Goodbye Dish Network …Hello Charter – Again

Back in September of 2012, I told you of my ongoing trials and tribulations in trying to get cable TV to my house.  If you are new to this saga, here’s a quick recap: my goal was to get the technology called “whole house DVR.”  This technology allows one to record a program and watch it in any room in the house.

The first company I tried, Charter Communications, did not have that technology.  The second company I tried was Dish Network.  Initially I thought that Dish and their Hopper/Joey system was exactly what I was looking for.  However, it turned out that based on the way my wife and I watched TV,  the Hopper created more problems than it solved.

In September 2012,  Dish removed the Hopper and provided me with two regular DVRs and that seemed to provide a workable solution.  Under most circumstances, that would be the end of the story, but if you know me, you know it’s not.  This story has an additional chapter because Dish sent me a letter in February telling me that my rates were going to rise with my March billing.  Now, I was prepared for a slight rise in pricing, but the rate increase was so high that Dish literally price themselves out of my market.

Dish wanted more for one month of TV service than what Charter was going to charge me for the same channels plus phone plus high speed Internet.  When you’re retired and on a fixed income, decisions like this one are easy to make.  So I am currently back with Charter watching all of the channels plus more that I had with Dish for less.  Am I a truly happy about this?  No.  But Charter has one advantage that Dish was never able to solve to me.  At least, Charter cable doesn’t go out when it starts to rain here as it did often with Dish.  And for that I’m happy.