direct tv vs timewarner

[DickR]

Originally Posted by BroadHopper

..... I would love to try satellite but the direction of the satellite is blocked by heavy trees. Direct TV came over once about a 20 years ago and pointed this out. Have technology improve since?

A few years ago, a neighbor had Direct TV come out to check for aiming angle and direction. They told him that if he took out a couple of trees from the big hill in back of his house they'd be able to connect him up. A week or so later, and with a lighter wallet, he had the installer back. They put up the dish, but finally told him there still were too many trees, and the signal just wasn't strong enough. They left with their dish.

A little while after that, he had Dish come. They point at different satellites, more in a southerly direction and, just as important, at a higher angle up from the horizon. That made all the difference.

There is a satellite aiming tool (http://www.dishpointer.com/) that lets you home in on your house on the image from space, put the crosshair on a location on your roof, select satellite from a list, and it will show you the direction and angle to it. Direct TV would have been an iffy attempt for me, but for Dish it would work. When I get fed up enough with TWC's TV service and cost, I may drop TV from the package, but keep cable for internet. I'd love competition. Armed with information, I perhaps could threaten TWC with pulling out in favor of Dish to get a lower rate. If they didn't, I could actually do the switch.