1/9 Charlie Chat Recap

[BobMurdoch]

OK, here's my scenario......

I own a 921, a 510, two 508s, and a 4900 which are all activated (the 4900 will be relegated to reserve status when the refurb 311 I won on the chat chat last night arrives -- thanx Scott and the PG! - It PAYS to be in the chat, and to be named BOB last night - various Bobs took most of the loot, but I digress)

If I wait until April 1st, I can swap my 921 for a 622 for $99 (if I don't need installation does it drop to $49? - I have 2 SW64s being fed by a Dish 500 at 110/119 and a Dish 300 at 61.5 - I live in NYC market so I should be fine with that correct?).

However, if I swap my 4900 for a 622, keep the 921 for my bedroom (standard TV, but I may upgrade in the next year or two.... I won't need the other channels there), and pass on the rebate, it will cost me $299, but I get to keep my 921, order early and avoid the crushing rush that will befall them on April 1st (and most likely delay me getting one until May or June), and get the new channels as soon as the 622 ships.

It's a better offer than most of us expected (don't forget the labor and switch upgrades many of you will need), but it is a little confusing... We need to find out:

1. Is the rebate really available even if you jump the gun? (it sounds like he is trying to stagger demand with this to get machines in early adopters hands for $299, and to have others snap them up when the upgrade price drops to $99). Otherwise why bother with the April 1st date, unless he is trying to confuse people into delaying, while still paying the rebate to Feb/March buyers who complain in April.

2. If we don't need dish or switch upgrades, does the standard professional install charge get waived?

3. When exactly are the two new receivers available to order? I've heard 2/1 for the 211, but no firm date for the 622.

Inquiring minds want to know......

 

[bowens]

I'm going to upgrade my 811 to a 211 but does anybody know if the 211 comes with any cables? I see that it has HDMI but my tv only has DVI. I know that one of the DVRs (maybe the 942?) came with a converter cable.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

1 No if you get installed before April 1st then its $299

2 No, even if they drive up and hand you the receiver you will still get charged. I don't have a problem with it.

3 The 211 is available now. Dishstore is getting rid of the remaining 411's before they start shipping the 211's.

The 622 will be available on February 1st however only one or two will be available then just so Dish can say they are now shipping.

 

[BobMurdoch]

Lease fee has been $5 per month instead of the $4.99 per month extra receiver fee. So it is a wash if you take an owned receiver off line and replace it with a leased one.

The only negatives I see with leases......

1. You can't resell them later.
2. If you damage the unit (fire, flood, lightning, or other bizarre physical damage), you have to pay to replace it
3. a potential monthly fee (although most now say they charge for them anymore... when I was a "Digital Dynamite" lease customer they hit me up for $5 extra PLUS $5 for each additional receiver - I am an AEP customer now, so the PVR fee doesn't hit me - which is important since I have 4 PVRs active)

One extra positive... If "their" receiver's hard drive dies, is it "their" responsibility to fix it on their dime instead of mine?

 

[Indy]

OK, this is what I don't get. I OWN all my equipment. 2 -811's and a Dish 6000. In order to upgrade to the VIP 211 receivers I have to give Dish one of my HD receivers for each leased VIP211 I upgrade to ? And pay what a new subscriber does for the leased equipment? Why do I have to give Dish my receivers? Am I missing something in what Charlie said last night or did I hear this wrong?

Someone please explain what EXACTLY Charlie said so I can start dialing the phone to cancel my service.

 

[mdonnelly]

OK, this is what I don't get. I OWN all my equipment. 2 -811's and a Dish 6000. In order to upgrade to the VIP 211 receivers I have to give Dish one of my HD receivers for each leased VIP211 I upgrade to ? And pay what a new subscriber does for the leased equipment? Why do I have to give Dish my receivers? Am I missing something in what Charlie said last night or did I hear this wrong?
Someone please explain what EXACTLY Charlie said so I can start dialing the phone to cancel my service.

Indy - how much do you pay for the "Additional Receiver Fee"? That goes away, and is repaced by the "Lease Fee". Same $5/receiver. What you DO lose is the resale value of your receivers.

 

[BobMurdoch]

1 No if you get installed before April 1st then its $299

2 No, even if they drive up and hand you the receiver you will still get charged. I don't have a problem with it.

3 The 211 is available now. Dishstore is getting rid of the remaining 411's before they start shipping the 211's.

The 622 will be available on February 1st however only one or two will be available then just so Dish can say they are now shipping.

Thanks for the fast answers.....

One more...... Does E* plan on taking the orders themselves, or do we have to go through a retailer? It sounds like it will be faster if we call them directly (if they will only trickle out a handful to retailers in Feb.)

I may pass on the $200 to keep a spare HD receiver on hand (plus they will probably have a mandatory swap out in a year or two when they try to grab back all the mpeg2 spectrum to switch them all to Mpeg4).

Thanks Scott, you were right. It sounds like a fair deal and most of us are satisfied. There will always be an angry few who added 942s recently or who hate the idea of a lease vs. owning their equipment, but I think this deal is better than most of us expected....

 

[dont24]

BobMurdoch, I'm in almost the same situation as you. I live in Mass. I have a leased 942. Own a 501, 508, and 510. Already have a Dish500, 61.5 dish, along with DishPro Plus lnbfs and DPP44 switch. Can I order a leased 622 for $299, replacing one of my 5xx recievers and keep the 942? Then when April comes around, can I then take advantage of the $99 upgrade offer? ( 942 --> 622 ) Looking to add an HD LCD in the bedroom. Would be nice to be able to lease 2 622s.

 

[BobMurdoch]

OK, this is what I don't get. I OWN all my equipment. 2 -811's and a Dish 6000. In order to upgrade to the VIP 211 receivers I have to give Dish one of my HD receivers for each leased VIP211 I upgrade to ? And pay what a new subscriber does for the leased equipment? Why do I have to give Dish my receivers? Am I missing something in what Charlie said last night or did I hear this wrong?
Someone please explain what EXACTLY Charlie said so I can start dialing the phone to cancel my service.

If you REALLY hate the deal, buy a cheap used receivers and give them those as trade ins. The 6000 and 811 resale market just collapsed so they should be available cheap.

OR sell them if you think you can get more than that for them and pocket the difference.

Then again, you can just stand pat and wait around for a better deal. The extra channels are meant to entice you to upgrade now. Wait a year, and they may do like they did with the Dish500 upgrades.... a free upgrade in order to get you to trade in your receivers so they can turn off the Mpeg2 streams....

 

[CPanther95]

You guys have to be happy - it could have been MUCH worse. Not crazy about the whole "pay a fee for the privilege of leasing" idea, but that cherry was popped a while ago. Plus it's the only way to have a consistent lease rate for a bunch of receivers with varying value.

I'd give them a B+ for the pricing, but I'm still not crazy about the way they are artificially creating the demand for upgrade. At least they are creating that demand with a big rollout of new HD channels. The alternative is the D* approach which is going to be free upgrades - but only because there is no real reason to want to upgrade.

BTW - my first Charlie Chat (chat room only) last night - the chaos was very entertaining.

 

[Indy]

Indy - how much do you pay for the "Additional Receiver Fee"? That goes away, and is repaced by the "Lease Fee". Same $5/receiver. What you DO lose is the resale value of your receivers.

That is exactly my point. I loose the value of something I paid for. I paid so that I am not under any kind of contract for service other than month to month.

Did anyone stop to ask if a commitment is required for the upgrade? This is alot like Voom's business model in the last two months of their DBS business. They did not ask for my Dish equipment. Voom also was a better service all the way around.

In my opinion the 811's I paid $300 each for and the 6000 I paid $500 for are worth more than the $50 credeit towards the service call. I would rather sell the recivers and pay what the non HD cutomers pay to upgrade. But...I don't think that is an option for existing HD subs, as usual.

 

[Building]

I'm building a new house, and I'm curious if any of you could help me with these questions about the Vip622:

1. Are the HDMI and Component outputs for TV1 both hot (active) at the same time?
2. Will the TV2 remote be able to change TV1 channels?
3. When it down-converts HD shows to TV2, is it still in a 16:9 format?
4. Do they work with VOIP telephone service?

 

[mdonnelly]

Ah well, for those of us who either leased from the beginning, or got our receivers free for a committment through the Dishin'-it-up promo, these upgrade offers are more than fair.

 

[Kevin Elm]

Will the upgrade to HD and Dish 1000 include a DP 44 switch?

Here is my current setup: Legacy Quad LNBF Dish 500 - 721, 510, 4900 receivers. This uses up all 4 feeds from the Quad.

I want to swap the 4900 for a 621. So I'll need 5 feeds. Would there be an extra charge for a switch?

 

[ggw2000]

Supers & Distant Networks

My biggest concern is what happens if you change to these new HD bronze, etc. programming structures. I currently still get CBS/LA and supers for the $11.99 price point. I believe this pricing doesn't exist anymore, and correct me if I'm wrong, you can't get East/West distants anymore either.
So, does anyone know for sure, if you change programming, will you screw yourself out of your distants/pricing?

Currently Supers and Distants are NOT a part of any package (ie AEP). I believe that that this will continue and if you wish to pay extra (as I do) for them then they will stay that way.. Gerry

 

[mebgardener]

This thread has not answered the confusing lease fees. Please set the record straight for me so I can make an informed decision.

- I own my 811
- I subscribe to the AT120 ($37.99) and HD Package ($9.99)
- Local/State tax is $3.36
- My total monthly bill is $51.34

I want to upgrade to the Vip622 DVR. The initial charge is $299. What will my monthly bill look like?

 

[KeithInDallas]

So can anyone answer this question for me... I own my 942 (it's six months old). Do I have to turn it in to get the ViP 622 LEASE? Or do I get to lease the 622 and KEEP the 942 that I own.

I believe this is a big issue to those of us that own our 942's... especially after Charlie said in the Nov. chat that Mpeg 4 was not going to happen for quite a while.

 

[Juan]

This thread has not answered the confusing lease fees. Please set the record straight for me so I can make an informed decision.
- I own my 811
- I subscribe to the AT120 ($37.99) and HD Package ($9.99)
- Local/State tax is $3.36
- My total monthly bill is $51.34
I want to upgrade to the Vip622 DVR. The initial charge is $299. What will my monthly bill look like?

5 dollars more for the "dvr" fee and 1 penny more than the "additional receiver" fee and the additional 5 dolllars for the new improved "silver package"

 

[mebgardener]

Thanks Juan! I think that this is a fair deal for me. I am going for it!

 

[mwgiii]

Ah well, for those of us who either leased from the beginning, or got our receivers free for a committment through the Dishin'-it-up promo, these upgrade offers are more than fair.

QFT (quoted for truth)

But, where someone (me) paid $950 for a 921 18 months ago (lease was not an option at that time), paying $299 or $99 to lease a receiver and have to turn in my 921 is less than fair.

This upgrade path sucks for us!