Cable to satellite tv switch?

Question

I'm trying to get rid of my cable service - primarily because i hate charter communications... the signal is crap, half the channels look like their coming in through rabbit ears. sometimes, for no apparent reason, all my movie channels will just up and shut down. they say "for subscription details, press info." I ALREADY SUBSCRIBED!!! i have a 57" hd tv so every little detail counts, i want top of the line picture and sound quality. i want to upgrade to dish network or directv, or another satellite provider that may exist i dont know about. i want your overall opinion about what i want to do, as well as answers to these questions:
does satellite tv still have problems during stormy weather?
is the internet service provided with satellite comparable to cable?
is the picture quality much better with satellite compared to digital cable?

thanks in advance!

Answer 1

I feel for your Charter angst. I have Charter cable modem and am decently satisfied. I didn't switch to Charter Digital TV from DirecTV because Charter refuses to carry NFL Network.

You asked three questions:

1) Satellite TV will always have problems w/ rain fade, or stormy weather. It's simply the nature of the frequency the systems operate on. It doesn't happen as often as the haters like to say they do, but it does seem to happen at those times when you wish you had TV on those stormy nights.

2) Sadly no, and the biggest problem satellite internet (Hughesnet) has is supporting VPNs, esp if you need to access one remotely for work. The scheme that satellite IP uses is not compatible w/ VPNs because of the compression required to support the high speeds. You need to shell out $$ to get the dish and modem setup to support satellite IP. And the price of satellite IP is still more expensive than cable modem without TV service.

3) That I cannot answer since I don't have an HDTV myself, much less HDTV service.