Thinking of not upgrading to Hopper 3

[DustNavy]

The cost you are paying to BUY the receiver is still much less than what it cost them to make the receiver. So I guess you could say you are getting a discount.

I don't think I would say that. It's a common business model to sell a certain product at a loss to gain business in other areas. One example is the video game industry. Most consoles are sold at a loss with the parent company knowing you will most likely buy software for it. In contrast, the hopper 3 is sold at a loss knowing you will likely get dish service, vod, etc.

The equivalent of a phone contract version of this scenario is the customer getting locked into a higher rate for a discounted phone, thus more than covering the discount. For dish, the parallel could be drawn with the free upgrade, not the sale through a retailer.

 

[ewindowman]

I am wondering now what it does cost to make a hopper . As soon as a I phone is launched you have all these sites breaking down the cost . I know that I fixed my Hws hard drive and there is not much in the box . Looks to me a motherboard and a hard drive . I am sure there is more too it .

 

[Scherrman]

The way I look at it if you own your own equipment than you should be allowed to get some kind of discount. The price you pay now is for dish to supply all receivers .That is built into your monthly bill you will never no the true cost of service it's the same model that the phone companies use with there monthly rate plan and a subsidized phone .Phone companies are doing away with that so when you buy your own equipment you will get a better price on the plan you have ( or so they say )

Very, very, very few people purchase their our equipment so I doubt Dish is going to worry too much about giving these customers additional discounts because they own their equipment. There isn't much of a benefit for Dish to do it.

 

[JM42]

That's $720 in savings, which is a win doing it myself

The trick is to negotiate during the out of contract period, before getting the upgrade. Never seemed to impact my upgrade status.

 

[DustNavy]

The trick is to negotiate during the out of contract period, before getting the upgrade. Never seemed to impact my upgrade status.

Usually that is only 6 months, then you're still missing 18 potential months of discount

 

[mrbrock72]

As soon as your out of contract you should be given the option for free equipment upgrades right away. I dont mind doing a new 2year contract. They should also give you the same promo deals that new customers can get. IE 50% off for the first year and 3 free months of Premiums etc. If not then we can just cancel the service, send back the equipment and then order like we are a new customer anyway right? We should not have to make a call and try to negotiate a good deal.

 

[ChadT41]

There is a 60 day wait period to be considered a new customer.

 

[lparsons21]

There is a 60 day wait period to be considered a new customer.

While that is the official position, and it enforced if you try to go with a retailer, these days the 'come back' offers start almost before you get off the phone cancelling service. Of course that isn't always true, but more often than not and with both D* and E*. Tough market for both of them these days.

 

[Scherrman]

As soon as your out of contract you should be given the option for free equipment upgrades right away. I dont mind doing a new 2year contract. They should also give you the same promo deals that new customers can get. IE 50% off for the first year and 3 free months of Premiums etc. If not then we can just cancel the service, send back the equipment and then order like we are a new customer anyway right? We should not have to make a call and try to negotiate a good deal.

Very poor business strategy there. How would a company like Dish ever make money if they were discounting their programming all the time? Dish loses money on a new customer when they first sign up and it take a few years from them to profit.

You can cancel and sign back up after 3 months if you wish but that sounds like a hassle just to get some discounts. It's doable though if you wanted to.

 

[Rotryrkt]

When I switched from Direct back to Dish almost 2 years ago, I immediately started receiving come back offers from DTV on average 3 times per week. They have tapered off now to about 1 per month. I wish they would save the postage for this stuff and keep the rates lower.

 

[Scherrman]

There is a 60 day wait period to be considered a new customer.

Is it 60 days or 3 months now?

 

[DustNavy]

Is it 60 days or 3 months now?

3 months from what I've heard

 

[patmurphey]

My primary television in the living room died yesterday. It was a 55" Panasonic Plasma 1080p HD set that was about six years old. I decided to upgrade to a 4K set, Vizio M65-C1. So suddenly the upgrade seems more attractive. But I have a question about streaming. Can I get 4K (compressed) with with my current Hopper if I stream from it using the Netflix application? I would be streaming from the internet and not using the dish to access the satellites. So I would think I should be able to stream 4K.

No, because 4K requires HDMI ports that are HDCP 2.2 compliant, which is a new hardware standard that only the hopper 3 will have

You can stream Netflix 4K (and Amazon and YouTube) directly from the Internet with today's smart TV apps as long as you have the download speed. Using an STB App is not required.

 

[ChadT41]

Is it 60 days or 3 months now?

2 years ago they changed it to 60 days, and unless they very recently changed it back, it's still 69 days. Even DIRT said it was 60 days on Facebook 3 days ago. I'm assuming it is still 60.

 

[Ray S]

You can stream Netflix 4K (and Amazon and YouTube) directly from the Internet with today's smart TV apps as long as you have the download speed. Using an STB App is not required.

Yes I came to that conclusion myself a few posts back. My smart TV does have those applications. Thanks for your consideration. To your knowledge, does Dish provide any 4K other than from sources like Netflix? At this point even though I have a 4K TV, I still don't see the advantage of the upgrade. Will HBO and the premium networks be offering there content in 4K? I have been searching the internet for the answer to this question and haven't found much support for broadcast 4K content. If I saw anything promising, I might consider establish a contract again. But there doesn't seem to be anything noteworthy.

 

[ChadT41]

Yes I came to that conclusion myself a few posts back. My smart TV does have those applications. Thanks for your consideration. To your knowledge, does Dish provide any 4K other than from sources like Netflix? At this point even though I have a 4K TV, I still don't see the advantage of the upgrade. Will HBO and the premium networks be offering there content in 4K? I have been searching the internet for the answer to this question and haven't found much support for broadcast 4K content. If I saw anything promising, I might consider establish a contract again. But there doesn't seem to be anything noteworthy.

They will have on demand as well. There is not currently providers offering linear channels in 4K, although DTV will begin with ESPN shortly, and betting Dish will follow very shortly.

 

[eddie willers]

They will have on demand as well. There is not currently providers offering linear channels in 4K, although DTV will begin with ESPN shortly, and betting Dish will follow very shortly.

Anybody know if Jeff Bezos and Charlie get along?

 

[patmurphey]

Yes I came to that conclusion myself a few posts back. My smart TV does have those applications. Thanks for your consideration. To your knowledge, does Dish provide any 4K other than from sources like Netflix? At this point even though I have a 4K TV, I still don't see the advantage of the upgrade. Will HBO and the premium networks be offering there content in 4K? I have been searching the internet for the answer to this question and haven't found much support for broadcast 4K content. If I saw anything promising, I might consider establish a contract again. But there doesn't seem to be anything noteworthy.

The value of the free upgrade is in the DVR features and speed, and you will be ready for future 4k content.