$22 per month for useable 622

[spiderg8r]

The way I see it, this box will cost me $22 per month before programming and taxes. I was happy about upgrading until they went over all of the hidden charges

$6 per month lease fee
$5 per month DVR fee (why not just admit its $11 per month lease)
$6 per month no phone line fee (1st time after having dish for 7 yrs)
$5 per month for locals that I have to order for the EPG - I get perfect OTA already on all networks)

are all these charges unavoidable?

... and while the CSR insisted that my monthly bill is only going up $10, $103 plus taxes is not $10 more than $83 total per month inclusive of taxes that they have been autopaying. It looks like my bill is going up $30

Maybe its time to finally go back to comcast, get a good introductory fee for the first few months, see if their service matches up, then if I come crawling back to dish, at least by then there may be better incentives available for 622 then

 

[Van]

Lease fee is avoidable if you buy the receiver.

DVR fee is avoidable if you go with hd plat package.

Phone line is avoidable if you connect the receiver to a working telco source, some have had success with the voip systems I have heard.

Local charge you can avoid by not purchasing the locals.

The DVR fee is apart of all dvr/pvr's except for 501, 508, and 721.

 

[jkinser]

Well said VAN, I have a 622 and only have to pay the $5 per month for locals (HD locals from Minneapolis at that.) out of the four fees listed by the original poster. If you choose your packages correctly, you can score a great deal on programming and avoid most of these fees.

 

[riffjim4069]

Dish Network's pricing scheme almost forces you to go with the Platinum package if you have a 622. DishHD Platinum is a pretty good value, but I would probably select a lesser programming package and drop locals if there weren't so many fees and if it weren't so inconvenient:

DIU lease fee: I purchased our 622 since it made better sense in our situation.
Phone line: Understandable...I don't mind keeping our 622 and 942 plugged in, especially for $10 ($5 x 2) per month, but I wish they had an (IP) solution.
DVR fees: Dish Network is the ONLY provider I know who charges multiple DVR fees...they should charge only ONE DVR Fee per account.
Locals for EPG: This is a sore spot since I have two OTA antennas and receive programming from 4 DMAs. Plus, I don't receive EPG for those stations outside my home DMA...and the HD LIL is terrible. Although I have a seperate Sony ATSC/QAM HD DVR, it's more of a pain to flip between the two on a consistent basis. I could just set manual timers, but for $5 a month it's not worth it...expecially as often as shows change time-slots these days.

 

[mike123abc]

I have to agree LiL is a must with a 622 just for the epg. The locals move stuff all the time and the whole extra 5-10 minutes every now and then is a pain. It is still a rip off fee to have to pay to get locals EPG, but it is not a fee I would avoid paying because the functionality is too useful.

HD Plat + locals is $104.99

 

[ChetK]

$6 per month lease fee

I don't pay this one because I payed $350 more to buy mine.

$5 per month DVR fee (why not just admit its $11 per month lease)

I pay this one.

$6 per month no phone line fee (1st time after having dish for 7 yrs)

I don't pay this one because I plug it in.

$5 per month for locals that I have to order for the EPG - I get perfect OTA already on all networks)

I pay this one. This should be free.

Also note that I pay another $6 "access" fee for only having the HD-only pack.

So, I pay $5 + $5 +$6 + taxes on those fees. And the only reason I don't have to pay $6 more is because I paid $350 to own the receiver. I guess they have to make their money somewhere.

 

[RandallA]

"Lease fee is avoidable if you buy the receiver."

Yes, but don't they hit you with a $6.00 access fee for the new HD receivers. So you can't get rid of that one, you still get charged but with a different fee name.

 

[TheTony]

If Dish would pass along the PSIP data on our local digitals' bitstreams, the locals "EPG fee" would be fixed. Dish even acknowledges that OTA users can avoid having to subscribe to locals, yet they don't allow the receiver to use the data it gets OTA!

Yes, I've heard Dish's stance on this (PSIP), but it's just not good enough, in my opinion. Especially if we're forced to subscribe to the locals to use the OTA tuner in the DVR anyway. In that way, subscribers are forced into including their locals if they don't want a half-functional DVR.:down

Even then, after paying for locals, if any of your digital locals are not simulcasts of the analog/primary digital, you're without EPG data anyway.

I am not a HD DVR owner (yet) but this is one large issue that will prevent me from getting one with Dish.

Someone should ask about it on the next Charlie Chat...

 

[ChetK]

Oh yeah. AND I'm paying anothe $6 per month to KEEP my 6000U activated. Which I never paid before (when it was the only receiver I had).

 

[ChetK]

I agree with you TheTony. It would be different if HD locals were offered in my area. I have to pay $5 more just for SD locals and the guide data that already comes free of charge OTA.

 

[bhelms]

"Lease fee is avoidable if you buy the receiver."

Yes, but don't they hit you with a $6.00 access fee for the new HD receivers. So you can't get rid of that one, you still get charged but with a different fee name.

RandallA - I was curious about that one too, but maybe there's a hint about that in ChetK's first reply - maybe the "access fee" only applies if you don't also upgrade to one of the "metallic" paks - can someone confirm that?

 

[dishrich]

$5 per month DVR fee

It's actually $6 now...

 

[jsanders]

Actually, locals aren't $5 if you are paying for the "access fee" of $6/mo.

These guys are too cowardly to be upfront and tell you that the "access fee" is really $7/mo if you don't subscribe to "qualified programming".

How do you get $7?

If you don't have "qualified programming", and you pay the $6/mo "access fee", your DVR guide data fee (local channels) isn't $5/mo, they increase it by $1 to $6/mo.

And, I have to pay the HD Enabling Fee because I only subscribe to the legacy HD Pack + Voom.

I personally label these charges this way:
"Access fee" $6/mo
"DVR Fee" $6/mo
"DVR Guide Data fee" $5/mo
"DVR Guide Data 'access fee'" $1/mo
"DVR HD Enabling fee" $6/mo
"DVR No Phone connected fee" $5/mo

$29/mo. For nothing useful.

 

[mike123abc]

I personally label these charges this way:
"Access fee" $6/mo
"DVR Fee" $6/mo
"DVR Guide Data fee" $5/mo
"DVR Guide Data 'access fee'" $1/mo
"DVR HD Enabling fee" $6/mo
"DVR No Phone connected fee" $5/mo

$29/mo. For nothing useful.

Well if you only want the 622 to record OTA HD you have made the wrong choice. They fee you to death because they want to you to sub to packages that are profitable for them. Buy a box that just does OTA HD you will get the PSIP information for free and not have any monthly fees. You can also buy cards for PCs that allow you to turn your PC into a DVR and also have no fees.

Complaining about the fees for this box make no sense. This box is designed for Dish network subs AT60+HD and up, below that they make it very unattractive.

 

[RandallA]

RandallA - I was curious about that one too, but maybe there's a hint about that in ChetK's first reply - maybe the "access fee" only applies if you don't also upgrade to one of the "metallic" paks - can someone confirm that?

I believe they will still charge you the $6.00 if you own the receiver. This is from Bryan's Sticky:

Fees

Additional receiver fees for owned receivers
SD Receiver Access Fee $5
HD Receiver Access Fee $6

Additional receiver fees for leased receivers
(For receivers aquired under the DHA Promotion ONLY the fee on the first receiver on an account is waived, if 1 receiver is an HD, that will be considered the primary receiver)
(all leases require qualified programming and DishHD if upgraded to a Dish HD receiver)
SD Receiver Lease Fee $5
HD Receiver Lease Fee $6 (211,411,622)

HD Enabling Fee $6 (charged for each 411,211,622;waived if subscribed to a DishHD package)

Service Access Fee $6 (waived for all Qualified programming packages, Family, AT, Latino, DishHD, Great Wall)

Dual Tuner Fee $5 (waived for each dual Tuner receiver continuosly connected to a phone line)

DishPlayer DVR Fee $5.98 (charged for DVRs 510,522,622,625,921,942; waived if subbed to AEP, HD Platinum, or Latino EP)

 

[mike123abc]

There are a bunch $6 fees that a lot of people seem to be confusing:

1. $6 DVR fee if you do not sub to AEP or HD Plat

2. $6 HD enabling fee - allows you to record/view OTA programming if you do not sub to HD Bronze+. Maybe you do not have to pay this fee if you do not want (or cannot get OTA).

3. $6 lease fee if you use dishing it up to get the 622. If you buy the 622 you do not have this fee, or if you are a new customer under the DHA

4. $6 extra receiver fee. You pay this fee for each receiver past the first receiver. It does not matter if you own or lease the receiver. You are also charged this fee if you do not sub to a qualifying package on the first receiver.