we use comcast for high speed internet because we are at the far limit for dsl and it was just too darn slow, especially with two of us (at the time, just me now) pursuing degrees and graduate degrees online. We have DirecTv for our entertainment provider though. Occasionally we have an interruption from really hard rain, but it generally doesn’t last long. With the satellite, even if you do have an interruption, you can still watch what you have TiVo’d and, IIRC you can still watch the local channels (even without an antenna). I remember switching from PBS Kids Sprout to the local PBS station so the Little Guy wouldn’t miss his shows.

I currently use Cox, partially due to location, but primarily because I intensely dislike Comcast – too many billing issues, too many internet issues, too many issues in general.

My father uses satellite for everything (internet, television, possibly even phone these days… not sure), and constantly makes jokes about how it cuts out when there is a single cloud in the sky. Given he lives in Washington, this can be something of a problem. Granted, he is probably joking, but a good bit of rain, or, God forbid, snow, will send a dish down for the count.

Do not switch to Comcast! I repeat: DO NOT SWITCH TO COMCAST. Their service is alright when it works, but eventually you will have a problem (“eventually” probably isn’t very long), and when you do you will have to deal with their customer service, which is often quoted as being between the worst and the third worst in the country. I just spent an ENTIRE DAY this week trying to get a cable box working, when I KNEW exactly what the problem was and what needed to be done to fix it. A quick serach on my website brings up at least 14 articles complaining about Comcast.

If you get a dish properly and firmly installed, you shouldn’t have a problem with reception (i.e. if it’s not in a bucket of cement or held down with bricks, as is sometimes the case, and unfortunately easier said than done — if you have any engineer friends, bug them, instead of using the company’s installer). In any case, guess what. Cable goes out often enough when it rains, too. In my case, more often. The only time I had an issue with my dish was when it was physically covered in snow — and then you just have to go out with a broom.

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everybody says comcast sux

Man…your area sucks! Tornadoes, storms, Comcast. Yikes. Good luck. Um, remember “rabbit ears”? Could be an option

There’s a reason that Kansas has a reputation for being backwards.

Flap has Time Warner Cable and they are OK.

Last week they disconnected my service while I was in Las Vegas because they audited the system and thought I was stealing their service.

Ha – the wife and I have 3 DVR, premium High Def TV and high speed cable internet.

Yeah for what we are paying it is a real steal – NOT.

Direct TV may be better for television because of the potential for more High Def channels but DSL is speed crippled.

Might you have Vios in Kansas?

Do you have Verizon in your area? If so, check the availability of FIOS (Fiber Optics). I use it for all 3 of my services and have never had an interuption. It provides over 50 HD channels for the TV and 5 MB/sec on the internet (15 MB for an extra $10/month).

All for the same, if not slightly less, than the cable bundled service.

Ditto what everyone else has said about Comcast. I used to have Cox and never had a problem. It took 10 days to get the internet working properly with Comcast and their customer service reps all told me different things in those 10 days. I’m not impressed.

Ok, got it: Comcast is out. Since they don’t service our area anyway, that’s an easy call.

We do have Verizon in our area — our phones are with them. I’ll definitely check out FIOS. Thanks!

We used to live in Leavenworth, but out in the country, and had to use satellite for service. It sucked! And remember, if you’re not happy with the service, you can’t just cancel it.

For us, it went out with every rain or snow storm. And after paying $300 to get it hooked up, we got orders to move after 5 months. We did NOT want to take it with us and had to pay the early cancellation fee of $600. So even if you don’t like it, you’ll be stuck with it for the 18 months or 2 years or whatever their contract says.

I used to install DirecTV.
I also used to be a Cox Cable user.
A few things.
Cable is, in 90+% of the nation, a monopoly. You use the local provider or you gets something else. Before DirecTv then Dish Network(and the departed PrimeStar, run by a cable consortium…no wonder it died fast) that alternative was Broadcast TV only.
A well installed Direct or Dish set up will not often go off the air. Now if it does, and there are warnings on local tv you might want to catch, this can be a problem. Larger dishes or amplified signals would help, but the cost would be high. My Dad was an early adopter of DirecT, but every time it rained, the Time Warner in Memphis would go out anyhow. Direct was actually more reliable, and silly things, like being able to see the weather channel (on TW, it was unwatchable due to poor signal and bleed over from the two channels on either side), and getting twice the channels for the same fee were big draws for him.
Anywhere Time Warner, or Charter are the cable service, DirecTv has a major market. I live in Charter Hell here.
The Cables are now getting some more competition from Verizon. They are using the growing Fiber Optic networks to provide both screaming broadband(50mbps!)and TV service. ATT is also trying that, to lesser success. They also are making DSL more widely available by running fiber optics in more areas and making the line runs the limit service area shorter.
Most of the newer subdivisions here in Burleson TX are using a fiber optic system installed by a third party the city is in cahoots with. They too provide TV and broadband. Also the city has a WiFi service used by the utilities and city services that allows anyone to connect for a fee of $25 a month or so. Allen TX on the other side of DFW from here has the same service.

Back to TV..
Cable, if available to you (not me, although I’m in the city limits!)Is gonna be one service and deal with it.
Satellite is Dish Network, DirecTv, Voom(I don’t know if this is still around, was High Def only when I did DirecT installs)or C-Sats of differing sorts. There are some free services that one gets by using a small dish, not much larger than a DirecTv dish. They even use the same satellites as DircT, Dish, as well as others, but you need pointing skills to use them to the fullest. They are very popular with the ethnic folks, as many of their home nation programs can be found on these. Especially South American and Asian programing, though Europe is rather well represented too.

The big deals with DirecTv and Dish are whether your installer is able, and the location of the install. Older complaints about install costs were likely Pegasus related, from when they had some monopoly on “Rural” tv services. DirecTv was resold at a higher price and the installers they used charged a fee to even show up, did horrid installs (we at Direct did the service calls), and generally left a poor taste in the customers mouths. Dish has lower ratings on service than DirecT. The contracts are a drag as well when you get a bad install or are not happy with the service.

Whatever beef you have with cable, satellite is worse.

Due to my totally (OK, partially) shitty job situation, I currently have two residences. My house, which I inhabit on weekends, is located in an area that has neither cable nor DSL nor FiOS, so we’re stuck with DirecWay / HughesNet / WhateverTheHellThey’reCallingThemselvesThisWeek. My apartment, where I currently reside during the week, is served by the Meep-Meep group that has you so deeply upset. Having just gotten around to plugging in my desktop to the new Meep-Meep, I can assure you that the worst cable Internet service is an order of magnitude better than anything they can do by satellite. Can’t speak to DSL or FiOS, neither of which has been available in any of the gazillion places I’ve lived in recent years.

Go with the dish. Cable sucks…big. Here are the ups and downs of the dish, that I found when I was living in the USA…

Ups:
Picture quality is WAY better.
Purchasing and buying movies, way easier.
Billing was always spot on.
Loads of promotions for movies and other free stuff.
Digital Radio included.
NHL Center Ice…ohhhh how I miss that.

Downs:
Once installed, you are on your own, basically (but, very little can go wrong, except cable connections).
If you get a snow or ice storm and your dish is covered, you will lose reception.
I imagine living in KS, you probably get your share of thick thunderstorms, if a cloud rolls in and blocks your receptions, you are done until it clears.
You have to pay a little extra for local channels

The dish rocks…I miss it SO much here.

DirecTv no longer charges for locals.
Of course they went up in price $12+ since 04 when I got it.

You know what REALLY chaps my hide about this? We watch a total of 6 channels. Six. Unfortunately, only one of them is local so even going the rabbit ears option wouldn’t suffice.

I absolutely hate paying for the other 249 channels that we don’t need.

I watch 99% of my tv on Fuel, Speed, MOR, RFD, Boomerang, Military Channel DSc Science, DSC, National Geo, History International, History Channel, Food, DIY.
I have almost no need of locals, Except the Indy 500 and when Fox runs the F1 races. I would like afew not available on my pay level, but if they’d ala carte all channels, I’d pick up one or two others. One used to be able to ala carte the sports extras, but DirecTv stopped that practice.
I enjoy several of the XM radio channels they offer, but now that I have broadband, I can do without.
Too much to ask, I guess, to pay for only what the hell one wants to watch.
One of these companies could make a killing offering a 25 or 30 channel set of “you pick-premiums not included/extra” for $20 a month. I’d go with the $29.99 family pack if it had more of the channels I prefer. I only ever watch 6 channels on the list. I’d be better off with the two I am looking at right now as I haven’t been able to pay my bill. RFD and MOR are broadcast free so they are never blocked. With the tech they have this is easily possible. They just don’t see the money making opportunities there.