Questions about old dishes/dish movement

[yourbeliefs]

Right now I'm living in my mom's house to help her out while she's ill. I plan to move out soon (not like some loser in the basement; this is legit) but recently it has come out that she may not have much time left. I have a few questions pertaining to this:

We have the 5-lnb dish. The account is in my name. When/if I move out (I say if because there may be a worse fate beforehand), would I be better off transferring my account to my mother and setting up a whole new account to where I end up living, or should I take my account with me and have my mom set up a new one for her? My bill isn't very high normally (I say normally because right now I'm paying off Sunday Ticket/Superfan/League Pass) and all I normally pay extra for is HD.

My next questions pertain to the dish itself. As I said, its a 5-lnb. I'm relatively new to the satellite game, and from what I've SEEN on other houses, it appears as though no one really "removes" satellite dishes. They seem to just leave the dish on there and just remove the thin part of it, the part that looks like the hook of a "G". When my mom passes, I'm going to just sell the house. I'm assuming that having a big satellite dish is not going to be a good selling point, for as you can see here, it sticks out like a sore thumb. I'm assuming there has to be a reason as to why I'll see what appears to be single family houses that have like 3 dishes on them as opposed to just one. Because of how they put up the dishes does that make it difficult and/or damaging to the surface its on to remove it?

One other final question (I know this has been a treat to read so far.) When I move out I'll likely be moving into an apartment or condo. I've always been unclear as to what the rules are for mounting dishes on apartments. On one hand I've heard that the landlord owns the thing and can do what they want; on the other hand I hear that that's unfair and that there are actually rules AGAINST a landlord throwing down such an edict.

As I said before, I have HD service, and I'm NOT going back to SD, so the 5-lnb is coming with me too. Since I can't mount that on the side of the building, will that cause an issue for me? I don't want to feel super restricted as to where I can live because of this big dish, but at the same time, I am NOT going back to SD programming and I sure as hell am NOT going back to our local cable provider of Cox (who fully live up to their name. If you want to see some of their atrocities here's the text from an article I wrote about them.)

Sorry for this long winded message, but since it had multiple questions, I figured it would be easier to just post them all in one as opposed to like 2 or 3 other threads. Thanks in advance.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

I'm not quite sure I understand about you account options.If you move out and you take your D* with you ,will someone be without TV? Othewise just use the movers connection. I would take down the old Dish and sell it on Ebay.

 

[yourbeliefs]

I'm not quite sure I understand about you account options.If you move out and you take your D* with you ,will someone be without TV? Othewise just use the movers connection. I would take down the old Dish and sell it on Ebay.

Yes.. as I said.. the account is in MY name. I don't know if I should transfer the account to her (if that's even possible) or just take it with me and sign her up with a new one. After all.. all the equipment would still be there (pending what I do about keeping my HD box or getting the HR)

 

[Hemi 6.1]

So she will be there and your just going to move out? Even if you could transfer it to her name ,You are still an old customer in which you wouldn't qualify for new promotions anyway. I would get her new service and either use the movers connection for your self or take the old equipment with you.Maybe with the movers connection you may qualify for a promotion.

 

[yourbeliefs]

So she will be there and your just going to move out? Even if you could transfer it to her name ,You are still an old customer in which you wouldn't qualify for new promotions anyway. I would get her new service and either use the movers connection for your self or take the old equipment with you.Maybe with the movers connection you may qualify for a promotion.

How does that movers thing work with D*?

 

[Hemi 6.1]

I'm not sure how the movers connection really works I never used it . I know of people who have used it ,and they have gotton some good deals on programming or equipment. I would just call D* and ask.

 

[yourbeliefs]

I'm not sure how the movers connection really works I never used it . I know of people who have used it ,and they have gotton some good deals on programming or equipment. I would just call D* and ask.

Well yeah... that's why I wanted to post this here because I was pretty sure that someone would have experience with moving equipment and could give me some advice on it. I don't want to call D* about a hypothetical situation; I'd rather get some stories from people and be able to use what I learn from that in dealing with them.. like the stories of people who get discounted DVRs by asking to be transferred to the retention office and threatening to leave or throwing down to get a better deal.

 

[tkorell]

Don't know if this applies to your situation, but this is my movers connection story. They offered me a far better deal when I moved and signed up for the HD you got with the 3LNB dish then when I upgraded to the 5LNB dish. When I moved they threw in all the non HD boxes and dish and free installation. When I upgraded they only gave my one HD box for free.

 

[randyk47]

My Movers Connection went quite well 4 years ago. We were with D* in Virginia and moved to Texas. I suspended our account with the notion that we might or might not need D* when we got down here. As it turned out the house we bought was already set up for D* (dish and cabling) as the owner was an SBC (now AT&T) manager and didn't want anything to do with the local cable company. For us it was simple, just took the receivers we brought with us from Virginia and plugged them in. We were only off line with D* for two months in the whole move. Guess we could have closed down the account in Virginia and opened a new one in Texas as we were beyond our committment obligation but it was pretty simple to get up and running. I remember the CSR telling me that taking down the dish in Virginia wasn't required or necessary. Considering where it was on our townhouse (3 stories up) I wasn't in any hurry to do that anyhow so that actually was good news. My reaction at the time was D* probably figures it's good advertising and there's always a chance the new buyer will opt for D* since it's pretty much ready to go. Indeed, the guy who bought our townhouse in Virginia was happy and immediately signed up for D*.

 

[yourbeliefs]

My Movers Connection went quite well 4 years ago. We were with D* in Virginia and moved to Texas. I suspended our account with the notion that we might or might not need D* when we got down here. As it turned out the house we bought was already set up for D* (dish and cabling) as the owner was an SBC (now AT&T) manager and didn't want anything to do with the local cable company. For us it was simple, just took the receivers we brought with us from Virginia and plugged them in. We were only off line with D* for two months in the whole move. Guess we could have closed down the account in Virginia and opened a new one in Texas as we were beyond our committment obligation but it was pretty simple to get up and running. I remember the CSR telling me that taking down the dish in Virginia wasn't required or necessary. Considering where it was on our townhouse (3 stories up) I wasn't in any hurry to do that anyhow so that actually was good news. My reaction at the time was D* probably figures it's good advertising and there's always a chance the new buyer will opt for D* since it's pretty much ready to go. Indeed, the guy who bought our townhouse in Virginia was happy and immediately signed up for D*.

That is some good info, but I guess I need to go back to one of my original questions: Whats the deal with going to an apartment/condo in terms of rules about adding a dish, especially a 5-lnb?

 

[randyk47]

Notionally you should be able to put up a dish at your new apartment/condo. I say "notionally" as there apparently are some situations where it can be a problem with restrictions that don't break the laws that allow you to have a dish. Probably would be a good idea to scout out a future residence and see if there are any dishes. I know there are a few near my house where I can see a dish (up to and including 5LNB), mostly "installed" on a balcony. Haven't gotten close enough to see how they did it though.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Ok... I hate to be a thread bumper, but I figure its better to consolidate than start a whole new thread..

So lets assume that I move out, and where I'm going has no issues with a 5-lnb. My mom is still in her house, so if I "take" the equipment with me, then she has no more D*. It would seem to me that it would make more logistical sense to just leave everything there, and then sign up for a new account with D*, where as people have said, I am eligible for exclusive new customer offers (although it appears that movers connection users are also eligible for some stuff as well.) Would they allow me to transfer my account to my mom, and then go and sign up for a whole new account? I can't find a copy of the D* account contract anywhere, so I can't see what the deal is with transfer of existing contracted service (I think after all my late additions to my service that I'm probably locked in for like a 3 year contract at this point.)
So it appears the options are:
Transfer account to mom and get whole new service at new location.
Or:
Bring all my stuff with me and have my mom get a new account (I don't know what the deal would be with my existing receivers and Dish, but it seems counter-productive of them to take off my dish and bring it with me then come back later and put on a whole other dish.)

I'm leaning towards the first option, but I'm just not sure, especially since I'd probably have to some how "transfer" payments from one bill to another (I have NBA LP on "layaway" along with other upgraded services.) I don't really want to have to continue paying off LP on one account then have to basically buy it again on another.

Sorry for this long and convoluted thread, but basically I want as much info and "ammo" available before I call D* and try to coordinate this, because I really want to make sure that I don't get screwed by D*, because its happened to me before, and I don't want to have to deal with it in a situation like this.