Why Buy Equipment?

[AlaJoe]

Since first ordering and now getting DN I have done a lot of looking around out of curiosity. I have noticed a bunch of DN equipment for sale on Ebay for example, mostly older outdated stuff. DN gave me a 522 and 322 when I signed up and as far as I know I am paying no more for programming than I would be if I already owned the equipment, so I ask why would you buy it?

 

[chaddux]

Since first ordering and now getting DN I have done a lot of looking around out of curiosity. I have noticed a bunch of DN equipment for sale on Ebay for example, mostly older outdated stuff. DN gave me a 522 and 322 when I signed up and as far as I know I am paying no more for programming than I would be if I already owned the equipment, so I ask why would you buy it?

The way I understand it is: if you lease the equipment, you pay $5 lease fee and if you own it, the lease fee becomes an additional outlet fee of the same amount. I've never seen the advantage of shelling out hundreds of dollars to own it.

 

[NightRyder]

You gain other options by owning. Most if not all of E* lease plans require a minimum monthly programming commitment. For example, if you lease an 811 you are required to maintain at least AT60 + HD Pak. If you own you can drop the AT60 and just have the HD Pak ect. Also you pay a $5 lease fee on the primary receiver, no fee when owned.

I have mixed feelings about leasing. I own all of my equipment (most of it bought from Dish at substantial discount). My 501 will be 4 years old in May, if I were paying a $5 a month lease fee, I would have passed the point where it cost me more $ to lease than to buy. Also, leased Dish equipment carries no more warranty protection than purchased does



NightRyder

 

[PILMAN]

I figured you could only lease if you were a new customer. I own my 811 only because DISH refused to lease me it, I had to buy it on ebay.

 

[BFG]

night you mixed things up. There is no lease fee on the first receiver. and as others have said the price of fees is the same no matter if you own or lease, so no it would not of cost you all this extra money if you were leasing vs. owning

 

[larrystotler]

There are advantages to owning your equipment. Take a DVR for example. If you want to cancel your service, disconnect it, and leave the power plugged in. The receiver will constantly be searching for signal, and you can still watch everything you have recorded. Also, owning your equipment gives you resale later on. Personnally, I do not care for leasing. I prefer to own. Never owned a car I didn't pay cash for. They may give me some problems, but I don't have to worry about it being repo'd if I can't pay the bill.

 

[korsjs]

i agree with the resell value (or i did). i had dish for over three years and actually came out ahead.

purchased a 6000 for 500, had it for a couple of years, sold it for 500.

got a 4900 and 3000 series for 50 bucks with the dish, sold both for around a hundred bucks.

got an 811 for 150, sold it for i think 130.

 

[Rlanham]

Also, leased Dish equipment carries no more warranty protection than purchased doesNightRyder

Oops, I now see that warranty "is" same for purchase versus lease. 90-day MFG warranty, then 1-year $14.95 replacement warranty. You have to purchase the $5.99/month Home protection plan either way for coverage after that. (But I would bet if you have the DHA plan & your receiver konks out, that you might be in a better "negotiating" position,,, if there is such a thing at that with DISH

 

[Mike500]

I've owned, activated, used amd resold over 30 receivers ove the last five years. I can use and resell at will. They've always been resold for more than I paid for them new. So, I'll always purchase.

Fortunately, I've never had one go bad.

 

[Stargazer]

I have never leased a receiver but if the cost is a lot cheaper then it may be a good thing to do. I tend to upgrade my hardware often though to keep up with the latest trends so purchasing makes that easy for me as I can sell the used receivers to make up for some of the new hardware purchases I make.

 

[jtravel]

I can see no reason for a New sub to buy equipment that they can get for use free from Dish.
There is no extra cost to Lease.
Dish is giving New subs the equipment to use for free just like the Cable companies. you give it back when you cancel.

Exisiting customers who want to upgrade may be better off buying equipment
rather than paying upgrade fees to Dish.
If you buy its your equipment and you can sell and recoup your cost.
Paying Dish a high upgrade fee to lease makes no sense to me.

 

[NightRyder]

night you mixed things up. There is no lease fee on the first receiver. and as others have said the price of fees is the same no matter if you own or lease, so no it would not of cost you all this extra money if you were leasing vs. owning

Oops. My mistake . Thanks for clarifying Brian.


NightRyder

 

[NightRyder]

I have never leased a receiver but if the cost is a lot cheaper then it may be a good thing to do. I tend to upgrade my hardware often though to keep up with the latest trends so purchasing makes that easy for me as I can sell the used receivers to make up for some of the new hardware purchases I make.

Agree. Here is my hardware purchase history with Dish.

I purchased my initial Dish 300 system from Dish Depot in January 1999. This included a Dish 300, Self Install Kit, 4700 and 2700 receivers. My total cost for all this was $0 plus a $50 credit on my first bill.

When E* came out with the Dish 500 I received a free upgrade with $25 shipping. Since I installed it myself they gave me a $25 credit on my next bill. Net cost to me $0.

I paid full price for my 501-DVR (pre-order) but traded my 2700 in for a $30 credit at Dish Depot. Net cost to me $249.

Added my 508 in 2003 for $149 through Dish. Retired my 4700 and sold for $70. Net cost to me $79.

Added my 811 at the beginning of 2004 for $149 including install. Dish upgraded my legacy LNBF's on my 500 and 300 (for 148)to DishPro and Installed a DP34. Sold my legacy LNBF's and switches for $45. Net cost to me $109.

Let's see so far I've invested $387 and I have a Dish 500, Dish 300, DishPro Twin LNBF, DishPro Dual LNBF, DishPro 34 switch, Dish 501, Dish 508, Dish 811. I've also signed up 4 people through club dish for total programming credits of $240. That brings my investment down to $147.


NightRyder

 

[Dishpointer]

I agree with everyone's point that new customers are better of leasing their equipment instead of purchasing. With the "deals" geared toward new customers, I see no need to purchase. Most people here purchase their own equipment because: 1. They do not qualify for a new receiver or they upgraded less than a year ago, 2. They want the latest and greatest and don't want to wait, or 3. The upgrade fee and the lease fee is about the same price if you just purchase the receiver on your own. I purchased my 522 receiver because I have been with Dish for 11 months and didn't qualify for the upgrade. I didn't want to shell out $149 for the upgrade and pay $5/month to lease it. I bought my 522 off of Ebay for $159 total. This was an easy decision for me to do. Because I bought this receiver, I have the option of selling it down the road and I will be able to recover most of my money back. If I leased this receiver from Dish and decided to get rid of it, I would be SOL and loose the $149 I forked out to Dish.

 

[Stargazer]

I have a bit more invested than you. I would say that I lost a bit on buying the hardware (mainly due to 721 purchase - $549 - in which I still have) so I have decided to wait until the hardware prices have dropped before making such expensive purchases in the future. Lately I have made up for some of my purchases by selling the 301's to buy a new 522 for $139 after shipping costs. I also participated in DVR upgrades a few times and decided to resell them instead of use them because I wanted the 510 instead and ended up getting that promotion later on.

 

[OoTLink]

Wow you got a 522 for $139?! Nice stuff.. That's cheap.

 

[Stargazer]

I just won a buy it now auction for $130 but it will cost me about $25 to get it. It is brand new. I missed out on another opportunity or two for one lately because people bought them up and I waited just long enough to get a sweet deal considering that they are now going for around $200 new now.

 

[koonkoon327]

I know this post might be dead, but this is how I kinda see it.

Haven't subscribed yet, but want to. I like dvrs. But I don't watch much tv; the cheapest plan is good enough for me, which is America's Top 60 for $26.99.

Oh, if I lease a dvr then it is $5 for leasing the dvr, and then $5 for local channels. I was told by a dish network retailer that if I bought the equipment, then the dvr fee is waived, and the local channels fee is waved(the newer recievers have a built in off-air broadcast tuner).

Also I don't care for HD. I just want the cheapest configuration possible.

So, that's $10 extra a month for having DVR and local channels, for those that are leasing a DVR.

$10 X 12 months = $120 a year that could of been towards purchasing a DVR.

Anyone catch my drift? Please correct/inform me if I'm wrong.

 

[larrystotler]

See if you can get a retailer to order you a 508 and do a free for all. It's normally $150 for 1 standard receiver, but you may be able to get the 508 for a $50-100 upgrade. Then, you would get $5 a month off your bill for $30 months. That would make your bill $21.99 a month for 30 months(unless they raise the package price. And the 508 doesn't have the DVR fee.

 

[jtravel]

You are correct if your on the DHA lease plan your required to have a min package of AT60 including locals for $31.99
If you plan to record local channels with the DVR then your going to most likely need locals from dish. The non-HD Dvr's won't record over the air or from the ANT input.

If you buy a DVR-510 and up you will still have to pay the $4.98 VOD fee each month.
The older DVR-508 and below are the only ones that have no monthly fee.