We had been Comcast customers for many, many years. When our new construction house was finished 3 years ago, Comcast hadn't dropped cable lines on our street yet (we live on a very tiny street, just 3 houses). So we were forced to do something else, even for internet. I looked hard at both DirecTV and Dish, and for us, the comparison wasn't even close. DirectTV was a far better offering. We signed up with them 3 years ago and haven't left, even though Comcast has since put down lines. We do have Comcast now for internet, but have stayed with DirecTV. Mainly, we like it for NFL Sunday Ticket, but the channel line up is fine. I will add in a slight * because we don't watch ANY premium channels like HBO, etc...so we're a bit different.
Signal strength is fine. It will go out in heavy rain, but it's not very often.