Talk me out of leaving dish

[Tampa8]

Yeah, I think you got a good deal but adding the phone would have cost more than just getting magic jack for us.

I have been posting that for quite awhile. It's a fallacy about the bundling cable offers. Their VOIP phone service is higher and has less features than what I use, Voicepulse. It costs $15 a month, unlimited in state calling (Ct) and 200 minutes long distance.
In some instances internet is indeed lower with bundling, BUT - at least with Charter if I am willing to call every 4 months, I get very close to that same discount without using any of their services. So I get Dish which costs MUCH less than Charter, with more things I want, and get the VOIP phone service, and the Internet for less than bundling.

BTW - I do find the picture of my in-laws in Fl who use Fios to be good. Don't like the equipment.

 

[Lord_Vader]

I use voicepulse too.

I only have the Verizon line for the discounts and use it for fax now.

 

[Jonhern]

I have been posting that for quite awhile. It's a fallacy about the bundling cable offers. Their VOIP phone service is higher and has less features than what I use, Voicepulse. It costs $15 a month, unlimited in state calling (Ct) and 200 minutes long distance.
In some instances internet is indeed lower with bundling, BUT - at least with Charter if I am willing to call every 4 months, I get very close to that same discount without using any of their services. So I get Dish which costs MUCH less than Charter, with more things I want, and get the VOIP phone service, and the Internet for less than bundling.

BTW - I do find the picture of my in-laws in Fl who use Fios to be good. Don't like the equipment.

yeah, thats why we are switching to double play, and i actually forgot to add the Spanish channels, so it would have been like $46 more the first year and $50 more the second, not just $40 more with the phone. The savings for us is in bundling internet and tv. if i set up the same equipment and just tv with hbo and Spanish pack it would be $160 for fios the first year, for just $10 more we get internet. Our current plan with dish is about $120 with hbo, internet alone is about $80 with taxes, so $200 for dish and internet, as opposed to $170 and then $185 2nd year with fios. But its not really a comparable plan, it would have to be AT250 with Spanish channels to compare to fios which we had when we first had dish but switched to dish Latino max after i found out about on here , to save some money after like 6 months with dish. Our setup with AT250 would be $146.99 (150.99 with hoppers) with internet we would be paying $227. so dish is cheaper than fios for just tv, but not when you include internet.

 

[Lord_Vader]

I was curious, so I went and played with the sign up wizard. Looks like they don't have as good of deals now as they did a couple of months ago. When I signed up, it was basically the same price for either double play or triple play ( with or without phone ). Now its $15 more for phone, so I agree with you.

 

[Lord_Vader]

Although, this still pops up for triple play...

Lock-in your bundle monthly price by signing up for a 2-year bundle.
Plus, select one of the special offers below.
Your 2-year bundle price:
$124.99
months 1-24


$500 Visa prepaid card Multi-Room DVR 12 Month Credit (savings of $19.99/month) HBO 12 Month Credit (savings of $16.99/month) FiOS Spanish 12 Month Credit (savings of $12.99/month)
2-year agreement required. Beginning month 2, up to $230 early termination fee (w/ $10/mo. prorated reduction) applies.
Only discounts shown on your order summary will apply. If you have other promotions on your account, they may be removed when you accept a Special Offer.

So, you pay $15 more for phone and get a $500 gift card.

 

[Jonhern]

i did not have that show up, i got on a flyer $100 ($250 online), dvr for a year, or hbo cinimax for a year with a 2yr contract for triple play. Might be for different areas, idk. But with no contract i still get hbo and spanish pack half off for a year, and a $6 discount for the home dvr and 2 stb setup. The guy actually said one of the boxes would be free with the discounts, so maybe there is something else too that bumps that up to 9.99, and it think that is for as long as you are with them, did not see an expiration on that promo. But $500 is pretty good, but still would add $1200 to go triple play for the 2 yrs, so $700 more if you subtract the gift card.

 

[Lord_Vader]

You have to select the triple play 35/35, ultimate, phone and then go to the next screen. Its $500. I think you can get $300 for any other triple play if you don't want to max it out.

 

[Jonhern]

oh i see it now, you have to click on two year contract and then it shows $500 gift card for the ultimate pack. We would never get that though, we would get the extreme bundle which only has $250 gift card, and hbo & cinmax half for a year, but we only want hbo so its more than just hbo half for a year that no contact gets. That would still be about $40 more a month to get phone on the plan(extreme, 15/5, ultimate phone with international), so $960 more over 2 yrs for a net of $710 more over 2 years after the gift card. with magic jack it will be $160 over the two years and any international we add which will only be what we use, not a monthly costs.

 

[Lord_Vader]

That's fine. Just wanted to let you know.

 

[Jonhern]

That's fine. Just wanted to let you know.

Oh no, thanks. I could have still switched it before the install if it would have been better . But even without the international it would still be $70 over just magic jack over 2yrs, and we would be stuck on a contract. This way we can leave if they screw something up, have a big price hike, or lose channels.

 

[JayStil]

If you like MagicJack, try Obi/Google Voice instead. The Obi box is around $45 to buy, all calls to US & Canada are free with GV. And you can pick most any VOIP out there for International calls. No taxes and bogus fees at all.

I've been testing it for the last month. Trying to convince the wife we should get rid of the Verizon landline. Can't do a direct number port, but I can port our home number to a prepaid cell and then port to GV from that.

 

[Jonhern]

If you like MagicJack, try Obi/Google Voice instead. The Obi box is around $45 to buy, all calls to US & Canada are free with GV. And you can pick most any VOIP out there for International calls. No taxes and bogus fees at all.

I've been testing it for the last month. Trying to convince the wife we should get rid of the Verizon landline. Can't do a direct number port, but I can port our home number to a prepaid cell and then port to GV from that.

Does it need to be connected to the computer? Or is it like magic jack plus which just need a line to the router? We do have until mid April to get a full refund from magic jack. The only thing with google voice is that you need a number to send calls to, i think, i use it on my cell phone to have a second line. So are you just using the number you get from obi and then forwarding the home phone number through google voice to the obi number?

 

[topcat5]

Almost everyone has a broadband Internet connection these days. You can get a Roku for $89 and a Netflix subscription for $8.99/month and simply stream very high quality TV & Movies. Add an over the air antenna, and you have duplicated a great deal of what is on these $100+/month plans and there is a great deal not offered up on Dish or others. I'm ending my 11+ year relationship with Dish at the end of the month simply because I don't think the cost is worth the content being delivered. If Dish had more granular packages where I don't have to purchase 250+ channels to see the 2 to 3 that I'd like then I'd consider staying with them, but this doesn't seem likely for the time being.

 

[Mochuf]

I have been posting that for quite awhile. It's a fallacy about the bundling cable offers. Their VOIP phone service is higher and has less features than what I use, Voicepulse. It costs $15 a month, unlimited in state calling (Ct) and 200 minutes long distance. In some instances internet is indeed lower with bundling,

I bundle internet and phone through a local cabelco, Wide Open West, and their Advanced phone (all the typical features like call waiting, caller id, etc; plus unlimited calls to anywhere in the USA, all US territories and all of Canada) is only $20 per month extra above my internet (15/1) fee. Cheaper than Vonage and more reliable (with real support if needed) than options like Magic Jack. I guess it all depends on your local providers. I went with Dish two years ago for tv, even though they were pricier, because they had more HD and better dvrs. While WOW has improved on both fronts since then. We're here to stay, due to the channels we get with BBMP and the recordings we have on our EHD. But if Dish gets stupid with rate increases in 2013, we'll leave since we do have a low cost option.

 

[DodgerKing]

I bundle internet and phone through a local cabelco, Wide Open West, and their Advanced phone (all the typical features like call waiting, caller id, etc; plus unlimited calls to anywhere in the USA, all US territories and all of Canada) is only $20 per month extra above my internet (15/1) fee. Cheaper than Vonage and more reliable (with real support if needed) than options like Magic Jack. I guess it all depends on your local providers. I went with Dish two years ago for tv, even though they were pricier, because they had more HD and better dvrs. While WOW has improved on both fronts since then. We're here to stay, due to the channels we get with BBMP and the recordings we have on our EHD. But if Dish gets stupid with rate increases in 2013, we'll leave since we do have a low cost option.

Have you looked into Ooma? Best decision we made.

 

[JayStil]

Does it need to be connected to the computer? Or is it like magic jack plus which just need a line to the router? We do have until mid April to get a full refund from magic jack. The only thing with google voice is that you need a number to send calls to, i think, i use it on my cell phone to have a second line. So are you just using the number you get from obi and then forwarding the home phone number through google voice to the obi number?

No computer connection required. Just a line to the router. If you don't need a POTS connection the Obi100 model does away with that port and is about $5 cheaper. Obi isn't a provider (well, you can make free calls to another Obi unit anywhere, even overseas) so the number would be issued from Google Voice (or whichever VOIP provider you choose). You can also port a current mobile number for a fee. Your google voice number can either ring directly to your home phone(s), or be answered by an online attendant with messaging options or ring through request. You can also make it ring your cell, work, or anyplace else you need. Has all the normal calling features you're used to, although GV only supports Caller ID number, not name. They have some kind of special integration with Sprint cellphones, but I don't have one so I haven't really looked into it. There's also an app for android and iphone that lets you make calls using wifi when available, without using your cell minutes.

Getting off topic for this thread. There's a little bit of discussion going on in the Phones forum.

 

[Tampa8]

I bundle internet and phone through a local cabelco, Wide Open West, and their Advanced phone (all the typical features like call waiting, caller id, etc; plus unlimited calls to anywhere in the USA, all US territories and all of Canada) is only $20 per month extra above my internet (15/1) fee. Cheaper than Vonage and more reliable (with real support if needed) than options like Magic Jack. I guess it all depends on your local providers.

There are exceptions of course, you do have what sounds like a reasonable bundle alternative. Ours and many I would say are nowhere near that.

 

[Mochuf]

Have you looked into Ooma? Best decision we made.

I've heard a lot good things about Ooma, but haven't checked into it myself. I would be interested in it, but going to a non-traditional service like that would be a very tough sell to my wife! She didn't even want to leave our old ATT service, which was way more expensive. You know the old saying, "Happy Wife, Happy Life!".

 

[Mochuf]

There are exceptions of course, you do have what sounds like a reasonable bundle alternative. Ours and many I would say are nowhere near that.

Yes, we had U-Verse before WOW and we're saving over $10 per month. And our internet speed went up from 6/1 to 15/1. And don't even ask about what Comcast charges for a internet/phone bundle.

 

[Lord_Vader]

I've heard a lot good things about Ooma, but haven't checked into it myself. I would be interested in it, but going to a non-traditional service like that would be a very tough sell to my wife! She didn't even want to leave our old ATT service, which was way more expensive. You know the old saying, "Happy Wife, Happy Life!".

I switched to voicepulse. Its not the cheapest, but my wife is fine with it. I even got my retired parents to use it. My mother doesn't even know how to turn on a computer and she is ok with voicepulse.

Just a thought.