Frank
I too am frustrated. Same exact problem. I have a state of the art wireless router that gives me 30Mbps wireless speeds in the same room as the receiver. Was watching a movie when it suddenly stopped. I restarted but could not fast forward, claimed it had to buffer. Called tech support, eventually they revealed they had a technical issue with video download (not the equipment in your home, the equipment on their end that streams movies to all directv customers).
This bit about 100 ft cables and hardwiring is a load of crap. Wifi is a well understood, robust solution these days (last I checked it was 2014).
I will give them time to figure out their issues and if not will have to switch providers. Disappointing, I really like DirecTV. As for people not screaming, from the likes of this forum they are. I think most people when stuff like this happens shrug their shoulders and deal with it (or run out to a theater).