We recently retired, live in a rural home with no internet, and am tired of signing contracts only for them to raise all the package prices by 50% without warning and tack on fees that are not spelled out. Excited to see we can have pay-as-you-go satellite tv with dish network. However, i am worried i will buy "refurbished" or other off contract equipment only to find out that dish network may not support it. I would like to have a DVR, and be able to record one channel while watching another. One TV, one couch, one room, no sports, nothing else special. I noticed the same equipment on the dishnetwork dot com is about 1/2 the price on ebay or amazon. Any recommendations on dish and receiver? I am frugal but don't want to limit our options.
Pay-go equipment advice requested
- Thread starter lotsafabric
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You will need a 1000.2 Western Arc dish. Low cost dual tuner DVRs are going to be VIP 612, 622, 722 or 722K you need to shop for the price you feel is right for you. The system needs RG-6 coaxial cable, you need to determine how many feet. You will be buying refurbished equipment. Both DISH and Directv lease receivers and recycle them when they come off lease. If you subscribe to promotional programming it will increase at the end of the promotional time period frequently 1 year.
I agree with everything boba said, except there are rumors that the DVRs mentioned may be nearing end of life on Dish. That means a year or two from now they may become boat anchors that no longer function.
No mater where you acquire the equipment I recommend you get the Hopper 3. I also think the best approach is to lease it from Dish. That will require a two year commitment, but your monthly cost is the same weather you own or lease the equipment. At the end of the two year commitment you will be pay as you go, with the ability to cancel anytime you wish. I have been with Dish over 15 years. I have had periods out of contract and been tempted to quit, but the grass on the other side of the fence was never as green. A few months ago I decided to upgrade from Hopper with Sling to Hopper 3 and a new two year commitment. Yesterday I decided to change to a lower cost package. No problems. At the end of the first year if you decide to quit Dish the early termination fee will probably be less than what you would have paid to buy your equipment up front.
No mater where you acquire the equipment I recommend you get the Hopper 3. I also think the best approach is to lease it from Dish. That will require a two year commitment, but your monthly cost is the same weather you own or lease the equipment. At the end of the two year commitment you will be pay as you go, with the ability to cancel anytime you wish. I have been with Dish over 15 years. I have had periods out of contract and been tempted to quit, but the grass on the other side of the fence was never as green. A few months ago I decided to upgrade from Hopper with Sling to Hopper 3 and a new two year commitment. Yesterday I decided to change to a lower cost package. No problems. At the end of the first year if you decide to quit Dish the early termination fee will probably be less than what you would have paid to buy your equipment up front.
The VIP series of receivers will still be useful until another protocol is substituted.
Current Hoppers are only advanced in that they have more tuners.
Basically they are the same devices as VIPs with a few pieces of lace and pinstripes added on.
The next obsoleted series of receivers will be the 8VSB SD receivers used on WA and there are thousands of these still in the wild.
Current Hoppers are only advanced in that they have more tuners.
Basically they are the same devices as VIPs with a few pieces of lace and pinstripes added on.
The next obsoleted series of receivers will be the 8VSB SD receivers used on WA and there are thousands of these still in the wild.
The ViP series has already been slated to stop being issued to new subscribers. The date was pushed back, but will no doubt come in a few months. Next will be no ViP activations. Then ViPs removed from the field (I'm sure at LEAST a year away, probably longer).
The software in Hoppers is way different than the ViP software. Chipsets are better in the Hopper series.
ViPs haven't been made in years, nor have their HDDs. The Hopper 3 is in current production.
The software in Hoppers is way different than the ViP software. Chipsets are better in the Hopper series.
ViPs haven't been made in years, nor have their HDDs. The Hopper 3 is in current production.
As a person that's always purchased and owned his own Dish equipment because I didn't want a contract, I would advise you to get leased equipment, and sign a contract.
You will pay ALL the same fees for owned equipment, as you would for leased. So there is NO advantage anymore to purchasing your own receivers and such. In fact, you will have MORE cost (no discounts) without signing that contract, and you'd probably keep the service long enough for it to expire anyway.
You will pay ALL the same fees for owned equipment, as you would for leased. So there is NO advantage anymore to purchasing your own receivers and such. In fact, you will have MORE cost (no discounts) without signing that contract, and you'd probably keep the service long enough for it to expire anyway.
Do you believe if you subscribe to DISH with VIP model receivers that DISH is going to just tell you goodbye we are swapping to different model receivers and we no longer want you as a customer. DISH will upgrade you to newer equipment rather than lose customers. For all of the H3 lovers, when was the last H2000 or Hopper with Sling produced? They are years out of being current production but are still used.
Yes!
I own an old 512 receiver I can no longer activate.
Dish will make a series of increasingly attractive offers until they finally tell you that device will no longer work, please let us upgrade you to our lowest level equipment that will work, or better yet, why not go for the latest greatest. All we need is a renewed 2 year commitment. Since the latest equipment from Dish always seems a step or two ahead of the competition and non promotional rates are generally a bit better than the competition its easy to get addicted and stay put.
On the other hand if you are willing to play musical chairs every couple years you can probably save some money by shopping for the best promotional prices.
Sounds like your 512 was sitting inactive in a closet. I've accumulated a few of those over the years
I have been doing this for 19 years.
Yeah I get it you don’t want a contract, but unless you can’t pass the credit check, your going to spend more money trying to NOT sign a contract then if you do.
#1 when you do pay as you go your buying all the equipment and paying for an install.
A DVR is a minimum $150, plus $50 for a dish plus probably another $100 to install.
That’s $300, where a contract is free equipment free install.
Cancellation fee is only $480 and goes down $20 per month for each month remaining.
#2 new customers who sign s contract get discounts for the 1st and sometimes second year. The savings is usually $20-$40 per month.
#3 all contract equipment is leased. Who cares if you won’t own the equipment. Leasing means you send it back when your done subscribing. Can’t use the equipment without a subscription.
If leased equipment breaks, they replace it.
#4 makes no difference if the equipment is new or refurbished. With Dish there is a good chance the equipment will eventually need to be replaced because it goes bad. The replacement stuff is refurbished anyways.
#5 get all the free equipment and discounted programming you can get. Sign the contract and be done with it.
When you get tired of Dish and want to cancel, just pay the cancellation fee. It will work out to be cheaper than if you didn’t sign a contract when you figure all the equipment and programming discounts.
Or if you complain enough to the attorney general or BBB, or claim to Dish some how you forgot you had a contract with them, you can get out of the contract and have the cancellation fee waived.
Yeah I get it you don’t want a contract, but unless you can’t pass the credit check, your going to spend more money trying to NOT sign a contract then if you do.
#1 when you do pay as you go your buying all the equipment and paying for an install.
A DVR is a minimum $150, plus $50 for a dish plus probably another $100 to install.
That’s $300, where a contract is free equipment free install.
Cancellation fee is only $480 and goes down $20 per month for each month remaining.
#2 new customers who sign s contract get discounts for the 1st and sometimes second year. The savings is usually $20-$40 per month.
#3 all contract equipment is leased. Who cares if you won’t own the equipment. Leasing means you send it back when your done subscribing. Can’t use the equipment without a subscription.
If leased equipment breaks, they replace it.
#4 makes no difference if the equipment is new or refurbished. With Dish there is a good chance the equipment will eventually need to be replaced because it goes bad. The replacement stuff is refurbished anyways.
#5 get all the free equipment and discounted programming you can get. Sign the contract and be done with it.
When you get tired of Dish and want to cancel, just pay the cancellation fee. It will work out to be cheaper than if you didn’t sign a contract when you figure all the equipment and programming discounts.
Or if you complain enough to the attorney general or BBB, or claim to Dish some how you forgot you had a contract with them, you can get out of the contract and have the cancellation fee waived.
All of our Dish equipment, including 2 Hoppers and 2 dishes, is purchased and self installed. I would have gone on contract, but Dish said DVR's are not supported in RV's, and would not install them. I've since moved one Hopper into our vacation cottage in the Adirondacks and installed a second permanent dish there. I may try again using the cottage as a service address if we decide there's enough value in in upgrading from our current H2's to H3's.
Well Dish installed my Hopper 3. Someday this wives tale about Dish not supporting DVRs in RVs will go away.
I would never buy relatively high technology turnover equipment like satellite equipment. Even way back when there was a fee difference between rented and purchased equipment, the payback never was realized.
That's what a Dish CSR told me back when we wanted to upgrade from a 211K to the H2's. And the three different independent retailers I contacted wouldn't do it either. If that's changed, then great!
First DVR, in an RV, was 2006 with a VIP 622. Followed by a VIP 722K and a VIP 612, then a Hopper, and finally a Hopper 3. It is not something new.
I had a serious argument with Dish when I wanted to install the VIP 722K and the VIP 612 myself. They insisted Dish do the install.
I had a serious argument with Dish when I wanted to install the VIP 722K and the VIP 612 myself. They insisted Dish do the install.
Not a wives tale. It’s not that DVRs in RVs are not supported, it’s that RVs have very limited support. Technically, and your experience may vary however technically, technicians are not sent to RVs. Basically, RVs are self supported.
I've done RV installs in the past, but not this summer, come to think of it. The problem with RV's is that they typically have 1 input for Cable/Satellite then the cable goes to a splitter in the walls somewhere, feeding each TV location. With Hoppers, there's no way to know if it's approved cable and with all receivers, well, we all know splitters don't work - although I hear the new Channel stacking splitters are finally coming out in the field
I have only run into issues with Dish doing service calls on an RV. I carried the coverage plan for a couple of years until Dish terminated it because my house had 4 wheels. The policy is not to make service calls on an RV.
But when it comes to installation, a totally different story. Going from a VIP 622 to a VIP 722K and a VIP 612, Dish would not let me self install and that very long discussion wound up in a VP office. My position was no service calls but yes to installations. Dish did the install.
Actually I just as soon not have a Dish technician doing wiring in my RVs because the wall construction is so different. I always had the wiring done before the Dish Technician arrived. He would validate the wiring and install the units.
A RV owner should be a bit self sufficient. Satellite wiring should be one of those items.
But when it comes to installation, a totally different story. Going from a VIP 622 to a VIP 722K and a VIP 612, Dish would not let me self install and that very long discussion wound up in a VP office. My position was no service calls but yes to installations. Dish did the install.
Actually I just as soon not have a Dish technician doing wiring in my RVs because the wall construction is so different. I always had the wiring done before the Dish Technician arrived. He would validate the wiring and install the units.
A RV owner should be a bit self sufficient. Satellite wiring should be one of those items.
My Dish equipment has never been purchased and I started Dish when I started RVing.
Again, too many people confuse Pay-As-You-Go and RVing. You can be a RVer without Pay-As-You-Go, but Pay-As-You-Go is only for RVers.
Yea because they don’t want to be doing service calls for $10 every time you move the RV and need the dish realigned.
They loose around $140 on every service call
