1/9 Charlie Chat Recap

[M Sparks]

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.

GAAAA...but I have ONLY a 942. I have AEP, so there is no PVR fee. And I keep it on the phone line, so there is no extra reciever fee.

So as I see it, my bill will go up $5 (not including the $3 programming increase.) THAT'S why I don't want the lease. I don't mind the upgrade fee, even if it was $199.

 

[NightRyder]

GAAAA...but I have ONLY a 942. I have AEP, so there is no PVR fee. And I keep it on the phone line, so there is no extra reciever fee.
So as I see it, my bill will go up $5 (not including the $3 programming increase.) THAT'S why I don't want the lease. I don't mind the upgrade fee, even if it was $199.

The way I understand Dish leasing is that your primary receiver doesn't carry a lease fee. Since you only have one receiver there shouldn't be a lease fee on it. If I'm mistaken about this, someone please correct me.


NightRyder

 

[DesertBum]

Hello All,

My first post, so bear with me...

I appreciate the wealth of info. that I have been able to gather in my short time since finding this site. I was ready to run out a buy a 942 after getting a HDTV for xmas, but doing some research found your site here and decieded to keep my money until seeing what shakes out.

Watched CC last night on the tube and in the chat room (new experience), have to say that it does make the CC much more entertaining.

I've got a 4900 & 508 recievers, with a 500 & 300 antenna. I would like to get the 622 and see that if I do the lease thing I can get the 1000 antenna with it.

Question is if I do the lease option I wouldn't mind giving up the 4900 and the 300, but would like to keep the 508 & 500. All of the equipment was purchased. Do I have to give them anything, and if so can I pick watch equipment to give them?

What are the advantages/disadvantages to leasing? Are these leases for a certain time frame?

Thanks for the Great Site!
DB

 

[CDH]

Thanks for the detailed summaries of the Chat. I only caught the very end, so didn't see anything about which satellites will be used for future HD programming. This may have been answered in another thread, but I've tried to find it and can't.

I have 110/119 and a separate dish for 61.5. I receive both Voom HD and locals from 61.5.

When I upgrade to the 622 (either for $299 or $99 after 4/1/06) will I need to be able to see 129 from my location (Greenville, SC)? In other words - do I need to replace my dishes with a D1000?

My guess is that since parts of the East can't get 129 that 61.5 will have to carry HD programming for the forseeable future in which case all I'll need is a receiver swap-out. Is this correct?

Do we know if 61.5 will be used for future HD LiL?

CDH.

 

[cnacht]

I currently own a 942 receiver and a 508. I would like to keep my 508, and get 2 VIP 622's. Is the rebate for the return of the leased 942, or just for existing HD customers. If I only get one rebate it would make sense to buy one VIP 622 as soon as they come out. I would hold on to my 942, to get my second VIP 622 in April when the rebates start.
Am I interpreting the offers correctly or if I wait could I get a rebate on both of them?
Thanks,
Chad

 

[jrjcd]

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.

except of course you prefer to OWN your equipment as opposed to house someone else's sat box....believe it or not, some of us don't like to be under charlie's thumb any more than we have to...

 

[mike123abc]

The implied that you get to keep your existing box if you keep it active by showing on the slides: * If Swapping, requires return of existing receiver

And when they talk they imply just by having a 921 or 942 you can get the rebate.

 

[rdinkel]

except of course you prefer to OWN your equipment as opposed to house someone else's sat box....believe it or not, some of us don't like to be under charlie's thumb any more than we have to...

I have always owned my sat equipment and done every install or upgrade myself. But now I am looking at the vip211 lease option. To spend $350 to buy something that will only cost me $50 plus a penny each month says it would take 250 years of leasing to be the same out of pocket cost (ignoring inflation) to upgrade to MPEG4! And those of you who need a new dish or switch get even a better deal. I paid for my Dish1000 and DPP44.

 

[Bradtothebone]

The implied that you get to keep your existing box if you keep it active by showing on the slides: * If Swapping, requires return of existing receiver
And when they talk they imply just by having a 921 or 942 you can get the rebate.

If this is true (and I hope it is), you can lease a new receiver and keep your existing one(s) active for, say, a month and then deactivate and sell them or use them for OTA only. Does that sound right? Or is it simply that, if you lease your existing receiver, then you have to swap?

Another question: If you do an upgrade to a 211 now, and then want to upgrade a 921 to a 622 in April, will they say, "No you did an upgrade in February, you're done for the term of that lease?"

Brad

 

[deuces]

Thanks for the detailed summaries of the Chat. I only caught the very end, so didn't see anything about which satellites will be used for future HD programming. This may have been answered in another thread, but I've tried to find it and can't.
I have 110/119 and a separate dish for 61.5. I receive both Voom HD and locals from 61.5.
When I upgrade to the 622 (either for $299 or $99 after 4/1/06) will I need to be able to see 129 from my location (Greenville, SC)? In other words - do I need to replace my dishes with a D1000?
My guess is that since parts of the East can't get 129 that 61.5 will have to carry HD programming for the forseeable future in which case all I'll need is a receiver swap-out. Is this correct?
Do we know if 61.5 will be used for future HD LiL?
CDH.

I have the same question, can anyone answer it? Only I'm in St Louis.

 

[BobMurdoch]

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.

Ditto.

 

[Cold Irons]

My own view of the leasing vs. owning.....

I have always (probably will always) chose the lease option when I have that option. Heck - I'd lease my Desktop & Laptops at home if I had an affordable option for that.

I figure, that at $5/month, with electronic stuff that I tend to replace/upgrade after about 3 years, I come out ahead on the lease. (3 yrs = 36 months = $180). Stuff like Sat recvrs seem to need to be upgraded before I can get my money's worth at prices near $700.

 

[Seadoo]

Programming Cost

Did anyone notice the HD programming price is now $19.99 versus the $9.99 advertised. HOw does that work. Is there a basic HD $9.99 PAK that you add $10 to get Voom and the other new HD programs and in future will there be even more for local HDS?

 

[jerryez]

For you guys that do NOT want to lease. You can pay full price and buy a receiver from the Dish Store or some place else. The deal is for those that will lease. Quit your bitching!!!

 

[CDH]

For you guys that do NOT want to lease. You can pay full price and buy a receiver from the Dish Store or some place else. The deal is for those that will lease. Quit your bitching!!!

My understanding was that one would no longer be able to purchase Dish receivers, and that they would be moving entirely to a lease model.

Is this not the case?

CDH.

 

[Airblair]

Quit your bitching!!!

YES!! This deal sounds more than fair to me.

I own a 921 and the way I see it, there is no reason whatsoever for Dish to want me to turn it in if/when I take advantage of the April rebate offer.

Do some of you people actually think Dish would want these older receivers? (The ones that are owned, not leased.) They'd take a PR hit for demanding owned equipment, they'd have to store or dispose of these things, and for what purpose? To alleviate any service burden? I thought these suckers only came with a one-year warranty. Or maybe they just don't want any OTA DVRs out there . . . but it's my understanding that you need Dish locals to use these.

In my mind it makes no sense for Dish to want my 921. And I'm looking forward to having another OTA HDTV receiver with my 622.

(Which I might need, since the 622 only has 1 OTA tuner.)

 

[tomdkat]

Scott are we limited to only one 622?

 

[Airblair]

Yeah, as a 921 owner. I agree the upgrade price is good. But NOT so good for those who dished out 250 weeks ago to lease the 942. Payin 250 to rent the thing from Charlie for a couple of weeks, then having to turn around and pay another 100 to rent one that will pick up all the programming IS NOT a deal. Not in my opinion.

But who would have gotten the 942 without knowing it was going to be obsolete? Existing subs had to jump through some hoops to get that special deal, and I find it hard to believe that anyone knowledgeable enough to discover how to get that deal wouldn't know that it would not work with MPEG4 channels.

 

[DWS44]

How will upgrade eligibility work for those that lease multiple HD receivers currently? I am currently leasing an 811 and a 942. If I call and upgrade my 811 to a 211 on 2/1, for instance, will I kill my eligibility to later upgrade the 942 to a 622 in April after the rebate takes effect? Do I need to wait and upgrade both at the same time?

How does all this fit into the old "one upgrade per year" Dish-it-up plan, or whatever they call it?

 

[tonyp56]

So let me ask, I own the 811, and I have a Dish500, I don't subscribe to any HD packages, (haven't for a while) would I be able to pay $49 and get a 211, Dish 1000, and of course get all of the new and current HD channels through Dish? Anyone know?