From working in the internet field as a tech I can tell you that the equipment they provided so far has been new in the box. They are overnighting me a new modem which I expect will be new in box as well. I worked for a while in the business and I've seen it all. I get what you are saying about those companies reissuing the same broken equipment to new customers.
Wow, you're being raped.....We have Gigabit fiber too, $89/mo with no contract or data caps....with that and Sling and a HD antenna and DVR we get everything we need for under $150/mo.
I had DirectV for decades....I was one of the first. Bought my own receiver from them, and the dish, installed it on my chimney...it was about $1000. Sure, the price was cheap per month...this was in the beginning....flash forward decades later and what I had was $157/month minimum and thunderclouds stopped it in a heartbeat no matter how many times I had them come out to 'align' the dish. I finally dropped that antiquated, expensive crap and went digital internet. Over a half decade has passed and NO interruptions people predict - my ISP is pretty good, in fact. Cost is reasonable for the speed and considering Prime, Hulu and NF costs each month, it's STILL less than half that last overpriced, underserved service I got from DirectV.. The fact is that subscribers have left it in droves and they don't care - they're just a bunch of money-changers who are trying to stave off starvation until their retirements when they can cash out. The satellite system is too expensive, they refuse to compete and they lose people every day. If you have decent internet speed available, go that way - DirectV and even Dish will be a thing of the past one day...
I went with Comcast everything, cheaper with decent service. Comcast is nowhere near perfect, but definitely not the worst. I had problems with direct TV and others.
In very early 90s I installed the VERY first directv Dish that came on the market. I have been a Directv service tech since the beginning. I still prefer to keep my internet and satellite service separate. YMMV
I have worked for ATT Comcast and everyone in between they are all the same. Sometimes you get lucky with each service and sometimes you don't.I had nothing but problems from att. Yep you're correct on their modems. I live over 1k foot off the road, they wanted, if I recall correctly 7k$ for a new line, I had quotes for having in done for less than 2k.,att wouldn't accept someone else running a new line, rip off !
