Soon to be Laid Off -Options?

[rein]

Here is my situation. I will be laid off at the end of the month and I am wanting to explore my options on what to do with my Dish Bill. I plan to call Dish but in my experience getting a "straight" answer requires having a little knowledge before talking to a CSR.

Unfortunately I agreed to a new 2 year deal when I signed up for the "free" lifetime HD back in December leaving me with a $200+ buyout if I cancel. My timing sucks! Does anyone know if Dish has a service to temporary suspend service allowing me to avoid that fee since I plan to come back once I have secured a new job? Does anyone have any tricks of the trade to get the fee reduced or waived?

Also, regardless of if I can suspend the service or if have to cancel the service all together, will my 722 receiver still receive my OTA channels once service is terminated? I do not expect the guide to continue to work but will I be able to view tv programs?

Any tips are greatly appreciated.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Put your account on DISH Pause which will cost you only $5 a month.

Unpause it when you get back to work. Hopefully you find employment soon! Good luck!

 

[rein]

Thanks Scott. Do you know if I will still be able to pick up local OTA channels through the receiver using my OTA antenna? I'm also trying to find info on Dish "welcome" package. So far it looks like it is only $20 a month (of course adding fees and taxes will push it up to ~$30.00). I'm debating if that is going to be affordable at this time though.

 

[Scherrman]

You should be able to view the local programming but you will not get the guide info anymore.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

That I dont know the answer to I dont know how they lock down the boxes and if it turns off the OTA feature.

 

[CK SatGuy]

Thanks Scott. Do you know if I will still be able to pick up local OTA channels through the receiver using my OTA antenna? I'm also trying to find info on Dish "welcome" package. So far it looks like it is only $20 a month (of course adding fees and taxes will push it up to ~$30.00). I'm debating if that is going to be affordable at this time though.

I don't think the Dish Welcome Pack has any HD channels, so depending on your point of view when it comes to HD, it might not be worth spending that $20/month. As for OTA, I don't know that answer.

 

[Mr Tony]

With the Welcome pack (14.99) you get your locals and also in HD if available. There are no other HD channels in this pack (sans for a few freeview HD channels when DIsh has those)

The advantage of the Welcome pack is you get a few channels but could use your DVR to record OTA (and get guide info). If you dish pause it, you wont be able to use the DVR functions nor have a OTA guide. When I did dish pause they turned off all channels but Dish 101 and (at the time...may have changed) Nasa and Angel One.

From another thread ...channels with package (disregard the "added" on the side...this is from a post where I compared the old version and the new one)

AMC
Bloomberg
Boomerang
CMT
Comedy Central
Food Network
Hallmark
Home & Garden Television (ADDED)
History
HSN
ICTV (ADDED) (just a shopping type channel)
MSNBC
MTV2
Oxygen
QVC
ShopNBC
TBS
TLC
The Hub (formerly Disc Kids)
WE: Women's Entertainment
The Weather Channel

 

[MattG@DISH]

The OTA tuner is disabled if the receiver is disabled. So if the account is canceled, you will not be able to receive OTA broadcasts (I've been told that they will work temporarily, but you will get the authorization messages eventually).

*EDIT* If your account is on pause, the receiver is not disabled.

 

[rein]

Thanks for all of the answers guys. I think I am going to try to switch to the welcome pack. Even if I remain unemployed for a couple of months I should be able to cover that cost. HD is nice but it is not deal breaker.

 

[nrholland]

If you happen to get any of the AAD channels, they will still come in even if you put it in the "pause" package. The program guide will still work for them too. I know. I had to do it that way for a couple of months.

 

[Mojo Jojo]

Thanks for all of the answers guys. I think I am going to try to switch to the welcome pack. Even if I remain unemployed for a couple of months I should be able to cover that cost. HD is nice but it is not deal breaker.

I am so sorry to read about your situation. I hope that all works out well, and I wish you the best of luck. I agree that HD is not something needed to live or even TV (although I like those things...I do not necessarily need them). If you plan on staying with Dish, have a contract, etc., then I would also try to stay with lowest pack if it is affordable. However, you should be able to still get your locals in HD (if any are available) with the Welcome pack as well as free preview HD channels (if they are available in HD). To find out about free previews, you may want to check 102 from time to time or this site: http://www.dishnetwork.com/entertain/preview/default.aspx

 

[rein]

I was able to get the Welcome Pack yesterday after a couple of tries. I'm not sure why but the first time my sub rolled back to my previous sub after a few hours. I was able to contact Dish and have it switched again and it looks like everything has been set up properly this time.

Sucks to be missing so many channels but I have a decent amount of TV, my DVR and as an added bonus my Starz promo is still there. All in all I am very happy with the new low bill even if it means I have a limited number of channel now. About 75% of my TV viewing comes from Network TV anyway.

Thanks again for all of the suggestions and well wishes in this thread. I've been lurking here off and on for some time but never had a reason to post until now. You guys rock!

 

[Mojo Jojo]

I was able to get the Welcome Pack yesterday after a couple of tries. I'm not sure why but the first time my sub rolled back to my previous sub after a few hours. I was able to contact Dish and have it switched again and it looks like everything has been set up properly this time.

Sucks to be missing so many channels but I have a decent amount of TV, my DVR and as an added bonus my Starz promo is still there. All in all I am very happy with the new low bill even if it means I have a limited number of channel now. About 75% of my TV viewing comes from Network TV anyway.

Thanks again for all of the suggestions and well wishes in this thread. I've been lurking here off and on for some time but never had a reason to post until now. You guys rock!

I am not sure how much you can afford, but there are other options as well such as a la carte programming and premiums. Of course, I am guessing that you will not want to spend too much more. I just wanted to let you know that there are other options that you may like ans want to add. You may not even need to add them now, but you may want to add them in the future.

Personally, we like the Encore Movie Pack a la carte for $5/month. It includes the following (All are in SD):
341 Encore West
342 Encore Westerns
343 Encore Action
344 Encore Mystery
345 Encore Drama
346 Encore Love
377 MoviePlex
[Note: Channels 340 Encore SD or/and HD and 347 Encore WAM are not included.]

However, not everyone likes this option, but we like movies.

Here are some other a la carte options: BabyTV, Outdoor Channel & A La Carte TV - DISH Network

Sometimes a la carte is good if you do not want the highest tier, but sometimes it can become expensive depending on channels you may want.

Here is a link to premiums: Premium TV Movie Channels - HBO & Showtime Package - DISH Network

However, premiums range from $13 to $16 separately and higher when bundled although there is a discount on bundles. You should be able to receive HD channels if you are paying for a premium or premiums.

I hope that this may help you in some way or in the future. Who knows? You may actually end up liking the Welcome Pack. We are starting to realize that we really did not watch every channel when we had America's Top 250 and HD Platinum.

 

[MikeD-C05]

IF Encore pack included ALL their movie channels in HD , it would be worth having top 250 a month. Otherwise top 250 is not worth the extra $10.00 a month for one extra movie channel in hd. Especially when you consider the Plat pack for $10.00 has about 16 hd channels ,many of them movie channels.

 

[Bobby]

IF Encore pack included ALL their movie channels in HD , it would be worth having top 250 a month. Otherwise top 250 is not worth the extra $10.00 a month for one extra movie channel in hd. Especially when you consider the Plat pack for $10.00 has about 16 hd channels ,many of them movie channels.

Encore transmits just the one channel in HD. If they offered all of their channels in HD maybe we'd have all of them