Additional Charge for each room???

[asousa]

Hi guys,

New to the forum and the DirecTv world. I went into Best Buy this weekend and was going to walk out the door with the free 3 room system. I don't currently have a HD TV but will most likely be upgrading within a year or so. I was ready to buy until the guy told me that there is a $5 charge for each room.

My cable is cheaper then that works out to be and I don't see why I would upgrade now. Is there any way around this charge? Is there any 3 room promotions or something like that they run???

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Thats a programming mirror charge which they charge for each additional reciever on your account. And while $5 sounds like a lot, remember your local cable company probably charges you $9.95 or more for each additional outlet of DIGITAL Cable you have (and sometimes additional additonal equipment charges as well)

Welcome to SatelliteGuys asousa!

 

[ShadowEKU]

Im with dish but the same fees apply pretty much.

My cable company wanted 12.00 a month for the DCT and 2.00 for the remote. they wanted an additional 10 for each dct after the first.

Dish: Non DVR receivers 5.00 lease/mirror fee (depends on whether you own or not)

Direct: Non DVR receivers 5.00 Mirror fee.

 

[charper1]

ASOUSA: It seems that you were not 100% satisfied with your cable and went hunting for a satellite. I really think that the extra freedom you get by having satellite more than makes up for the few extra dollars you may spend ASSUMING that you don't have ANY extra charges by your cable company.

I would make a list of all the programming I get on each service (not just package prices), then total each service's bill with all the fees and taxes with that programming, see each total, and then divide each total by the programming each offers you at that cost. Noting any channels gained and loss by each. Can you do without what you lost, or will you watch what you gained?

You now have a rough per channel cost. Now factor in what sports packages you can get via satellite (if you want that) that you can't get on your cable.

Now you have a more realistic picture of what you are getting. Now I have always said "charge me $5 for the first additional, $7.50 for two additional, and maybe $10 for three, but after that let them be added for free because this really isn't a big hassle for them and shouldn't be costing them anything.

 

[LonghornXP]

Well to give you an idea of the fees you would pay. First if you get a free 3 room system you would pay an extra 10 bucks a month for the extra two rooms on top of any total choice package. Say you get total choice premier which is I think 90.99/month you would add 10 bucks to that so it would be about 100 bucks per month plus on average 13% total taxes and this would get you all premium movie channels in three rooms.

If you get a DirecTV DVR you would pay an extra 5 bucks per account for any number of DirecTV DVRs but if you get total choice premier that fee is waived.

So if you got total choice premier and bought three DirecTV DVRs which would cost 300 bucks or less you would pay 100 bucks plus tax. No DVR fee. Now if you get any package below their premier the 5 buck DVR service fee is per account not per box. So one DVR would cost 5 bucks a month while 4 DVRs still only cost an extra 5 bucks a month total.

Now if you go HDTV you would have to spend 300 bucks for the HD box or if you want an HDTV Tivo it would cost you just under a grand but I'm expecting the price to drop around 350 maybe 400 bucks. Take that as a hint hint.

If this got too complex just let me know I would be glad to help you out with your specific questions.

 

[slacker9876]

The fees are well worth it. Satellite TV is so superior to cable in the realm of picture quality it is insane. When my neighbor got hooked up he said it was like going from an antenna to HDTV. He has a 42" 16:9 Sony. FWIW

 

[rcbridge]

My cable company Comcast is asking for an additional $8.95 a month for a second digital box!! So now $5 doesn't sound so bad.

 

[charper1]

There you have it.

 

[Chris Freeland]

Comcast Chattanooga here charges $6.95/mo for each additional digital box, if you want HDTV, add another $5/mo, if you want DVR and HD add an extra $9.95/mo. No SD DVR avaialable here, if you want a DVR you have to take one that includes HDTV tuner built in, even if you do not have an HDTV to take advantage of the HDTV tuner.

 

[stone phillips420]

The fees are well worth it. Satellite TV is so superior to cable in the realm of picture quality it is insane. When my neighbor got hooked up he said it was like going from an antenna to HDTV. He has a 42" 16:9 Sony. FWIW

bs, the xtra receiver fees are a ripoff not worth it at all, i pay 50 a month in just xtra receiver fees,dtv suxs all they have over dish is cstv

 

[Neutron]

To me just to have digital cable with Insight I would end up paying $60, and that's without any digital paks or movie channels!!

I compared digital cable with Directv and in order for me to get the same channels and extra rooms that I pay Directv $100 a month for, I would end up paying $140 a month to Insight before taxes.

To me Satellite is well worth it. I won't get hit with every other month increases that cable companies usually do.

 

[Darkwing Duck]

It was annouced today that Time Warner Cincinnati would be increasing rates by about 5.5% starting in December. So the average bill will go up $2.00 Glad I'm away from them.

 

[Darin]

bs, the xtra receiver fees are a ripoff not worth it at all, i pay 50 a month in just xtra receiver fees,dtv suxs all they have over dish is cstv

I would think if you had a house big enough to warrant 11 televisions, that $50/m wouldn't be that big of a deal. Compared to Dish, DirecTV also has TiVo, more stable hardware, and a clearer plan for the future.

 

[cr0mag]

If you REALLY want to feel sticker shocked, ask your cable company about HD DVR boxes... sheesh. I could outfit every room in my house with satellite for what the cable company wants for a couple of the new motorola DVRs! Sign up for Directv and don't look back. I'd recommend the deal with a DVR and two standard recievers personally.

 

[cr0mag]

bs, the xtra receiver fees are a ripoff not worth it at all, i pay 50 a month in just xtra receiver fees,dtv suxs all they have over dish is cstv

$50 in extra reciever fees? Are you serious? How many systems do you have? :shocked

 

[Neutron]

The cable company here charges $12.95 a month for EACH HD/DVR box.

 

[stone phillips420]

I would think if you had a house big enough to warrant 11 televisions, that $50/m wouldn't be that big of a deal. Compared to Dish, DirecTV also has TiVo, more stable hardware, and a clearer plan for the future.

as far as a big enough house it by no means is large rather cozy at 2438 square feet if i recall correctly. As far as hardware mainly receivers tivos or not dtv is far superior but dish channel lineup is far better with kids they love that nickelodeon games dish dtv no, all dtv has that dish doesn't is college sports tv and trio

 

[stone phillips420]

$50 in extra reciever fees? Are you serious? How many systems do you have? :shocked

11

 

[meStevo]

11

If you had comparable cable service you'd be paying over $140 at my old provider just for the boxes (and that's just to rent them)..

 

[stone phillips420]

I've had cable, id much rather deal with rainfade then the bluescreen on cable cause they doing upgrades in your area, those usually last for at least 6 hours, that was a few years ago when they were going from analog to digital, although i did give digital a try, i didn't like the menu and guide on the motorola/general instruments boxes