DTV - Are some Cable Co.'s trying to smack customers?

[Force Commander]

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local ... on_DC.html

[Big Media]

1-800-DIRECTV

[AmpedNow]

1-800-DIRECTV

Amen.

Again, if they wanted to do an all-digital conversion from the start, fine. But we've been hearing for the last year that cable subscribers would have no service interruptions, and no need for those converter boxes.

But now, with the digital deadline less than a month away, they're now saying, "Oh yeah, you didn't need to do anything... But yesterday, we decided to convert our system to all-digital. So now, if you don't have an HDTV, you will now need one of our converter boxes or your TV will forever go dark. Sorry about that... By the way, those boxes will be an extra 3-6 dollars per month."

Screw that. Screw them.

I'm all for converting all broadcast media, radio included, to all-digital in time. But these things need to be done in an orderly fashion.

[Ace Purple]

1-800-DIRECTV

DirecTV is wonderful. We dropped Comcast here at my house this past August for DirecTV and I haven't missed cable at all. Not once.

[Greg Goodfellow]

As noted earlier, my system won't be ready, according to last week's failed test. Since our system is in transition (from TWC to Windjammer), does that mean I go to Circuit City asap and pick up a converter box? Dumb question, I know, but Greg is more lost now than usual.

By the way, I am on Dish Network. If only we could kill off the cable beast once and for all, and allow such providers to offer locals in my area.

[genlock]

My cable provider (Suddenlink) told me yesterday, that the most recent
price increase was due to the broadcast stationscharging
them for the cost of the digital conversion mandated by law.
At some point, I will look into Directv and DSL.

[fearpeddler]

i split all my services up a couple years ago and later went back to cable net, the cable net for the price just kicks the crap out of dsl at the moment.... if verizon ever actually shows up with their supposed godlike 'fios' service i'd switch net providers in a heartbeat. when you compare prices between that internet service vs. the cable net, verizon actually wins.

[Big Media]

Directv and DSL.

No. This will only frustrate you more. Unless you have bandwidth capped with Suddenlink, you will not tolerate DSL very well. If Suddenlink doesn't offer broadband internet as a stand alone, I would stay with cable (shudder) for the internet service.

I am a Comcast subscriber... but only for cable internet.

[cgarison]

Directv and DSL.

No. This will only frustrate you more. Unless you have bandwidth capped with Suddenlink, you will not tolerate DSL very well. If Suddenlink doesn't offer broadband internet as a stand alone, I would stay with cable (shudder) for the internet service.

I am a Comcast subscriber... but only for cable internet.

By the time I pay for the Internet only package which comes to $65.00 with taxes in Philly plus another $75.00 for DirecTV, then I have not gained enough to justify punching another set of holes in my pad and running another coax back to the man cave.

In Philly (with all the old copper hanging from the poles) DSL is terribly slow and very unreliable. The last time I tried DSL in 2006, Verizon had to run all new copper to the apartment and it did not come close to fixing the issues. When I moved to my new place later that year, I just called Comcast eliminated all my reliability issues.

[genlock]

I will say that Suddenlink service is more reliable than my Verizon phone service.

Sad.

[fearpeddler]

i moved my phone over to suddenlink last summer, have had a bit of trouble from it, they do sell stand alone internet service too.

[Clay JD Walker]

When I bought the house in August, Time Warner wanted me to sign a two year contract to continue with the price I was paying...if I didn't, my bill was going to be right at $175/month for HD Cable, DVR, and Road Runner...no premium channels, and no digital phone. So, with that said, I took the Dish route, and after busting their balls during the sales pitch, I have what I had with TWC, plus all the movie channels (including Skinamax), NFL Sunday Ticket and the locals for right at $75/month...then I went to Northstate Communications, our little local telco (believe it or not, they still exist), and got a home phone I never use plus DSL lite (128) bundled at $35 for a year...never had a lick of trouble with either service providers...the DirectTV install guys were a bit lazy on the install part under the house, but all in all I've been quite satisfied...their DVR rocks, and TWC can just suck it for all I care.

[lastone]

.... if verizon ever actually shows up with their supposed godlike 'fios' service i'd switch net providers in a heartbeat. when you compare prices between that internet service vs. the cable net, verizon actually wins.

I wouldn't be so quick to jump to FIOS ! When FIOS is installed and enough of the installed areas population subcribe....they pull the wire ! They (Verizon) do not have to share the fiber and you are left with no choice but Verizon or cable, period. To me that is very disturbing. I like my land line.

[Big Media]

I like my land line.

Dude... The copper must go!

[AmpedNow]

I'm on Suddenlink 6mb internet now, after years with 3 mb Verizon DSL. I do notice the speed difference, and the overall connectivity is better than it was when Charter owned it.

The main reason I split is because Verizon pushes its landline service on you with DSL, and they charge you top dollar for DSL if that's all you want. My cell is my primary and I'm not paying for a phone connection that's just going to sit there.

Sure, Suddenlink pushes their bundle deals on you, too... But for what I'm paying for, I'm still coming out ahead with them.

I would love to have the FIOS option, though...

[Dr. Loomis]

I've been an RCN subscriber for a while now, and the 100% digital transition went pretty smoothly here. They mailed out one of those basic Motorola DCT-700 boxes with a "self-install kit" for the one analog set I have, and it doesn't cost anything extra per month. I don't mind the cable box requirement if it means more programming, and we're up to 75 HD channels since going all-digital. Should be over 100 by March.

The biggest complaints I've been hearing have to do with the fact that RCN is also encrypting all digital channels now, except for the SD locals and public access channels. So all the folks who have been using the QAM tuners in their digital sets are SOL.

[sportsvoice]

Time Warner is sending out junk mail claiming that I will not be able to receive TV with an antenna anymore.

Even if that was the case, no way would I go back to them. I wonder how many idiots think that this sort of stuff is true?