As far as Customer Service goes E* has been fine. The people at the other end of the phone ACTUALLY speak English well. No problems making changes to the account and they've always been responsive when I had technical issues.
An example, this past weekend I went to activate an old 4900 for an extra TV in my basement. When I signed up in May 2000, I got a 4900 and 2700 via a lease plan, and bought an extra 4900. Over the years I got Two Dishplayers, a 721, a 921, and a 510. Gave the 721 to my Dad when I got a 921. Gave the 4900 to my sister who had it for 2 years. She got miffed when CBS yanked her waivers (Her husband is a rabid Broncos fan) so she bailed and went to D*. She gave me the 4900 back BUT I think she gave me the wrong one as she gave me her leased box and sent my owned box when E* sent her the box to return the unit.
I tried to activate the unit and they told me it was a leased unit. Went back and forth and described the situation, they tracked down the records of my returned units, as well as the units returned by my sister. After about 15 minutes, they came back on the line and said that they had gotten everything sorted out and that the receiver would be turned on in 5 minutes. Bam, now thewife can watch the Olympics while working out in the basement.
They could have just as easily shrugged their shoulders and said leased box, no dice, but they took the time to work it through. I also pay about $180 a month so I'm sure there was some "make him happy, whatever the cost" points in my favor, but even still..... I thought I was gonna be stuck buying a 301 somewhere and they got me hooked up. Thumbs up for handling this problem better than I thought they would.....