Potential New Customer Seeking Advice

Dugan5468

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
Dec 23, 2011
74
6
Columbiana, Ohio
Currently have Comcast with one Tivo Bolt and 1 Tivo Roamio. Paying for cable cards and tivo service. Thinking about switching to Dish and was wondering what equipment and package I should get.

I am currently paying 118.00 a month with internet. I have basic cable with no premiums. Would like to be able to watch programming from anywhere I have internet service.

All advice is appreciated

Dugan
 
Currently have Comcast with one Tivo Bolt and 1 Tivo Roamio. Paying for cable cards and tivo service. Thinking about switching to Dish and was wondering what equipment and package I should get.

I am currently paying 118.00 a month with internet. I have basic cable with no premiums. Would like to be able to watch programming from anywhere I have internet service.

All advice is appreciated

Dugan


It looks like you have 2 TV's, so I would suggest going with the Hopper 3 (should be released at the end of the month) and 1 Joey. This will give you sling capability and 16 tuners with 2TB drive, and allow you to transfer programs to a mobile device for offline viewing. The monthly hardware cost would be $22, whcih is less Ihan the 2 Tivos and cablecards.

I will send you a referral code to save us each $50 if you decide to switch.
 
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As for programming that's completely up to you. They are offering a 3 year price lock right now and the minimum package is the Top 120 Plus. You may want to list what channels are must haves or go to Dish's site and look at the packages. Programming really isn't a huge deal as you can change whenever you want. Equipment is the important thing to figure out upfront and I also suggest the Hopper 3 and a Joey when it's released.
 
If a new customer purchases the equipment are they still subject to the 24 month early termination fee?

If you purchase all the equipment and install it yourself then no, you would not have to sign a contract and be subject to any termination fees. You would not be eligible to any programming discounts either though.
 
If you purchase all the equipment and install it yourself then no, you would not have to sign a contract and be subject to any termination fees. You would not be eligible to any programming discounts either though.

Thanks for the very quick response. That doesn't seem to be the way to go, then.

I am a 15 year DTV customer who is completely enthralled with the Hopper 3 and will probably switch to Dish as soon as the H3s are in the field and stable.

I am confused about whether a new customer deals directly with Dish or a local reseller but that will clear up the more I research.

Thanks again.
 
Thanks for the very quick response. That doesn't seem to be the way to go, then.

I am a 15 year DTV customer who is completely enthralled with the Hopper 3 and will probably switch to Dish as soon as the H3s are in the field and stable.

I am confused about whether a new customer deals directly with Dish or a local reseller but that will clear up the more I research.

Thanks again.
Potentially check Best Buy, as they often do freebies when signing up with dish. Don't know if the rate is the same, but worth checking into
 
Thanks for the very quick response. That doesn't seem to be the way to go, then.

I am a 15 year DTV customer who is completely enthralled with the Hopper 3 and will probably switch to Dish as soon as the H3s are in the field and stable.

I am confused about whether a new customer deals directly with Dish or a local reseller but that will clear up the more I research.

Thanks again.

Buying your own equipment is really only for people who refuse to sign contracts and people who like to do their own installs, hobbyist.

You can go through Dish directly or use a local retailer. If you have a good local retailer I strongly encourage you to use them.
 
First thing I would do is a Google search to see if there are any in your area. If there are any in the area then see what you can find out about them, such as reviews. Maybe ask people you know that have Dish and see if they have used any retailers. Just takes a little research just like you would do with any product you're interested in buying. If there aren't any retailers in the area then just call up Dish I suppose. I'm completely against Best Buy but that's my own personal opinion, similar to Walmart and Sam's Club.
 
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There don't seem to be any local resellers just toll-free numbers for national firms that don't seem to offer the alternatives (e.g. price guarantee or first year savings, etc.) that Dish itself can offer. Search continues.

Sorry to hijack the OP's thread.
 
That's often the case. Order takers that just pass it on to Dish for a cut and provide no service.
 
There don't seem to be any local resellers just toll-free numbers for national firms that don't seem to offer the alternatives (e.g. price guarantee or first year savings, etc.) that Dish itself can offer. Search continues.

Sorry to hijack the OP's thread.

I wouldn't bother with any of those numbers but when it comes to the promotion, it is what it is. It's a national offer by Dish, no retailers or national sellers can offer a different promotion. The only thing they could do different is offer some kind of third party offer like a gift card or voucher. The promotions are set by Dish and all retailers sign customers up by those promotions.

Where do you live? I could do a quick search just to double check for you. I may a know of a few more things to look for.
 
Nashville...known locally as Music City, USA.

No search engine turned up a B&M local dealer and no website for the national dealers offered the options the regular Dish site does. Obviously, the Dish site is the way to go.
 
Here are some that I was able to find. There don't seem to be too many. I don't know if any of these are good but it's a start.

Discount TV and Satellite Systems
Satellites Unlimited
Satellite Revolution
 
Dugan5468: If your Roamio (and I presume the base version, not the Plus or Pro that can not tune OTA) has PLS (Lifetime) or "All-in," you can keep your Roamio for OTA recordings, especially the sub-channels. While Hoppers have PTAT and full guide data for all MAIN channal OTA's (a modest purchase of the OTA USB tuner can connect to the Hopper for single OTA tuner recording), Dish has EPG data for only SOME of the OTA sub-channels, while TiVo has virtually 100% EPG data for just about every OTA sub-channel. This can also take pressure of your H3. So, your investment in TiVo can still be paying back. I use my TiVo's for that purpose, and it works well. I do believe the Bolt--first most recent release--does NOT have OTA tuning capability. That is still to come in Bolt models released later this year. So, I don't know if you want to keep that or sell it on ebay or give it to someone, and all this depends upon wheater you are monthly plan or PLS. Also, the Bolt is FREE of fees the first year, but I don't know if you are on the hook for the year after that.

Of course, hold on to your TiVo's for awhile until you seem satisfied with Dish, which you really should be satisfied--AND ALWAYS COME TO THIS FORUM with any problems. Folks here can often provide you easy fixes and solutions that even the CSR's don't know abou, plus we have the DIRT team on this forum who will go the extra mile to see that you are satisfied and fix a problem.

Dish has a 30 day policy like TiVo does, so if for some reason it may not be for you, hold on to the TiVo's until then.

I should also tell you that Dish also has an external HDD feature at no extra charge. However, it differes from TiVo in how it works. While TiVo spans recordings across the internal HDD and external HDD, and will LOSE all recordings (recordings since the "marriage" of the internal and external HDD) if you divorce the external and internal HDD's, Dish's external HDD is an archival type of solution. You TRANSFER recordings to the external HDD. Then you can playback from that external HDD or TRANSFER to another Dish DVR on your account or you can TRANSFER the recordings back to the original internal HDD DVR. Also, Dish DVR's support an unlimited number of external HDD's while allowing up to TWO atttached and active at the same time (some people use USB hubs to pick and choose which of the many external HDD's to access). This is how you can expand your storage capacity for recordings. DVR recordings can ONLY be made to the internal HDD, not the external. So, if you are getting near capacity wiht your internal HDD, move stuff over to an external HDD and you have more room for recordngs.

This also means that you can move all your completed recordings to an external HDD if you think your internal DVR HDD is acting like it may die; you don't lose any of your recordings.

You can also have multiple external HDD's with any content you wish, such as one HDD for MOVIES, another HDD for a seperate household member, and another for TV Comedies, what ever you desire. Some on this forum have a few to several external HDD's with content. Personally, I am now in the habit of moving over any recordings I don't want to lose before I wathch them all so that if my internal HDD dies, I can still view those recordings.


Good luck! TiVo is a great product, but Dish DVR's are at least as good, but even better IMHO, especially the Hopper family.
 
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Thank you very much DishSub LA for all of the valuable information. I am going to see what type of new customer deals Dish offers when the new hopper is released...
 
Dish does not have a 30 day policy for the contract. As soon as the contract is signed, it is enforced. Directv has a 24 hour policy. The grace periods are myths, and can cause a lot of turmoil. The only 30 day policy is on purchases such as a sound bar for buyers remorse.
 

Pending snowstorm first one since I've had dish

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