you might go with all 211Ks to save the 6 buck DVR fee, currently theres no DVR fee on 211s
Wow, did I screw myself over?
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you might go with all 211Ks to save the 6 buck DVR fee, currently theres no DVR fee on 211s
I used to love our Dish Network service (price, programming, equipment, quality) and recommended them to friends and family...but then came HD-Lite in October 2006 and by the end of 2008 their service had deteriorated beyond repair - we bailed. I've been very happy FiOS customer even since. Dish Network service is almost 4-years past its prime and 2-years past tolerable. It's a stinker. Having said that...it's still probably a lot better than BlightHouse.
The 211k's are a good choice because they will only cost you $7/mo/ea AND they can tune in HD if/when you change out your SDTVs for HDTV sets. Future proof.
The 411 is an obsolete model predating a 211. It's almost identical except it has no Ethernet port. It is not a DVR, though it can be turned into one. They're very rare. I would be very surprised if the installer shows up with a 411 and external disk!
The HD duo receivers are the 622, 722, 722k, and 922. If they show up with a 722k or 922, and you care about receiving your locals off the antenna, then you need the OTA module which adds 2 ATSC tuners. These go for $29, but sometimes you can get them out of Dish for free. The 622 and 722's have a single built-in ATSC tuner.
I like Dish. They seem to have more HD channels than any other provider. With the addition of HD local channels in several markets today, I'm pretty sure their HD locals cover a larger percentage of the country than DirecTV's. Some say that DirecTV's picture quality is better than Dish's, but I've never seen DirecTV, so I don't have a way of comparing. Dish's picture seems fine to me.
Good luck!
Good luck!
I've yet to see a contract proffered by any company that wasn't designed to protect them rather than us.
I joined about 3 weeks ago and I'd say I'm happy, but my setup is simple, one TV, one 612 DVR. I had also done 50% of the install before the tech arrived so that was impossible to screw up.
With the Top 120 package I have all the HD I need and I'm saving about $50 a month over Time Warner. Some folks fear the 612 box, but it tromps all over the DVR I had with Time Warner.
With the Top 120 package I have all the HD I need and I'm saving about $50 a month over Time Warner. Some folks fear the 612 box, but it tromps all over the DVR I had with Time Warner.
yeah but most at least pay lip service to the customer.....
Es we change anything at any time is wrong, and one day will get consumer protection after them.
not a matter of if but when.......
I've had dish for 1.5 years now, and am happy with them. I don't like the equipment fee's that they added, but overall, it is still cheaper than cablevision, and about the same price as Direct. The best part, is I get the NFL redzone channel.
This is my second time around with dish, we have been with dish about 10 years all told. Took a hiatus in 2005 for just less than a year only because we needed to downsize bills due to my unemployment. Overall we have been very happy with the equipment, channel selection and service. Yes there have been some problems, nothing in life is perfect, and the recent price increases seemed to be ill timed, given the economic issues in the country, but we are still happy.
a couple of things to keep an eye on. If you have a DVR be sure there is plenty of ventilation around it. My best advice is do not put it in an enclosed entertainment unit unless you can add some type of an external fan to pull the heat out of the enclosure. DVR's generate a tremendous amount of heat. The Hard Drive is always running, even if you a re not recording, this is why you can pause rewind and freeze live tv. It seems that one of the design flaws in the Dish DVR is it does not have the best ventilation. I had 2 DVR's fail before I found out about the heat issue.
Be sure you check out each and every TV during the install and that you are receiving all the programing you are paying for. Make sure the tech peaks your dish for optimal signal reception. You will have some rain fade (really heavy clouds block the signals), and it doesn't necessarily have to be raining at your location for this to happen. A well aligned dish will prevent most but not all interference.
If you didn't sign up for the protection plan, my opinion is you should. it is $6.00 a month or $72.00 a year. If you ever need a service call it will only cost $15.00 vs $99.00 and if you ever have to have a receiver replaced due to malfunction it won't cost a dime unless they send a tech out to install it in which case it will be $15.00. I just had a service call to realign a dish ( it had not been checked in 4 years) cost my $15.00 and I also received a 60 day warranty on the service so if I need to call dish back on this issue in the next 60 days no more cash on this issue.
Finally and most important. SHould yo need to call dish for tech support or customer service. I suggest you use the on line chat. You can save the conversations and or have them emailed to you. Should you ever need to have proof of what you were told it is the only way.
Again nothing in life is perfect. I'm sure Direct customers have issues with their service too. We are happy with the equipment, the picture on our TV's and with the service we have had.
Good luck
Ross
a couple of things to keep an eye on. If you have a DVR be sure there is plenty of ventilation around it. My best advice is do not put it in an enclosed entertainment unit unless you can add some type of an external fan to pull the heat out of the enclosure. DVR's generate a tremendous amount of heat. The Hard Drive is always running, even if you a re not recording, this is why you can pause rewind and freeze live tv. It seems that one of the design flaws in the Dish DVR is it does not have the best ventilation. I had 2 DVR's fail before I found out about the heat issue.
Be sure you check out each and every TV during the install and that you are receiving all the programing you are paying for. Make sure the tech peaks your dish for optimal signal reception. You will have some rain fade (really heavy clouds block the signals), and it doesn't necessarily have to be raining at your location for this to happen. A well aligned dish will prevent most but not all interference.
If you didn't sign up for the protection plan, my opinion is you should. it is $6.00 a month or $72.00 a year. If you ever need a service call it will only cost $15.00 vs $99.00 and if you ever have to have a receiver replaced due to malfunction it won't cost a dime unless they send a tech out to install it in which case it will be $15.00. I just had a service call to realign a dish ( it had not been checked in 4 years) cost my $15.00 and I also received a 60 day warranty on the service so if I need to call dish back on this issue in the next 60 days no more cash on this issue.
Finally and most important. SHould yo need to call dish for tech support or customer service. I suggest you use the on line chat. You can save the conversations and or have them emailed to you. Should you ever need to have proof of what you were told it is the only way.
Again nothing in life is perfect. I'm sure Direct customers have issues with their service too. We are happy with the equipment, the picture on our TV's and with the service we have had.
Good luck
Ross
You'll be fine with Dish. If you have the programming you want, that is. AFAIK, they continue to only carry RSNs (NESN, in my case) in HD when they happen to feel like it. It used to really make me angry when the Red Sox were playing and Dish did not carry the game in HD. The reason I left is that when I called to find out why no HD game, they lied to me and said the game was not available in HD. Since I've switched (Oct 2008), all HD all the time...
Really a minor point.
GL, Eric
Really a minor point.
GL, Eric
Uh Bob, you are being a bit deceptive here. Both D* and E*, and I suspect most cable companies have the 'we can do anything' clause in them and have had them for as long as I can remember.
Do I like them? No, but they are there, they've been challenged in court and the challenges lost.
I believe you will be happy as with Dish's HD DVR's have a PIP button and press the" Position button" on the remote control and 2 screens will pop up showing you what's on tuner 1 and tuner 2 at the same time.
I'm a relative Dish Network newbie, being 6 months into a two year contract. I'm pretty happy with the service, but it is mainly because I took the time to read carefully all the customer agreements, researched all the equipment, and contract terms before I signed up. So, I knew very well what I was getting into. Overall, I would say the service is good and Dish has lived up to their end of the the contract.
My set-up uses a 1000.2 antenna on the western arc and I have one VIP722K receiver feeding one HDTV in the main room, and feeding five other SDTV's via the whole house distribution feature of the 722K. I really like the VIP722K and think it is possibly the best dual HDDVR receiver available. It is feature rich and has a pretty fast response to commands. I also like the ability to manage my account on-line, both upgrading and downgrading my programming package as my needs dictate. BTW, I started out with the AT250 package and I currently have the AT120 for the summer. I will probably upgrade to AT200 when the hockey season starts in October.
OK, so that was the good side. There are some things I don't like. Dish network seems to be 'fee crazy' of late. In other words, there is a fee for everything and many of these extra fees are exorbitant. For example, if you want dvr service that is $6 extra per month. If you want an extra VIP722K that is an extra $17 per month. If you want to activate an external hard drive for that receiver that is an extra $40 one time fee. If you want to downgrade your programming package that is an extra $5 each time you downgrade. And so it goes.
I think where a good part of the unrest comes into play is with the longer term subs who have been grandfathered into lower cost programming packages and who may have multiple higher end receivers. As the fees have increased for these packages and for the additional higher end receivers, many folks have become dissatisfied and are very vocal. They feel as long term loyal subscribers that they should be treated better. I would agree with them. Unfortunately, this seems not to be the case. For some reason, Dish seems to place a higher value on the newer lower end subscribers. I have no idea why? I guess it is just a different world these days in business.
As far as whether you are making a mistake, only time will tell. I would only offer the caveat to read all the customer agreements found on Dish's web page and know what equipment you actually want and expect to receive. Don't sign any installation contracts until you have verified that you have received everything that you ordered and that it is all working correctly.
As far as my own situation is concerned, I was with Direct TV for 9 years and I just wanted to try something different. So far, I am happy with the way Dish has worked out for me. When my contract is up some 18 months from now I will take another look at what is available at that time and make a decision based on what is best for me. Since I know that Dish Network as well as all the other pay tv providers are doing what is best for their companies and stockholders.
YMMV! Good luck.
Ed
My set-up uses a 1000.2 antenna on the western arc and I have one VIP722K receiver feeding one HDTV in the main room, and feeding five other SDTV's via the whole house distribution feature of the 722K. I really like the VIP722K and think it is possibly the best dual HDDVR receiver available. It is feature rich and has a pretty fast response to commands. I also like the ability to manage my account on-line, both upgrading and downgrading my programming package as my needs dictate. BTW, I started out with the AT250 package and I currently have the AT120 for the summer. I will probably upgrade to AT200 when the hockey season starts in October.
OK, so that was the good side. There are some things I don't like. Dish network seems to be 'fee crazy' of late. In other words, there is a fee for everything and many of these extra fees are exorbitant. For example, if you want dvr service that is $6 extra per month. If you want an extra VIP722K that is an extra $17 per month. If you want to activate an external hard drive for that receiver that is an extra $40 one time fee. If you want to downgrade your programming package that is an extra $5 each time you downgrade. And so it goes.
I think where a good part of the unrest comes into play is with the longer term subs who have been grandfathered into lower cost programming packages and who may have multiple higher end receivers. As the fees have increased for these packages and for the additional higher end receivers, many folks have become dissatisfied and are very vocal. They feel as long term loyal subscribers that they should be treated better. I would agree with them. Unfortunately, this seems not to be the case. For some reason, Dish seems to place a higher value on the newer lower end subscribers. I have no idea why? I guess it is just a different world these days in business.
As far as whether you are making a mistake, only time will tell. I would only offer the caveat to read all the customer agreements found on Dish's web page and know what equipment you actually want and expect to receive. Don't sign any installation contracts until you have verified that you have received everything that you ordered and that it is all working correctly.
As far as my own situation is concerned, I was with Direct TV for 9 years and I just wanted to try something different. So far, I am happy with the way Dish has worked out for me. When my contract is up some 18 months from now I will take another look at what is available at that time and make a decision based on what is best for me. Since I know that Dish Network as well as all the other pay tv providers are doing what is best for their companies and stockholders.
YMMV! Good luck.
Ed
How 'bout we look at the contracts we sign and refuse them if we don't like them. Federal law needn't be concerned about us taking responsibility for ourselves....
