Dec 8, 2001)

Called and got Uverse being installed next Monday. 

My 7-year-old DTV HD DVR (HR20-100) is starting to piss me off...taking 30 seconds to do a channel change, etc.
So I call and ask them if they can upgrade my box. 
Sure, they say, give us your CC for a $20 delivery charge and we'll get one right out.
Oh, and by the way, this box requires you to re-up for a 2 year commitment.
OK, I say. Send it on.

Box arrives. It's a refurbished HR21-100 made in 2008. Same box as I have now except it wont' accept OTA signals. 

Uh, no. Called DTV, said I wanted an HR24. Newer, smaller, faster...not going to reup for 2 yrs for the same almost 5-yo slow box. Sending it back.

Rep says fine. Sending a label. Upgrade is $199. For a box I get to LEASE.

Uh. No. Thanks.

Buh-bye.


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## MikeAndrews (Jan 17, 2002)

Welcome to the light.

Now D* will tell you had a 2 year commit just for calling to cancel.

UVerse is the best second choice to a Tivo. You'll see that the remote is very similar. You just have to get used to having your fingers higher up on the thing. You'll only miss being able to offload the shows, although you can with an SD TiVo.

You'll gain having the true Total Home DVR where you can pick up where you were anywhere in the house instantly, no copy required and no "NO COPYING" flag.

One warning. For whatever reason when you add a new "Season Pass" Uverse puts it at the top fo the list and defaults to "Record any day at 9(whatevah) PM" rather than "Any day at any time." You have override that by going over the SP optiosn and subscription list.


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## kaszeta (Jun 11, 2004)

Satchel said:


> Called and got Uverse being installed next Monday.
> 
> My 7-year-old DTV HD DVR (HR20-100) is starting to piss me off...taking 30 seconds to do a channel change, etc.
> So I call and ask them if they can upgrade my box.
> ...


That's got to be one of my biggest issues with D*. They seem to have an unlimited supply of ancient HR20 and 21s to use for replacement purposes.

My second biggest complaint is that they seem to have no good tracking on your equipment. Last time one of my HR22s went out, they sent out an HR24 with the install who shifted all my equipment to SWM (okay, that was a good upgrade) and MoCA (that wasn't). Then the HR24 died 2 months in, and they responded by sending me an HR20 and a tech that wanted to rip all out the SWM stuff.


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## DDROW (May 28, 2008)

I really can't complain too much about DTV. I was originally a Primestar customer untill DTV bought them out years ago. I live in a rural area 80 miles from a major city so DTV and Dish are my only options. As long as I stay with DTV and can get by without HD. I have 6 receivers on my account all of them owned but 1 DTVplus. 2 others are listed as Tivo units but all of the units are now Tivo. As long as my units and access card continue to work or I can get the units on sale cheap I can keep my agreement. All a person has to do is refresh your signal to make non rid units work. As far as the charges go I only have a 1 extra receiver (mirroring) charge on my account (old Primestar contract) and only 1 DVR fee for as many as I have. As long as I can keep this account I feel like I don't have a choice. I also prefer the programing with all the extra sports programing. Yes it costs but they all do and they are in it to make money.


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## fooz (Mar 4, 2006)

Satchel said:


> Called and got Uverse being installed next Monday.
> 
> My 7-year-old DTV HD DVR (HR20-100) is starting to piss me off...taking 30 seconds to do a channel change, etc.
> So I call and ask them if they can upgrade my box.
> ...


Now you will be getting all kinds of great "come back" offers from DirecTV, these offers will far exceed what you where originally asking for just to stay.


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## jcf2001 (Dec 11, 2007)

I too will be dropping Direct TV at the end of the month.

I have been with them since the mid to late 90's and have been happy with their service though lately my receiver has been re-booting a lot again but that is not the reason why I will be leaving though it does reinforce my decision. 

The reason I will be leaving is the same reason I will not be signing up with Time Warner or anyone else. There just is not enough programming on that I am interested in watching to justify paying $80+ a month. Just junk shows and commercials. Way to many commercials for a pay TV service IMHO. If they ever offer A La Carte pricing like Sirius radio does then I may return. But until then I'm cutting the cord as some would say and putting an extra $1,000 in my pocket ever year.


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## dlmcmurr (Mar 2, 2006)

fooz said:


> Now you will be getting all kinds of great "come back" offers from DirecTV, these offers will far exceed what you where originally asking for just to stay.


You're right about that. I switched to Dish 2 weeks ago then called D* to cancel. I had already tried to talk them into something decent to replace my 4 dying Series 2 DVRs, but they kept trying to push me in directions I didn't want to go. Now they are offering me $200 and the Genie system. Before you decide to leave, you might want to push it to the customer retention group.

I've got 2 Hoppers and 2 Joeys now. I worked with the installer and got a great installation through the attic, too. I already had places where we could pull the cable and helped him do it. In my area their satellites are higher so they clear my trees better, but snow accumulation might be more of an issue.

The Hoppers still have a few bugs and don't have wish lists, but I've been pleased so far. The remote is a little different, but the RF part works great. I wasn't sure initially about the Prime Time Anytime, but I like it now. Same on the autohop on the commercials. My only suggestion is 1 Hopper is not much if you have 2 or more people, so look seriously at a 2nd one. After all, every house needs 6 tuners . (Hope I'm not violating any rules: PM me if you want a referral and it'll save you $50)

D* has been good to deal with for 7 years and I might well return when my 2 year contract is up. Anyone need any S2 parts or 4x8 SD multiswitches?

Dave


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