For Dopers who’ve had both, what were the pros/cons of each. I’ve lived with a roomie who’s had both, and once I get my own place (around 1st of Year) I need to pick.
IMHO
DirectTV:
+DVR worked great
+Superior on screen channel guide
+Fast channel changing
+Better price than cable
-Picture loss in heavy rain/snow
-Couldn’t get a signal if trees were in the way
-Loss of channels during DirectTV contract negotiations with networks
Comcast:
+Super reliable reception
+Massive channel & On Demand listing
-Expensive
-Confusing channel guide (standard def & hi-def channel not next to eachother, some hi-def channels are in the 200s, others in the 800s)
-channel changing not instantaneous
-sometimes glitchy DVR performance
Have Comcast now and like the reliability of it but would probably have DirectTV if neighbors trees weren’t in the way.
We’ve had much better service with Comcast. Also, since we have the cable, internet and phone bundled, the cost is significantly cheaper than the previous cost of DirecTV, cable internet and SBC phone. More channels than we had with DirecTV.
Honestly, I was a hold out because I assumed I’d have some terrible Comcast experience but I’ve been pleasantly surprised to have been wrong.
Our neighbors have DirecTV; we have Comcast.
I’d generally agree with Hampshire’s list; one more “minus” I’d add to DirecTV is the lack of local weather information on The Weather Channel, and the lack of EAS cut-ins (tornado warnings, etc.), which Comcast drops in on every channel.
They both suck. Comcast is expensive as hell, and DirecTV is almost as expensive. It was cheaper when I first got it several years ago, but it kept going up. I will say I didn’t have any problem with DirecTV losing signal though, even when it was stormy. I hear some people say that’s a problem. The only reason I had Comcast after DirecTV (because I also had it before and didn’t like it then either) was because I moved to an apartment that was facing north and that doesn’t work.
Now I just have a Roku and activate my Hulu and/or Netflix subscriptions when I feel like watching something, and I am very happy with them.
But between DirecTV and Comcast, IMO DirecTV is better. Other than price, they’re both fine, but I know I think Comcast customer service is bad, I just don’t remember why I think that. Oh, one thing was they charged for installation and never mentioned that until they showed up to do it. I should have asked, but still. I’ve heard lots of bad stuff about their customer service though. DirecTV’s has always been good to me.
One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that people seem to have wildly different experiences with Comcast; they don’t seem very consistent in service quality from region to region. I’ve been satisfied with them for years; but I’ve heard plenty of other people tell horror stories about their own experience.
Directv has a better sports package.
I switched from Comcast to DirecTV about five years ago, and am much happier. DirecTV is slightly cheaper and has better sports channels - I just saw an ad that said NFL Sunday Ticket is now included at no extra charge. Also, the DVR software was much, much better than Comcast’s – although CC has hopefully upgraded this since I dropped them.
The main reason we dropped Comcast was because of how awful the internet connection was; and once we unbundled internet the whole thing became outrageously priced. We’re much happier with DTV and DSL internet through our phone company.