Upgrade to DVR an no cost?

[tangible]

[This is my second attempt to post this. The first apparently didn't go through. If it did, I apologize for the duplication]

I have two 501's and one 510 DVR, on lease for a couple of years. A Dish phone rep told me that because I have fulfilled my lease obligation I can trade in the 501's for 510's with no further obligation, and at no increase to my monthly bill; I just have to pay a $50 "shipping" fee. Does she have it right? Is there any reason NOT to do this?

BTW, I am aware that there are better DVR's than the 510. This is just for the short-term, as I am going HD within the next year anyway.

 

[AppliedAggression]

Yes, not worth it. The 510 has an extra $5/month DVR fee.

 

[tangible]

Interesting...she told me that because I already am paying the $5 fee for my existing 510 that I wouldn't have to pay it again, i.e. that the few is per subscriber, not per unit.

 

[chaddux]

Interesting...she told me that because I already am paying the $5 fee for my existing 510 that I wouldn't have to pay it again, i.e. that the few is per subscriber, not per unit.

She was quite mistaken. I believe that DirecTV charges per account. DISH charges per receiver. Of course, if you have America's Everything Pak, all DVR fees are waived.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Note that the 501, 508, and 510 are all actually the same box.

You can swap a bigger hard drive into your 501 to kick it up - WITHOUT incurring the Bu!!$#!t VOD fee.

Go to Yahoo groups Dishmod for further information.

 

[Hall]

I'm curious why you want to replace your 501s with 510s ?? Is it just for the increased storage space ??

 

[tangible]

I must confess a bit of stupidity: The receivers I have are obviously not 501's. They are just receivers; not DVR's. So, to restate, I have two receivers and one 510. What I am looking to do is replace one of the receivers with a DVR, at the least possible cost. What will that entail?

 

[Roller]

cheapest way to do this would be with the promotion to upgrade. Now one thing you would want to check into is if you own or lease the current receivers. If you lease them, then your monthly rate would go up by $4.98 for a 2nd vod fee, which as chaddux said, is per receiver. The lease/additional outlet fee would be the same, $5/mon leasing for the additional receiver, same as what you're paying now. If you do own the current receiver, you would be able to send it back to dish for a $25 credit, if you lease it, then you have to return it anyway to avoid being charged.

One other thing, that promotion lets you do 1 upgrade per 12month period, so be sure thats the upgrade you want to do for the next year. You might be eligable to do 1 or 2 receivers, so you may want to check on that too. Just so you dont want a hd receiver in 3 months, and find out you have to wait another 9months to do it.

 

[Stargazer]

I wouldn't return a good working receiver to Dish Network for $25. You could sell it on here or ebay and get more out of it. You might even get enough out of the receiver to pay for an upgrade to a 510 depending on how much you would have pay for the upgrade. You could also buy a 501 or 508 a lot cheaper now since they reduced the price on the refurbs. This would probably allow you to get a used one for even cheaper.

 

[tangible]

My equipment is all leased, so selling it is not an option. I spoke to another Dish rep today, who actually knew what he was doing. I ended up doing the originally contemplated tradein of one 301 for a 510, for $50 + 5/month. I appreciate the warning about this making me ineligible for a later upgrade to HD, but frankly once I go to HD I expect to go to Comcast, which seems like a much better value proposition these days.
Thanks to all who responded.