MediaCom to Dish Network switch?

Due to the state of the economy, I've been trying to cut back. I think many of us are. I spend somewhere around $150/mo for digital cable and 5MB internet, plus about $30 a month on home phone. I've had great service and support with cable (MediaCom and Comcast). I only have latency issues when its subzero. Digital cable almost never goes out, maybe 2-3 times a year. My experience with DSL about two years ago, was less than grand. I'd drop signal constantly, have to reset the obviously refurbished modem, just to have it go out again minutes later. A new modem didn't resolve this issue. Calls to Qwest seemed futile. DSL isn't my cup o' tea, but hey, if I can save some money...I just hope its more reliable these days.

My local phone service has contacted me and would like to bundle. It's much like the "Bundle with Qwest" options on TV. However, I've come to find that Embarq is merely a reseller of the Dish service...same with Qwest. That would be red flag number one.

Red flag number two would be the amount of negative reviews and complaints about Dish Network. I mean, man, it's just horrible. It's like every site that takes reviews is 85-90% negative. In fact, if you can find employee reviews, it gets even worse. The BBB reports something like 300 new complaints a month with Dish. Not exactly a pristine statistic.

But, I'm trying to avoid hype here. Hence my post on what seems to be one of the most level headed forums on the net. I want to gain an honest opinion of how Dish really is, not just how some disgruntled dude hates them. Nor do I wish to read about some 18 year old's idea of how making $9.50 an hour "plane sucks". And yes, he misspelled "plain". I suppose that would be red flag number three.

Again, this is an effort to save money. Most people seem to have some kind of ridiculous fee or repair charge when using Dish. They simply WILL NOT deal with you, even as a new customer, until they get your credit information. I'm not entirely comfortable with that, either.

I'd save somewhere around $40-$50/mo switching from cable. Do you think its worth it?

I've had digital cable for about 4 years now, since it was cheaper to switch to that for us (triple play package, we already had the internet and VoIP). Before then I had Dish Network for probably almost 8 years or so, and before that we had DSS (bought by DirectTV a looong time ago). I don't know what it's like now, but I absolutely loved Dish Network when we had it. The channel selection (America's top 150 I think was what the package was called at the time) was perfect. Also, they had PVR before the cable companies starting using DVR. The best was that it had a 30 second skip button, which I think has since been removed for the same reason cable / TiVo does have that, pressure from the advertisers not wanting you to straight up jump their ads.

Also the boxes looked much nicer. The HD receiver we had was silver with a black glossy panel in the middle, and fit right in with home theatre equiptment. The cable boxes I have look tacky (stupid card sticks out the front) and generic.

So overall, I loved Dish Network, and the switch to cable really bothered me for a long time. Up until probably a year ago I could tell you all the channel numbers for Dish. I still haven't learned the channel numbers for my cable.

but like I said, they might have changed since I switched, but up until then, I thought they were fantastic.

Downtime only happened in really bad storms. Usually, the image would start to have a digital tearing, some stuttering, and then sometimes it would cut out entirely. But that never really bothered me. Just forced me to get up and do something constructive till the storm passed.

Thanks for all that, drumz!

1) It does seems that the positive reviews are rather aged or from people that had Dish years ago. It looks like their customer service has moved to call centers overseas (developing countries) and a few select places in the US. Apparently, it's even hard to find a rep that speaks clear english these days.

2) Our cable boxes look great. It's too bad that yours has a silly card in the front. Plus, you have to leave it exposed to use the remote, lol.

3) I suppose it wouldn't be so bad to find something to do besides sit in front of the tube.

Did you have to sign a contract? That's where the words "scam artist" and "Dish network" seem to be synonymous. They're offering this free equipment and install, which comes in the form of rebates. A lot of the complaints are coming from people not receiving them. They see a big install charge on their bill, call about it, and get passed back and forth from Dish employees to their reseller and back again...and again, and again. After they wish to end their service, they get charged the full amount of the equipment and install, as well as the time they did have it. Again, this is money they just take from your credit/debit account. One fellow explicitly told them repeatedly that he didn't want a contract. They put him on it anyway, but couldn't provide proof that he had signed anything. Dish still has that poor guys money. Reported common losses are in the $300 range. Ouch!

I've really been thinking it over. I suppose the best option might be to pay for Dish install. Try and make sure that I'm not entered into a contract, and then move back to cable after the six months. Then I could take advantage of the new customer rates on a cable bundle. I dunno, hopefully I get some more feedback. Thanks again, man.

Had a dish years ago and like other have said...it goes out a lot hated it.
One way i get around high cable bills is by switching names every now and then
From my name to my wifes name (we've been together for 27 year and never married)...I've even used my moms name.

I remember the first time we switched it..we had just bought our house and the wife had already set it up for the move from our rental...when I called I asked to have it set up...she told me "sir it's already set to be changed to that address"...I said I know but if I'm a new customer I get free installation and 6 month @ half price...is there a prob with that...there was dead silence for about 30 seconds...but I got it