We are going to switch over to DirecTV this next week, and the internet will be from ATT. My daughter found the special that Sam's Club was offering, and she is changing over, and recommended it to us as well. Tomorrow, they will change the internet, and later this week, they install the dish for the TV. From the channel lineup, we should have more channels than we had with Comcast, and it will cost about $30 less per month than we have been paying. We don't watch a lot of television, mostly just the news and weather , and sometimes the local news; but this also includes a 3-month free trial of the premium channels (45 of them), and we can record shows and movies that we like for watching later. I am not sure how much the DVR holds, we have never used one before; but it should be adequate for a bunch of movies. It also has the option of watching from our ipads, which is mostly what we would be doing probably; since Bobby and I have different interests in what we watch. This also has the rural/farm channel on it, and I remember enjoying that before when I saw it. So, altogether, we are looking forward to trying the DirecTV.
@Yvonne Smith , saving that money each month is great. I loved the DVR when I had cable because it allowed me to fast forward the commercials when watching the recording. That was the biggest reason I recorded as much as I did. The DVR shows you the percentage of space you have on it. You can set it to erase a show after watching it or only erase if space is needed. I used to clean it out myself regularly, just because I liked to. Have fun!
I like to record my home improvement programs. When I go to play them I found cartoons, history and animal planet, and discovery channel programs were loaded.on the DVR . Johnny and Clayton, my grandson, have a bad habit of pushing buttons on the remote without realizing what they had done. So there is ample space for recording programs.
Well, today is our first day of the switchover, and so far, so good. I went to Comcast yesterday (@Joyce Mcgregor went along for company) and I turned in all of the cable equipment. Monday, they switched over the internet, and today, the DirecTV installer came and set up the dish (out in the strawberry patch), and now we have it working. We have downloaded the iPad app for DTV, and it looks to me like we can watch any of the programs right from the ipad if we want to. Bobby is still figuring out all of the buttons on his new remote; but he at least knows which one changes channels, and hopefully, how to turn it off at bedtime tonight. Because my daughter referred us, both she and I get a $100 discount, applied as a $10 discount each month until it is used up. We receive 3 months of free prime channels (45 of them) like HBO and Showtime, etc. We also are supposed to get about $400 in gift cards, from DTV, ATT and Sam's Club, for each of us; so counting all of that, our first year is basically at a huge discount. Anyone I refer can get the discounts (and probably at least part of the gift cards); so if you are thinking of changing over, let me know. We just got the basic package on everything, and still have a lot more than we did with Comcast.
@Yvonne Smith you'll enjoy DirecTV. There are so many programs that will interest you and some you won't. We've had it for 10 years and even though we've scaled down to basic viewings from Premium we still enjoy the programs that are available.
I have actually pretty much stopped watching television, Bobby is not interested in the programs that I like, and vice-versa. However, with the DTV app, if I can watch it on my iPad, and Bobby can watch on his, then we can each enjoy whatever programs we want to watch, and we usually only use the actual television when it is something we are both interested in seeing, like the news or weather. I noticed that they have the farm tv (RFTV?) on the list, and I used to enjoy watching some things on there before, and I also like the home and garden channel; so there will probably be others that I might enjoy once I actually look through what is available. Which channels do you enjoy watching, @Von Jones ?
I'm an avid fan of HGTV and DIY programs. I lost the DIY programs though when we went to basic viewing.
HGTV programming is one reason I'm considering Sling when I finally cut the cord. They have an add on for $5/month that includes DIY, but I'll probably skip that at first, until I see how much I actually use the Sling. One reason I want Sling, besides HGTV, is for the local channels, especially with Hurricane Season approaching. I've considered the DirecTV, but have heard a lot of bad things about them, especially add on fees for receivers, etc., and since they're now hooked up with AT&T, I'm not sure I want to deal with them. @Yvonne Smith Hopefully your experience will be a smooth one.
...I had a bad experience with them when I canceled my MIL's account. Looking at some of the fine print, your first year is at a reduced rate and you MUST sign up for 2 or more years.
Yes, a friend had DirecTV for years without incident, had the highest possible plan, with all of the sports add-ons, paid them tons of money over the years. The one time he asked them to replace his DVR with the newer (HD) model, they refused, and said he needed to buy it himself. He wasn't asking to own it, just that they replace it with one that wasn't antiquated. They gave him such a hassle, they lost his business, and he got a much better deal with his next provider and saved lots of money.
That fine print can put us into a quandary when we don't read it. My husband leaves all the reading to me and if something goes wrong it's on me.
I do believe good customer service depends partly on the agent you get The other part is on the customer. We've got it in our heads that the customer is always right, most times yes but those few times that problems arise 'talk to the supervisor.' We've never had to do that with DirecTV but with other services we have.
I plugged the Roku in downstairs last night, but for some reason, although it found my network right away, I kept getting an error when I tried to connect to it, although the password was correct. I decided to use the free internet (someone's got one open here, I don't know who, haven't figured that out yet), and that worked well. I double checked after streaming a movie, and it was on my network somehow. I had received a $5 Vudu coupon with the Roku, so I cashed that in last night. It was my first time using Vudu, and I'm sure I'll use it again. It's owned by Walmart, in case anyone wasn't aware. You can sign up with your Walmart account, or create a separate one.
Lots of good movies on Vudu. My son added me on his account. He asked me to send him photos of all my DVDs and selected the ones he wanted to download as digital movies which cost $5 each. Now that I have blu-rays he checks with me to see what I have new to add. You can also find TV shows and music as well. I just like to watch movies.