DirecTV Now Review: Cord-Cutting Catastrophe

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Sorry being the kill-joy, in the U.S., telecomm carriers have no incentive to be "better." More service for less money? meeew, I wager they just do enough to entice you to try and maybe you like it just enough to keep it. There are no real competition, telecomm carriers are like the airlines, they just have to do not much worse than competitors to stay in business because you can't walk 500 miles.
 

Harry_72

Commendable
Dec 6, 2016
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1,510
I fell for it and bought the 3 month Apple TV promo. And keeo my VUE and went fron Ultra to Core so I can get the Viacom channels and NHL and MLB Networks. What a mistake! You can't even reach customer service! Only on chat! And that has been busy 24/7! So I had to go through my bank to cancel the charge. I should have known better to trust AT&T on this. They over promise and suck you in and don't let go! Keeping VUE all the way until Hulu and YouTube Unplugged have in store
 

Ken_72

Commendable
Dec 6, 2016
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I bought the Direct TV Now $35 package on 11/30/2016 and opted to receive the free Apple TV. Notified yesterday that Fedex is delivering it on 12/7/2016. There were a few bugs initially but I find the service to be ok and would buy it again. Give Direct TV Now a break and stop whining about every little itsey thing. I like Direct TV Now and strongly recommend it. Be thankful for a forward looking company.
 

Marc_43

Commendable
Dec 6, 2016
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It's been great for me - the promotional 100 channel package for 35.00 is a far better value than anything currently out there. I actually bought the package because I had to buy a new Apple TV, so basically you pay $105.00 for the Apple TV (instead of 150 plus tax) and you get 3 months free service to try out. No brainer if you are in the market for an Apple TV obviously.
 

jhill101985

Commendable
Dec 6, 2016
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Folks who buy into "Directv Now" now aren't doing it for today. We understand we will have to endure the growing pains. I specifically got in now while the service is only 35 bucks. I expect over the next two years, the service will have matured significantly. The best thing about it is that if it hasn't matured to my level of expectancy, i can just cancel my subscription at the drop of hat without any associated fees. Its literally the best thing available for me today. The best part about it all is I haven't even experienced the widespread issues mentioned in this article so its a win.
 

rood17

Commendable
Dec 7, 2016
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1,510
I ordered this the day it was available and started watching it on my ipad. I have had no problems with the DirectTv Now service. There were a few glitches on opening day but everything has worked fine since. I like how it displays the guide on my ipad and I can search for something else to watch while I am watching a show. A good line up of channels for the price and I can watch my favorite networks on the go. I am sure that the service may be lacking for people that have had HD boxes and DVR boxes but for those of us who previously only had cable with Time Warner using only the cable and not a box with no HD channels or DVR, this is a good service. Just make sure you have the internet capabilities to support it, including a good modem and fast wifi router.
 

Power_to_the_People

Commendable
Dec 7, 2016
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1,510
I completely agree with this review. I think it's accurate and right on. I also jumped the gun and will be keeping Vue even though I prepaid for DirecTv Now. Actually now that Sling is testing DVR on Roku I may go back to that them. Sling seemed to improve every few months adding more and more channels without adding cost, and more and features. Considering how bare-bones it was when it first launched I assume the DirecTv Now will also make major improvements. Their On-Demand is absolute trash right now. Sling didn't have DVR but at least it offered almost everything on-demand so that made up for it. Vue of course lets you access just about everything which is awesome.
DirecTv now is just too raw, buddy, inconsistent, needing to fix a lot of these issues. They should also allow "tv everywhere" logins. I don't understand how their on-demand content is so terrible (unless they are building their library or something) because regular DirecTv is much better.
 

cmarcoux

Commendable
Dec 7, 2016
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What would be useful would be reviews of streaming interfaces on different platforms. As a Roku user, my experience with PS Vue has been entirely with their brutally bad Roku app. I recently saw it on Fire TV, and it actually seemed quite nice. As a consumer, it would be useful to know these things in advance. As it is, I only discovered it because I canceled Vue, signed up for DTV Now, got a Fire TV, and decided to see Vue on Fire TV for kicks.

If I had known the trick to enjoying Vue was to use it on something other than Roku, I wouldn't have canceled. I may go back after my DTV trial. Or I may decide that I like having Viacom channels and stick it out w/ DTV Now.
 

Joseph_143

Commendable
Dec 7, 2016
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I don't think this person is giving an accurate or fair account of the service. The claim that there is no on demand from ABC is not true, as Designated Survivor and Speechless are both offered (that's just off the top of my head) AND you can unlock the ABC app to access all their shows that way.
 

UberStCrew

Commendable
Dec 9, 2016
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1,510
"On a home Wi-Fi network that averaged 15 Mbps"

While technically this should be more than enough for quality streaming video, I would have some doubts that a Wi-Fi network with that low amount of bandwidth would be consistent enough for streaming video especially if other devices are utilizing the same network. What type of Wi-Fi router are you using. Have you tried Sling TV , PS Vue and other services on the same network? Do those services have similar issues?

While Wi-Fi is the most convenient way to connect streaming devices it is not the most reliable way. Sometimes people put the blame on the service instead of considering that their own setup may be to blame. Not saying that DirecTv Now hasn't been buggy but just consider that there are other issues that factor into this as well.
 

IdleWanderlust

Commendable
Dec 18, 2016
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1,510
I haven't tried VUE, but Sling SUCKS. There is no nice way to say it. If you think it's better than DirecTV NOW can I have some of the drugs you're on? DirecTV NOW isn't perfect not by a long shot, but it's worlds ahead of Sling, I wasn't even able to get past the free 7 days with sling since half the time the channels wouldn't load, when they did they would buffer constantly and if I made it to the end of the show I would have to keep hitting play for every episode. The worst part of Sling was it would keep playing 10 seconds of a show on a loop over and over and that's all it would do most of the time.

DirecTV NOW is new and will have bugs, but Sling has been out for years and is still awful.
 

MEMcGovern

Commendable
Dec 19, 2016
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1,510
I'm looking at this as I bought a discounted Apple TV (that I wanted anyway) and get to try out their service for 3 months. No harm, no foul. I do hope they work out the bugs before my prepaid usage is over though.
 

IdleWanderlust

Commendable
Dec 18, 2016
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1,510


I agree with you. Saved 44 bucks on something I wanted anyway and get free tv for 3mo. Done and Done.
 

Chris_366

Commendable
Jan 8, 2017
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1,510
Direct tv now sucks, I did the one month and got a fire stick free. Now that the month has ended I have cancelled and went back to sling. Just like the person in this article said, it has buggy issues. I have gig byte internet speed and all my direct tv now did was buffer, and it got worse when I changed the channels from the guide or in general. Every time I changed the channels I got a channel whose sound was off it sounded like chipmunks on speed, and the channel's program was speed up, to where you couldn't understand it, or when you looked at it it was as if you were fast forwarding a program with the sound on. Also I couldn't get it to work right on my computer as well. Now with that being said they have an awesome channel line up, plus they are the only streaming service that offers elrey, and chiller channels in their top package, the other providers offer either elrey or chiller and not both. If direct tv ever gets their bugs out I might come back for that factor, but just for the fact of losing out on one channel to deal with technical issues, and never being able to watch tv for a service you pay, is not worth it. I recommend staying away from direct tv now, you will see several complaints on them in Facebook forums, and all over the web. I think they should of took their time and fixed these issues before ever launching. I will also say one other thing is that Direct tv now doesn't have a help service, their chat service never works, I waited a half hour on a chat line to reach someone to only get an error message after that timeframe, that says that the only way to communicate is through the direct tv now forum, which they also never answer. Also if you call direct tv, the representatives their act like they don't know what you are talking about, and what direct tv now is, but they try to sell you direct tv equipment and programming through direct tv, so you don't get any customer service at all. I feel sorry for the people that paid three months to get an apple tv, yeah they got an apple tv, but they don't have a tv provider to watch it on that doesn't buffer or have sound issues, they could of bought the device cheaper somewhere else, and then had vue, or sling. Trust me direct tv is not worth the free device, while i do like my fire stick, and am enjoying it as well , between my roku, and fire tv, I am happy with sling for now. I am interested to see hulu's deal when they come out though. hopefully they won't have bugs like direct tv now, but from what I heard they are taking their time to get everything right on launch day, so we will see about hulu than.
 

Gary_100

Commendable
Jan 23, 2017
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1,510
The service will improve in time. Those customers who got in on the $35 Go Big promo will stand to beneift from improved service and solid channel selection at the $35 promo price.
 

Craigslist_1

Prominent
Feb 10, 2017
1
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510
I have to install and uninstall the Direct Tv Now app serveral times a day. You can't change channels with uninstalling the app, freezes and buffering constantly. This is ridiculous? My case has been escalated 3 times in 3 weeks and it's not any better at all. If you read the reviews on Direct TV Now website, many many others are having the same issue. I wish I would not of left PlayStation Vue. No issues at all. Direct TV Now please get tech support, real live tech support and fix these issues.
 

sputtering

Honorable
Aug 4, 2013
1
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10,510
Works fine on my amazon fire stick, but as of today the guide is broken on the apple tv. Can't access a lot of channels through the guide, it refuses to scroll at some points. Tried unplugging, checking for updates, but still doesn't properly work.

There have also been Error 40 issues, but I think that can be avoided by closing the app when it's not in use.
 
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