Re: DirecTV Experience - my COX
See what you started, Buster? :laugh:
I should rephrase that and say at the time we didn't care much for our COX.
Now I am using my COX for internet access and get basic TV service for the same price. The ISP thing has been pretty good. They have "decertified" my modem once and though I was given 90 days to replace it, strangely the modem "failed" to connect to them the very next Saturday morning. I rolled over for my COX and bought a "recommended" modem from their store. Of course the customer service rep tried to charge me 250% of the advertised price until I showed him my COX e-mail. All is OK now for a couple years though I do get asked "why is the TV different in the other bedrooms?" once in a while.
I still have DirecTV, my COX and local PSTN service. Yeah I could bundle and probably save a bunch. As a comm type I understand that when you have all your eggs in one basket, if the basket breaks all the eggs get broken.
There is something comforting to an older person like myself to have a telephone that doesn't require AC power that works connected to two copper wires that are connected to a device that has the potential to work for quite some time off of a DC battery system. I do occasionally have to retrieve the non AC powered telephone device from a shelf in the garage or the trash can.
Back on subject. DirecTV - if it is your only option or you like it, go for it.
As far as installers go, most are contractors and use the SAT receiver to position the antenna. Most will NOT do anything with the wiring except drape it along the outside of the house and drill or use a punch to make a big sloppy hole through the wall. My experience comes from when I used a free upgrade to a digital receiver and four LNB dish. The coax wiring was in place and all they had to do was install the new receiver; the new dish and aim the dish. They did that. When I asked about installing additional coax for the additional LBAs they said no. Some on this board may say that was my fault because my foreign language skills are lacking. I decided that I did not want to offer them a side job running coax through the walls. They showed up in an unmarked SUV, no DirecTV IDs of any kind but had the receiver and dish. I called DirecTV and they said, yeah, they are our installers.
Your experience may vary.