External Hard Drive Activation Fee

Derwin0

Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati
Lifetime Supporter
Aug 16, 2004
42,846
21,268
Peachtree City, GA
You're proud of this?
Depends.
A friend of mine had a 622 that was being replaced due to a bad hdmi connection. He activated the external HDD in order to back up his shows which the 622 was being replaced.
In retrospect he should have asked for the fee to be waived, but didn't as he wanted to get that feature anyway.
 

TNGTony

Unashamed Bengal Fan
Sep 7, 2003
10,041
803
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Mods...this one is DEAD!!!!! Time to close.

Why? Because sentiment is running against this "because we can" fee? (And that is all it is no matter what rationalizations for charging a fee to do something the receiver came out of the box being able to do). I don't think so.

We aren't on another site that closes down threads just because the thread goes against the party line. Just keep the conversation civil and there is no reason to close any thread.

BTW, when I received the latest Dish Network ads via e-mail, the question posted was "What are you waiting for" when selling the EHD service, my immediate internal response was "A $40 fee to be removed is what I am waiting for!" Until then, it ain't happening at my house.

See ya
Tony
 

TNGTony

Unashamed Bengal Fan
Sep 7, 2003
10,041
803
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
The "car" analogy and the radio doesn't work because SiriusXM is a subscription service.

The car analogy that works is this:
The car comes with a glove box that's pretty big and there is a spot on the transmission hump that allows you to put in a consol you purchased on your own from a third party allowing for mich more storage in the car. But in order to put a consol you bought yourself into the car, you have to pay the car company $40 for the allen wrench that costs a nickel to produce to remove the screws in the holes you need to use to install the consol.

The supporters of the "extra storage fee" by the car manufacturer say you have to pay for the extra software than had to put in to the robot that cut the floor plate because of the extra holes it had to drill. And you have to pay for the programmer the extra time it took to program the CNC Router to get this done. You also have to consider that those installing the storage consol my have to call the factory to figure out how to use the allen wrench and the possibility that the consol may rattle and the customers may want some tech support to make it stop rattling.

See ya
Tony
 

Derwin0

Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati
Lifetime Supporter
Aug 16, 2004
42,846
21,268
Peachtree City, GA
I'd like an example of this, please.
hmm... let's see.

1) The coding added to enable it in the first place (622 didn't originally come with external HDD support.
2) Subsequent bug fixes (to stop dissapearing shows, etc...)
3) Enhancement (additions of folders, playing of shows directly from the External HDD).

Writing, testing & debugging software costs money.
 

Ghpr13

SatelliteGuys Pro
Pub Member / Supporter
Jul 1, 2009
3,212
0
Louisville, KY
Dish should save themselves a lot of headaches and bad feelings by just activating the USB port from the get go, and having the $40 charge included in the price of your subscription. Just call it another feature of Dish's DVRs w/o charge. Maybe if the cost was spread out over all DVR subscribers, Dish could lower it from $40 per unit to just like $10 increase per sub.

Just a thought...
Ghpr13:)
 

lakebum431

Pub Member / Supporter
Pub Member / Supporter
Lifetime Supporter
Sep 5, 2005
17,004
4,898
Norris, TN
Why would people that don't use the feature (or even have the feature available - as it is only available on certain receivers) want to foot the bill for the feature. That is a terrible idea.
 

Bobby

Publican
Supporting Founder
Lifetime Supporter
Sep 7, 2003
69,981
25,604
Rohnert Park, CA
get creative like i did.

told them my DVR was pooping out and rebooting randomly. told them i wanted the data from that received and asked if theyd waive the fee to allow me to hook up external hdd to transfer my shows from the old dvr to the new.

success. still activated :)

I don't think he's a crook... I think he's a liar, liar, pants on fire! :)

:up:up:upCheat, lie, steal...either way.

What did he lie about?
Did you read the article in the link provided?
What did he steal? He did not steal the EHD service.

When he used the word 'creative' he owned up to the fact that he could get the EHD for free by telling the folks at Dish that his DVR was pooping out. The word 'creative tells me that, in fact, his DVR wasn't pooping out at all. He simply pulled one over on Dish. If that isn't lying I don't know what is.....
 

panache70

SatelliteGuys Pro
Apr 17, 2010
279
4
Western Hemisphere
Again, I think it is the nickel & diming that is frustrating most people.

Charge me 40$ more for the receiver, but don't charge me for activating a feature on a box that I own.

What's next? Charging me 5$ more a month to be able to access the skip fwd button on my remote?
 

Juan

Supporting Founder
Supporting Founder
Sep 14, 2003
32,185
9,399
Moscow Russia
In the old days DISH DID NOT CHARGE FOR DVR"S!! I think they should go back to the old customer friendly ways
 

inazsully

SatelliteGuys Pro
Feb 15, 2010
899
56
Sun City West, AZ
Why would people that don't use the feature (or even have the feature available - as it is only available on certain receivers) want to foot the bill for the feature. That is a terrible idea.

I think it's a great idea. Hey, they can take away HD channels that were already in place and not reduce our bill to compensate us but that's OK? So why not include a feature that many would use if they were even aware of it. I wonder what percentage of DVR owners would like a bigger hard drive. If Dish was smart they would offer something like the Element line (but more home entertainment friendly) in 1TB, 1.5TB, and 2TB for say $59, $79, $99. They would be "the only game in town" if you want a bigger hard drive that was directly supported by your provider. Seems like a great marketing move to me. Of course multiple EHD.s would be easy for those that need them.
 

yaz96

Baby, It's Cold Outside
Dec 22, 2005
12,829
1
Front Range, Colorado
hmm... let's see.

1) The coding added to enable it in the first place (622 didn't originally come with external HDD support.
2) Subsequent bug fixes (to stop dissapearing shows, etc...)
3) Enhancement (additions of folders, playing of shows directly from the External HDD).

Writing, testing & debugging software costs money.

I was referring more to the improvements part of his quote. Everything you mentioned above was said to be a part of the process from the beginning. Now it took a helluva a long time to get enhancements, but we did. And Dish has improved their EHD software in what way? They've f'd it up more than once, so does fixing that count for you? I don't see other companies charging a fee for routine maintenance or expected improvements to their products.

Let's take Internet browsers for examples. How much do those cost you?

iPod updates? Security software virus and security updates?
 

Ghpr13

SatelliteGuys Pro
Pub Member / Supporter
Jul 1, 2009
3,212
0
Louisville, KY
Why would people that don't use the feature (or even have the feature available - as it is only available on certain receivers) want to foot the bill for the feature. That is a terrible idea.

Not really, because if the cost was spread out over all DVRs that have the feature, and it allowed the USB port to be "live" for all those subs, many more subs might use an EHD since there wouldn't be a $40.00 charge just to activate the USB port. Specially if the added cost to subs was only about $10 more a DVR...This would not be a monthly charge, just a one time charge say included in the instillation fee.

I want to add the EHD to my 722k. I even have an extra HDD ready to use, but with my monthly Dish bill and other bills, I really can't justify dropping 40 bucks right now just to allow me the use of something that's already built into my 722k.

If it would have cost me an extra 10 bucks when I had my system installed, I would had budgeted that into my start up cost and now it be long forgotten, and I'd be using my EHD.

Ghpr13:)
 
Last edited:

vurbano

On Double Secret Probation
Supporting Founder
Apr 1, 2004
23,815
104
Newport News, VA
Pay to activate your own external hard drive? I have never heard of anything more asinine. Charlie is nickle and diming ANY way he can! Hey maybe he should talk to Bill Gates and make Windows the same way!!
 

Mr Tony

SatelliteGuys Pro
Supporting Founder
Nov 17, 2003
2,093
8,493
Mankato, MN
Charge me 40$ more for the receiver, but don't charge me for activating a feature on a box that I own.

so lets see

receiver price say $100 + one time $40 activation fee = $140
But if they do what your post says
receiver price $140 + no activation fee = $140

what is wrong with the picture people? ;)
 

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