If you are a current subscriber to any International channel that is migrating, Dish will upgrade your system at NO CHARGE so that you will continue to receive the same services you do today. HOWEVER, Dish notifies you by mail of the free upgrade. If you want it done BEFORE you receive official notice, AND if your account has not yet been approved for the upgrade, then YOU WILL HAVE TO PAY for the upgrade, and or tech visit. There is NO tech visit fee if for the FREE upgrade if you are calling because you have received a letter from Dish or have approval on your account.
In other words, you are best waiting for Dish's official notification. However, you can call a CSR to see if it has already been approved on your account.
The key is you MUST be a current subscriber to the channel that will be migrated.
I, and other have been upgraded FREE of CHARGE, once we have been either notified or approved.
In other words, if you are trying to upgrade, but the channels you SUBSCRIBE to are still available at 61.5, Dish is not going to upgrade you until they are ready to do so, but it will be BEFORE the channels YOU SUBSCRIBE to are taken down from 61.5.
There have been some people on this board who have "jumped the gun" and requested an upgrade BEFORE it is necessary, and are told they must pay for the upgrade.
Finally, if you are, indeed, a paying subscriber to an international at 61.5, YOU WILL BE NOTIFIED FOR YOUR FREE UPGRADE by Dish. Just be patient, and you will be upgraded for free, otherwise you will have to pay for the upgrade and tech visit.
If you are a paying subscriber to an intentional that has been taken down from 61.5 and migrated to 118, then you are entitled to a FREE upgrade and NO CHARGES what so ever to allow you to see all the same programming you were paying for before the channel was taken down. The CSR was mistaken is saying you have to pay the tech visit fee in such a situation. Try again, and go to Executive Offices if necessary.
As a note: Dish came and took my old Dish 500 and other Dish 500 reflector with a single LNBF looking at 148 and replaced it with a brand-new Dish 1000 Plus (I hope I got that right) that looks at 110, 118, 119, 129, and they also added a DPP44, and they replaced the old cable from the roof to the switches located under the house, and they properly ground it, and, overall, did an excellent install and clean-up (he was a Dish company installer, and they are the best) all at NO CHARGE for ANYTHING. It was all covered in the upgrade to 118 for internationals. Cost $0. Nada.
Good luck