i’ve been wavering on whether to take the plunge to go to satellite tv. cable has been good to me for so long, having it here in california since 1992. but lately i’ve been looking at the cable bill, which has grown from $43/month to now a whopping $80/month since 1997 with only minor channel upgrades. so when fina and lotte went with satellite and relayed a good experience, plus with farrah’s family being on satellite for about five years, i thought i was time to take the plunge.

the experience started off really well. i called saturday to order this dish, which would be installed a week after the coming monday. i received a call just a couple of hours later saying, “hey we can come out today if you’d like to install it.” fantastic. ninety minutes later the cable boxes were out and satellite was installed.

i must say the picture is clearer and the movement between channels is much quicker than digital cable. i also got the tivo unit for the bedroom (called directivo) since the tivo saori and doug gave us wasn’t ‘as compatible’ with satellite as cable. the cool thing about the directivo is that you either (1) watch one show while taping another or (2) tape two shows at the same time (but having to watch one of them if you want to watch the tele). cool huh?

so the advantages are so far are:

  • clear picture
  • quicker changing between stations
  • more stations
  • lower monthly cost
  • no monthly equipment fees (e.g. paying for the cable boxes)!
  • minimal startup cost (only had to pay for the directivo unit. everything else was free!)
  • directivo

downsides

  • satellite dish installed on the roof (though it's not noticeable in the backyard)
  • no 'college classes' for telecourses
  • memorizing the new channel scheme (300, 400, 500, etc.)

so far the good outweighs the bad. talk to me during the raining season to see how the dish fares. in the meantime i think it is a wise investment.