Non Commitment Upgrade

[jronchetto]

I'm a newby so please be gentle. I want to do an HD upgrade, but I am concerned about the 2 year Directv commitment. With the economy the way it is I won't make that kind of commitment. With that said, here is my situation. I am using a Jurrasic period HIRD-E2 and a D-11. I just bought an H20-600 on Ebay and will soon buy another one so both my receivers will be HD. I have a 3 LNB dish with 2 RG6 and an antenna coming into a 3X4 multiswitch and realize I will need to change to the 5 LNB Slimline. I have read something about a 21 volt power inserter. Will I need that as well? I'm hoping I can get a local installer to provide the equipment and labor and pay him/her direct without involving Directv or their company for the upgrade.
Your thoughts?

 

[jdspencer]

It looks like you are committed to the upgrade, so don't worry about the commitment to DirecTV. You can always reduce the subscription to save some cash.

The power inserter is only needed if you need to use an external multiswitch. The 5LNB dish has four outputs, so unless you need more than 4, the ext switch isn't needed.

Buying everything and having someone do the install shouldn't cause a 2-yr commitment, but I may be wrong.

 

[aarontx]

I think by the time you add up all the costs of doing it that way, it will cost alot more than just paying the early termination fee if you did have to cancel.

Im guessing around

$200 for 2 h20's
$100 for the dish
$100+ for labor to get it installed


It will probably just be cheaper to pay the early term fee if you have too. Chances are you won't need to cancel in 2 years, and if thats the case it will be a savings of probably around $400 bucks.

 

[foobar12]

I haven't tried this with D* but when I was with E* and wanted to do a receiver upgrade they tried to tie me into another year commitment when I was already out of my original commitment. I told them this would be a deal breaker for me and I would just leave for D*. Suddenly I was transferred to customer retention and they offered to let me pay $50 and no commitment to upgrade my receiver. I took that deal thankfully since I ended up switching service a couple of months later anyway, and would have had to eat an ETF. If you are out of contract now and want to stay that way, you may be able to convince them you are ready to leave and see if they give you a deal.

 

[jronchetto]

Thanks to all for the words of wisdom. I already have an H20 so I'll see what they say about upgrading the dish only w/o a commitment. This is a great site and I am sure I will visit often now that I have joined.