I personally have not had DirecTV, and never will because of the experience my parents had with them. They had the obvious outages with bad weather too. But the major thing was Dad bought a box to put in a spare room, he didn't activate it right away and then they sold their place and moved. They could not put DirecTV at the new place (not allowed), so he had to cancel his plan and go with cable. He had been a customer for many years at this point. They tried to charge him for not activating that unused box, plus the rental on it for two years (he already paid for it, but they said it was theirs). They also tried to charge him for an early termination fee. There were some other fees too that I can't remember. This added up to a lot of money, it was ridiculous! I fought with them on his behalf and he filed complaints with the FCC, etc....he won!
Before this happened, my husband and I thought we'd try is since we only have the option for Comcast and hate them! I signed up for 1 year at a great rate. When I received the email confirmation it stated that I signed a 2-year contract which I did not. I called and they confirmed that this rate was only good for 1 year, but I was obligated for 2 years....hmmm....so I asked what kind of rate will I have after the first year? Their response "I don't know". So the price could double and I would be contractually obligated to pay it? "yes". I was within the 24-hour window so I could cancel - whew!

This is just our experience with them. I know people that absolutely love them and some that dislike them very much. All I advise is that you read all of the fine print very carefully!!

Good Luck!
Nanc