Early Termination Fee - No Line of Sight after Moving

Besides the install,where is the subsidy?All the equipment is leased and has to be returned by the customer,on their dime too.Not to mention the fact,that no one forces these companies to subsidize new customers in the first place.


Do you know how much cost there is in all the equipment and labor for a new install? I'm guessing it's more than you think.
 
AT&T had the first one, I have it. Microcell. Works exactly as advertised. For customers who have been with them awhile you can get one for free if your address does not have good coverage. (Actually the cost plus $50 off your bill) Better than the Sprint one, you can have up to 15 devices, and will allow a Tablet even if you do not have phone service on it as long as you have AT&T data on it, and it's 4G not 3G. I also think more simultaneous calls can be made with it. It has allowed me to drop our landline service. Times when/if the internet is down or we lose power we do have a bar or so of service.

http://www.att.com/standalone/3gmicrocell/?fbid=KWu6WBvolQ9

I have a microcell at my lake house. I was lucky to get 1 bar inside and I can get spotty 2 bars outside. It works great now 5 bars all the time with microcell. I'm still more shocked that Windstream upgraded their system and ran fiber out to the lake. That works great too.
 
Besides the install,where is the subsidy?All the equipment is leased and has to be returned by the customer,on their dime too.Not to mention the fact,that no one forces these companies to subsidize new customers in the first place.

It takes approximately 18 months to recoup the cost of the initial investment. And I'm sure the reason they subsidize is to get income thru an investment.

And no customer is forced to agree to an early termination fee. If you choose to purchase equipment and pay for install no commitment is required, thus no early term fee.
 
If you have no LOS then you can get out of the contract, I've called many of these for people (I'm an installer) and I get on the phone for them with Dish and start the process. But let me say this, if you like the service and there are maybe a tree or two blocking it then I'd just take care of the trees and let them put it in and be done with it.
 
Do you know how much cost there is in all the equipment and labor for a new install? I'm guessing it's more than you think.

Again,the equipment is all leased,upon ending contract it must be returned to Dish.If new customer moves into old customers house,the wiring and dish are already there.Also it's very clear that both sat companies aim for 24 month contracts when trying to get new customers.You never see ads announcing do it yourself installs,or what the pricing will be.So apparently,the subsidizing of new customers must be at least fairly lucrative,otherwise they wouldn't promote it so much.Anyway,that's my opinion.

Back to the point,offering no service and requiring payment is wrong no matter how ya slice it.
 
Getting popular TV series is arguably not as easy as it used to be. OTA has become less of a player after the DTV transition and being driven into a local cable or phone company is often a big ticket problem.

The longer you dream about what is ideal, the more you think about the little things that finish off the edges.
 
Back to the point,offering no service and requiring payment is wrong no matter how ya slice it.

I do wonder how a court would view that. I don't pretend to know, but I lean toward them striking down that kind of contract. A contract has to have benefit for both sides, Dish not able to provide a signal may actually mean it is they who is breaking the contract. Otherwise the Court would have to rule signing this contract means you must live where Dish can provide the signal. Hard to believe that would fly.
 
I do wonder how a court would view that. I don't pretend to know, but I lean toward them striking down that kind of contract. A contract has to have benefit for both sides, Dish not able to provide a signal may actually mean it is they who is breaking the contract. Otherwise the Court would have to rule signing this contract means you must live where Dish can provide the signal. Hard to believe that would fly.

I have no idea how a court would rule either,I do feel a good legal team would have a pretty good chance of winning because of no service.Surprised there hasn't already been a class action lawsuit.
 
Let me see, I sign a 24 month contract, then move to a house where reception is impossible, who is at fault here?
 
I will not casually accept that you have no LoS. There are tools, even for smartphones, that will allow you to look around to find an acceptable spot. I've found LoS when installers said no. Heck, for my in-laws it was on top of their garage! Too bad they moved shortly thereafter. Of course, I have no Los where I have my RV, so there are such locations - but only heavily wooded or very urban.

If you want Dish, you may be able to keep it, but with some effort on your part. Did the guy on site impress you that he knew what he was doing? Or maybe he was not up to speed, or looking for an excuse to go to his next, perhaps easier, job?
Unfortunately this DOES occur.
Most of the instances the customer moved from a house to an apartment.
The most extreme cases were when people moved into homes with heavily wooded lots.
I rolled up on one where the home which was just 50 feet off the street was so heavily wooded, the house was not visible from the street. That was a mover which was a cancel/NLOS...Offered second opinion from supervisor. Customer declined.
The other one was a renter who had lived in the house 4 years earlier. She had Dish then. Since she left and returned, the trees had gotten larger and blocked any hope of an install that would render a reliable LOS. Of course she was pissed. She first told me to "just put it in the neighbor's yard"..No dice. Policy violation. Then she said to put the dish in an empty lot across the street.
I halted the conversation and set an appointment for my supe to have a look.
He went out . He told her she was not getting Dish there. He said she screamed at him. At that point he bid her a good day and left. It happens. People move to new quarters and do not realize they are responsible no matter what.
 
Initially, installers said there was no LOS at my house. After talking with different installers, I was able to get one that took his time and found one spot in my house where he was able to get all three sats. Been this way for 3 years and still working (knock on wood)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0pul1ch5481xgn1/IMAG0386.jpg

Jeez..THat's an easy one. Who the hell would declare an NLOS on THAT?
 
I have a friend who put his Dish on a pole with a tripod on the peak of his roof in order to get it above the trees in his yard. I can see a Dish Tech not wanting to do this since he may not get paid enough but you could find a local retailer that may be willing too, as long as you are willing to pay for the time and material.

That is an existing and ongoing issue in the business.
Yes there are some extraordinary things a tech can do( within limits of risk or safety) to get a job completed. The biggest problem is few if any are willing to PAY for the additional time and materials. SO the alternative is to NLOS/Cancel the job.
 
There are some very nice peak mounting kits available as well.

Yeah..But customers WILL NOT pay. Dish does not buy these things for their in-house techs. And as a contractor tech there was no way in Sam Hill I am going into my pocket to get the job done. Doing a job at a loss is bad business.
 

You can connect a device up to a broadband connection to bring in Sprint, Verizon, AT&T signal to your cellular devices. This would allow you to get away with having no cell service at your home but still get the service. A broadband connection can also bring you streaming video online, sling video from another location, etc.
 
I would say it's around $480. That's the ETF right?

It all depends on what equipment is put in. A customer that signs up for a Hopper and three Joeys is going to have a lot more money tied up that a customer that gets two 222 receivers. Just a 722k install for a new customer could cost Dish over $600. It can also depend on what the customer qualifies as.
 
Where's the OP? He hasn't answered any of the suggestions for looking harder for LOS. Dish gave me 3 dishes in different locations around my house and remote garage to get all of my programming. It took a supervisor coming out to my house, but they did it.
 
I do wonder how a court would view that. I don't pretend to know, but I lean toward them striking down that kind of contract. A contract has to have benefit for both sides, Dish not able to provide a signal may actually mean it is they who is breaking the contract. Otherwise the Court would have to rule signing this contract means you must live where Dish can provide the signal. Hard to believe that would fly.

Well Dish didnt violate its end of the contract. The contract was for service at house X.. You moved to house Y so you changed the contract not them.
 

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