There is a one time fee of $40 for external hard drive DVR enabling on the 211. I think you will really like it though. That's probably the cheapest and easiest solution on the market for a DVR with a subscription service.
Cheapest way to get Dish installed with no contract?
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Still $10. I think I forgot to mention it...so few of them left active on accounts. I have seen more than a few sold to new customers starting up a prepay account, think they sell them super-cheap.
I have seen them go for $99 and below in some places. I know their market shrinks everyday.
Just an update from your loyal OP, I had my service installed yesterday, and I have a story!
Remember how pushy I said the dish chat agents were? Well, I signed up for the Smart Pack at the agent's suggestion since the intro price was the same as the welcome pack. The chat agent explicitly told me twice during the chat that I'd be getting HD (I re-read the conversation that I had thankfully saved just to make sure I wasn't imagining it).
So I get all set up and start flipping channels, and I realize that aside from my locals and premiums, nothing is in HD.
I know you all know where this is going: the Smart Pack doesn't include HD. I had been reading about the Welcome pack but didn't really know anything about the Smart pack other than that according to the chat agent, it was a step up from the Welcome pack. And that I'd be getting HD.
I did another chat with their support yesterday evening who said I must call them in order for someone to help me. Sigh. I prefer chat because 1) we can clearly understand each other without poor-quality phone connections and thick accents, and 2) then I have the communication recorded in writing. Nevertheless, I called in, and the account specialist just told me, "well, sorry, that pack doesn't have HD, but I can upgrade you right now to AT120 for the low price of just $34.95 a month! We kind of went round and round until I requested a supervisor.
I explained to the supervisor my frustration: I felt the chat agent who sold me the service was either a) intentionally vague or b) outright misleading when he told me I'd have HD (I guess technically I did have HD via locals and premium trials) and based on this bad information I entered into a two-year contract which I found distressing. He quickly offered me the AT120 package for $24.95 a month via twelve, $10 monthly statement credits for a year which I reluctantly accepted.
On the one hand, the pricing on the first year is great--I'm glad to be getting so many more channels for only $5 more per month this year, but I'm not sure what next year will hold, as it is going to shoot up to $60/month at that time. I guess I'll probably just go back down to the welcome pack, which actually seems to have a couple more useful channels than the more expensive smart pack.
Averaging the pre-tax numbers, if I stay at the AT120 package (essentially expanded basic cable with HD) 12 months @ $25 + 12 months @ $60 smooths out to $42.50 a month over two years.
I feel like I'm getting about the same value I could have gotten with cable except that cable would have no contract. I was also struck how quickly the supervisor accepted my story and offered the credits. He didn't need to read back over the chat logs, or anything. I kind of think they're used to this sort of situation happening.
Overall I don't blame anybody but myself. I really should have read and been more informed before I agreed to that smart pack.
Remember how pushy I said the dish chat agents were? Well, I signed up for the Smart Pack at the agent's suggestion since the intro price was the same as the welcome pack. The chat agent explicitly told me twice during the chat that I'd be getting HD (I re-read the conversation that I had thankfully saved just to make sure I wasn't imagining it).
So I get all set up and start flipping channels, and I realize that aside from my locals and premiums, nothing is in HD.
I know you all know where this is going: the Smart Pack doesn't include HD. I had been reading about the Welcome pack but didn't really know anything about the Smart pack other than that according to the chat agent, it was a step up from the Welcome pack. And that I'd be getting HD.
I did another chat with their support yesterday evening who said I must call them in order for someone to help me. Sigh. I prefer chat because 1) we can clearly understand each other without poor-quality phone connections and thick accents, and 2) then I have the communication recorded in writing. Nevertheless, I called in, and the account specialist just told me, "well, sorry, that pack doesn't have HD, but I can upgrade you right now to AT120 for the low price of just $34.95 a month! We kind of went round and round until I requested a supervisor.
I explained to the supervisor my frustration: I felt the chat agent who sold me the service was either a) intentionally vague or b) outright misleading when he told me I'd have HD (I guess technically I did have HD via locals and premium trials) and based on this bad information I entered into a two-year contract which I found distressing. He quickly offered me the AT120 package for $24.95 a month via twelve, $10 monthly statement credits for a year which I reluctantly accepted.
On the one hand, the pricing on the first year is great--I'm glad to be getting so many more channels for only $5 more per month this year, but I'm not sure what next year will hold, as it is going to shoot up to $60/month at that time. I guess I'll probably just go back down to the welcome pack, which actually seems to have a couple more useful channels than the more expensive smart pack.
Averaging the pre-tax numbers, if I stay at the AT120 package (essentially expanded basic cable with HD) 12 months @ $25 + 12 months @ $60 smooths out to $42.50 a month over two years.
I feel like I'm getting about the same value I could have gotten with cable except that cable would have no contract. I was also struck how quickly the supervisor accepted my story and offered the credits. He didn't need to read back over the chat logs, or anything. I kind of think they're used to this sort of situation happening.
Overall I don't blame anybody but myself. I really should have read and been more informed before I agreed to that smart pack.
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I came really close to going that route, myself. Decided I could live with a contract in order to save the hassle. I'm kind of on the fence about the decision at this point given how shady the chat agent who sold me the service was.
Understood, none my posts were actually directed at your post ironically. I fully get you just don't want to pay that amount and who can blame you?
Nothing to laugh at, you posted, got responses, and weighed the options. Hope it all works out!
Yes..Don't forget. You are paying for the tech's time to get to the job, his fuel, his talent, his expertise, his materials, etc....He is NOT the hired help.
If you want it done on the cheap, do it yourself.
When you hire the professional, expect to pay for a professional. This is a business. We are NOT getting paid by the hour.
That's the problem. Everyone outside of a particular field thinks everyone who does the kind of work they need "charges too much"....Your expertise as an auto tech has nothing to do with the expertise of a person in another trade.
Funny....When the techs are faced with an irate customer because he have to wait a day or two for service or they find that because their home is surrounded by 70 foot trees they have no hope of satellite reception, we think to our selves, "gee, it's just tv....And with that the customer becomes unreasonable.....Now when we want to be properly compensated for our time, materials and expertise, the customer says "Wow! That is expensive. It's just TV"...
When I first broke into the installation business, I worked for a company that charged $250 for a single receiver install. We got 40%.....They supplied cable and accessories.
I know that using chat has some benefits, as you don't have to fight through offshore accents, but pretty much all the chat agents are in those same offshore call centers, and are just as incompetent. When you call sales, or use chat agents, you are almost, with few exceptions, working with agents not in the US.
Can you drop to the welcome pack when you're on a contract? I always got the impression you couldn't since it was so cheap, but that's more of that information which isn't easy to confirm definitively.
It's (intentionally, IMO) difficult to be accurately informed of all of the options, what is and isn't available with each, the after-promo pricing, etc. (although DISH is much better about the after-promo pricing when compared to Comcast.)
As far as I can tell there is no tool online that allows you to truly compare 2 or more providers (DISH and DirecTV being the logical 2), where you can plug in your requirements (such as: 2 HDTVs with whole home DVR), desired programming (with some kind of rough approximation between DISH and DirecTV packages), premium packages, etc. - and then the tool should consider promos, and calculate a 2 year cost for both. And you should be able to calculate the ETF too, if you want to see if it's cheaper than going no contract with owned stuff.
The real problem would then be trying to add a 3rd option to compare to. AT&T U-verse has fairly standardized pricing I think? But then it gets severely fractured after that.
Whoever operated the site would have to put in the work updating and maintaining the calculator, but then could possibly take advantage of some of the affiliate marketing incentives that might be available, although that could mean for example promoting both satellite companies but you only have a monetized link for DISH.
According to the supervisor I spoke with who offered me the $10 credit for the AT120 pack, yes. Of course since it's a phone call I don't have proof but I asked him this almost verbatim:
"This $24.95 price sounds great, but what happens next year when the price more than doubles? I'm not sure I'll be able to handle $60/mo. If it becomes too much, can I just go down to something like the Welcome Pack to save money while still honoring my contract?"
To which he replied in the affirmative.
But at this point I wouldn't trust anybody I call in and talk to or chat with from dish. I would welcome informed members/employees to chime in here and either confirm or deny it.
I addressed this earlier, but you may have missed it. Nevertheless, a dish installer is not an auto mechanic. It's a different level of skill required. Furthermore, if I had paid for my "professional" install, this is what my $200 would have gotten me: http://imgur.com/kq3ro8J
I told the tech I wanted the cable run horizontally at the ground level and then just straight up into my place, and that's what he did. I wasn't particularly impressed.
You can get any package while on or off contract. If you are receiving new customer credits they would be adjusted to the package you now have.
Touche gentleman,
The OP asked, what is the CHEAPEST way to get an install without A CONTRACT. I answered him by saying "do it yourself".
If a customer came into my shop and asked me "What is the cheapest way to change my head gasket". I would tell them "Do it yourself".
Gentlemen, I use a labor guide to figure out what I charge a customer. Not a set fee.
Could I charge every customer $500.00, whether I was changing there oil, or changing there head gasket? Yes. Would it all even out in the long run? Probably. Would it be ethical/moral? ABSOLUTELY NOT.
Do I deal with irate customer's who feel I charge to much? Yes, daily.
I am glad the OP weighed his options, and now has his satellite up and working for less money then even if he had done it himself. He asked for an opinion as to the "cheapest way to do an install without a contract" and that is EXACTLY what I gave him.
Rob
There's a difference between a labor guide and a set fee?
If someone comes to you and you diagnose the problem as a head gasket, you give them a price of $800 to replace the head gasket off of your labor guide (set price). If, in the process of doing the head gasket, you find that they also need a valve job and a water pump, you have to adjust the price by your labor guide and get approval for that. If they came to your for an oil change, you'd know exactly what you'd have to do and price it accordingly.
Dish doesn't have that luxury. People don't bring their property to Dish for an estimate. They call on the phone and want a defined price for an install. The customer wouldn't stand for the price being adjusted halfway through the job. Unlike a head gasket job which is basically the same on all 2008 Chevy Malibus, a Dish install is different on nearly all properties. The OP wanted a price on an install which Dish had no way of knowing what they were getting into. They gave him a price. He chose another route. Problem solved.
I agree.
If some cheap bastard call's me and ask's "how much to change a head gasket?" I always give them a range - i.e. $500.00 thru $700.00. BECAUSE I HAVE NOT LOOKED AT IT.
My "labor guide" does not account for broken bolt's, and other incidental's, I EAT those.
If I was so inept, that I missed the water pump, and the valve job, then I would EAT that also. If your mechanic does different, maybe you need to reevaluate your mechanic.
Dish prefer's instead,to go with a "set price". for an install. Without even LOOKING at it.
I hope you understand,that you support the thought, that a small install, such as the OP's=a new receiver, XXX # of feet of coax, and a peek of the existing antenna, cost's the same as, a new antenna, a new LNB, a new switch, a hopper, a joey, etc, etc, etc.
Rob
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