Dish Network Partnering with Google

[Scott Greczkowski]

For those customers who have Dish Network branded internet service from Wild Blue you will soon be seeing a change as Dish Network will be partnering with Google and will be mograting those customers to Googles GMAIL service.

Why is DISH Network changing its service provider to Google?

DISH Network and WildBlue have partnered with an industry leader to provide customers with a more efficient, more easily managed email service that offers increased functionality. We will transition all customers to Gmail powered by Google. However, customers’ actual email addresses will not change, and will still be username@dishmail.net. We are dedicated to completing this transition with minimal impact to our existing customers.

When is DISH Network transitioning its customers to Google’s Gmail?

Customers will be migrated to Google’s Gmail sometime during the first quarter of 2008. A specific date has yet to be set, but customers will receive notice through email communications to their Contact Email address.

How will WildBlue customers be affected by this migration to Google?

The migration to Google will have a minimal impact to existing customers:
The actual email address (username@dishmail.net) will not change.
A customer using email clients such as Outlook or Outlook Express will need to change configuration settings when the migration is complete.
Because of the integration of Gmail with other Google services such as the Start Page and Calendar, DISH Network encourages customers to use the web mail interface to access their email.

The customer’s Contact List from the old server will be easily transferrable to the new Google server.

Any emails residing in the customer’s Inbox, Sent, or Specialty folders will be transferred to the Google server. Junk folders will not be transferred.
Personal web space, including PageProducer and customer-created web pages at users.dishmail.net, will not be migrated and will be deleted after migration. Customers will need to download and save any images or custom files. After the migration is complete Google Page Creator can be used to create personal web pages.

How does the email migration to Gmail benefit existing DISH Network High-Speed Internet powered by WildBlue customers?

Google is an industry leader, and is known for their service reliability. When the migration to Google Mail is complete, customers will be using a more reliable email service with many additional features:
6 GB of storage space per email address
5 email addresses with Value and Select service packages and 10 email addresses for the Pro Package
Access to Google functionality and future enhancements

Will customers’ email addresses change during the migration to Google?

Customer email addresses will NOT change. All email addresses will remain username@dishmail.net. However, customers who have email addresses containing characters such as #, $, *, ?, etc., may have to create a new username to fit Google’s parameters. Customers affected by this will receive instructions at a future date.

Can customers use their webmail during the migration to Google?

Customers will not experience any downtime on their email during the migration. Emails received during this timeframe will be sent to both the old and new email servers to ensure that DISH Network customers are not missing important email messages.

How will the migration to Google affect customers’ Calendar Events?

When a customer’s email is migrated to Google, the Calendar Events that were created in the old Customer Portal will be lost. There is no way to migrate the events to the new server, so customers will have to manually create a new calendar using Google Calendar.

How will the migration to Google affect customers’ Contact List items?

When a customer’s email is migrated to Google, the Contact List that was created in the old Customer Portal will NOT be lost. However, the list won’t be directly transferred to the new server either. The customer’s Contact List information will be emailed to them at the time of migration, including instructions for how to manually import the list into the Google-based Customer Portal.

Note: If the email containing the Contact List information is deleted it cannot be recovered.

How will the migration to Google affect customers using an email client such as Outlook or Outlook Express?

Customers using email clients such as Outlook or Outlook Express will need to change configuration settings when the migration is complete.

DISH Network encourages customers to use the Gmail web mail interface to access their email because of the integration of Gmail with other Google services such as the Start Page and Calendar.

What happens to emails saved in specialized folders when information is migrated to Google? Any emails that customers have saved in the Inbox, Sent, or Specialty folders will be migrated to the new server. No important information will be lost. Note: Information in Junk or Trash folders will not be transferred.

[darrencp22]

Great to hear Dish is hard to work on some great and useful services!

[Jim S.]

In other words, Dish doesn't have the brain power to maintain their own servers, so they're going to inconvenience their users and waste their money.

[Hall]

Doesn't this belong here, The Broadband Forum - SatelliteGuys.US ?

[Hall]

In other words, Dish doesn't have the brain power to maintain their own servers, so they're going to inconvenience their users and waste their money.

No, in other words, Dish is a satellite television provider, not an ISP. Look at SBC/AT&T and their ISP service. They don't provide the e-mail services anymore, Yahoo! does. Many other ISPs do the same thing.

[VinceT3]

They are now partnering to offer you a free email service.. nice... *rolling eyes*

[Widescreen]

I'm sure all 500 Wild Blue customers will be thrilled.

[treiher]

If they want to roll out meaningful partnerships, how about a partnership with Netflix or Blockbuster to replace Dish Online?

This one has me about as excited as if McDonalds announced an exclusive partnership with one of their straw vendors to provide their customers with plastic straws with red stripes to go with their soft drinks. Don't get me wrong, I still love Dish, but geez!

[Sileny Jizda]

We had the same situation with Embarq cutting ties Earthlink. It was easier for us just to buy our own domain and hosting and forget all the switching and free spam laden email services.

[jeremysilvey]

Does anyone know when wildblue is going to be able to add more people, its shut down as full in the Missouri area.