> I agree about the cable modems, In the tiny percentage of America that has cable modem service, they are out pacing all of the competition except dial-up. Of all internet users 20% use cable modems. Satellite internet services have a lot of disadvantages. Competing in real world download speeds is not one of them. I’ve NEVER installed a satellite modem and found a download speed as slow as 500 kbs. My installs average 800+ kbs consistently. I did one last week that was downloading over 1000kbs. My cable modem on the other hand has NEVER exceeded 450 kbs download. Typically it averages 350 kbs or so and I have a dedicated RG11 line from the tap to the modem. Satellite modems are not for everyone. I like to game on occasion so I use a cable modem (not available until 2 years after the original date it was supposed to be offered in my area). However, in most of America if you want high speed internet, at least now you can get it. Remember, this is a service that is less than 2 years old. It will come of age in time. Dish is now offering a receiver with the modem built in. Get it all in one dish with no more add on LNB’s.
>
> Your questions about how the locals will work is a good one. I have no idea. Part of the merger deal was an offer by the satellite providers to provide locals to all areas if the deal is approved. They say with their combined spectrum and birds they can do it and do it on one dish. We’ll have to wait and see about that one.
>
> You have to remember, Dish and DirecTV carry mostly the same programming. When they are no longer duplicating all of their efforts a LOT of bandwidth will be freed up. Also, there’s no reason you would have to point at all of the satellites at once, unless you wanted 750 channels that is.
>
> I believe you have a good system. There are good systems out there. The questions in the end are going to be what can they do that satellites can’t or can they do it at a competitive price? Right now, to my knowledge, Dishes are lower than Digital Cable nation wide. Outside of modems, I don’t see why anyone would choose cable. With price reductions, Dishes may even one day overtake cable in the modem market. Not because they are better, but because you can get one almost anywhere.
>
>
> > Believe it or not, I have years of experience with dishes. Starting in 79, when a cable system i worked for put on the first satellite channels. Then in the mid 80's I installed and repaired c-band dishes as an extra income type thing, while working for a local cable company. Then in 91, I ran one of the first primestar operations for TCI in central MO. (when it was still an analog signal 10 channels). And around 96-97 I was doing sales and service on dish network dishes. All of these years, my day job was a cable tv job and all of the dish work i did was mostly rural areas outside of the cable system.
> >
> > So I do know where you're coming from with your dish sales pitch. I've been around to see the changes with the dishes, and cable. And you have to agree (as you watch that cable modem fly at the speed of light) that although you might get a slightly better picture on your little dish, cable has the affordable high speed modems, and dish don't. Your down speed is only 500 kbps at best, while we run ours at 700 for 39.99 a month. And your up speed...........well, we just won't even mention it.
> >
> > Let me ask you this. How do they plan to get all of the local channels on the dish? I'm not talking about the big citys (st.louis, chicago and new york) I'm talking about the small citys like jeff city, columbia, sedalia or springfield. Do they plan to uplink these channels to a satellite? If you count all of the tv stations in the country, that's a lot of bandwith to carry. Is that even possible?
> >
> > Here's another question for you. When dish and direct merge, how are you going to pick up the 2 echostar satellites and the direct tv satellite on the same dish?
> >
> > I do agree that some cable systems have left themselves wide open for you, but it's not going to happen here. We keep up with technology, and we serve our customers well.
> >
> >
> >
> > > Umm, offering local channels could hardly be described as creative. What will you be getting when all areas are being offered local channels by the satellite providers? The only reason they aren’t now are technological and that will be overcome if Dish and DirecTV merge. The scary thing is that in a lot of areas you could get satellite service with 3 boxes and have the locals with basic cable and STILL pay less than you would for 1 digital box!
> > >
> > > When I installed cable I rarely converted a current satellite user over to cable. Maybe 2% of my activation’s. Why would they? Quality? No. Price? No. Channels? No. Unless they did a poor install themselves or had a bad installer, there would be no reason to change back. The ones I did convert were all taking the cable company up on a free install first month free offer with a $200 buy back of the dish and up to $150 amnesty for back debts to the cable company. How long do you think a cable company can keep that up?
> > >
> > > As a satellite dish installer, at least HALF of my customers have cable still turned on when I show up to install their dish. I have only had one customer keep both cable and satellite to get the local channels. Not only that, but most of the rest had cable at one time and are now choosing satellite over cable.
> > >
> > > When I fire up a dish, people sit and stare in disbelief at the quality of the picture! I always ask “have you ever before had a picture that clear?” and never has a customer said yes, NEVER. Many of them are genuinely shocked that their TV that’s been static ridden for so many years could have such a sweet picture!
> > >
> > >
> > > > Well, I don't know about everybody else, but I'm not taking a beating. As a matter of fact, there's a big dish network operation right here in town. The only customers i've lost, is the non-paying ones that go to dish after they've been disconnected. Then once they find out that dish can turn them off without even notifying them, they usually come right back to cable. Then there are a couple, but they still have our basic pkg to get their local channels. So even if they o go to dish, we still get some of their money. That's why we survive, we're very creative. We didn't just turn this system on yesterday.
> > > >
> > > > > You hardly warrant a reply. Obviously you have nothing substantial to add to the discussion or you would have. The only ones taking a beating right now are the cable companies.
> > > > >
> > > > > > Onetec, seems like you are a man with limited knowledge. Save yourself a verbal beating. Be sure you know what you are talking about.
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > I hate to break it to you guys, but you can’t back any of that up. How is cable gonna crush dish’s? Quality? Nope, not even close. Price? HA! Service? We all know better than that. Smell the coffee, if cable keeps acting like it still has a monopoly, they will lose this battle
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > Your right about the cable vs. dish. A Good well maintained system will crush a dish company, But what hurts the cable companys is customer service! and thats what is hurting us,No customers no money! even after a rebuild they do nothing to make sure the customer has a great looking picture. you have to have good drops,good fittings, and a good conection all the way to the back of the TV. And without that, you don't have a good looking picture! At the price's there charging People want good service, And the bottom line is, Untill they do that, They are gona lose a lot of customers. hell you + me woulden't pay for a crappy picture either, And thats the fack! All they care about is numbers not the customer!
