Moving and need Direct TV/Dish Network Info

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Hey everyone. The Bride and I are moving to a new to us cabin up in the North Georgia mountains as our final, retirement lodging. I plan on meeting my maker there.

We are going to have to use Direct TV, Dish Network or some other satellite service to get cable. I would not get it at all but the Bride is adamant we get something. We've always had cable and I'm not familiar with what I should look for. Can anyone offer some experiences with these services? Is any one any better than the other? Are there other alternatives to these two companies. Also, we are going to be stuck with DSL service for the internet. Any feedback on what to expect with DSL? Thanks in advance for any feedback.
 
Hey Sierra,

I work in the "industry" as they say and here is my reco.

First, shop on price. It sounds like you don't care if you have the fanciest, newest interface etc. If you a DVR and/or HD service, get the cheapest box that provides that. For example, do not get a Dish Hopper where you can get a 722 for HD/DVR. Not sure if Direct has a similar offering.

Secondly, they are similar in service in that they provide TV service, but **THE MOST IMPORTANT THING** is that you have a "good install". This means that you have an unobstructed line of sight to the satellites in the sky. Do not let your installer try to shoot signal between a couple trees, or some other weird thing. Hopefully, you can get line of sight from your roof or yard, without a tall post/pole.
If you are in a valley and can't see out, you will have service issues with either one, but might get ok signal.

One last detail, Dish and Direct have slightly different line of sight requirements - Dish is south and slightly west, whereas Direct is south and slightly east. This may be the key difference that makes one a better choice for your particular place.

Let me know if you have other questions or PM me.
 
DSL is fine for internet access. If you can get DSL you can't be too far in the mountains since you need to be within about 1/4 mile from a switch. I doubt you can get it, but could be wrong. I know people just a few miles out of town who cannot get DSL.
I have Dish Network and it is fine, but can go out for several minutes with storms.
 
Originally Posted By: TTK
DSL is fine for internet access. If you can get DSL you can't be too far in the mountains since you need to be within about 1/4 mile from a switch. I doubt you can get it, but could be wrong. I know people just a few miles out of town who cannot get DSL.
I have Dish Network and it is fine, but can go out for several minutes with storms.


I thought dsl distance was 18000-21000ft ?
 
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Originally Posted By: NYSteve
Hey Sierra,

I work in the "industry" as they say and here is my reco.

First, shop on price. It sounds like you don't care if you have the fanciest, newest interface etc. If you a DVR and/or HD service, get the cheapest box that provides that. For example, do not get a Dish Hopper where you can get a 722 for HD/DVR. Not sure if Direct has a similar offering.

Secondly, they are similar in service in that they provide TV service, but **THE MOST IMPORTANT THING** is that you have a "good install". This means that you have an unobstructed line of sight to the satellites in the sky. Do not let your installer try to shoot signal between a couple trees, or some other weird thing. Hopefully, you can get line of sight from your roof or yard, without a tall post/pole.
If you are in a valley and can't see out, you will have service issues with either one, but might get ok signal.

One last detail, Dish and Direct have slightly different line of sight requirements - Dish is south and slightly west, whereas Direct is south and slightly east. This may be the key difference that makes one a better choice for your particular place.

Let me know if you have other questions or PM me.


First of all, thanks every one for the info. NYSteve, not sure I understand about the hd boxes your referring to. Not sure what a hopper or 722 is. Can you tell me a little more? Also, I will definitely check out the line of sight requirements for the two services to see which one might be better for reception. I believe there is a dish from the prior owner still mounted on a pole on the property. For the life of me I couldn't tell you if it's Dish, Dierct TV, or some other offering, if it's even labeled. I never payed attention to which direction it was pointing when we were looking at the property.

As to the DSL, The only provider in the area is Windstream. I called them to find out if they offered cable in the area and they don't. They just "partner" with some of the satellite providers on billing. But they did say that we would be able to get DSL service from them since it appears our nearest neighbor has it and we have a serving terminal on our property line. I'm just not familiar with DSL and wonder how it compares to the cable provided internet we've had. How reliable is it? Will I be able to tell a big difference between the two?
 
DSL is reliable as the phone lines it travels over. Also the distance from the central switching makes the difference in speed/connectivity. If closer it works much better.
 
DSL is reliable, but probably not fast enough to be streaming movies over it. It's a better choice than satellite internet - probably around the same speed, more reliable and less $$$. Satellite internet really is for people that have no other options.

How many TVs are you hooking up?
 
If the Mrs. is stuck on cable, then so be it. Another option is an antenna to receive off-the-air signals from broadcast towers, particularly since you'll be up on a mountain and maybe line-of-sight to several towers.

Re: DSL. It's all I've ever used. Mine's not the fastest (6Mb/sec down?), but fast enough to stream movies and it's cheap at $20/mo. Very reliable.

Congrats on retirement and mountain-living!
 
Originally Posted By: dishdude
DSL is reliable, but probably not fast enough to be streaming movies over it. It's a better choice than satellite internet - probably around the same speed, more reliable and less $$$. Satellite internet really is for people that have no other options.

How many TVs are you hooking up?


Me and the Bride are going a few rounds over this right now. My vote is for zero TV's hooked up to cable, she says three. Will probably compromise (read that as I lose) on two. Besides some football during the season, the only thing I might watch is Netflix movies we pay $8 a month for. I'm hoping DSL can at least handle that. If not, then my tv watching will be cut to almost nothing.
 
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Originally Posted By: Sierra048
Originally Posted By: dishdude
DSL is reliable, but probably not fast enough to be streaming movies over it. It's a better choice than satellite internet - probably around the same speed, more reliable and less $$$. Satellite internet really is for people that have no other options.

How many TVs are you hooking up?


Me and the Bride are going a few rounds over this right now. My vote is for zero TV's hooked up to cable, she says three. Will probably compromise (read that as I lose) on two. Besides some football during the season, the only thing I might watch is Netflix movies we pay $8 a month for. I'm hoping DSL can at least handle that. If not, then my tv watching will be cut to almost nothing.


In that case you might want to check out the 722 from Dish as mentioned above. It's a single box DVR that will allow you to watch two different channels at the same time on two different TVs. You can also split the second output to a third TV - but they'll be watching the same channel (doesn't sound like it will be an issue). One caveat - the second and third TV will be standard def.
 
I could go for this but my wife is conditioned now for HD. Would the second TV signal be digital? Reason I ask, right now we have our main TV with HD, but the other two TV's in the house currently are digital capable. Hooked up straight to the cable feed, we can watch regular/standard TV which is a little fuzzy or we can go up one on the dial which stays the same channel but comes in much clearer on digital. Hope I explained that clearly. If this was the case, I would consider that option. When you say Dish, does that mean any satellite offering? Thanks.
 
Originally Posted By: Sierra048
I'm hoping DSL can at least handle that.


Here's the party line from Netflix:

https://help.netflix.com/en/node/306

In my experience, 3 Mb/s down isn't quite enough. It may work for ONE thing at a time, but as soon as you try to use your tablet or computer while you're streaming something on TV, something's going to drop. Most likely, you just won't be able to get on the internet with anything else.

With where I live, we had a 3 Mb/s tier and above that, it jumps to 15 Mb/s (and then more above that, too). When we first canceled our cable video service and went to just broadband connection, we tried the 3 Mb/s tier and after about two days, I called back and asked to be switched back to the 15 Mb/s tier that we had before -- 3 Mb/s just wasn't cutting it.

I said all that to suggest that you contact Windstream and ask them what their nominal connection speeds are. Best case, you can find a Windstream customer in the area and have them check the connection speed at a site like speedtest.net.
 
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Originally Posted By: Sierra048
I'm hoping DSL can at least handle that.


Here's the party line from Netflix:

https://help.netflix.com/en/node/306

In my experience, 3 Mb/s down isn't quite enough. It may work for ONE thing at a time, but as soon as you try to use your tablet or computer while you're streaming something on TV, something's going to drop. Most likely, you just won't be able to get on the internet with anything else.

With where I live, we had a 3 Mb/s tier and above that, it jumps to 15 Mb/s (and then more above that, too). When we first canceled our cable video service and went to just broadband connection, we tried the 3 Mb/s tier and after about two days, I called back and asked to be switched back to the 15 Mb/s tier that we had before -- 3 Mb/s just wasn't cutting it.

I said all that to suggest that you contact Windstream and ask them what their nominal connection speeds are. Best case, you can find a Windstream customer in the area and have them check the connection speed at a site like speedtest.net.


We close on the 8th of June. I'll make it a point to go and meet my nearest neighbor and ask them what they do for internet service. My guess right now is Windstream. Honestly, I can do without Netflix. As long as we can continue to shop, pay bills, bank, etc... I'll be fine. If DSL can accomplish this for us, we'll be OK as far as the internet goes.
 
Originally Posted By: Sierra048
I could go for this but my wife is conditioned now for HD. Would the second TV signal be digital? Reason I ask, right now we have our main TV with HD, but the other two TV's in the house currently are digital capable. Hooked up straight to the cable feed, we can watch regular/standard TV which is a little fuzzy or we can go up one on the dial which stays the same channel but comes in much clearer on digital. Hope I explained that clearly. If this was the case, I would consider that option. When you say Dish, does that mean any satellite offering? Thanks.


When I say Dish I am referring to Dish Network. The SD on the second TV will be very close to a good analog station on cable. Of course the more equipment you add on the higher the monthly rate goes...so if you want HD on all TVs you'll pay for it.
 
Originally Posted By: Sierra048
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First of all, thanks every one for the info. NYSteve, not sure I understand about the hd boxes your referring to. Not sure what a hopper or 722 is. Can you tell me a little more? Also, I will definitely check out the line of sight requirements for the two services to see which one might be better for reception. I believe there is a dish from the prior owner still mounted on a pole on the property. For the life of me I couldn't tell you if it's Dish, Dierct TV, or some other offering, if it's even labeled. I never payed attention to which direction it was pointing when we were looking at the property.


Sierra,
The Hopper and the 722 are two of Dish's boxes. The Hopper is the internet connected one that also has Netflix embedded and a bunch of other slick looking features. There is an extra charge for getting the Hopper. The 722 is the regular HD/DVR box. It works well, just not connected or as slick of an interface as the hopper.
 
Originally Posted By: GrtArtiste
Windstream has a very BAD reputation in much of the South, especially in GA. Spend an hour reading the posts at

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/isp-1596-Windstream

and you'll see what I mean. Good luck...you'll need it.

GrtArtiste


I have no choice for our internet. I'm not going to pay a company on a per usage basis like an over the air type service.. So Windstream, with it's wire distribution lines in our area, is the only game in town for us. Thanks for the info.
 
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