Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire How is Direct TV in the rain and snow?

I hate Comcast with a passion - always raising prices on equipment I already have in house, plus this Xfinity 1 format sucks most of the time, their previous version was better I thought.

Being in Michigan we get our share of rain and snow so I'm concerned about the dish in the rain or getting covered up with snow. Plus I would need internet access as well. Comcast charges more for just cable and internet than they do for cable, internet, and phone.

Wife and I have cell phones, the only calls we get on the landline is friggin' telemarketers - even though I'm on the Do Not Call Registry. Thanks.

You don't need internet access for DirecTV. I've been on it for 20+ years. During intense thunderstorms, you may lose signal for a short period. Not sure about heavy snow due to my location but I've learned to use an antenna from Walmart for local channels when we have no signal. It doesn't happen often.

I live in Southeast AK......wind/rain/cover are the norm for a large portion of the year. Rarely a problem with signal unless it's a monster storm.

A little snow on our dish = no signal. Luckily it's at ground level and can be cleaned off quickly. If roof-mounted it would be a real pain. Maybe a heater can be stuck on the back?
Moderate to heavy rain usually disrupts the signal. Falling snow seems to be OK.

During a very severe thunderstorm/downpour, it gets temporarily lost.

Have had direct TV for five years. Above comments on rain is correct. Sometimes we loose reception for 10-20 minutes.
On snow, one year we had a storm when conditions must have been just right. Our dish on second story of house filled up and we had zero reception. Wife would not let me on roof. Finally I hired “a guy” and he cleaned the snow from the dish. That’s the only snow issue we have had.

We have lost a signal for short intervals during a thunderstorm and sometimes for a day during a bad ice storm. I won't deal with them again, because of their rates. I went back to Spectrum cable and very happy with their service so far.

Have had dish net for 13 years and i live in an area in mountain that receives over 100 inches a year. Dish is on second floor and have experienced very few problems due to snow. They keep raising the prices and some outages do to other reasons, upgrades etc. $85 a month

Satelite internet is slow. I live off grid and rely on satelite internet and cannot stream movies and I pay $80 a month.

every tv/internet company has its issues

I have a brush for roof painting screwed on a 16 foot extendable pole. Snow usually only causes a problem 2-4 storms a year. With the pole, I just walk out the front door, around the corner and clean the dish. Usually, if it is not too cold, flip flops and shorts, belly floppin.

All of that. We lost signal if a cloud came over 10 miles away, it was very poor here. We went to Spectrum after the contract was up, and told DirectTV exactly why we switched. They had no answer to that. I DID like the selection of stations better on DirectTV, but it does no good if the satellite isn't working. Spectrum works.

We had Dish for several years and now have had Direct TV satellite service for several years too and in our experience there's not been any difference in reception with either -- both are equally good in fair and moderate weather but will loose reception during heavy cloud cover be it snow or rain. Accumulating snow which we don't normally have a whole lot of here has collected on our satellite dish at times (the wetter the snow the worse it sticks) and I've had to go out and clear it off to regain reception. Same with accumulation of ice in freezing rain. As far as price, both Dish and Direct can get pretty expensive once their introductory new customer offers end. Seems Direct TV raises package prices every year or two. Just got an email a couple of weeks ago from Direct TV stating they are increasing prices yet again.

edit: the little outrigger looking gizmo that the coax attaches to on the satellite dish will glaze over with ice and needs to be cleared off good too but more carefully than the dish itself.

I have Dish and it goes out whenever it rains hard, or during heavy cloud cover. I've complained, they say it shouldn't happen, but it does....so there you go.

We've had nothing but DirecTV for something like 30 years. Would not switch.

The past few years, even a cloud would block signal. Worse, the antenna was high up on the roof and not accessible from the ground. I had to use a SuperSoaker with hot water to get snow off of it. I finally bought a dish heater (installed it myself, easily) and called DTV. They told me all of my equipment was obsolete, and would I like an all-new system for the price of a service call? You bet.

They came out, gave me a new dish - located in a better place - realigned it to where the satellite is now located (they do drift a bit), swapped my old reflector with the heater on it, installed all new cables, gave us two new receivers AND the internet modem, and tuned it all up. Now, it's gangbusters, and not even a monster snow storm can block the signal.

If you live in snow country, get a dish heater. Install it on the BACK of the reflector (no matter what the instructions may say, putting it on the front hurts the signal a lot.) Mine has a thermostat that comes on whenever it is near freezing, so I just plug it in in November and forget it. Minimal power drain as far as I can tell. Best $75 I've ever spent.

Directv for 5 years or so. A big storm will block the signal, a lot of snow will too, but it is mounted where I can broom it off. The original package went obsolete, right now we pay way too much for a bunch of crappy stations selling things. Since we already have it, we don't want to start a new contract with the FEW companies approved by the local .gov people. The prices quoted don't have anything to do with what it really costs if you want HD, a second TV, and DVR, and "fees"; and to get the few stations you like you have to upgrade several packages. If something happens to the wife this thing is going in the junk.

I almost like netflix, but they too offer the same pap for the masses. I just found ROKU has a station with movies, some commercials but not like on regular TV. I am working on watching Tracker with Ray Winstone, been wanting to find it for 7 years. An ailing wife keeps me from just sitting down and watching.

It don't miss a beat....... just wish it was cheaper...

After 30 years ..do they give a fellow a price break?

We had DirecTV for 8 years or so.

It was the same as DishNetwork.......lost signal frequently.


Signal strenghth is not that great up here for any of them, at least thats what the companies told us.


We finally schit canned DirecTV because of the price and because they did not treat us like loyal customers.

Rarely, if ever, do we lose DirecTV signal due to heavy rainstorms. But, a certain amount of snow on the dish will foul the reception. So, mount the dish low enough to reach with a broom. Once in a while we lose signal due to an electrical power "blip". The lengthy time for the system to re-set itself is a pain, particularly if one is recording a program. Price break for long-term customers?? Must be joking - it goes up and up.

Pay close attention to your monthly bills too as Direct TV has been known to add (hide?) charges for unwanted extra channel packages and service/surcharge fees not actually getting or getting but not knowingly agreed to by customers. I can't say but Dish may also.

So-called "free"extra premium channel and sports package offers that are often included as sign up incentives will be automatically added to your regular service package and billed at the full rate the minute the "free" time period expires. They will do this without notifying customer first unless customers make a point to call them prior to end of "free" period and formally request cancellation of extra channel packages (be prepared for possible long winded sales pitches).

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/cable_tv/directv.htm

https://directv.pissedconsumer.com/

http://clark.com/technology/clark-howard-warns-customers-away-from-attdirectv/

https://consumerist.com/2017/05/17/att-directv-reportedly-overcharged-thousands-of-customers/

https://www.channelmaster.com/

.....and NETFLEX (need internet only)

You won't miss anything important.