Satellite TV- a few questions for those of you who have it....

We have fairly dodgy TV reception where we live and have applied for and received approval for the installation of a satellite dish.
We rang around and it appears it is going to cost us about $700 for the dish and then around $400 for each decoder box (and each TV using the dish needs its own decoder box).....
An antenna guy we are using is trying his best to get us good reception with some digital antennae, but we may still need the satellite.
For those of you with satellite TV, does this pricing sounds right, and more importantly what are your experiences with it? Good/bad? Lose reception sometimes? What channels do you get etc etcetera etc?

Not sure how much it is to install because it was already here we have Foxtel satellite and have been here for three years now. It's been fine we have only lost reception a handful of times due to solar interference admins it only happens for a few minutes

We have the VAST system in our home and we only had 1 box installed along with the dish about 3yrs ago and it cost us $700 back then. We didn't worry about other TV's as we still get some digital reception but it is hit and miss, but not worth the extra cost.

Out TV signal comes from Outback QLD and NT, so it is funny to be in regional Vic and get adds from Alice Springs :) but apart from that we get good reception, the only time it is lost is if we have a major storm and the satellite is blocked just like if you have foxtel.

We get all the normal channels plus you get SBS and all the ABC channels for all states (so if you miss something on ABC 1 at 7.30pm for example you can watch it on the WA ABC 1 3 hours later). Only negative for us is as the signal is from QLD/NT during footy season we don't get the AFL Footy Show at 8.30pm like local TV as it is on at 11pm like in QLD. However we do get the programs at the correct time during Daylight Savings, so even though the signal is from a non Daylight Saving state it doesn't affect us.

If we were Rugby League fans it would be good as we get all the NRL games, but we aren't so no benefit for us.

Cos here in Alice Springs we have such good ads too TaRhLi! :P....not!!!
We only have satellite here in the desert, yes the costs sound right, but have you rung foxtel and seen if they'll do the installation? That's how we have ours and we get all the free to air channels too.
Storms, smoke, even high wind do pop it out sometimes, but mostly it's reliable.

[QUOTE=~Kim~;3371736]Cos here in Alice Springs we have such good ads too TaRhLi! :P....not!!![QUOTE]

Lol, I so know what stores are at Alice Plaza should I ever get to Alice Springs, but not so helpful when I shop in Ballarat :)

DO you get the drinking and grog running ads too?