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R

New Member

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5 Messages

Wednesday, December 29th, 2021 12:23 AM

Can someone explain the value here?

Can someone explain to me what it is about Directstream that makes it worth the cost?  It's nearly double the price of every other streaming provider out there and now they have announced a rate hike.   I seriously must be missing something.  I can afford any package I want andtypically will just pay the rate being asked but on this one I'm drawing a line.   I liked the service OK when I had it years ago and it was called something else but I really can't grasp how they stay in business with those prices.  I would add the customer service is abysmal as well so that doesn't count in anyway as added value.  Incidentally in the drop down tags nothing about price or cost is available to select.   Wonder why that is?  

ACE - Sage

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46.1K Messages

3 years ago

It's nice to have alternatives. If DirecTV Stream isn't meeting your expectations you can switch. 

ACE - New Member

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3.3K Messages

3 years ago

How many times are you going to post this?

What makes it worth to me?

1. RSN's (Bally's sports networks)

2. Dtv stream has their own box

3. Lots of channels

4. PIcture quality

(edited)

New Member

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5 Messages

3 years ago

Can't speak to Bally's sports network but to me, and probably most people having their own box is a net loss.  (Pretty much anyone who has and utilizes a smart TV)  I believe it's something extra you have to pay for as well.  Part of cord cutting in my opinion is getting rid of the boxes.   Lot's of channels?  In actuality there aren't really that many extra channels and it's a very subjective reference based on value.   If you have 10 extra channels of garbage then who cares.   At a quick glance at the channel lineups in the best of situations there is typically only 10 channels I actually watch and 70 more to scroll through endlessly as if at some point they are going to air something meaningful.  I think most people, if they are honest, probably have a limited number of channels they actually watch so essentially you have more junk to choose from but not that much more.   

Picture quality is no different.  High Definition is High Definition,  4K is 4K .   I've had all of these services.  There is absolutely no discernable difference in picture quality if you have the proper internet speed.  Picture quality as it's broadcast from the source is digital.   The quality of your internet speed, router and means of connection would have far more to do with picture quality than anything the broadcaster does.   It's essentially the same file regardless of who sends it.  The only difference could be the point at where the signal is turned back into something we see.   That may happen at that proprietary box, that is optional by the way, and being optional it's unlikely it serves as anything but a large roku-ish device to stream the video.  

To answer your last question I posted it once.  I believe that is obvious so I'm not sure why you are asking me that.  If I referenced it in a response to someone else that would not be considered "posting this".    If you meant to say how many times am I going to bring it up the answer is at any point it seems relevant to a topic.   I believe I offerred quite a bit of feedback and specifics in that response that define it as much more than simply  bringing up the same issue over and over.  In fact I have yet to see anyone who has been able to provide feedback as to how to directly get to the office of the President as I did.   

In fact in my concern over the ridiculous pricing and outrageously high cost the office of the President had someone from Direct TV executive relations contact me personally to discuss my concerns. That call happened today.   I actually know how to get to the people to get things done if that's what it's going to take.  He couldn't provide any answer as to why the cost was so high and when pressed he never claimed that it provided better quality on any level.   Only that this was the price based on their marketing research and they intended to raise the price even higher in the coming months.   I'm sure if there was a better measurable quality in any area he would have mentioned that but he actually couldn't point to one thing.   

That is why I came here to see if there was something I'm missing other than a great marketing approach.  If Bally's sports is the only reason you are willing to pay nearly 40% more for your TV provider that is fine.   That is all I'm asking.  What is the value? I wouldn't pay an extra 50.00 a month for a sports channel but if it were something I really liked and couldn't get anywhere else I might pay that much.   

I would point out that posting a response also does not constitute posting it again either.  
 

New Member

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5 Messages

3 years ago

I agree that it's nice to have alternatives. It's also nice to openly discuss how businesses treat and value their customers. In fact that is actually much more important than having a lot of choices.  I'm also aware I can switch.  The reason customer service in this Country has dimished so far is because people no longer look at what's best only what's best for THEM. 

Your feedback is very well written and doesn't offer any information in regards to my question however which was what do people find in this product that makes it worth in many cases double the competitor.  That is a very valid question that people should be asking themselves not something we should be trying to hush up like someone said a bad word.   

Scholar

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14 Messages

3 years ago

@ruggerd Have you checked the prices of the competition? They're all approaching the same cost. Ok, maybe some of them have unlimited DVR for free, and that's a valid point. And maybe some others have Hallmark Mysteries (another valid point, I guess). On the picture quality issue -- I've tried Spectrum, YouTube, and Fubo. For me, the picture quality of DTVS is better, at least on my 4K big screen it is. 

New Member

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172 Messages

3 years ago

In 4 years I went from $35 to $99....I'm grandfathered into my old "Just Right" package.

If I changed to one of the current packages I might pay less for the base package but I'll lose channels I watch. On the other hand I'll wind up paying more and still lose a few of the channels that I watch, so that move is out as well.

So now I'm paying what Cable use to charge me and the current Customer Service is outsourced. I'm in the process at looking at the newer Streaming Services that are now available from some of the ISP's like Verizon and Spectrum.

Before I switch completely I'll run the other services for their trial periods and make my final decision than.

Contributor

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4 Messages

3 years ago

I can tell you the reasons I like Direct TV Stream...
It is one of the few services to office all the channels that both my wife and I both want. I did not want to have another service just get some channels.

We wanted

-Local Channels without an Antenna

-History Channel (so many services don't have that).

-Hallmark and Hallmark Movies and Mysteries (other services skip those two)
-The usual other general "cable" channels.

to get the combination of channels we wanted the price is comparable to getting multiple other services.

What i don't like is the interface seems to be lacking in features an flexibility.


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