Existing 921/942 Subs: Satisfied with Upgrade Path?
- Thread starter Tom Bombadil
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Be darned if I can find it now but there was an article referenced in the last couple days in one of the threads that said churn was up for both "D" & "E", which I assume means subs are migrating more to cable.
I'm going by memory but I think it also said that although "D" had more subs, "E" had a bigger share of the rural area customers.
I think that's where this year's battle is going to be fought and why "E" kind of surprised people with their all of a sudden jump into the HD LiLs arena. It looks like maybe a race to get the networks in HD to all customers either by HD LiLs or HD DNS with some side skirmishes for other HD channels.
They posted that list of 50 at the CES show and from what I've heard they plan to use Echostar X for many of them. I also heard that the ABC HD DNS is coming soon and they are negoiating with Fox & NBC.
It's interresting that the list of 50 HD LiL markets didn't follow the DMA numerical order, which leads me to think they've been negoiating for a while and the list is based more on either getting the most "white area" subs or following the path of least resistance for afilliate resistance.
I'm going by memory but I think it also said that although "D" had more subs, "E" had a bigger share of the rural area customers.
I think that's where this year's battle is going to be fought and why "E" kind of surprised people with their all of a sudden jump into the HD LiLs arena. It looks like maybe a race to get the networks in HD to all customers either by HD LiLs or HD DNS with some side skirmishes for other HD channels.
They posted that list of 50 at the CES show and from what I've heard they plan to use Echostar X for many of them. I also heard that the ABC HD DNS is coming soon and they are negoiating with Fox & NBC.
It's interresting that the list of 50 HD LiL markets didn't follow the DMA numerical order, which leads me to think they've been negoiating for a while and the list is based more on either getting the most "white area" subs or following the path of least resistance for afilliate resistance.
I have been a customer with E* for many years, and was one of the lucky (cursed) few to get my hands on a 921 with in the first week. While I enjoy the PVR the HD programming was awful so I turned it off. I can not get over the air HD, line of sight to Seattle is to far. I agree with stone phillips420 that we should get a free upgrade for purchasers to the new lease option.
I read on another thread that a CSR offered someone a $25 credit if they returned their owned/purchased 921 when they were upgrading to a new receiver.
Methinks most 921 owners had hoped for a bit better offer than that.
Methinks most 921 owners had hoped for a bit better offer than that.
I posted my ordeal with the sh!tty 921 in another thread. I would love to switch providers, but so far, nothing else seems worth it (I can't get FiOS, and it will probably be a while). I will say that it takes some balls to take $525 of my money less than a year ago for the POS 921 (I am on POS unit #3) and then have the audacity to say, "Well you can upgrade that POS to an unproven product for only $99!" all the while charging me $5 a month to lease the new product. If only it would end there. Sad thing is, we cannot even recoup any of the money spent because they require us to turn in the 921. Even if they let us keep it, it would be worthless because anyone that bought our old unit would not be able to activate it.
Bottom line, no doubt the 9xx owners should get a free upgrade! I was definitely ripped off with the 921 (as many others, I am sure), but I would be willing to let that slide if I felt like I was being taken care of. But what happens when Charlie refuses to negotiate with bigger channels (a la Lifetime), thus cancelling stations I might actually watch? And what happens if the 622 is as big a POS as the 921? Just seems awefully risky to me. It is becoming more and more obvious that DishNet has no problems biting the hand that feeds either.
Bryan
Bottom line, no doubt the 9xx owners should get a free upgrade! I was definitely ripped off with the 921 (as many others, I am sure), but I would be willing to let that slide if I felt like I was being taken care of. But what happens when Charlie refuses to negotiate with bigger channels (a la Lifetime), thus cancelling stations I might actually watch? And what happens if the 622 is as big a POS as the 921? Just seems awefully risky to me. It is becoming more and more obvious that DishNet has no problems biting the hand that feeds either.
Bryan
I have mixed feelings on this whole 921 upgrade. I paid $950 for my 921 because I wanted a HD OTA receiver with DVR capability. Needless to say I loved the 921 when it worked - and hated it when it didn't. I tried the old Dish HP pack for a couple of months but dropped it as the content wasn't worth the price.
The $99 upgrade after rebate sounds good at first considering they have to come out and replace my Dish 500 antenna as well as the legacy LNB's to my 3 receivers. However - I have to pony up $20 a month for the new HD package for 18 months that I may or may not enjoy.
Dish has no plans to put my locals (Richmond) on satillite in HD so there's no incentive there (I wish my OTA HD wouldn't suffers from multi-path dropouts).
Then to cap it all off, another HD enabling fee for the 622 if I drop the HD package after 18 months!
If my 921 were not so buggy I would pass on this deal, but I need to dump it.
I hope the 622 does not suffer the same beta testing for a year.
Lou
The $99 upgrade after rebate sounds good at first considering they have to come out and replace my Dish 500 antenna as well as the legacy LNB's to my 3 receivers. However - I have to pony up $20 a month for the new HD package for 18 months that I may or may not enjoy.
Dish has no plans to put my locals (Richmond) on satillite in HD so there's no incentive there (I wish my OTA HD wouldn't suffers from multi-path dropouts).
Then to cap it all off, another HD enabling fee for the 622 if I drop the HD package after 18 months!
If my 921 were not so buggy I would pass on this deal, but I need to dump it.
I hope the 622 does not suffer the same beta testing for a year.
Lou
Miserable Grade for Dish
The polls have closed.
The votes were extremely consistent over the week that the poll was open. The 2nd set of 50 votes were almost identical to the 3rd set of 50 votes which were extremely similar to the last 45 votes.
In the end, 195 votes were tallied. A decent number.
109 of the 195 votes were for "very dissatisfied." Whew! That's BAD!
150 of the 195 votes were for somewhat or very dissatisfied. 77% dissatisfied!!
I work for a company that rolls out new products and services. We do survey our customers to guage how well those rollouts go. In this type of survey, we give 3 points to every vote for "Very Satisfied", 2 points for a "Somewhat satisfied," 1 point for "Somewhat satisfied," and 0 points for a "Very Dissatisfied."
Our goal on a rollout is to achieve an overall average of at least 2.0. That's a solid, if unspectacular score.
Our scale is:
2.5 Terrific. Bonuses for responsible parties.
2.2 Very good. Pats on the backs.
2.0 Good, solid effort.
1.8 Marginally acceptable. Teams should review their processes.
1.5 Unacceptable. Serious management review required.
1.2 Terrible. Management review for re-assignment or dismissal of project leader
Dish's score from the 195 votes was a 0.9
For us this score would mean the rollout was an abysmal catastrophe.
Now this survey does not reflect people's overall satisfaction with Dish, that score is probably much higher. In fact, it would have to be much higher for Dish to be in business. But as far as the way Dish handled the rollout/upgrade for their 921/942 high end HD DVR customers, it shows extreme dissatisfaction.
The polls have closed.
The votes were extremely consistent over the week that the poll was open. The 2nd set of 50 votes were almost identical to the 3rd set of 50 votes which were extremely similar to the last 45 votes.
In the end, 195 votes were tallied. A decent number.
109 of the 195 votes were for "very dissatisfied." Whew! That's BAD!
150 of the 195 votes were for somewhat or very dissatisfied. 77% dissatisfied!!
I work for a company that rolls out new products and services. We do survey our customers to guage how well those rollouts go. In this type of survey, we give 3 points to every vote for "Very Satisfied", 2 points for a "Somewhat satisfied," 1 point for "Somewhat satisfied," and 0 points for a "Very Dissatisfied."
Our goal on a rollout is to achieve an overall average of at least 2.0. That's a solid, if unspectacular score.
Our scale is:
2.5 Terrific. Bonuses for responsible parties.
2.2 Very good. Pats on the backs.
2.0 Good, solid effort.
1.8 Marginally acceptable. Teams should review their processes.
1.5 Unacceptable. Serious management review required.
1.2 Terrible. Management review for re-assignment or dismissal of project leader
Dish's score from the 195 votes was a 0.9
For us this score would mean the rollout was an abysmal catastrophe.
Now this survey does not reflect people's overall satisfaction with Dish, that score is probably much higher. In fact, it would have to be much higher for Dish to be in business. But as far as the way Dish handled the rollout/upgrade for their 921/942 high end HD DVR customers, it shows extreme dissatisfaction.
