If you look back at some of your old bills, you will indeed find that you were paying a per month mirroring fee on your second (and any successive) receiver. This has been the case from the git-go.
There is no monthly cost impact to leasing versus owning other than leasing often comes with some free protection plan that you might otherwise have to pay for.
Just called 3 times. Everytime it's the same thing:
1. $5 charge per month - no way around it and my bill will go up by $5.
2. Scheduled installation (this is the biggest sticking point)
I already have a 5 lnb dish. We already have one of the lesser quality DTV HD DVRs. This "swap" is simply unplugging the old device 10-250, plugging in the new device. I am not going to take time off work, sit around my house for 4 hours so a guy can show up and plug in a crap-quality DVR.
They used to allow for self-installs. I asked if I could order or buy a new HD DVR and then they could give me a credit. Nope. WTF? How does it benefit DTV to force customers into having strangers come to their homes? Letting me buy it and refunding the cost SAVES DTV money, saves me time and more importantly keeps me happy.