How reliable is DirectTV?

[mtrebs]

My 2-year contract with Charter is about to expire and I am seriously considering switching to DirectTV. I'm not looking for a comparison of features between the two, but I am just wondering how reliable the DirectTV signal is.

 

When I was a senior in high school (1997) we got DirectTV. Of course this was the era of only standard definition television, but we were very happy with the signal...granted we fine-tuned it ourselves to have a very high signal strength (over 90).

 

Now that everything is all about HD I'm not sure how it completely works. I know they state that the signal is reliable for over 99% of the time, but I have been at a couple of different houses that have DirectTV where their HD channels freeze up in rainy (not stormy) weather. When we changed to the equivalent standard definition channel it would work. I assume the HD signal requires a stronger signal compared the standard definition counterpart.

 

We have the television on from the moment we get home until the time we get to bed (don't judge)...we like to have it on as background noise rather than a radio. I've had pretty good luck with Charter over the last 10 years or so and I'd hate to switch and have it freeze up all the time. I suppose that it really depends on the person that installs it and how well they fine tune the signal. So for you DirectTV subscribers out there, can you tell me how well your HD signal holds up in inclement weather?

 

Thanks!

[JimH5]

I have DirecTV in Brookfield and like it, but I do have issues with rainy weather.

 

When it rains, I am often disappointed to see "Searching for Signal". I haven't tried to switch over to standard def during those times..that's a good suggestion.

 

We use it mostly for sports and kid viewing, so I can't offer any help with On Demand, Premium Channels, etc.

 

I have TWC as an internet provider, so when the TV is frozen, I'll go online for info.

[Crew2323]

I've had Directv for 4 years now. I've had a good experience with it. I started with Dish and in my opinion, Directv blows Dish out of the water. I only have issues with the signal when big storms come through. It's fine for me during normal rain showers etc.

[GormanHarvey]

I've had Directv for 4 years now. I've had a good experience with it. I started with Dish and in my opinion, Directv blows Dish out of the water. I only have issues with the signal when big storms come through. It's fine for me during normal rain showers etc.

 

Same for me. It's gotta be a pretty good storm for me to temporarily lose signal. And I couldn't agree more on Directv vs Dish. I hated Dish.

[JohnBriggs12]

I have been a Directv customer for 10 years, the last 6 of which have included HD. The loss of signal weather issues are few and far between. It takes a pretty big storm for a signal loss, and then they usually lasts no more than 10 minutes. If I am watching an over the air channel, I simply switch to the antenna.

[trwi7]

Reading this makes me wish I could get DirecTV.

[paul253]

Reading this makes me wish I could get DirecTV.

 

Maybe this will help. I am not satisfied with the signal in the least bit. While it doesn't go out every time it rains, it takes much less than a "big storm" to knock my signal out. It irritates me because I asked specifically about this before I signed the 2 year contract and I was told it was no longer an issue. So far the amount of money I save a month makes it worth it, but the savings only go for one year of the two year contract and then the price is basically a wash.

 

Overall I am happy because it seems like I get a lot more channels then when I had ATT Uverse (NHL/MLB networks, CBS sports, NBC sports, etc) and I am saving like $30 a month for a year. But the one thing I can't stand about DirectTV is the loss of signal seemingly every time there is a moderate amount of rain.

[pitchleague]

 

Maybe this will help. I am not satisfied with the signal in the least bit. While it doesn't go out every time it rains, it takes much less than a "big storm" to knock my signal out. It irritates me because I asked specifically about this before I signed the 2 year contract and I was told it was no longer an issue. So far the amount of money I save a month makes it worth it, but the savings only go for one year of the two year contract and then the price is basically a wash.

 

 

paul253, I would venture a guess (not saying that I am right, of course) that your signal/dish needs a slight adjustment and the problem will be gone for the most part. It IS possible to get a 90+% signal strength on your dish (I have 97% due to my own adjustments.) I would check your signal strength and if it is less than 90%, give them a call and have them send a technician out, saying you are unsatisfied with your reception/signal. They should be able to adjust it for you.

 

To the original poster, I would also mention that snow accumulation on the dish will also disrupt the signal so be aware of that in Wisconsin. It happened to me (yes, in Arizona) during the Regional Finals games of the NCAA tourney in March but it was just a minor perturbance, having to go out and brush off the dish every half hour or so while it was snowing.

[TooLiveBrew]

I have been a Directv customer for 10 years, the last 6 of which have included HD. The loss of signal weather issues are few and far between. It takes a pretty big storm for a signal loss, and then they usually lasts no more than 10 minutes. If I am watching an over the air channel, I simply switch to the antenna.

I only had DirecTV for a couple years, but this sums up my experience perfectly.

 

Cable companies always push the 'what if it rains?' angle on satellite TV. What's funny to me is that, with cable, sometimes your picture will lock up or pixelate for no good reason, whether there's cloud cover or not. The signal issues for me with DirecTV were no worse (& quite possibly better) than with cable.

[ELCABALLO45]

I had Dish network for about 5 years. Switched over to Direct TV about 3 years ago. I would never go back to Dish Network.

 

As people have noted, for me it takes a big storm for it to be knocked out. And sometimes I will actually think "why hasn't the signal gone out yet?". Love it.

[mtrebs]

To the original poster, I would also mention that snow accumulation on the dish will also disrupt the signal so be aware of that in Wisconsin. It happened to me (yes, in Arizona) during the Regional Finals games of the NCAA tourney in March but it was just a minor perturbance, having to go out and brush off the dish every half hour or so while it was snowing.

 

I am in Plover, WI so this would make a difference for me. I'm thinking that my dish may need to be installed on the roof (due to my lot and the visibility of the sky) and clearing off the snow would be very difficult and dangerous during the winter. Does this happen pretty much every snowfall?

[1992casey]

My rain fade issues have improved considerably since I had new equipment installed a couple of years ago. I would guess that all new installations would get the most recent equipment.

[RightFieldCoder]

I just got Dish in April of last year. It only went out twice, both in huge storms. Is DirectTV that much better, or has Dish just upgraded since people had it last?

[JJHardy7]

I've had DirecTV for 4 years and love it. I really don't have too many complaints. I love the sports packages (I get NFL, NBA, and MLB). They do have some on demand type of stuff, but I haven't used that very often.

 

I've found the customer service at DirecTV to be very, very good. They've always settled any issues/problems/etc.

 

I've also noticed that it takes a pretty big storm to lose a signal.

 

While you'll likely get the best deal on your first contract, once that expires if you contact them they'll usually throw in some type of savings for the next term.

[jason21nl]

I just got Directv for a couple weeks now.

 

It stormed pretty good out a couple days ago and I lost the signal about 10 times in a half hour. I could understand it going out during the heavy heavy rain but it even went out when it wasn't raining and the sun was out. I called up Directv to ask them if this was normal because I was told the only time I would lose my signal is if it was a big storm or heavy snow. The lady told me that if its raining hard, even a couple counties over that I still could lose my signal??

 

Outside of that day, I have been very happy. Although, it hasn't rained since so I haven't had anything else to compare it to.

[pitchleague]

To the original poster, I would also mention that snow accumulation on the dish will also disrupt the signal so be aware of that in Wisconsin. It happened to me (yes, in Arizona) during the Regional Finals games of the NCAA tourney in March but it was just a minor perturbance, having to go out and brush off the dish every half hour or so while it was snowing.

 

I am in Plover, WI so this would make a difference for me. I'm thinking that my dish may need to be installed on the roof (due to my lot and the visibility of the sky) and clearing off the snow would be very difficult and dangerous during the winter. Does this happen pretty much every snowfall?

 

 

I can't speak for all types of snowfall, but the wet sticky snow (the only kind we get here in AZ) is the only snow that I have experience with sticking to the dish. I would guess that the light, fluffy snow wouldn't be an issue.

[mothershipconnection]

Cable companies always push the 'what if it rains?' angle on satellite TV. What's funny to me is that, with cable, sometimes your picture will lock up or pixelate for no good reason, whether there's cloud cover or not. The signal issues for me with DirecTV were no worse (& quite possibly better) than with cable.

 

It's complete nonsense. I've had Dish Network for 8 of the past 9 years. For one year I lived in an apartment and had to get Comcast cable. That cut out way more often than Dish ever does, and would be down for hours at a time. Sometimes I'd just be down 2 or 3 channels, but they'd be down for almost the entire evening. With Dish, I sometimes lose it in very heavy storms, and sometimes in lighter ones - it seems hard to predict, as I've had crazy storms fail to affect the picture at all. Overall, I have fewer outages with Dish than I did with Comcast or Charter (which I had from 2000-2003). Also, it's cheaper and we can get Japanese channels that no cable company offers in our area.

[AZBrewCrew]

Ive had DirecTV here in Phoenix for 6 years now (i dropped my cable company when they werent carrying Extra Innings) and have had very few issues at all. I think ive only briefly lost signal during our once a year super heavy rainfall and it was maybe 15 minutes at most. I had alot more issues with my digital cable (Cox Communications) pixelating and freezing up than I ever have had with Directv. Also, if you have issues with the service, they are generally pretty good about making it right and even sometimes have offered a comp movie or two, or bill credits.

[DuWayne Steurer]

I've had directv for 3 months, and have had a grand total of about 10 minutes worth of signal interruption during storms.

 

My reception with Charter was CRAP. CRAP.

 

CONSTANT pixelation, picture freeze, sync problems with audio/visual, etc, etc, etc.

 

Yeah, the satellite will blitz once in a while during a heavy storm. I'll deal with it. Cable sucks.

[Invader3K]

I've had directv for 3 months, and have had a grand total of about 10 minutes worth of signal interruption during storms.

 

My reception with Charter was CRAP. CRAP.

 

FWIW, we have had Charter for a long time in our household. At one point we were having issues similar to what you describe, especially on HD channels. I complained on an online forum, and one of their customer service reps PMed me, and set up a swap out of our HD/DVR box the very next day. No real issues since. Once in a very great while (I mean extremely rarely) I'll get a "the channel you selected will be available shortly", but that usually only lasts for a couple minutes at most.

 

I feel like Charter has stepped up their game a lot in the past couple years, probably due to increased competition from AT&T U-Verse.

[MJLiverock]

Rain fade and signal strength are a function of how well the dish is aimed, secured, and free from obstacles. This is why some people say they lose the signal all the time vs. others who rarely ever have issues. My dad had a problem during windy rainstorms, figured out a tree branch occasionally blew in front of his dish when the wind was strong enough and coming from the right direction, explaining why his raid fade seemed to easily occur at times and not at all in some major deluges. Most of my friends and family that have ever had signal problems have been pretty easy to fix once they realized the dish was loose, aimed slightly off or cleared some obstruction.

 

I've had DirecTV for over 10 years including HD almost since day 1 when there were only 5 HD channels, and have rarely experienced any sort of rain fade and on the rare occurrence it has usually only last for a minute or two. Overall I'd say maybe once or twice a year my signal is completely out for a few moments and I watch a lot of TV and record probably 40 hours of programming a week. My dish is mounted very securely with zero obstructions to the sky on the backside of my roof. My signals read 99% most of the time so even in severe wind and storms they only drop into the mid to upper 60's which doesn't induce rain fade. Very heavy sticky snow has been needed to clean off a few times.

 

I haven't had Charter for since about 2000 but I remember losing cable during a few storms then but then also for days when someone dug in the wrong spot, another time for days when a car accident took out some equipment in near my old apartment.

 

The biggest draws for me and DirecTV have been their

channel selection (quickly passed all the others in HD and they target sports fans so they have always been a leader in adding things like MLB Network, B10, etc. on top of the added channels for Golf and Tennis events and season pass subscriptions.) They have also had much less channel dropping over rates than DishNetwork. Versus was gone for awhile but I had to agree with DTV that NHL Hockey wasn't going to get paid like ESPN. They resolved FX before dropping the channel and I think WGN might have been off for a while as well but I never watched WGN so I didn't notice. Dish has had many spats and channel fights not to mention just have a lower overall channel selection unless you get their top package.

 

Their equipment has been better by far than anything Charter has ever offered and better than Dish Networks as well (although I haven't looked at Hopper). I was able to add on external Hard Drive's years ago with a simple cable to expand my recording capacity well beyond the typical 30 hrs. of HD space that was the standard years ago. (I bought 2 1TB hard drives so I never had to worry about running out of space and could just let whole seasons build up to watch over the summer or in marathons) They also moved to MPEG-4 encoding rather quicky. The whole home DVR is loved by my wife, who likes to watch TV in bed and can now watch content from any of the 4 DVR's in our house.

 

I had very good experience with their customer service, much better than anything I ever had with Charter. They've replaced a couple of DVR's that had hard drive failures for free, my bill is always correct, they've given me some freebies now and then. I also don't have unrealistic expectations like getting free channels whenever I ask, complain to them when something like my remote doesn't work or a cable is loose, etc.

 

I'll iterate again the key is making sure the dish is aimed to get the strongest possible signal, is secured tightly so it doesn't move and lose it, and is free from obstacles. If you do all this it doesn't matter much if at all about the type of receiver or dish and you shouldn't have much issue with signal loss. Don't let the installer leave if you think the signal is not as good as you can get, i.e. the installer dials it in to 65% on a nice clear day and calls it good enough, or the dish isn't secured as tight as it should be. The installers are usually independent contractors hired by DirecTV and paid by the type and number of jobs they do so they can get in a hurry but DirecTV started taking complaints pretty seriously after a lot of complaints surfaced during the boom of subscriber growth when HD really took off in 05 or so.

[RobDeer 45]

I loved Directv when I had it a few years ago. Since moving I've been with Time Warner and I really don't like it. I tried to get DTV two weeks ago but the complex I live in (apartments/town homes) won't allow me to put a dish in the front. Because of that I can not get a signal from the back! Man I was not happy.

 

I rarely had any issues with signal and like many have said, it would usually last for a min and then be fine.

 

I did have one day where my wife and I were watching a big Badger game and we were in the middle of a snow storm. All the sudden the signal goes out. I decide to put a latter up to the 2nd story roof, grab a broom, and go to the second to last step just to barely be able to brush the heavy snow off of it (I was fully extended). My wife had to hold the ladder so it did not slip from our deck. It was very hairy but worth the reward, the signal came back on! I had to do it once more during the game and then decided if it went out again it was not worth the risk. I lucked out because the snow started to let up. Good times.

[MJLiverock]

RobDeer you may want to check this out. I know of more than one person who has shown landlords and condo associations they can't just blanketly deny placement of satellite dishes.

 

http://www.fcc.gov/guides/installing-consumer-owned-antennas-and-satellite-dishes

 

intro

Background

 

In 1996, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted rules for Over-the-Air-Reception Devices (“OTARD” rules). The OTARD rules prohibit restrictions on a property owner or tenant’s right to install, maintain or use an antenna to receive video programming from direct broadcast satellites (DBS), broadband radio services (formerly referred to as multichannel multipoint distribution services or MMDS) and television broadcast stations (TVBS). However, there are exceptions to the OTARD rules, including provisions for safety and preservation of historic areas.

 

The FCC later amended the OTARD rules to apply to rental property where the renter has exclusive use of an area, and to customer-end antennas that receive and transmit fixed wireless signals.

[Blancofan1]

mtrebs--I actually live just outside of Point and can tell you that as long as you have a clear view of the southeastern sky where you can point the dish, you should have very few issues with DirecTv. We've had it here for about a year now and have maybe lost the signal 3 times for maybe 5-10 minutes each over that year. The big storm we had last summer was another story, but not much DirecTv could have done about that one.

 

I also have a HughesNet internet dish, and I lose my internet signal much more frequently during bad weather than the TV signal. I think it's a combination of the new receivers and better broadcast strength for DirecTv makes them much more reliable than they were in the past.

[paul253]

I just wanted to make a few more comments on Directv quick.

 

1) I got around to calling about my reception issues when it rains. They had me check signal strength and stuff then told me to call back when it was actually raining. So next time it rained I checked my signal strength and it was way down. So I called but of course by the time I got around to speaking to a human being it had stopped raining. So they ran some more tests and told me they could send somebody out to look at it. I was like "finally". Then they mentioned "oh yeah we're charging you $50 for that". I told them to forget it. I have already lived with the problem for a year. I'm not paying someone to come fix a problem that is clearly not my fault.

 

2) I called back another time and asked about adding another box to my house. I have two and wanted to add a third. Here's what they told me. On top of a $50 service fee, I have to pay an initial $99 fee for the actual box. Then I have to pay an additional $6 a month for the box, for a total of about $150 up front PLUS $6 a month. I told them I didn't understand why I had to pay $99 to "lease" the box. I said "isn't that what the $6 a month is for?" The answer I got was "that's standard across the industry. It's still cheaper than if you buy a box". And if that wasn't enough, just to add another box I had to sign a new two year contract. Are you kidding me?

 

3) I then called and inquired about whole home DVR. They told me that all they had to do was switch it on while I was on the phone with them and it would start right away. Great. Half an hour and three transfers later I finally got it to work. It worked for all of one week. After that I got some message saying I didn't have an audio/visual connection or something like that. So I called back. I had thought about trouble shooting again to get it fixed but since I didn't have half an hour to spare I decided just to cancel it. So basically my whole home DVR lasted about one show.

 

4) And apparently the "hold until I delete" function on the DVR actually means "Hold until you delete or until there are more than five episodes of your show, in which case I will just go ahead and start deleting them for you even though you didn't actually watch them yet". So much for watching Season 5 of Sons of Anarchy. By the time I realized my DVR had started deleting episodes that I had labeled "hold until I delete" the first three episodes were gone.

 

I was never a fan of Time Warner and I switched from ATT to Directv because I could save about $30 a month for the first year, but never in my life have I been less satisfied with a cable/satellite company. I know others haven't had the same issues as I have, but I would never ever ever recommend Directv to anyone.