Directv Customer service and cable service sucks, Internet

It's amazing after 18 years people still haven't heard of rain fade. Back in 94 Directv tried to deny the existence of rain fade. Then after 6 months they decided to shove a piece of paper into the owners manual. About rain fade and the the problems associated with it.
Back in 1978 to 1982 I repaired RADAR equipment. The PAR ( Precision Approach Radar ) equipment had on the controller's scope a toggle switch marked CP ( circular polarization ) . When activated a metal rail would raise up in between the dipole antennae and the reflector. Causing the signal to spin and since to some degree the rain drops are round. The signal would go around the rain drops.
But there came a point in time. When it rains hard enough that CP wouldn't work . The controller wouldn't be able to see the target on the scope. But would see a big blob of the rain being reflected back to the RADAR.
That is why both Directv and Dish Network use CP and 120 Watt Satellites. But keep in mind that each transponder on the satellite has different signal strength output. Having Satellites with these features doesn't totally prevent rain fade, but will lessen the effects of.
You could also could go to a bigger dish and it to would lessen the effects of rain fade . But in the end it wont stop rain fade. I use a SAMI 7 1/2 foot mesh dish and it doesn't totally stop rain fade.
It's not the rain hitting your dish .You have to understand that the satellites are 23,000 miles out in the Clarke Belt. The amount of moisture that is in the atmosphere between the satellite and your dish.
I tell everyone that in a light rain you will be able to watch tv. If you were to go the signal meter. Then you will see a drop in signal strength. But as the it rains harder and when it becomes a wall of water. Then you will see no signal and even before that you might see tiling .
It all comes down to if you live in a Desert or in a Tropical Rain Forest and how severe the storms are. But every cable system has their problems. Its just what your willing to put up with.
I have customer's tell me all the time they don't lose there satellite signal . No matter how hard it rains. One customer actually told me stop giving him Dish Network's propoganda . He has never lost his satellite signal.
I have one lady who claims she has neighbors call her when they lose signal in the rain and she tells them that she is still watching satellite.
In a case like this only proves one thing. That these people satellite system wasn't properly installed . The installer has to make sure that the dish is well anchored, it's not pointed into a tree or building and the dish is aligned correctly. .
I know I'm not perfect and have made mistakes after 28 years of satellite installations. I'm sure Directv and Dish has employee's who are qualified installer's , but I haven't seen them yet. It's not the installers fault if they weren't properly trained and they are only allowed to do certain things .
Every business has it's lairs , cheats and crooks. But calling around to several Independent Dealers and also reading the contract before you sign your name might help. I don't know about Directv, but Dish Network has a blank copy of their contract on the Dish website.
Don't take the first person you talk to word about everything. Do your research and get the facts.

 Stacie has not provided any help on this rebutt or any others

I have had Directv for 8 years and the only real interruptions was last year during a 5 day snow storm in Texas.  They are great to deal with, cheaper than Comcast and I would not chose another provider. 

Systems go out - that is life.

We have had DirecTV on and off for the last ten years.  My wife and I have moved a lot and we tried the local cable TV (Comcast and Cox) in several cities and found that DirecTV is far more reliable than standard cable.

You are correct that the DirecTV signal gets interrupted by atmospheric conditions.  We found that anytime there is lightning directly between us and the satellite that our signal quits, but this is rare and the interruptions are minimal.  We had far more outages that lasted longer with standard cable.  DirecTV's claim for 2 hours of outage per year is actually much higher than what we have experienced.