Help with D* upgrade

[high_order1]

Hey!

I read in here for a couple of days before I decided to join up and ask.


Short version:

Think out of contract, long time sub. Want to transition to HD, but do it as inexpensively as possible, and without incurring a contract.​

Long version:

Wife's Mom had one of her 5 D11 boxes bite it last week. Clearly, I can go get another at a thrift store and let her continue on, but we bought her a flat screen for Christmas, and the analog box, even with tweaking the tv, just looks blurry and doesn't conform well to the screen size.

She pays $170 / mo. She has a CHOICE XTRA CLASSIC and HBO, STARZ and SHOWTIME package that costs 84 and 43 bucks each. She pays for box rental and 8 bucks for protection plan. She also pays a 'regional sports fee'.

She wants a flat screen for the bedroom, too (she watches a lot of teevee in there when she's sick).​

SO

I'd like her to upgrade two / three of her boxes to HD. Maybe even one with a DVR capability.

I'd like someone to do like they do in the cellphone forums and tell me what the best route would be, or if it would just be a lot more money.

She likes her lifetime and hbo/showtime/starz (also babysits, so kids channels) type programming; she never watches sports, so I don't understand what that's about.

1. If she upgrades, she has no home internet. There is no wifi.
2. There are no terrestrial options for her to negotiate with (No DSL, no cable, no nothing).
3. She doesn't want a technical multibox multi remote solution.
4. She doesn't want to pay more than she is now.
5. She's not married to Direct, if Dish offers her local (SE TN) channels.
6. Doesn't really want a contract, but would do a 2yr at most.​

The wife or I'll be happy to call on her behalf, but I'm not very good at wheeling and dealing.

What are her options?

• I already checked, the base SD receiver currently offered doesn't have HDMI out, so that's not going to be any better than what she's got, but if she's renting boxes, and one is broke, seems like she should send it back, else she's wasting money.

• Will they have to come out and rewire her place to do HD with the new dish? (I'm pretty sure the old grey one won't support what I am betting is an extra satellite for HD / 4k programming...)

• Also, how can you tell from the bill if she's in contract?

What else should I be asking?

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[raoul5788]

to Satelliteguys high_order1!
You can probably get her upgraded to HD for no cost. There are extra monthly costs for HD so she may need to reduce the number of boxes to keep the costs the same. There will be a two year commitment, no way around that. You'll have to call to parse out all of the charges. Good luck!

 

[Jimbo]

High Order,
I would call and let them know what you have (they know) and tell them you'd like to upgrade to HD ...
The should be able to change you over relatively easily.

They will come out and place the new dish and whatever else is needed.

Look online at the website and see what the current offer is, just so you have an idea.

I was wondering, shes paying for a package and adding those movie channels ... I have a friend that does that, I don't understand that.

There should be another package that includes those that would be cheaper than adding the movie channels you would think.

 

[high_order1]

Well,

You'd think.

She's had this for *years*. Out of contract years, too.

So

They decided to call a service tech.

He can't put a SD box in, because 'antenna levels are too low for the box to lock.'

I had a piece of software on my phone; you could hold the phone near the horn and 'look through' to see where the sats were. Apparently not on my current phone.

So, I am going through all the android 'dish pointer' and 'sat grabber' programs on google play.

Having a little trouble determining which ones to look at. The test screen on the receiver says it is looking at 101(A), 119(B), and 110(C).

I am reading on here that 101 and 119 are useless unless we use SD programming on 119.


I never got any further on finding any deals, the only way to get HD is new dish, new boxes and new contract... so I guess we are just gonna buy a box off ebay, and find a program to show me what tree limbs to cut for the dish.


Thanks anyway, I appreciate what input I did get.

Going back to lurking!

 

[navychop]

That's a pretty darned high bill. This might be the time to get competitive quotes. With another provider, you might not have to pay for regional sports.

 

[mdram]

5 receivers? theres $35 in fees off the bat. throw in dvr, whole home ect, and it adds up

theres no way i can think you will be able to do what you want without a contract.


call in ask for an upgrade, see what deal you can work out
then call dish, and compare the two

directv will want to do a genie with minis, unless you pay for receiver or dvrs

and dish will want to do the hopper (demand a hopper3) and joeys