Had to put Dish on Pause

slick1ru2

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Mar 29, 2004
626
21
The South
My wife's job is being outsourced, along with the entire department, to India so I had to put Dish on hold which I found they will do for up to 9 months. Cool thing is, I still get some channels like Sundance. Just wish the external dvr access was still activated, I have a half dozen filled 1.5 tb hdds full of movies. And still have Epix app access too but I expect that to change at any moment.

What do I miss most? ESPN (I do have ESPN3 access tho), NFL Network, FX for Archer and Justified, the Discovery channels and access to HBO GO. Oh, and my DVRs.

What has been interesting is watching OTA and the networks not on Dish like Bounce, Me TV, Get TV, The Movie Network, Antenna TV (yep, that's the network name), etc.. Some of these are studio owned. It's like a time machine back to when I was a kid and we had an antenna and watched shows like M.A.S.H, Emergency!, Wonder Woman, etc.. And another thing I noticed is how much better the local networks PQ is than on Dish, it's noticeable. I caught the last couple days of the Olympics and it was stunning. And I did have my OTA plugged into my Dish receivers but no I see my two tvs, one an LG and the other a Panasonic, have better OTA receivers than the Dish receivers. They don't have drop outs when the signal drops to lower values. The difference is significant which is disappointing especially since I had to buy the OTA receiver for my VIP 722K.

Also making due with Hulu Plus and NetFlix. Plus most broadcast networks have the last few episodes on their websites or apps, a poor man's dvr, lol.

Hopefully this situation will be resolved in the summer. :mad: It simply must before football season!
 
Start working up your monthly bills budget on a piece of paper, and see where you can cut down on bills. Perhaps this will end up being a good thing, and you can cut down the bills enough so that you can completely cover them with your paycheck.

Then when the wife finds another job, you can sock that money away completely into a retirement fund.

I just dropped Blockbuster online, and America's 250 to America's 200, and that alone was a $20 a month saving. In a couple months I'm going to drop down to the America's 120, for another $15 drop. I also replaced my land-line phone for an Ooma ip phone setup, and that was a $35 a month saving.
 
My wife has the kind of job that makes a lot of money but there aren't a lot of them. She is going to get a severance package and will be working for 2 more months. And we have savings and and retirement. I'm being cautious when I put Dish, and a lot of things, on hold. My neighbor was laid off from IBM and it took 3 years for him to find a job. That is a realistic possibility I'm hoping doesn't happen but trying to be prepared for if it does.
 
I believe you're getting Sundance because it's in free preview. Also, my Epix account still works even though I don't subscribe anymore.
 
Sorry to hear, at least today there are some alternatives online and of course OTA.
 
I remember when I used to have a dish account in my vacation apartment. I only go there a handful of times during the year so I cut the cord since it was going to waste. When I do go there, its to relax and since removing dish I tend to do that a bit more. I installed a local OTA antenna and get my locals through it which is good enough to catch the news and maybe a few entertainment shows at night.


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Still getting Sundance, and AXS and Bravo. Also the SD Blockbuster channel. Also getting AHC, BITV and I guess Starz is in preview along with Encore because I am getting those too.


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what are they charging for pause these days?
you get the free channels on pause, so even hbo when its a preview weekend.
 
$5/month. And you get the free previews. I am out of contract, don't know if that makes a difference. You can do it for up to 9 months. Might turn it on during football only, still thinking about it.


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$5/month. And you get the free previews. I am out of contract, don't know if that makes a difference. You can do it for up to 9 months. Might turn it on during football only, still thinking about it.


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9 months?

I thought you could only put Dish on Pause for 6 out of every 12 months?
 
weird, I thought it was a lot more. maybe you own your equipment. I would expect that they would charge a lease fee on top of the pause...
There is no Dish lease fee with or without service, a popular misconception. There are service fees such as a DVR fee or second receiver fee, but if you are on pause you are not using those so there would be no fee.

From the DISH support site;
"DISH Pause can last a maximum of 6 months, and costs $5 per month. When you enter DISH Pause, you also lose any credits or promotions you may be receiving. If you send me a PM with your phone number or account number I can get you details"

https://support.dish.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3936

Note that natural disasters are excluded from the limit as posted by DISH elsewhere.


 
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There is no Dish lease fee with or without service, a popular misconception. There are service fees such as a DVR fee or second receiver fee, but if you are on pause you are not using those so there would be no fee.

From the DISH support site;
"DISH Pause can last a maximum of 6 months, and costs $5 per month. When you enter DISH Pause, you also lose any credits or promotions you may be receiving. If you send me a PM with your phone number or account number I can get you details"

https://support.dish.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3936

Note that natural disasters are excluded from the limit as posted by DISH elsewhere.



That post is kind of outdated. You can now pause your account for 9 months.
 
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I believe that is what I was told.


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What have you been doing as an alternative? OTA? Netflix? Amazon?
Dish also has a few "basic" low cost packages like Welcome, Smart, and America for $20, $33, and $45, which may provide what you need.
I would drop down to Dish America myself. But, it doesn't have FX, AMC, IFC, and Comedy Central, which are the only "basic cable" channels we watch. (Basically, we're paying $55 for 4 channels, plus locals, which I get OTA anyway.)
 
I would drop down to Dish America myself. But, it doesn't have FX, AMC, IFC, and Comedy Central, which are the only "basic cable" channels we watch. (Basically, we're paying $55 for 4 channels, plus locals, which I get OTA anyway.)

Comedy Central is in Dish America.
 

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