Ours had been acting up. The first thing we saw, and this has happened for months, was the Joey would become unlinked (happened often enough for us to see the message so it no doubt was happening at other times). Then, in the past week, the Hopper was randomly rebooting a couple of times a day (again, that we saw happen) and downloads were failing. Also had a message that "a wireless USB adapter has been installed" when it's been plugged in for a year !
I've been wanting to upgrade to the Sling version anyway and had confirmed that I could do it at no charge, so I contacted Dish. Again confirmed the charge, still would be free, etc, etc. I told the rep the current Hopper was acting up and should we troubleshoot it. He/she said no - if you want to go that route and have Dish "fix" it, we'll replace it with a refurbished (original) Hopper. Then I asked when can I get the new Hopper -- 7-10 business days ! Yes, I know that's worst case, but with the box rebooting randomly, it would be hard to even watch TV. I then asked when can a tech "install" one - tomorrow, between 12 and 5. Added the protection plan back and took the appointment.
Might be a route you want to take as well....
