Satellite TV Comparison — Providers and Dealers Compared

Satellite TV Comparison

Satellite TV providers are the companies that offer satellite TV programming to the public. They purchase satellite TV programming from networks, independent companies, and radio stations, then make their programming available to the public through the use of satellites.

Satellite TV dealers are the companies who sell the satellite TV services and satellite TV equipment offered by the satellite TV providers.

In the U.S. there are two major satellite TV providers — DISH Network and DIRECTV — and there are hundreds of satellite TV dealers who sell their services and systems.

Satellite TV Providers Comparison

DISH Network

DISH Network was launched in 1996, and currently has more than 12 million subscribers. It’s ranked #1 in customer satisfaction among all cable and satellite TV providers by J.D. Power and Associates.

DISH Network offers 375 channels of all-digital satellite TV programming including movie channels, pay-per-view programs, sports packages, and Sirius satellite radio. They have the biggest variety of movies, shows, and international programming of the two satellite TV providers.

DISH Network programming starts at $19.99 for 40 program channels, and goes up to $74.99 for 375 channels, including 60 Sirius radio channels.

DISH Network has 24/7 Internet and toll-free customer service, and offers a lifetime warranty on their satellite TV systems.

DIRECTV

Started in 1994, DIRECTV was the first DBS (direct broadcast satellite) TV provider. It currently has more than 14 million subscribers and is ranked #2 in customer satisfaction among all cable and satellite TV providers by J.D. Power and Associates.

DIRECTV offers 250 channels of all-digital programming including movie channels, pay-per-view, sports packages, and XM satellite radio. They have the most sports packages of the satellite TV providers.

DIRECTV programming starts at $29.99 a month for 155 program channels, including 31 XM radio channels, and goes up to $96.99 for 250 channels.

DIRECTV has 24/7 Internet and toll-free customer service, and offers a one-year warranty on their satellite TV systems.

Note: For more information on DISH Network or DIRECTV’s satellite TV service, including their latest bonuses, free gifts, and ordering information, click on the links below.

Satellite TV Dealers Comparison

Due to the rise in popularity of satellite TV, satellite TV dealers have been popping up all over the country promising the best deals, the best service, and everything else under the sun. But many of them have hidden service fees, provide you with shoddy installation, and give little or no customer service.

I’ve spent numerous hours researching online satellite TV dealers to find out who’s the most reputable and who has the best deals. Here’s a rundown on the top four dealers:

DISH Network Satellite TV Dealers

Allsat (Best)

Established in 1995, Allsat is one of the oldest and most reputable online satellite TV dealers. Their prices, reputation, and service are second to none.

Allsat currently offers:

* A free satellite dish and up to four free receivers
* Free professional installation
* Free DVR (digital video recording) receivers
* Free HD (high definition) receivers
* 24/7 customer service
* Lifetime equipment warranty

VMC (Good)

VMC is one of the largest and most well known satellite TV dealers in the U.S. They installed the satellite TV system in the U.S. Capitol building.

VMC currently offers:

* A free 4-room satellite TV system
* Free professional installation
* Free digital video recorders
* Free HDTV receivers
* 24/7 customer service
* Lifetime equipment warranty

DIRECTV Satellite TV Dealers

Rapid Satellite (Best)

In business since 1999, Rapid Satellite is one of DIRECTV’s top satellite TV dealers. They have thousands of satisfied customers in hundreds of cities across the U.S.A.

Rapid Satellite currently offers:

* A Free 4-room system
* Free installation
* Free DIRECTV DVR (after $99 rebate)
* Free HDTV receiver (after $99 rebate)
* 24-hour customer service
* One-year equipment warranty

iSatellite (Good)

ISatellite is one of DIRECTV’s top satellite TV dealers. Though relatively new, they are one of the most reputable online dealers in the U.S.

iSatellite currently offers:

* A free satellite TV dish and up to four free receivers
* Free professional installation
* Free DIRECTV DVR receiver (after $99 mail-in rebate)
* Free HDTV receiver (after $99 mail-in rebate)
* 24/7 customer service

One-year equipment warranty

Conclusion

The first thing you should do if you’re thinking about getting satellite TV is to see what program packages DISH Network and DIRECTV have to offer.

After you find what you want, check out their dealers to find out what equipment options are available, what programming options are offered, and what their fees are for various services.

You can find all of this information by clicking on the links below.

Click on the following link for more information on free satellite TV systems and service, or these links for ordering information, the latest offers, and free bonuses from DISH Network satellite TV or DIRECTV satellite TV.

How to Select a Satellite Internet Plan

Selection of your satellite internet plan is an extremely important step in getting broadband internet via satellite from HughesNet. Don’t be lead into cheaper plans which offer minimal speeds when you can upgrade your plan and receive far superior speed for only ten dollars. The home package is the basic HughesNet plan and offers basic speed of 700kbps. This will get the job done but if you are upgrading from dial up to gain faster downloads and quicker web page loading, don’t sell yourself short. The Pro or the Pro Plus package is what you need. The Pro plan offers speeds up to 1000kbps and can handle connections for 2-3 computers. Another benefit of the pro package is its ability to handle wireless connections for laptops and other wireless accessories. The big brother of all the residential packages is the Pro Plus an extremely versatile package allowing its users all the same capabilities of DSL and T1 lines. The Pro Plus Package offers blazing speeds of 1500kbps and even has the capabilities of a static IP, a must for users seeking secure connections to servers.

Upload speeds also vary with the different HughesNet Packages. Upload speed plays an important role in sending emails, pictures, and files. If you plan to send a lot of files especially pictures or large documents a high upload speed is what you need. The Home package offers upload speeds of 128kbps which is a large increase over dial up. The Pro and the Pro Plus boast download speeds of up to 200 kbps.

All Residential HughesNet Plans come with these features: 24/7 live technical support there to help you with all your needs including setting up email accounts and billing questions; 5 free email accounts with up to 2GB of email storage allowing for plenty of room for storing photos, videos, and files; email defense that blocks and prevents spam mail and viruses via email; a personalized start page just like AOL or any other large scale internet service provider; HughesNet offers it’s customers a personalized start page with email, news, and other important content HughesNet customers specify; equipment and standard installation is included with all HughesNet packages and all HughesNet packages come standard with a 24 month equipment warranty covering the satellite dish and modem.

Residential HughesNet packages range from $59.99-$79.99 per month and normal installation is available within 3-6 business days of purchase.

NFL Update

Baltimore Ravens
Ravens linebacker Tony Fein was arrested and charged Sunday with assaulting a police officer at a restaurant, the police said. Fein, an undrafted rookie from Mississippi, was eating dinner at a restaurant in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor neighborhood when a security officer thought he saw him pass a handgun to one of his friends, the police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. The item turned out to be a cellphone. When the police questioned Fein, 27, he became belligerent and shoved the officer, Guglielmi said. Sgt. Joseph Donato was knocked to the ground and had an injured elbow, a police report said.

Cincinnati Bengals
Quarterback Carson Palmer did some light tossing, but did not practice with the team.

Palmer, who has a sprained left ankle, is questionable for Thursday’s preseason game against St. Louis. He missed much of last season with an elbow injury.

Receiver Chad Ochocinco won’t have to kick extra points anymore.

The Cincinnati Bengals signed rookie kicker Sam Swank from Wake Forest, giving them another option while Shayne Graham recovers from a groin injury. Graham couldn’t kick during a preseason game at New England on Thursday, prompting Ochocino to kick an extra point.

Denver Broncos
Brandon Marshall’s feud with the Broncos continued on Saturday, with the disgruntled wide receiver left back in Denver while the rest of the team lost a preseason game at Seattle.

“Everybody who was ready and able to play in this game was here. And everybody we deemed not ready and able stayed back home,” Broncos first-year coach Josh McDaniels said late Saturday night after Denver’s 27-13 loss.

The coach added he “absolutely” expected Marshall to participate when the Broncos return to practice Tuesday.

Marshall spent two days last week working almost exclusively with the scout team after saying he was nowhere near mastering the new offense.

He is upset with the Broncos over their refusal to redo his contract after consecutive 100-catch seasons or to trade him. He’s also angry with their handling of his acquittal on battery charges last week.

New England Patriots
New England released second-year tight end Tyson DeVree.

The 6-foot-6, 245-pound DeVree was originally signed by the Patriots as a rookie free agent out of Colorado in 2008. He was a member of the Patriots’ practice squad for nine weeks last season before being signed to the 53-man roster.

DeVree made his NFL debut against Seattle on Dec. 7 and also played against Arizona on Dec. 21.

The Patriots have four tight ends in camp, all veterans: Benjamin Watson, Chris Baker, Alex Smith and David Thomas.

Carolina Panthers
Panthers Pro Bowl middle linebacker Jon Beason left Saturday’s loss to Miami with a left knee injury. Beason insisted he had not suffered a season-ending torn anterior cruciate ligament. Beason’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said the injury was a strained medial collateral ligament, and he was optimistic his client could return for the start of the regular season . . . Buccaneers linebacker Angelo Crowell will miss the season with a torn biceps muscle. The seventh-year pro was hurt during Saturday’s win at Jacksonville. The former Buffalo defensive captain signed as a free agent after sitting out 2008 because of a knee injury . . . Seahawks center Chris Spencer injured his leg against Denver and will have tests to determine how long he will be out.

Philadelphia Eagles
Michael Vick showed no signs of rust during Eagles practice Sunday, throwing tight spirals with plenty of velocity.
Offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said head coach Andy Reid will probably make a decision Tuesday if Vick will make his preseason debut Thursday at home against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Vick worked with offensive assistants James Urban and Doug Pederson on Sunday.
“Every day he works with James and Doug he picks up a little more,” Mornhinweg said. “He hasn’t played in two years, so a lot of it is just getting him into football shape.”

Chicago Bears
Jay Cutler gave a glimpse of why he was a Pro Bowl quarterback last season, and how he can transform the Chicago Bears’ offense by his mere presence.

In his first game with his new team at Soldier Field, Cutler played only three series and the Bears scored on all three in a 17-3 exhibition win over the New York Giants on Saturday night.

Cutler’s 8-for-13 passing performance for 121 yards included a TD pass to Desmond Clark and a couple of nice hookups with his former Vanderbilt teammate Earl Bennett.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Linebacker Angelo Crowell will miss the season with a torn biceps muscle.

The seventh-year pro was hurt during Saturday night’s preseason victory at Jacksonville. The former Buffalo defensive captain signed with the Bucs as a free agent after sitting out all of 2008 because of a knee injury.

Raheem Morris is keeping his options open on Tampa Bay’s starting quarterback.

The first-year coach has been promising a decision before the third preseason game, but raised the possibility the competition between Byron Leftwich and Luke McCown could be extended another week.

Neither player has established himself as the clear-cut No. 1, although Leftwich appeared to be the front-runner before McCown played well in Saturday night’s 24-23 preseason victory at Jacksonville.

Washington Redskins
Quarterback Jason Campbell has played five series this exhibition season, has a completion percentage of 30.8 and enters perhaps the most important week of the preseason coming off a statistically dismal 1-for-7 performance in Saturday night’s 17-13 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Still, Coach Jim Zorn provided a positive assessment of the situation.

“I thought Jason did a nice job getting us into the right play,” Zorn said.

A day after the Redskins’ first offensive unit failed to score a touchdown for the second consecutive preseason game, Zorn downplayed any disappointment in Campbell’s performance, concentrating more on the fifth-year quarterback’s decision-making process than on the execution of his passes.

Seattle Seahawks
The starting center Chris Spencer has an injured leg and will have more tests to determine how long he will be out.

Spencer hurt his left quadriceps muscle in the second quarter of Saturday night’s 27-13 preseason win over Denver.

He was taken to the locker room on a motorized cart.

Seahawks coach Jim Mora called the injury “the most serious” of assorted bumps and bruises.

Seattle is already without nine-time Pro Bowl left tackle Walter Jones on its jumbled offensive line. The 35-year-old had his second knee surgery in eight months last week and is out indefinitely.

Australia Satellite TV – How to Watch Satellite TV in Australia

Australians are caught with quite a number of options to watch satellite TV in Australia. Whether it is satellite TV services like SelecTV or Kansat, using satellite TV dish systems or watching TV via normal terrestrial reception, there are too many alternatives to select from when one wants to watch Australia satellite TV. This article will show you what is needed and offer some useful tips about the options to watch satellite TV in Australia.

There are mainly three direct methods to watch satellite TV in Australia. One is to go for satellite TV services that offer monthly TV packages, satellite TV equipment and installation suppliers and lastly is simply to tap on PC satellite TV software. Essentially, all make use of free to air TV broadcasts to deliver satellite TV channels to viewers.

Using Australian satellite TV services mean that you would select a TV package of your choice to watch satellite TV in Australia. The TV packages normally vary in terms of the number of TV channels from a few to over 20 TV channels and prices. Pricing generally is tied to the number of channels available – the more channels, the pricier it would be. Payment would be in the form of monthly bills and range from $20 and above. So it works out to be about $300 in a year.

Other than using Australia satellite TV services, you can use a satellite TV equipment supplier like Kansat. These are satellite TV services that only deal with the equipment and installation. Since it is possible to receive free to air satellite TV channels to watch satellite TV in Australia using a satellite dish system, all one needs is to make sure that the equipment setup is done properly. The price tag on the system varies but it is quite normal to pay more than $300 for a complete dish system.

The last method to watch satellite TV in Australia which is using PC satellite TV software enables your computer to function just like a satellite TV. Each PC satellite TV software package comes complete with a TV listing of more than 2000 satellite TV channels. You can get to watch world TV channels like news, movie channels, sports channels, music channels, VOOM high definition channels, interactive channels like shopping channels and more. What you need is simply the software that costs you a ‘whopping’ one-time $50 maximum and an internet connection.

These are the three most popular methods to watch satellite TV in Australia. Probably you have been so used to the satellite TV dish systems that it is almost unconceivable to be watching satellite TV on PC in Australia. But the truth is using PC satellite TV software is catching up very quickly in the urban towns and the suburbs are following the trend as well. For a price tag of $50, it is affordable for most families. TV viewers love to have more choices, and the wide selection offered by the PC satellite TV software definitely is very appealing to viewers. Compare this against some of the monthly subscriptions you are paying, you would definitely see the vast difference in terms of the value you are getting.

Read up more about satellite TV and the PC satellite TV software people are using to watch satellite TV in Australia and many parts of the world through my satellite TV blog.

Portable GPS Units, Key To Finding Your Way

The early handheld or portable GPS units were designed for military personnel. They tended to be bulkier and somewhat cumbersome to use. Now that GPS technology has been made available to civilians, the GPS units themselves have improved in one essential area of design: portability. The new portable GPS units allow consumers to have as much GPS power as soldiers have and in some cases have more features. This article will discuss the three types of portable GPS units available on the market: GPS units used exclusively for tracking purposes, GPS units designed for navigation and portable GPS units which can be used for both.

Portable GPS units designed for tracking are available in a variety of forms. The first are known as GPS auto trackers. The portable version of GPS auto trackers are usually battery-operated and can be conveniently put in the car’s glove compartment. The next type of portable GPS unit with tracking capabilities are personal GPS systems. They can be a small device that looks like a cell-phone, (which can be placed in one’s pocket, purse or backpack), built in special GPS watches or even in tennis shoes. These systems can be used to track loved ones, (especially children), or for exercise performance purposes. The latter is done by allowing a person to track how far and fast they might have walked or jogged. Finally, there are GPS units that can track expensive personal belongings, such as laptops. These types of portable GPS units can be placed in a USB or flash card slot.

On the other end of the spectrum are portable GPS units designed for navigation, also known as GPS navigators. GPS navigators can either be handheld or designed for use in a car. Handheld GPS navigators look similar to a cell phone. The graphics can either be in color or in black or white. GPS navigators designed for the car are generally rectangular and can be connected to the windshield by suction cups. Both types of GPS navigators allow a person to obtain directions and maps as they are on the road. Sophisticated portable GPS navigators communicate directions through a computer-generated voice.

Combination portable GPS units are designed for both navigational and tracking capabilities. An example can be seen through GPS-enabled cell phones. The downside to these at least in comparison to GPS navigators is that they only work in areas that have that particular cell phone company’s coverage. If the area does not have coverage, the cell phone GPS won’t work well. However the portable GPS units navigation capabilities are not affected by poor cell phone coverage.

Portable GPS units can be used for tracking, navigation or a combination of the two. Indeed, these GPS units offer quite a bit of GPS power, considering their reduced size. With a device that is small enough to fit in one’s pocket, people are offered two things: the ability to get to their chosen destination on time or the ability to keep a ‘virtual’ eye on expensive possessions or loved ones. Price-wise portable GPS units with the tracking capability will be a bit more expensive, but in the long run when one is ensured that everything and everyone most dear to them is where they are supposed to be, it won’t take long to realize the money would be well-spent.