Direct TV & Dish Network

[tongue_tied]

I have DirecTV in Chicago... lots of tall buildings around... I'd say about 91% of the time, I don't have a problem. If a storm rolls through, and the satellite goes out, it's never for very long. I've never needed to use their customer service (knock wood).

[TsPoet]

I have Dish (so thought I'd weigh in). My brother has Direct. He's constantly trying to get me to change and I would, except Direct doesn't have my locals in HD. As soon as they do, I'll be Switching to Direct.
As far as the DVRs go, the 2 companies are similar. I prefer Dish's menu system, it's more intuitive to me. But, I don't think I'll have too much trouble updated to Direct.
I've hated Dish's customer service, I laugh every time that commercial comes on that claims they have the best customer satisfaction of any satellite/cable company. I've been with them for years, and my DVR died, I lost a lot of shows and time. They finally sent me a replacement refurbished unit, but refused to upgrade me - something I'd expect for a loyal customer. Their phone help system is full of "push 2 to be disconnected, 5 to talk to someone that doesn't know anything, 7 to shoot yourself in the head, or 9 to get to yet another menu like this one".
Despite living in a little hole, I have had very little trouble with reception. Wind, rain, clouds... all fine.
I'd check the lineup in your area for what each has or doesn't have in HD. In the East, I think it's less than a problem, but out in the boonies, the line ups are different between the two providers.

[bmccasland]

I was a Dish customer for years, and when my receiver box died, and I couldn't get any help from them, I switched to Direct. With "new introductory" prices it was cheaper than me buying the new receiver box - only THEN did the fine people at Dish beg me to come back by offering to send me a new receiver box - this was after I drove around town at their direction looking for places to get my box fixed or even looked at. So now my Direct subscription is on hold as I'm in housing limbo land. I have to decide what I'm going to do - continue Direct or go with the local cable.

I would say that it might be a wash over which company has better customer service. At one time, I got great customer service from Dish when I needed it. Another time, I didn't. I'm not a high maintenance person. Just want the system to work when I turn my TV on - I don't order extra programs.

One other thought.... some foreign language (and there are lots of them, well beyond Spanish) programming is only available on Dish, should that be important to you.