Those of you who have switched from Dish to D*

[mlb]

Is an up front cost of $400 worth it to switch over?

Seems like a lot of money up front for me to leave Dish... although I'd like to have the option for NFL ST, it isn't something I have to have. The MLB package is of no interest to me, so that isn't a selling point. I also get the ESPN Gameplan and Full Court packages, are those channels of any higher quality than that of Dish (super compressed crappy SD)?

 

[rad]

Just curious, how did you come up with a $400 number? You mentioned NFL-ST, if you get the NFL-ST package that's offered now you can get te HD-DVR for free, what else are you figuring in?

 

[mlb]

A 2nd HD-DVR and 2 HD receivers, 4 TV's total. I may be able to get by right now with only 1 HD receiver, but I'd still prefer a 4th so I don't have to add another one later on...

 

[Jimbo]

MLB,
Have you called and talked to them or just do calculations online ?

Jimbo

 

[mekp21]

Just ordered yesterday and 1HD DVR, 1 HD, and 2 SD receiver's only cost me $99. plus she gave us the nascar hotpass for the rest of the season and a year of showtime as well.

 

[charper1]

That was the online tool cost quote as I pasted in in for him; as he was having browser and/or site issues via DirecTV.

 

[mlb]

MLB,
Have you called and talked to them or just do calculations online ?

Jimbo

I've only done the online portion that was posted by charper1... I guess I'll call and see what I can do.

 

[mlb]

Another question... how much room is D* going to have for national HD's over the coming year? Sounds like D* will max out around 130 with D11, is there another satellite on the horizon to expand beyond 130?

 

[rad]

Has D* said that they're now saying 130 national HD vs. the 150 they have been saying, if they did I missed that. D* has said that D12 due to go up on 2009 (no launch date/vendor has been announced yet) will take them to 200 national HD capacity.

 

[tigerfan33]

Yep. D12 is going up next year to give Direct 200 hd national capacity.

BTW. SD sucks on any hdtv from any provider. If your switching due to hd. Come on!!!!

Sorry Rad.

 

[mlb]

Well... just got off the phone with D*. I talked to a CSR who was very nice, but not necessarily the most familiar with the HD-DVRs.

After talking for probably 35 minutes we came to an agreement for this setup:

2 HD-DVR's with 2 AM21's ($100 up front for the AM21's, $144 in credit since he couldn't give me those for free). - Free

2 SD receivers, he said I could call back and get 1 of them upgraded to HD for free. - Free

$65 per month for the Premiere Package for 4 months ($10 below their advertised deal).

I told him deal, he went to sign me up...

and that is when he worked for 20 minutes attempting to get the system to accept the 2nd HD-DVR for free. His supervisor came over and attempted to make it work as well. Nothing worked... so, I would have had to spend $300 out of pocket to switch, something I'm not prepared to do at the moment (not worth that kind of money to me).

I'll keep an eye out for deals to switch to D*, but I'm not willing to spend $300 just to leave a service that overall I'm happy with right now (E*).

Thanks for everyone's help here.

 

[darrencp22]

You're an oddity in this regard... not many people have 3 HD TVs.. hell most people dont have 1. Their model probably is, if you can afford 3 HDTV's then you probably can afford the additional equipment.

 

[jokeworm]

I'm not willing to spend $300 just to leave a service that overall I'm happy with right now (E*).

Probably a good call ... although the discounts on your programming would have offset a lot of those charges .. $300 is probably more than i would have paid too ... fortunately i only needed one HD DVR for my main room .... so i was more than happy to jump ... and probably would not even consider Dish again now as the whole setup from start to finish just seems so much more professional and organized .. but if you are happy with what you have .... stick with it ... that way - you ain't got any surprises right around the corner ..



If you were "i gotta have it now" i'd suggest looking at the "how to get $240 extra off" thread .. and trying to get what you want by playing customer service roulette ... but sometimes .. as you say -- its just not THAT important.

 

[mlb]

Thanks joke, I'll check it out.

I only have 2 HDTV's right now, but need an HD-DVR on both. The 3rd HDTV will be purchased soon, but I don't have it yet. The real deal breaker was no 2nd HD-DVR, as my wife has to have her own in order to record all of her crap.

I really thought I had the deal of the century... almost posted it while on hold, but decided to hold off just in case what happened actually happened... I didn't want to jinx it by saying I got it before hand. Oh well... what can you do.

 

[KAB]

Thanks joke, I'll check it out.

I only have 2 HDTV's right now, but need an HD-DVR on both. The 3rd HDTV will be purchased soon, but I don't have it yet. The real deal breaker was no 2nd HD-DVR, as my wife has to have her own in order to record all of her crap.

I really thought I had the deal of the century... almost posted it while on hold, but decided to hold off just in case what happened actually happened... I didn't want to jinx it by saying I got it before hand. Oh well... what can you do.

I checked as well, believe it or not. But can't justify it already having two E* 722's, both of which I got paying the cost of 622's.

 

[mlb]

After doing some more research, I think I can get up to $200 in discounts right off the bat, and then try doing the AAA discount on top of that (from what I read some people were having some issues with CSRs giving them the proper discount on it, however).

I then would save about $50 a month for the 1st 4 months adding up to another $200 in savings just for the programming side of things... I think I am talking myself into doing the deal anyway. The deal with the 2 HD-DVRs would have been great, however. I'm going to call back after a while and see if I can possibly get something else thrown in...

 

[jokeworm]

I'm going to call back after a while and see if I can possibly get something else thrown in...

I'd call the AAA number and explain to them what deal you were told that you could get - and ask if that deal could be combined with the AAA deal ...

The worst that they can say is no ... but i'd try it a couple of times until you get the answer that you want ..

p.s. don't take a ... "and then you can call back and add .... " for an answer ... when you call back they will know nothing about it - or will tell you that you are not eligible ... unless you get everything that you want ... confirmed .. while you are on the phone with them - don't believe anything else that they tell you ...

:up

Good luck.

 

[vurbano]

You're an oddity in this regard... not many people have 3 HD TVs.. hell most people dont have 1. Their model probably is, if you can afford 3 HDTV's then you probably can afford the additional equipment.

got 3 here

 

[Tom Bombadil]

One thing to keep in mind is what pct of the total cost you will pay over, say 2 years, is for the installation.

If you are sub'ing to a $110/month package, then over two years that's $2640. A $300 installation is not that big of a deal overall.

Then factor in what you paid for your HDTV sets.

I switched for $175. That included a HD DVR, AM21, SD DVR, and dish installation. Then with the various discounts and rebates, I will save over $500 off of E*'s prices over the next 2 years. So I consider myself to be coming out ahead in the deal.

 

[HDinCincy]

After doing some more research, I think I can get up to $200 in discounts right off the bat, and then try doing the AAA discount on top of that (from what I read some people were having some issues with CSRs giving them the proper discount on it, however).

I then would save about $50 a month for the 1st 4 months adding up to another $200 in savings just for the programming side of things... I think I am talking myself into doing the deal anyway. The deal with the 2 HD-DVRs would have been great, however. I'm going to call back after a while and see if I can possibly get something else thrown in...

I see you're in Kettering so you may not qualify for the Cincy locals. That was HUGE part in my decision. I wanted the locals in HD over the dish . My OTA was just not cutting it. Dish gave me the same answer repeatedly "we have no plans at this time to add the Cincinnati locals in HD." After a year of that crap I switched last August. Never looked back!! MUCH better HD selection and with each software update the HD DVR gets better and better.