We cancelled our service last year with dish, but we still have an old 211 receiver with an ota tuner. I went to hook it up to the antenna, and I got a message saying my receiver's HD service wasn't activated. What gives? Why do I have to pay to use the OTA tuner in MY equipment?
211 As OTA Tuner?
- Thread starter js6425
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Yes, it's your equipment, but it's for use on their service. There's nothing shady about this. It directly parallels buying a mobile phone; if you don't have a phone number (service by some wireless provider), the only thing the phone can do is dial 911, and that's only because Federal law requires it.
I just thought it was weird, because I wasn't using any aspect of their service, just my local airwaves. That would be your 911 service on an unactivated cell phone, imho.
There are other types of equipment that will give you an ota tuner, including the tv's themself. Why should Dish give you something you can use if you are not using their service when you can get it for free elsewhere.
Try hooking it up to broadband or the phone. You doing anything wrong, plus it is your receiver.
Or you could sell it on Craigs List or Ebay, or even on this website and then by an OTA box.
Or you could sell it on Craigs List or Ebay, or even on this website and then by an OTA box.
Let's keep this metaphor going:
The way Dish sees it, the 211's tuner is only there to compensate for their lack of satellite bandwidth; it allows you to get HD broadcasts that they simply cannot or have not yet provided. More like the streaming music player on a phone, compensating for a lack of onboard MP3 storage on said phone. This is a feature which will not function if the phone isn't active. It's a value-add feature that compliments their service, not a matter of life and death.
Reinforcing their POV, if you don't subscribe to local service as a Dish customer, the OTA tuners on ALL of their boxes are incapable of downloading OTA guide data. The guide info is downloaded via satellite, making a dish-less box almost entirely useless. You can't even access My Recordings on a DVR without first pinging the satellite to verify service.
mruk69 makes the best suggestion. Looks like you may be able to get $40-60 for it at auction, which will just cover the cost of a good OTA box. Unless you have a government coupon, in which case you'll definitely get a good OTA box for $100.
The way Dish sees it, the 211's tuner is only there to compensate for their lack of satellite bandwidth; it allows you to get HD broadcasts that they simply cannot or have not yet provided. More like the streaming music player on a phone, compensating for a lack of onboard MP3 storage on said phone. This is a feature which will not function if the phone isn't active. It's a value-add feature that compliments their service, not a matter of life and death.
Reinforcing their POV, if you don't subscribe to local service as a Dish customer, the OTA tuners on ALL of their boxes are incapable of downloading OTA guide data. The guide info is downloaded via satellite, making a dish-less box almost entirely useless. You can't even access My Recordings on a DVR without first pinging the satellite to verify service.
mruk69 makes the best suggestion. Looks like you may be able to get $40-60 for it at auction, which will just cover the cost of a good OTA box. Unless you have a government coupon, in which case you'll definitely get a good OTA box for $100.
If you connect the 211 to a dish seeing 110 and 119, you might get OTA back, but you might not. It depends on whether the OTA tuner is deactivated with loss of Dish service or with loss of Dish connection via satellite.
You will be able to see the few FTA (Free to Air) satellite channels the Dish broadcasts - like NASA, etc.
You will be able to see the few FTA (Free to Air) satellite channels the Dish broadcasts - like NASA, etc.
I don't think the ota tuner works for subscribers either unless you pay the hd enabling fee. When I first got my 622 I was sd only and could not scan my local ota channels, even though I subscribed to satellite locals.
