Dish Networks India

A user Gopal Krishnan posted this on the forums, I thought it would be good to post it on the main website:

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Many of you will be having this dilemma.

The barrage of advertisements wont do any good either.
You can go by your neighbour’s decision and feel safe or may be you can take your own decision.

I hope my experience will help.

Wanted to take DTH, because cable quality was pathetic and they kept wanting more money. Initially wanted to take dish TV since they have packages. But i found a lot of complaints in this forum regarding customer service. And Tata is a respected brand. Hence the dilemma.

1].But dishtv has been here for two years or so and naturally they might be having more user complaints. So i was not realy scared by that alone.

2].Visit a demo of both. That is very important.

3].The remote: I felt the the remote of tata is too bulky. This is one stuff that you are going to use continously. You dont want have a brick in your hand. Dish TV remote is very handy. [why cant they have a remote locator switch on the TV or set top box like for cordless phones? I keep misplacing the the remotes [now 5 of them!]

4] Interface: changing from one channel to another [which you will be doing every five minutes or so!] is rather clumsy in tata sky. one Big blue banner appears in which you can select and you have to push another button to let it dissappear. very annoying! [the dish blue banner dissappears on its own quickly although i still wish it was more subtle or if there was an option to hide it altogether] Also there is a disturbing bright blue screen which appears for a moment between channels, as they are changed, which is disturbing. [DishTV screen is black between channels like in many tvs and is better. Why cant they have channels that change instantly like in old tvs?] Also i like the way you can arrange favourite channels. [may be there in sky TV, i dont know]

5]picture quality is the same in both. nothing to select there.

6] you have to pay for the wire from your terrace to TV for dishTV[ Rs 10 for every meter and you have to pay around 150] relocation fee for tata is 1000. less for dish.

7] Sun TV channels are available only in dish as of now.

8] packages are available only in dish as of now. I took maxi [everything for 300 a month] Six months free in dish and three in tata.

I selected Dish TV they installed within 24 hours and i had no problems till now. [1 month now]. Havent had the oppurtunity to call in their customer service. so i cant tell you anything about that. Hope it remians that way!

i went for dish because of the remote and the way you change and select channels which were more user friendly.

Please do see both at a demo or better at a house where it is installed and try changing channels and go through the menu etc and decide for yourself which is user friendly. Costs are almost the same and hope they come down. They will, once Reliance comes in!

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Thank you Gopal for such a wonderful guide!

Mr. Channel

SaveOnDish.com launches Discussion forums at www.saveondish.com/forum/ for all its visitors, you can now go to the forums and talk about Tata Sky, Dish TV, Reliance BlueMagic, Bharti Airtel and all other DTH networks in India.

You can use the forum for:

• Registering your complaints against DTH Networks
• Voicing out your consumer opinion
• Giving your highly valued opinion on the DTH service you use
• Helping others in need
• Reading tips, tricks, get arounds etc. like catching FTA channels on your STB, downloading games on your device and more.
• Reading guides posted by members
• Get Customer support

We have initiated talks with the customer support of Tata Sky and DishTV and their customer support officials will be regularly coming to the forums to answer your questions and queries if you post them in the forum, they will also offer you online customer support!

Following are the links to the categories inside the forum:

• Tata Sky Forum
• Dish TV Forum
• Reliance Blue Magic Forum
• Bharti Airtel Forum

All you need to do to post is to register here

So if you have any complaint against your Dish Provider, have a suggestion for them, need customer support from Dish TV or Tata Sky or just want to give your consumer opinion on your DTH provider, just go the forum and do it!

Arun Kumar Kapoor, CEO of DishTV India has been quoted as saying by The Financial Express that decrease of subscription charges of DishTV packages is totally out of question.

Mr. Kapoor justifies the stand saying that the prices which are currently being offered by DishTV are the lowest in the whole of world when we take other DTH providers in the foreign countries in comparison.

The prices will most likely shoot up in the coming times as the DishTV subscribers grow in number, we may put a price tag on our active services which are currently offered free of cost, pushing up the subscription rate. Mr. Kapoor said.

So this basically means bad news for us DishTV subscribers eh guys? But with Bharti Airtel and Reliance coming right into the direct competition with DishTV, if the prices are not slashed, DishTV is going down the drain.

Lets hope that the other DTH providers don’t join the bandwagon and increase their prices. I am sure that at least the new players will start off cheaply.

Be optimistic!
Mr. Channel

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The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has given the Letter of Intent to Reliance ADAG for operating a Direct To Home (DTH) service in India. A letter of Intent is basically a go-ahead signal which is given after a comapany is approved for providing such services.

Reliance has completed the few formalities which were remaining for this work and has submitted them to The ministry, and it is now waiting for its license, which it will receive in a few weeks.
Reliance had applied for the license back in 2005 and it is now that they are finally on the verge of receiving it, however Reliance is completing all its arrangements to launch Reliance Blue Magic with a blast. Current arrangements include the purchase of STB’s, branding etc.

So lets hope for the best! When Reliance comes in, there sure is going to be a decline in prices and a rise in quality! Be optimistic.

Mr. Channel

A few days back. When I was browsing through some channels on DishTV, it started showing “Please Check Smart Card” and all of a sudden I couldn’t view any channels.

I was quite shaken (obviously) and went on the DishTV website to check out my account balance, which was Rs. 850/-, this meant that I need not pay till the next month.

Now, what happened was that I called up the DishTV Customer care and they insisted I go to the dealer and have the smartcard checked out, I was like… Fine probably something to do with an error.

As soon as I reached the Dealer, who is a good friend of mine, I noticed at least four or five people with their smartcards, which explained the situation, many people were having the same problem.

The dealer took our cards and put them into his STB, they started working fine, so he gave the cards back to us. I came back and put the card in my STB and it worked just fine. So I continued browsing through the channels like I always do.

End one hour and I received a call on my cellphone, DishTV customer care was on the other end, a girl asked me “Sir, did you like our customer service?”. I said yes and counter questioned her asking “Was this exercise to prove that your customer service is top notch?”, the phone was hung up!

So people, sometimes this could happen that your SmartCard could stop working, if you have not paid your bills, then its that issue, but if you have paid/have balance, then don’t worry about it because it might just be another DishTV customer care exercise, just insert the card in another STB and take it out and it will work just fine.

Mr. Channel