Thinking about Dish Network (Move from DirecTV? Channel comparison between Top 250 and DishLatino MA

memo90061

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Aug 26, 2007
402
1
Los Angeles, CA
I've been wanting to get Dish Network for a long time, but as a college student I've been limiting my TV budget to 55 dollars max. I live in Los Angeles, and currently have Sky Mexico and I love the channels. I just don't like the receiver. It's the receiver DirecTV used to have, the HR23-700, and I've been wanting to try the Hopper since it came out. Our entire household has DirecTV except my room.

I went to Dish.com to try to compare the channels from America's Top 250 and Dish Latino MAX, but the channel name and check mark are not aligned. It also says VH1 is not included, but the logo for the channel is present when not looking at the comparison list. Is there a clear list which compares the channels from both packages?

Here is the list that confused me on Dish
etnu.png


I noticed that my mom was paying 107 a month for DirecTV for 3 SD receivers, 1 Genie, and an HD DVR receiver. She called, and changed the package to decrease the bill to 91 dollars. I told her about switching to Dish, and she told me to find out to see how much it would be. I went to Dish.com to chat with a representative, and this is what she told me:

Rachel (ID: 22F): The regular monthly rate for the Top 250 package on 6 TVs with Hopper system is $126.99 before taxes.
Rachel (ID: 22F): Should you qualify for the best plan, you can either take the free iPad 2 offer we have or take a $30 monthly savings off your bill for 12 months.
You: I would not want the iPad 2 offer. I'd like the $30 dollars off.
Rachel (ID: 22F): Perfect. Let's go ahead and get you qualified.
You: So would there be 30 dollars off from 126.99 for the first year?
Rachel (ID: 22F): Yes, that is right.
You: So it would be 96.99 for the first year?
Rachel (ID: 22F): Yes, that is right.

Rachel (ID: 22F): Let me just inform you that with the Whole-Home DVR setup, your 5th and 6th TVs will require a onetime $99 upgrade fee each.
You: That's what I was wondering. So it would be a 99 upgrade fee, so it would be 198? Is the upgrade fee for the Joey or Hopper? So there would be no one time upgrade fee for the 2nd Hopper?
Rachel (ID: 22F): That's for the second Hopper and 4th Joey receiver.

Rachel (ID: 22F): If you make the switch right now, I will throw in a $25 gift card if you quaified for the best plan.

Is all of this correct? Would the monthly bill be 96.99 dollars + tax? How does it break down? 45.99 for Top 250, 40 for 4 Joeys and 1 Hopper, and what else is there? Am I incorrect or missing something? Do they really throw in a gift card? I thought one time upgrade for a Hopper was 200, and I thought the fee for the Hopper was 10. :O I'm so outdated. haha. Will there be a price increase in January?

I also have some technical questions. I'd like to have 2 Hoppers in the house, 2 Joeys in the house, and the other 2 Joeys at the garage that's separate from the house. Is that possible? We currently have two DirecTV receivers in the garage, but they have their on DirecTV Dish plate or whatever it's called, but are under the same account. Would that be possible with Dish Network? How would the Joeys be linked to the Hopper?

I'm sorry if this is confusing. I'm not very good at explaining things. -_-
 
Okay, I'll try to explain some of it.

Monthly cost:

America's Top 250: $74.99
Whole-Home DVR fee: $12
Second Hopper: $12
4 Joeys at $7/mo: $28

Total: $126.99
First 12 month intro offer: -$30

First year cost: $96.99/month
After first year: $126.99

As for the requested placement of receivers, much will depend on the technician and the actual details of distance and where the dish antenna is. For a two-hopper setup, three cables will run from the antenna to something called a duo node. That duo node has two Hopper outputs, and two Joey outputs. The two Joey outputs will each be split to allow the total of 4 joeys. Your idea would mean that the technician would have to run two coax lines from the main house to the garage.

I'm not a tech, I work in one of the call centers, so I hope a tech will chime in. I would doubt a tech would run those two cables from the house to the garage. You'd be better off running two coax cables from the house to the garage yourself (edit, or one, then have the splitter at the garage), perhaps place them in a PVC pipe and bury it. Problem is, you don't know where the tech is going to install the duo node.

What the tech would not be able to do is put in an antenna on the garage to ONLY serve a couple of Joeys. The lines from the antenna would have to come to a node, and the node then hooks to a Hopper and any Joeys at that spot. The only way you can get the true whole-home thing is to have a single antenna, a single duo node, and the lines running from there to all the receivers.

Attached is a picture of how a 2 Hopper/4 Joey system would be wired up.

Joey_Hopper_Wiring.jpg
 
Is the garage attatched or detatched? If detatched is there atleast 1 cable from the house to the garage? And if so how far is it from the house?

You wont get a Dish tech or sub or retailer to run those lines for free if you they need to be trenched.

Joey's have to have a coax connection to the rest of the system to have as close to trouble free operation as possible. Joey's cannot run with out a Hopper.

You could technically do 1 Hopper and 1 Joey in the garage and the rest in the house but then you will need a total of 2 dishes and 2 nodes, and sorry to tell you that that is not part of a standard install and will require an additional fee. How much depends on who shows up.
 
Thank you very much for the replies! It makes sense now. :D

The garage is detached, and there are a couple of electricity wires running from the house to the garage. I think it's around 12 feet apart from the house.

I talked to my family about it, and it seems they want to stay with DirecTV. Booo. haha
 
Here is the list that confused me on Dish
This appears to be a browser rendering issue. Firefox doesn't seem to have trouble rendering it (but the list itself may not be accurate). The list view may (or may not) be more accurate but it doesn't use checkmarks (it also doesn't indicate which channels are in HD).
 
I see the issue. When the channel name takes up 2 lines, the check marks get off kilter.
 
Bad web page design.

Doing web design with CSS is a whole lot harder than it used to be with tables.
Oh, but it's so much prettier now. :rolleyes: Sometimes spartan is better than eye candy.
 
Last edited:

Social APP Not Working

Transfer App for Iphone

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 0, Members: 0, Guests: 0)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)

Latest posts