OK, I've been a customer a looong time. We owned our first receiver -- I think it was a JVC 5000 series. Then a while ago, I purchased a 508.
Well, the Dish DVR Advantage seemed like it might save us a little money, or at least allow us to upgrade to a dual tuner (SD) DVR with only a modest increase in the monthly bill and an upfront cost of $119 minus the $10/month for 5 months.
So today, I finally get a nice woman in Pennsylvania (instead of India) who, though didn't have all the answers, was patient enough to listen to me and get them. For example, on one screen, her computer was saying there'd be a $5 lease fee for the receiver, even for customers with only one receiver. But when she looked at another screen, though the wording was different from the Dish'n It Up web page that I read to her, she agreed that hers meant the same thing and that there shouldn't be a lease fee for the first non-HD receiver. (But $5 for additional SD receivers and $6 for ANY HD receivers.) She confirmed this with her supervisor. She pretty quickly indicated that the DVR fee would be included in the DVR advantage program. But I really wanted to know about the lease fee. The last time I tried to upgrade with the "free DVR offer," I got through almost the entire process and at the very end there was the, "Oh, by the way, there will be a $5 per month lease fee." That killed the deal the last time.
Now my current programming was the AT120 plan for $39.99 plus NY locals for $5 plus superstations for $3.99. (Perhaps because the WWOR and WPIX (CW) superstations are actually NY locals my superstations package wasn't $5.99?)
If we did nothing, we'd be paying $51.98 (I'll round to $52 from here on) instead of $48.98 next month because of the price increase.
So it seemed like the Dish DVR Advantage for $49.99 ($50) might be the way to go -- we'd just have to add superstations because we don't want to give up KTLA (LA CW) and KWGN (Denver CW). Of course if we upgrade, the Superstations package would be $5.99. Thought it's probably not news to everybody else, the fact that you can get individual superstations for $1.50 was news to me -- good news! At worst, we could add the Boston UPN, and the two CW's for $4.50 bringing our total to $54.50, just $2.50 more per month than we'd be paying if we did nothing. And we'll have a 100-hour 2-tuner DVR instead of a 60-hour 1-tuner DVR for the $69 one time cost. But we only really care about the WB's, so nix the Boston UPN and we're down to $53 -- only $1 more than we'd be paying otherwise.
Of course there *was* a gotcha (two actually) , but I had invested so much time already and the idea of a 2-tuner DVR was just so compelling.... The big gotcha was (again at the very end) she told me that with the Dish'n It Up, there was an 18 month commitment with a $240 (which would be pro-rated to $13.33/month) early termination fee. Has anybody else encountered the 18-month commitment with Dish'n It Up? It said nothing about it on the web page.... Anyway, I might just keep that to myself and not tell the Mrs.
The other was that I have to wait until the DVR is installed and activated on Monday before I can make the programming change to the DVR Advantage package.
The downside to the 12-month Dish'n It Up limit and the18-month commitment is that I had thought about going to an HD set in the fall and I expect FIOS to become available at some point. (They hung the fiber on the poles last summer.) I'm not sure what sort of HDTV options FIOS may offer....
So now what do I do with my 508? (After I rip the shows off it or get my wife to finally watch the finale of The West Wing and we watch all the other stuff on it, that is.)
Brett
Well, the Dish DVR Advantage seemed like it might save us a little money, or at least allow us to upgrade to a dual tuner (SD) DVR with only a modest increase in the monthly bill and an upfront cost of $119 minus the $10/month for 5 months.
So today, I finally get a nice woman in Pennsylvania (instead of India) who, though didn't have all the answers, was patient enough to listen to me and get them. For example, on one screen, her computer was saying there'd be a $5 lease fee for the receiver, even for customers with only one receiver. But when she looked at another screen, though the wording was different from the Dish'n It Up web page that I read to her, she agreed that hers meant the same thing and that there shouldn't be a lease fee for the first non-HD receiver. (But $5 for additional SD receivers and $6 for ANY HD receivers.) She confirmed this with her supervisor. She pretty quickly indicated that the DVR fee would be included in the DVR advantage program. But I really wanted to know about the lease fee. The last time I tried to upgrade with the "free DVR offer," I got through almost the entire process and at the very end there was the, "Oh, by the way, there will be a $5 per month lease fee." That killed the deal the last time.
Now my current programming was the AT120 plan for $39.99 plus NY locals for $5 plus superstations for $3.99. (Perhaps because the WWOR and WPIX (CW) superstations are actually NY locals my superstations package wasn't $5.99?)
If we did nothing, we'd be paying $51.98 (I'll round to $52 from here on) instead of $48.98 next month because of the price increase.
So it seemed like the Dish DVR Advantage for $49.99 ($50) might be the way to go -- we'd just have to add superstations because we don't want to give up KTLA (LA CW) and KWGN (Denver CW). Of course if we upgrade, the Superstations package would be $5.99. Thought it's probably not news to everybody else, the fact that you can get individual superstations for $1.50 was news to me -- good news! At worst, we could add the Boston UPN, and the two CW's for $4.50 bringing our total to $54.50, just $2.50 more per month than we'd be paying if we did nothing. And we'll have a 100-hour 2-tuner DVR instead of a 60-hour 1-tuner DVR for the $69 one time cost. But we only really care about the WB's, so nix the Boston UPN and we're down to $53 -- only $1 more than we'd be paying otherwise.
Of course there *was* a gotcha (two actually) , but I had invested so much time already and the idea of a 2-tuner DVR was just so compelling.... The big gotcha was (again at the very end) she told me that with the Dish'n It Up, there was an 18 month commitment with a $240 (which would be pro-rated to $13.33/month) early termination fee. Has anybody else encountered the 18-month commitment with Dish'n It Up? It said nothing about it on the web page.... Anyway, I might just keep that to myself and not tell the Mrs.
The other was that I have to wait until the DVR is installed and activated on Monday before I can make the programming change to the DVR Advantage package.
The downside to the 12-month Dish'n It Up limit and the18-month commitment is that I had thought about going to an HD set in the fall and I expect FIOS to become available at some point. (They hung the fiber on the poles last summer.) I'm not sure what sort of HDTV options FIOS may offer....
So now what do I do with my 508? (After I rip the shows off it or get my wife to finally watch the finale of The West Wing and we watch all the other stuff on it, that is.)
Brett
