When the price of regular basic cable in my town started to approach $50 a month, I knew I had to do something. I had always seen satellite ads and had friends with "the dish" but for some reason was always a bit leery. I would flirt with it and let myself be scared off by the prospect of no local channels or the stories of weather interference. Well I have had my Direct TV system for 3 weeks now and I can't believe I waited this long. It is the best thing I've done in terms of household entertainment.

First the specifics, I purchased my system at directtv.com. I paid $15 for shipping and handling and for that price I got my dish, my receiver and installation included. I subscribe to the Total Choice Package of programming which is 31.99 a month. I also invested $50 for a Terk antenna at Radio Shack to pick up local channels(more on that later).

People often compare satellite rates to base cable rates, which isn't really fair. The more accurate comparison is to digital cable, which satellite behaves like. You get a plethora of channels (ok most of them are as worthless as before), tons of pay per view options, and nice little features like setting your TV to go to a certain show at a time in the future. You also get information on what you're watching and what's coming up at the touch of a button.

The equipment is simple to use. My wife has very little interest and mastered it in an evening. We are down to one universal remote, which is a nice bonus as well. The installer is efficient, helpful and doesn't treat you like an idiot. We have used most of the features so far and have liked the pay-per-view movies the best. DirectTV also offers great options like favorite channel lists so you don't have to slog through 500 channels every time, and parental controls so I can limit what and how much children in my house watch.

I live in a small city so the only downside to satellite is losing my local channels. As mentioned before I addressed this by purchasing an antenna at Radio Shack. I was nervous but even my confused self installed it in less than 30 minutes on my dish. It works reasonably well and gives the kind of reception those of you who are over 30 remember form your non-cable childhoods. If you simply can't take this most cable companies have a deal where you get local channels for a fee that still doesn't exceed the basic cable fee when added to your direct tv subscription.

In summary I love my satellite. I save $18 dollars a month (more if you compare to digital) and I get so much more. Please leave your cable company as soon as possible. it feels really good.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 15