Comcast Cable TV vs DIRECTV
DIRECTV vs Comcast
With DIRECTV great value comes standard. You simply get more for your money. Cable’s pricing is often confusing and varies greatly from region to region. DIRECTV gives you more of the channels you love at a better price — now available in 100% of homes nationwide!
See our channel line up with pricing and compare to your cable bill! DIRECTV offers more channels at a better quality for less money. Judge the facts for yourself.
With DIRECTV, local channels are included with every package. You’ll also get the best selection of specialty, sports, educational, and premium networks. And while DIRECTV adds channels and customers every year, Cable just can’t keep up. Take your TV experience to the next level and make the switch to DIRECTV — you’ll be glad you did.
Don’t waste your time getting frustrated on the phone every time your cable goes out. Or, waiting around the house when it’s finally supposed to be fix. DIRECTV is dedicated to making customers happy, and it shows. You deserve better than second-rate service. For more than a decade, DIRECTV has had higher customer satisfaction ratings than cable. As compared to the largest national cable & satellite TV providers. 2013 American Customer Satisfaction Index.
The choice is clear. More sports, more movies and more HD makes for happier customers, part of why DIRECTV remainsthe leader in high quality entertainment. If you want the best value on the most entertainment money can buy, say goodbye to high prices for mediocre service. Compare what you’re missing when you choose Comcast and make the switch today.
Comcast HD vs DIRECTV HD
HD is a great way to bring the entire family together. You can’t get better than 1080p picture and, young or old, amazement is ageless. Don't waste the moment: Make sure you have something great to watch in HD. Choose the provider that offers premium movie channels, DIRECTV Cinema and the most HD. Period. DIRECTV gives you more of the movies you love, with something for everyone.
DIRECTV offers more National HD Channels than Comcast, so you get them no matter where you live. DIRECTV also offers HD Local Channels (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox) in most metro areas, so you'll get the popular network shows in HD as well. Use our website right rail to check Local Channels in your area.
Let us help you choose a DIRECTV Channel Package that's best for your family budget. Give us a call toll free and we'll show you how easy it is to switch from Comcast to DIRECTV.
The experience speaks for itself
DIRECTV makes TV easy. Can you say that about your cable company? Easy to use technology, more choice in programming than ever before and dedicated customer service — all reason’s why DIRECTV is America’s favorite satellite TV provider.
Over 50 million people choose DIRECTV, adding new customers and even more channels each passing year.
It's a fact that Comcast sales are going down. In the July 27, 2007 Wall Street Journal article entitled Comcast's Growth Engine Shows Wear as Net Jumps, Shira Ovide writes: "Comcast reported a 28% increase in earnings but said it lost 95,000 TV subscribers in the quarter ..."
Comcast's XFINITY bundle falling short
More and more people now beginning subscriptions with DIRECTV say that they're frustrated with Comcast's "XFINITY" bundle combining phone, TV and internet service. Many feel it does not meet their expectations in terms of quality of service in each of the three areas. Lots of people learn - some too late - that XFINITY offers a reduced level of service for tv, internet and phone. That is, a level of service you would not accept for TV, internet or phone alone.
Enjoy Award-winning Customer Satisfaction
DIRECTV is #1 in customer satisfaction over all other cable providers, according to the 2013 American Customer Satisfaction Index. As compared to the largest national cable & satellite TV providers.
Digital quality makes DIRECTV stand out
The digital benefits alone make DIRECTV stand out! DIRECTV is able to offer more than 285 channels with 100% digital quality on every channel, all the time. Compare this with digital cable tv, offering just over half the programming for the same amount of money.
DIRECTV's exclusive programming
DIRECTV truly leads the way in exclusive programming, including fan favorite like NFL SUNDAY TICKET! And now DIRECTV even gives your favorite shows you can’t find anywhere else, like Damages, now on Audience Network — a DIRECTV original channel. Plus, DIRECTV gives you access to 84 music channels from SonicTap, 55 Pay Per View options per day and over 30 premium movie channels.
Differences in sports coverage
DIRECTV offers over 35 specialty and regional sports networks featuring action-packed programming from the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and MLS. Avid football fans can get DIRECTV's exclusive NFL SUNDAY TICKET™ with up to 14 NFL games per week, available in HD as the SuperFan package! The list of specialty sports includes the NBA LEAGUE PASS, NCAA MEGA MARCH MADNESS® and MLB EXTRA INNINGS™.
Sports fans tend to be disappointed by Comcast because its programming is significantly less varied and does not offer DIRECTV's exclusive deals. Yet Comcast does offer coverage of the major games of most sports organizations.
International Programming
DIRECTV's International programming has a global scope, comprising over 30 different language networks. It includes popular Spanish language channels along with those in Arabic, Portuguese, Korean, Hindi, Russian, and many more. Comcast, on the other hand, offers programming in Arabic, Chinese, Italian, Russian, and Spanish.
- Comcast
Comments
I too have just switched to DirecTV. I cannot believe that Comcast has raised their rates like this. They will be severely hit by the amount of people that will do the simple math. I was paying $320 / mo. for my cable only. (I have 8 recievers and premium programming)
DirecTV will cost me to set up and purchase boxes ~ $700.00
DirecTV will cost me per month for programming ~$145.00
After 1 yr. with DirecTV I will have spent ~$2,440.00
If I were to continue with Comcast for another yr. it would cost ~$3,840.00
SAVINGS after only 1 yr. from switching form Comcast to DirecTV ~ $1,400.00
DO THE MATH! Comcast sucks!!! Besides you get more HD with DirecTV!!!!!!!!!!!
I switched over to DirecTV this weekend, after yet another Comcast rate increase. Since taking over Time Warner here in Houston a short while back, my monthly charge, including 1 HD/DVR with HBO & Showtime had risen from ~$82 to over $110. A similar package from DirecTV will cost about half that for the first year. In the meantime, Comcast's paltry 30-odd HD station lineup (which excludes such notables as Sci-Fi, Toon, FNN, Nick, FX, TLN, several Starz, HBO & Showtime stations, etc. etc.) is absolutely DWARFED by DirecTV's offerings. Comcast claiming in those inane ads that they offer more HD is simply ridiculous - they include their OnDemand stuff, much of which is provided in low-bitrate, heavily compressed, poor quality pseudo-HD (I tried MythBusters once - horrendous picture quality!)
It's a wonder these cable outfits stay in business. I guess there's just too many complacent customers out there, as was I until one more rate jump pushed me over the edge.
I have been a comcast customer for ever, and because of harder times had to down size my package, we were paying $95.00 +- each month, they said they have a economical pkgs now for $39.99 a month. Oh my gosh I would be better off just plugging my tv in to the wall, I get 2-26 and then about a hand full of upper channels, what a joke. My house loves sports and my husband loves the outdoor channel , but because they changed things we had to pay extra for that. With this new pkgs some channels come in HD and some don't go figure that out, called and they had no reason for it , he said thats the way it works in your area.I have been looking into DTV, the only thing I don't like is the look of a dish on my house, but I think it would be worth it. Anything would be better then having comcast in my house......
Comcast is the pitts when it comes to billing. Every month when the bill comes is an adventure. I talk to their billing department almost every month. Yesterday we got the new bill and it again was incorrect. We dropped a few things about 60 days ago and they were still charging us for it. The service rep. said it was in the computer that the things were dropped and a box was returned, but the billing was never changed. This happens all of the time with them. I think they intentionally overcharge their customers and think that most people do not look closely at the bill so they make extra money. When my current agreement expires in 5 month, I will be saying goodbye to Comcast and hello to Direct TV
I am a former field employee of Time Warner Cable, which has been partners with Comcast up until about a year ago. I can tell you from personal expierience that they do not care about anything except for the money. As long as money is coming in, they will not change anything. When i was being trained, I was shown how to drive and park in the general vicinity of the home (since we had GPS locators), sit for a couple minutes, and then drive off and say we "tagged" the home since no one was there, or that we called and no one answered so we had to reschedule. I was disgusted with their entire company.
No one cares about YOUR service because THEIR service still works. All of the cable employees get free cable and internet services, and trust me, if their service is out, they will have the entire company out to try and fix it.
I quit Time Warner awhile back and went with Comcast since i moved to Mobile,AL. These people are even worse than Time Warner! At least my supervisor would take customer calls and try to get something solved. Comcast supervisors refuse to talk to me. My service has been out for over a week now, no cable, no internet. Comcast just cannot seem to get it figured out. I'm done. I'm going with Direct TV.
returned cable box to comcast and swicthed to direct tv.the next month I received another bill,I called told them I returned the box.They still charged me for expanded basic.I will never go back to comcast
I had Comcast and I'm changing to Direct TV. The cable service constantly went out and they gave no reason or rebate for lost time. The customer service was not really helpful in that they gave several different telephone numbers to call that took you through various process before you actually spoke to an individual. You never received a letter explaining why there was increase in their billing.
I have had Comcast for about 5 years. I have had their "triple play" bundle for about 3 years. The audio on the HD channels cuts in and out on my LCD tv (which is brand new) and they tried to tell me it was my tv. I find it funny that i could watch all the HD channels on demand with no issues at all but on the "live" HD channels I have audio issues EVERY time. I live in West Virginia and I am a big Oakland Raiders fan. I can't get their games on comcast. I can get quite a few of their games on DTV though. I have cancelled my tv service through comcast and have DTV getting installed on Teusday (was suposed to be this past Friday...but thats another story) and I can't wait! I was considering Dish because of the 1080p but I am hopefull that DTV will soon be going FULL HD as well. Never the less Comcast sucks for tv and phone (looking into Verizon for phone) but I am stuck with Comcast internet because I can't get FIOS in my area. I look forward to a better service through DTV and a much better audio video experience on my 52" Samsung LCD tv!
I love being validated. I have had Comcast for some time now. The reception is bad in one room and fine in another. I would have to pay to have this fixed. Then they sent me a notice that they are dropping 8 channels, some I watch. But they are not lowering the price. I asked if they had any bundles for me. I just have extended basic cable, don't want digital/hd. I also have internet service. I pay the same as my sister who has gone digital, she has t.v., internet, and phone for the same price I pay for just basic cable and internet. Unless you go digital you're stuck. Then she found out her phone has been out for days on end and had to call numerous times for service, I suggested she get a rebate on the service lost. But they don't do that. Cable stinks, the line-up of shows stinks. My DTV will be installed in 2 weeks, I can't wait. Finally I can watch some good T.V. Thanks Direct T.V.
I have had comcast for 2 years and some of the channels you have to buy and I looked up directv and they had alot more channels and HD channels for free than comcast,when they said that you have to get the bigger package to get the sci-fi,discovery channel and others I was upset because they were my favorite channels so I told them if you can get me those channels just two more that I will stay as your customer and they said we cant do that you have to get the bigger package and I said ok then you dont want me as a customer anymore I just we could have had made a deal but he cept on arguing so I said get me off this plan than then when I went to directv they had mostly all the channels i wanted so I said to my self that it would be that directv had better channels not more than comcast. for me it depends on what good channels are there on the screen.
First, Comcast had to replace the first THREE cable boxes they gave us - they kept crapping out.
Second, Comcast channels can't compare to Directv.
With Comcast, I didn't get History Int'l, the Biography Channel, the NASA channel, etc. (The first two I didn't get because I didn't want a huge package of channels, and Comcast DOESN'T CARRY NASA-TV, even though it's a free feed.
So today I switched to Directv. I got a pretty basic package, and I'll have those channels and more!
I had Directv a while back - I switched to Comcast because I didn't know better.
Now, I pay less and have better programming.
I switch to Comcast in January. It has been a terrible experience. Comcast recycles their boxes. The boxes they installed in my home were huge & I had to call several times to report problems with the boxes. Their installation fee is high. The rebate never arrived. I had to place a complaint with the better business bureau because each time I called no one even acknowledged my rebate. I got tired of dealing with them & switch back to Direct TV. Direct TV came & installed brand new cute little boxes that work perfect. They only charged a little under $20.00 for the set up & gave me a discount on my monthly bill. The picture quality is 100% better, I have no complaints.
I used to have Directv, but when my wife and I moved to a new home, we figured we would try Comcast. After all the discounts and promotions, the cost about equaled Directv. That's all that equaled dtv! The picture is horrible, grainy as hell. There are about 4 HD channels worth watching, and our service cuts in and out, glitches, and stalls almost everyday. Now my trial period is ending and my rate will go up $30 per month. I am done with Comcast, they suck. There dvr's are crap! We are on our fourth dvr from comcast in just over a year. Don't waste your time or money on comcast.
How many channels is Comcast going to drop for non-digital customers?? I don't want digital cable. I don't like the "lag-time" that occurs with digital when channel surfing.
Comcast has dropped Sci-Fi, Outdoor Life, CMT, and several others that I used to watch. What's a guy supposed to do? I'm switching to Direct TV!
Comcast keeps raising rates on TV and dropping channels. There is basically nothing to watch for $50 a month. Now, they told me I have to pay for a service call because I don't have a protection plan - that tears it. How they think people don't mind being nickel and dimed and don't realize that Comcast is saving money on programming costs by dropping channels while maintaining price is amazing.
If I have to get set-top-boxes and I don't get free service calls there is basically no advantage to cable. I will get many more channels with DirecTV and adding it to my Verizon phone and switching to Verizon DSL will save me about $60 a month for the first 12 months and $40 thereafter.
Funny you mention this. Just yesterday Comcast took away the SCI FI Channel and Animal Planet from my lineup in basic cable and added them to the High Definition lineup. It's a good thing that I don't watch either channel. I have a feeling this is going to keep happening.
Today Comcast took a nice leap further downhill. 4 channels are no longer available if you have Expanded Basic, unless you now add their digital converter. I'm guessing this is the start of the digital transition. Granted they offer it free for 12 months, but you still pay the fees and taxes. So the bill will go up for nothing extra, then even higher next year. So now waiting for Verizon fios TV to begin to compare it to Direct TV.
Cancelled the terrible "High Speed Broadband" when told on the phone, "your Internet is so slow because too many people in your area are online." Yet their commercials stated, "Comcast Broadband will never slow even if everyone in your are is online." It was literally slower than dial-up. At least with dial-up you could check email.
True Hardcore Sports fans can't exsist using Comcast as their TV provider. DirectTV offers much more content than Comcast, you can't even get ESPNU on Comcast which deployed back in 2005. As side from a very limited Sports Pack, customer service and pricing make DirecTV hard to beat.
I have had Comcast since October 2007. Comcast was provided through my Homeowners Association, so we decided to go with it. What a mistake. I was quoted a fee of $85.00 per month, since October our first bill was over $100.00, I received a bill in December for over $200.00. Keep in mind we paid the first bill. I can not get a correct caculation of what I am being charged for. The reception was horable from day one. Thier customer service is the worst. Everytime I call and ask if someone can come out and check what they installed, there is a charge of $28.00. The problems are the same as day one, most companies would have sent someone out immediately. I was advised to go to the President of my HOA and let them know what the problem is. After going online and reading these comments I am sure that I need to go back to DirectTV. We had Direct for approximately 7 years and the only time we had problems with it was when it rained other than that it was fine. The channels were a lot clearer. Watching Comcast reminds me of watching Television in the Sixty's.
Directv is alot better than cable or Dish Network. And the reason is because I had Comcast as my cable service and the bills where getting more and more higher like each year and with less channels of entertainment. Of course it is not a contract but its very expensive and to me a one year requirement of the directv standard receivers is not along term. Now the dish network it has alot of channels too but the two of my friends told me that they canceled dish network because they did not like the service. They told me that yes its more cheaper but it had lots of sport channels and other channels that were boring and im not a person that likes watching sports so I got directv. I been a diretv customer for almost a year and I been having an excellent experience with directv good bye comcast!
I have had DirectTV for over 5 years. We used to have Adelphia and had nothing but problems even with local channels. I will say I swear by DirectTV. The only problem I have is in heavy snow and that is solved with a quick sweep from a broom. So a tip I would give is to install the dish so you can brush it off with a broom. My neighbors have theirs on their roof and now know why I installed mine on the side of the house where I can reach it with a broom.
Well it looks like all of us are getting whacked by Comcast. I got my bill on 12/31/07, and along with it I received 3 pages detailing all of the rate increases effective 2/1/08. Great. I've only been a customer for 2 months, and already I have to pay more. I live in Mass, and my monthly bill is normally ~$65 for basic cable and a very low-tier digital package, NO premium stations or sports packages. It is now going up $6 per month. That's a NINE percent increase! If anyone doesn't believe me, I'd be happy to show them a copy of the 3 pages of crap w/the rate increases. They keep using HD TV as the excuse. Well why does Direct TV charge so little? They have more HD channels than anyone. Unfortunately I'm stuck with the Comcast bandits because I can't get Direct TV where I live. I HATE COMCAST!!!!!!
I am an unhappy Comcast Customer and am going to try Direct TV
My Comcast bill is $163.00 per month and I only get 1/3 of the Digital channels unless I subscribe to the others at an extra fee. They seem to take away the popular ones in order to make you purchase extra packages. The NFL network is also extra. I pay for analog, Digital, 8 HBO DVR, HD and Internet. . HBO is a waste, mostly reruns. All I get from Comcast is "you must purchase this package to get those channels. New price increases and notices of channels they are dropping. The sound when I switch channels is not the same and I have to constanly turn it down or up for each channel. They said they are working on this problem several months back.
I hope Direct TV is better and cheaper
I contacted Comcast this morning as my bill went from $116.00 last month to $182.66 in January. I called customer service for Comcast and was told that my new bill reflected my new monthly service. She also told me that if I cancel my service my internet access bill would go up by an additional $15.00 per month. I told her that nobody had ever told me that this happen and she responded, "Well, I'm telling you now".
I called Direct TV this morning and am scheduling installation as soon as possible. NUFF SAID?
In March I switched from DISH to Comcast. Dish did not have the customer service I needed and kept going up in price, but Comcast did not bother to tell me that I could not tape and watch a different channel without a upgrade and the ON DEMAND had very limited selections. The only good thing about comcast was I cancelled it after 28 days and called DIRECT.
What a difference! The picture is wonderful, I have a DVR and the customer service is fantastic. My package offers Lifetime Movie Network, most of the sports channels where I can see all the College Football I desire,Chiller and Slueth channels, and all the news networks.
I would advise anyone to go with Direct TV.
In Conneticut, Adelphia was take over by COMCAST, neither worth the fees, Paying more, getting less. Can't wait to make the change, doing research as we speak. after speaking with people who have DIRECTTV it appears to offer so much more , well see.
Give me anything but COMCAST!
I'm considering Directv since the Comcast channels often provide mediocre audio/video. Their HD channels aren't synched perfectly and their audio leaves much to be desired.
I've been a Comcast customer since day 1 in the Phila market when they bought out Suburban Cable. Needless to say, when I got my bill for December along with the new "price change" listing effective 1/1/08--I flipped and said "enough is enough"...and called to subscribe to DirecTV.
I am currently paying $76.65/month for the "digital preferred" package ($64.70 pkg + $11.95 receiver) along with a HD DVR receiver. The package provides the analog channels (2-99) along with the digital and HD channels and my price does not include any movie channels. The same service as of 1/1/08 goes up $5.50 -- to over $82.00....The service leaves a lot to be desired. On two occasions in the last year I've had to request service due to the DVR no longer playing back my recorded programs...and each time my promised day of service--the tech never showed. After calling back first time--told "we don't even have your call on file" and the second time--told "we show him to come such-and-such day"....AFTER TAKING A DAY OFF FROM WORK! A third time within the year, another trade-in of receiver due to pixelating of the picture on all channels. As another poster said--the digital channels often-times don't match with the voice...and the picture often-times will freeze.
THIS is the service you can expect from Comcast readers!!!
I have comcast internet and digital tv in Houston. The sound quality on the lower channels is poor and there is a delay on the lip sync in HD broadcasts. When I called for service I got the message that their volume of calls was so great that they could not handle any more and I would have to call back. Who lets them get away with this level of service?
Here in Illinois,.Comcast bought out and still disgiuses itself as "Insight". Put bluntly,..they are a horrid provider and customer service is absolutely PATHETIC. Ex. Cable Iternet: ...slow....slower...slowest....at one point slower than a DIAL UP,.. Numerous calls,..and fruitless repair visits,...and subsequent arguments with inept sales and service people have soured this whole community on "Comcast". And the pricing?....Plan on spending at least 90 bucks for their HD programming,...which consists of PART TIME HD on the local networks, and 24/7 HD on maybe ,...MAYBE 5 channels. I'm going back to DIrect TV at months end. COMCAST potential customers BEWARE!
I just got off the phone after setting up for Direct TV installation next week. I have had Comcast for the last 6 years. I'm done. The NFL network debacle was the finally straw. Comcast had NFL Network last year on my Digital package, but now want me to upgrade to a Sports package (for more $$) to receive it. I am only interested in a few NFL games that will be carried this year, so am not paying extra every month for it.
We just switched to Direct TV from Comcast cable, internet and phone. My bill was over $220 a month for all three services (we had premium cable service). The phone was over $49 a month alone after their so called deals ran out. Vonage is half that!!! How can they get away with it? Their customer service is the WORST I've ever had to deal with and we had them out to our house (mostly contract workers, not actual Comcast employees) over 12 times in a two month span because of poor service issues. I couldn't take it anymore so we switched and we are GLAD WE DID!!! I love it!
The bonus was Direct TV's ON DEMAND service which just started two days ago! This is the BEST! Their HDTV quality is outstanding and I am quickly becoming a couch potatoe but who cares!! :)
Happy new customers in Atlantic City, NJ area.
I just had Comcast installed last week. I've already had to call them 3 times for service issues. The digital signal also seems pretty weak. It was constantly going in and out during the Colts/Pats game on Sunday. I had to switch over to the analog channel instead of the HD channel. I'm paying approx. $69.00/mo. (no premium channels) for this. I can't have Direct TV in my apartment building, but if I could, I would get it.
If you want all digital channels, then you have to go with Direct Tv satellite. If you get "digital tv" with Comcast, you have to order the basic and expanded cable packages to get the first 90 or so channels. Those channels aren't even digital. A majority of the digital channels are the lousy audio music channels. Big deal.