Can I go on Dish Pause again?

[CubsWin]

I am currently on a 9 month Dish Pause that is set to expire somewhere around July. I am out of contract, so I would just be going month-to-month. After my service restarts in July, could I go right back on Dish Pause the next month, or are there limitations to how often it can be used?

 

[pattykay]

Funny enough, I recently stumbled across some of my old Dish bills from a time period when I was doing exactly that. I was also paying the Dish bill in advance and running a credit balance on my account for most of that time, though. Dish did not mail a paper bill in months when there was a credit balance, so I am not sure exactly how many months passed between pauses. Also, the rules could have changed (and most likely did) several times during the 17 years or so that have passed in the meantime since then.

If Dish does not let you go back on Pause again right away, I can recommend some cheap package options if you just want to keep the account active with bare minimum service, until you are allowed to do another Pause again. You could try the $15 Locals Only option, if Dish will let you get it. There are also $15 International Basic and Chinese Basic options. Those two packages also require you to add an international package add-on to qualify for either of them. I can recommend a cheap international add-on that would still make the total price lower than Welcome Pack, if you are interested.

 

[Cheddar_Head]

I am currently on a 9 month Dish Pause that is set to expire somewhere around July. I am out of contract, so I would just be going month-to-month. After my service restarts in July, could I go right back on Dish Pause the next month, or are there limitations to how often it can be used?

Dish doesn't like you going back on Pause right away BUT the will allow it if circumstances dictate. I travel for a living and was on a 9-month pause, the job sent me on another 3-month trip immediately after that. I called to cancel Dish and the CSR offered to extend the pause. So they can do it. I think it may have helped that I've been a customer for more than 10 years and have an expensive package when not paused.

 

[pattykay]

Dish doesn't like you going back on Pause right away BUT the will allow it if circumstances dictate. I travel for a living and was on a 9-month pause, the job sent me on another 3-month trip immediately after that. I called to cancel Dish and the CSR offered to extend the pause. So they can do it. I think it may have helped that I've been a customer for more than 10 years and have an expensive package when not paused.

I think the timing may have had something to do with it. If you had actually cancelled Dish and stayed gone for three months, then by the time you got back you would have qualified to sign back up for Dish as a new customer again. By allowing you to stay on Pause instead, they avoided having to give you all of the discounts and perks that a new customer would get. (Not to mention that after cancelling, they likely would have kept mailing you win-back offers the entire time you were away. So Dish saved that much postage also. Yes, Dish nickel-and-dimes everything.)

 

[Cheddar_Head]

I think the timing may have had something to do with it. If you had actually cancelled Dish and stayed gone for three months, then by the time you got back you would have qualified to sign back up for Dish as a new customer again. By allowing you to stay on Pause instead, they avoided having to give you all of the discounts and perks that a new customer would get. (Not to mention that after cancelling, they likely would have kept mailing you win-back offers the entire time you were away. So Dish saved that much postage also. Yes, Dish nickel-and-dimes everything.)

You might be correct BUT that would have meant a new contract and I like not being locked into a contract. Worth the extra cost to me and I avoided having to pack up and return my Hopper which has lots of movies recorded from TCM and other channels. YMMV

 

[CubsWin]

Worth the extra cost to me and I avoided having to pack up and return my Hopper which has lots of movies recorded from TCM and other channels. YMMV

Yeah, that's really it for me. I'm perfectly happy without Dish for now, but I'm mostly interested in keeping my receivers and recordings preserved in case I decide to go back to Dish at some point in the next year.

 

[chuckster_dude]

With Summer here, I just paused my DISH service for 9 months. I get locals via OTA and a Roku for other content we like so we're going to try it and see how things go. Saving close to $80 a month.

We might try some streaming options to see if we can manage it before restarting DISH.