HD Upgrade Questions

[nick9]

I am considering upgrading to HD after upgrading the TVs in the house. Presently I am on the Classic Gold 250 plan. My dish is the 500 and pointed 110 and 119. We have the DuoDVR625 and a plain single non DVR receiver that I can't remember the number of. I just passed one year with the Dish combined on my Embarq(now Century Link) plan.
Will I be able to upgrade without any addtional fees such as installation or receiver fees? I may not go back with the second receiver if it is going to run the cost up too much.
Do I call Embarq or do I call Dish Network? This is getting confusing but I think we can figure it out.

Sorry for all the questions.

Nick

[whatchel1]

I am considering upgrading to HD after upgrading the TVs in the house. Presently I am on the Classic Gold 250 plan. My dish is the 500 and pointed 110 and 119. We have the DuoDVR625 and a plain single non DVR receiver that I can't remember the number of. I just passed one year with the Dish combined on my Embarq(now Century Link) plan.
Will I be able to upgrade without any addtional fees such as installation or receiver fees? I may not go back with the second receiver if it is going to run the cost up too much.
Do I call Embarq or do I call Dish Network? This is getting confusing but I think we can figure it out.

Sorry for all the questions.

Nick

What's Embarq?

[oldave]

What's Embarq?

Embarq is the landline portion of a company formerly known as Sprint.

Well, actually, Sprint spun off the landline part and named it Embarq... which was acquired by Century Tel.

To answer the original question... I upgraded to with the $75 deal, got a 722k. But then the installer insisted on ripping out my existing install and replacing it.

You will need an antenna pointed at 129 or 61.5, though. Probably they'll want to do the professional install to get you up and running.

[nick9]

Thanks for your reply.
What was the $75 deal?
Do you think I will have to pay for the install?
What about the present wiring, will it be sufficient without having to rewire? They just put in in a little over a year ago.
I am hesitant to pay for an install when I am going to be paying more for a contract defined term anyway.
Thanks again for your continuing help in advance.

Nick

[wolfjc]

Thanks for your reply.
What was the $75 deal?
Do you think I will have to pay for the install?
What about the present wiring, will it be sufficient without having to rewire? They just put in in a little over a year ago.
I am hesitant to pay for an install when I am going to be paying more for a contract defined term anyway.
Thanks again for your continuing help in advance.

Nick

When I upgraded to HD I did not have to pay anything at all but I did have to sign up for 19 months. When I upgraded to add the platinum HD package, for free, I got an eastern arch install which gave me one dish and took out my two dishes this was also free but now I had to sign up for 2 years.

[whatchel1]

Thanks for your reply.
What was the $75 deal?
Do you think I will have to pay for the install?
What about the present wiring, will it be sufficient without having to rewire? They just put in in a little over a year ago.
I am hesitant to pay for an install when I am going to be paying more for a contract defined term anyway.
Thanks again for your continuing help in advance.

Nick

Pretty sure the install is free if you go for the 2 yr commitment. I know my upgrade from a 622 to the new 722k was free. Now you will have to pay the $30 for an OTA module if you get the 722k. I didn't due to the fact that I had a broken HDMI and I was able to talk CEO at echostar.com in to that.

[BobaBird]

Terms of the upgrade offer vary based on customer status. Log in to your account at dishnetwork.com and look for Dish'n It Up, might be under Equipment.

[nick9]

I just spoke with one of the Dish/Embarq 'specialists'. They said $150 for the HD-DVR and that covered installation. Too much. I guess I will be watching SD for a while.
I wonder if part of the problem is dealing with 'specialists' since I am going through Embarq(now CenturyLink).
Does that sound high to anyone else?

[nsafreak]

Getting it free might be tough if you've just finished your first year with Dish Network. Not sure if you could get it for $75 or not though you can always try calling back for a different CSR. Remember since you've just come off your first year with Dish they're just now starting to make money off your account. Yes if you upgrade you'll be paying more in monthly fees but Dish will also have to send out a HD DVR to replace your current DVR ($$), a technician to install the DVR and to replace the Dish with one that'll pick up 129 or install an additional dish with switch to pick up 61.5 if you don't have a LOS to 129 (more $$), and any other additional costs. The reason that Dish has the commitments is so that they have a good chance of recouping the costs of at least performing the upgrade for you along with perhaps some profit.

[nick9]

Getting it free might be tough if you've just finished your first year with Dish Network. Not sure if you could get it for $75 or not though you can always try calling back for a different CSR. Remember since you've just come off your first year with Dish they're just now starting to make money off your account. Yes if you upgrade you'll be paying more in monthly fees but Dish will also have to send out a HD DVR to replace your current DVR ($$), a technician to install the DVR and to replace the Dish with one that'll pick up 129 or install an additional dish with switch to pick up 61.5 if you don't have a LOS to 129 (more $$), and any other additional costs. The reason that Dish has the commitments is so that they have a good chance of recouping the costs of at least performing the upgrade for you along with perhaps some profit.

I would consider $75 much quicker if he had offered that. He told me that there was a minimum of $99 for installation and $150 was his only offer.
I understand about trying to get a different CSR but they should be more consistent even if they stay high.
I appreciate the explanation of the charges.
Thanks for your assistance. I will try to call again in a few days and see if I can get another CSR.

Nick