Great timing, Marcie. Our Direct TV is on the blink & we are spending the weekend comparing Direct TV to DISH. We don't have cable as a choice. We live in a rural area where this has been a PITA "problem" with Don annually making an issue out of it with the local cable company. We were told we would have to PAY for the cable to be trenched from the nearest pole to our house because the cable franchise agreement stipulates that the cable company is only required to pay for the 1st 200-300 feet. (We're 900 feet away. Isn't this interesting?!) No way we're going to do that so cable has never been an option for us.

My reason for going into all this gobble-ee-gook is that we've had 12 years of experience with satellite TV service and live on a VERY windy hill where 60+ mph winds visit us in the winter. Karen's right - it occasionallY goes out with the wind, rain, etc., but doesn't happen often enough to bother us. (We don't have to worry about rain/snow (editing to add: and hurricanes!) here in SoCal, that's for sure!) We've been nursing our Direct TV equipment for ages but it's on its last leg now. Would love to have cable, especially with its high speed Internet. Good luck with all this.