Why I Finally Cut the Cord and Subscribed to DirecTV Now

[caitlinmcgarry]

DirecTV Now is a lot cheaper than cable, and I got a free Apple TV in the deal, but there are also some kinks to be worked out.

Why I Finally Cut the Cord and Subscribed to DirecTV Now : Read more

 

[tdtme2]

I just cut the cord a few days ago, DirecTV is gone! That company is already bad but now the AT&T owns them it's going to get even worse. AT&T has got to be the worst customer service that I have ever seen. I have a brand new smart TV it's actually very beautiful from Samsung and it does everything that I wanted to do. All we had to do was up to speed on our internet and we rarely have any problem and we live out in the Sticks. I mean that is great now and I like it but if you're not paying attention you you could actually start paying as much or more than what you were paying the cable companies. So if you do it smart and watch your ass and don't let anybody have your credit card number I think it will be great.

 

[minnion]

Thinking your server error issue may still be with the Apple TV. I got the Fire TV 4K when I signed up and even on my 40 meg CenturyLink DSL I've never seen that issue.

 

[brer.rabbit]

Playstation Vue has been very good, but have had recent problems due to switching isp's that I have to many devices. Only fix seems to be close your account and start a new one.

Tried Hulu TV for about 4 hours, hated it. Really poor interface, inability to add season to dvr, and major audio lip synch problems. (not sure if that is limited to 4k fire tv or not)

 

[rodgman]

I thought about cutting the cord, but after looking into the pros and cons of the different streaming services currently available I ended up calling my cable company (Frontier) and getting them to lower my monthly bill to about $150. My package includes HBO, Showtime, and Cinemax and internet at 50 mbs, which is more than enough speed to stream 4K content. Also includes the DVR media center (and a small box for my bedroom TV) which is far better than any cloud based DVR currently available through a streaming provider. Yes, I agreed to a two-year contract, but who cares. I wanted the contract to lock in my pricing. I can break the contract for only $100 if necessary. So in my situation I didn't see the advantage of switching to a streaming service. You may save a little money, but you're giving up a lot in return. Maybe at some point down the road streaming will be the way to go, but not yet ... all things considered.

 

[bromano814]

Maybe your service errors are getting fewer but mine aren't! DIRECT TV NOW buffering is horrible! It's not my Internet service or the hardware.... it's DTVN..... they have not been investing in their system because they knew AT&T was going to buy them out. And I doubt that AT&T will invest in it either.... they will buy a cable company and dissolve DTVN as soon as they can!

This industry is owned by the major cable providers and that will never change. We may think we are "cord cutters" but the truth is...we're just all suckers.

 

[markbauer4895]

I dropped Comcast and opted for Direct Now with the Roku. I also got Comcast internet and for $65 month with 12 month contract got the basic TV service with cloud DVR. We have watched almost zero TV since we cut the cord. Direct Now works but the Comcast interface is actually easier to use so we watch PBS on the Comcast feed. I chose Direct Now for the ESPN stations strictly to watch F1. However, the F1 coverage on ESPN sucks so bad I'm going to pay for the F1 channel and purchase a separate home DVR to record this streaming channel. Next, I'm likely to stop with the Direct Now and just settle for the basic Comcast channels.

 

[jdcampbell]

Try YouTube TV. You will not only be able to Pause live tv but also timeshift (rewind it & fforward back to live), it has a great DVR system, a Last 4 channels feature, & they are consistently adding improvements. Recently, they added the ability to customize your own guide & arrange channels however you want to on your guide. They will likely add more & more channels but most of all, it is much more reliable than Dtvnow.

 

[mozartsghost]

Tom,

I tried wiring my AppleTV 4K to my router with a 10gps rated CAT7 cable and it was running at 100mbps. Wirelessly the AC WLAN connection streams at 280-350mbps (I have gigabit internet). I seriously suggest that, contrary to intuiton, you unplug your AppleTV 4k from your router and move it a little bit away from your router, like to the other side of your TV.

Cheers.

 

[rickhal]

We are pretty much fed up with Comcast's incessant increases in monthly fees. I do have a Samsung Smart TV as well as Amazon Fire TV and a subscription to Netflix' 4k service (which at this point doesn't seem to present very much 4k content). I am somewhat satisfied with what Amazon and Netflix offer. I have a good internet connection (Comcast home Inet) and also a Wi-Fi booster upstairs which helps with the frequent buffering or stoppages I was experiencing when watching 4k content. We would love to drop Comcast's cable and switch to a streaming service. But, it is tough to evaluate which one will work for us. We are being charged over $200 per month for Cable and Internet service. Now, we do have a analog cable box in our kitchen. Hooked up to a small, wall mounted TV. Comcast wants us to send that box back and get a set top box that is much bigger than the, small analog converter (about 2" by 3"). Which would mean having to put up a shelf to hold this much bigger box. And we would save $12.00 per month. Also, I have been noticing a very irritating, digital type "noise" while watching Amazon or Netflix recently. Not sure as of yet where this noise is originating from. Wi-Fi interference from a neighbor's Wi-Fi? Doesn't seem likely. And it is intermittent. I suspect it is coming from the source. Either Amazon's stream or Netflix's stream. Either way, customer service for either will not be of very much use. As their solutions almost always seem to involve resetting the Fire TV back to factory settings and then having to do the initial setup of the box all over again. Only to find that the problem still exists. Many of these corporations want to skimp on customer service. Outsourcing it to India. Where the CS agents read from scripts and have very little technical knowledge or none at all. So, that is a frustrating exercise at best. But, I will investigate further as to what streaming service would work for us over what Comcast's cable is providing.