buying a used 501 or 508

[Win Theone]

what costs will occur with a purchase of a used 501 or 508?

does it need a purple smartcard?
activation fee?
any other fees?

I would like to know ALL costs besides the approximate cost on ebay of the unit itesef.

thanks
Win

 

[HIFI]

get the r00# and s# and call dish to make sure an outstanding balance isn't owed on that receiver

 

[Win Theone]

have done that and there is no balance owed on the receiver BUT there is NO smartcard in the unit

 

[HIFI]

I beleive dish will have to send you a purple card before it can be authorized

 

[HIFI]

also will this be your first receiver or an additional?

 

[Win Theone]

currently have two 522s with Gold 250 package .... expired contract so now on month to month

thinking about two 722s with HD package .... CS offered ONE 722 and ONE 622 for a hundred bucks plus ten bucks for the HD
appears that with either of the HD units I would incur additional two bucks per each unit

with the way I have wired the existing 522s on SD we're sending signals to eight tv sets and are relatively happy with the set up.

I thought about buying one or two 501s or 508s and having to pay no receiver fees for them might work ok


BUT I am asking to see just how much, or appx how much the two used units might cost me

as I understand from CSR ... weak understanding for sure .... that I "might" have an activation fee ... she wasn't sure ... AND she had NO idea about the smartcards add-on

that is why I'm asking ...
much more knowledge here than from CSR .... hehehehehe

 

[HIFI]

ok each receiver beyond the first is an additional 5 bucks a month,both the 501 and 508 are exempt from dvr fees so you should be at 10 additional a month if you added the two

 

[navychop]

I'd hold out for two ViP722 units. I have 2, plus a 508. Hardly ever watch the 508, but hey, it's not costing me anything.....

And look at the Harmony 880 for controlling your HT setup. I have two.

 

[TheKrell]

have done that and there is no balance owed on the receiver BUT there is NO smartcard in the unit

That bothers me. Either a hacker stole the card (or else bought it from the current owner), or else he may have tried to hack that particular receiver, or both. All 50x series receivers came with a card that's married to the unit. Mine started out blue, and got replaced twice by Dish and I recently sold it with the purple card already installed and working. In principle Dish can still activate the receiver by sending you a new purple card. But that missing card is a red flag IMHO.

 

[Win Theone]

according to a CSR ..... adding either a 501 or a 508 to my existing account will only incur a monthly five dollar receiver fee for each box ... I can activate it myself (according to the instructions which will be sent with a new purple card)

I used online chat rather than hardline conversation

interesting