And the Winner Is ....

[roadrhino]

Just under a month ago I asked how long it would be until a disconnect signal is sent to a receiver and n0qcu answered "could be in a month". He wins the prize (although he was the only one offering a timeframe).

The loser is ... me. Last night at midnight the AT180/HBO/Encore package that my friend had been paying for until early May was shut off. Oh well, nearly all of my watching was on other channels anyways.

On the other hand, this did make me think that perhaps they shut off service as of the end of the time my friend had already prepaid. Working off of this new theory, I am wondering if I wait a few months (say until October) until I plug in her other receiver and switch my service over to it ... how long would it likely be until a disconnect signal is sent to that receiver. n0qcu suggests that the rate of sending such signals decreases with time. Is there ever a time when I can be relatively sure that they are not sending any more disconnect signals?

Again hoping against hope that I can game the system...

Redrhino

 

[SimpleSimon]

You are talking about stealing a signal. That is wrong, illegal, and not allowed on this forum.

 

[roadrhino]

You are talking about stealing a signal. That is wrong, illegal, and not allowed on this forum.

You have a good point, but there are
many in this forum who seem to disagree with you (and some who agree as well).

In that thread, boba writes:

If the receiver was disconnected before DISH sent out a command to turn off the equipment's reception and that receiver sat in a closet for 3-4 months it will still receive the services it was last turned on for. If you reconnect it and the information is in DISH'S data stream to turn off that receiver it will shut off the programming, but if the data stream no longer has that information it will stay on. This is true with blue cards, but yellow cards seem to turn off unless they are contimously connected to the data stream. Watch the free programming until DISH turns it off it is DISH system failure not theft of service.

You may disagree and boba may have his biases, but his opinion seems at least as well reasoned as yours, perhaps better.

Dish has the technology to shut off channels at will (they did it to me last night). If they feel that this method of viewing programming is theft they can send out more frequent disconnect signals. They've clearly done some sort of cost-benefit analysis of this situation (or they should!) and seem to have decided that the frequency of sending out such disconnect signals should decrease with time.

Again, if I have committed no crime (I got the receiver as a gift from a friend and pay for the programming I am willing to pay for ... honestly, for me HBO and Discovery Kids to me are not worth the extra fees Dish would charge me ... I rarely watch any of these channels) and if Dish chooses to send disconnect signals rather infrequently ... how do you justify calling this theft?

Respectfully ...

Redrhino