dish - first time customer

[pearlish]

I'm a dish first-time to-be customer, and I've tons of questions!

I share house with others, and they already have time warner - road runner as internet service provider. Will that be an issue? Do people usually save by getting tv and internet from same company? (Road runner doesn't offer the channel I want. Does it make sense to pay $30 a month to dish for just one channel?))

Will they drill into apartment for wiring? I live in a rented apartment, and although dish is allowed, I would like to know how cabling would work out.

I want to keep it as a surprise for a family member. Can the guy install dish and I hide it for few days or will that mess up settings? Do they usually keep their appointment? I would like to invite the guy when she's not home.

How much recorded time do they provide for dish online (does that need dvr service - $6/month as well? Why does it need sling adapter?)

I don't have any tv at all. I would like to use tv-tuner, please suggest/share what are some potential gotchas. I don't need tv-tuner to change channel. I can change it from receiver, and as I said, I need it only for one channel.

What are some other fees apart from monthly subscription that I should watch out for?

 

[Jim5506]

I believe if you are a renter, you may have to have written consent from your landlord for the install.

Standard install is to find an appropriate site for the dish, ground the dish, run cable along the outside of the dwelling to the room where the receiver is located and drill a hole in the wall there.

Sorry, but the dish must be securely mounted or you'll have a devil of a time getting signal when you need it. You may be able to hide the receiver, that is if you are sure you know how to reattach it.

Appointments are usually in a 4 hour block 8am to noon or 1 to 5pm, exact time cannot be guaranteed.

I'm not sure about Dish-on-line but I think there is a reserved partition on the drive for this so it does not impact recording time.

The sling adapter is not for receiving downloads, it is for sending your live TV or recordings to another device.

I believe dish-on-line and sling are two seperate entities that are not related at all.

No TV, so you will watch on a computer monitor? Then your picture quality will be totally dependent on what type of inputs your monitor has. If you're lucky it may have an DVI or even an HDMI input, that would be fixed with the proper cable, but if your monitor is VGA input only, you will have to get the video signal into your computer somehow and HDMI and component input solutions for computers will probably run you around $200 (the price of a small HDTV). Other than that you will need atuner card for your computer, but be sure it is both ATSC and NTSC, because the RF out from the Dish receiver is NTSC.

Fees, well, if you get a DVR there is the $6/month DVR service fee. If you have only one receiver, that receiver fee is included in the basic package price. From there the second receiver would be charged a fee, but I don't think that is in your plans.

I think that is all, I'm sure if I'm in error, somebody will be more than willing to point it out.

 

[garys]

I don't believe the OP has a realistic idea of what Dish is and how it is delivered. A visit to a local retailer should show him some basics.

 

[KAB]

I don't believe the OP has a realistic idea of what Dish is and how it is delivered. A visit to a local retailer should show him some basics.

+1.

 

[whitewolf8214]

I don't believe the OP has a realistic idea of what Dish is and how it is delivered. A visit to a local retailer should show him some basics.

+2

 

[pearlish]

I believe if you are a renter, you may have to have written consent from your landlord for the install.

Standard install is to find an appropriate site for the dish, ground the dish, run cable along the outside of the dwelling to the room where the receiver is located and drill a hole in the wall there.

Sorry, but the dish must be securely mounted or you'll have a devil of a time getting signal when you need it. You may be able to hide the receiver, that is if you are sure you know how to reattach it.

Appointments are usually in a 4 hour block 8am to noon or 1 to 5pm, exact time cannot be guaranteed.

I'm not sure about Dish-on-line but I think there is a reserved partition on the drive for this so it does not impact recording time.

The sling adapter is not for receiving downloads, it is for sending your live TV or recordings to another device.

I believe dish-on-line and sling are two seperate entities that are not related at all.

No TV, so you will watch on a computer monitor? Then your picture quality will be totally dependent on what type of inputs your monitor has. If you're lucky it may have an DVI or even an HDMI input, that would be fixed with the proper cable, but if your monitor is VGA input only, you will have to get the video signal into your computer somehow and HDMI and component input solutions for computers will probably run you around $200 (the price of a small HDTV). Other than that you will need atuner card for your computer, but be sure it is both ATSC and NTSC, because the RF out from the Dish receiver is NTSC.

Fees, well, if you get a DVR there is the $6/month DVR service fee. If you have only one receiver, that receiver fee is included in the basic package price. From there the second receiver would be charged a fee, but I don't think that is in your plans.

I think that is all, I'm sure if I'm in error, somebody will be more than willing to point it out.

That's exactly what I had thought except a dish CSR told me there would be no drilling, leaving me totally confused. Thanks for verifying this.

Thanks for clarifying about sling adapter, now it makes sense.

As long as I get ATSC and NTSC tv-tuner, I should be fine? People on other forums mentioned something along the lines of IR blaster also needed, but if it's only needed so tv-tuner can change the channel, that can be skipped for now.

CSR also told me she can waive activation fee for 24-month contract, but she won't waive admin fee. I searched forums, and I couldn't comprehend what exactly the admin-fee was.

 

[pearlish]

I don't believe the OP has a realistic idea of what Dish is and how it is delivered. A visit to a local retailer should show him some basics.

lol I did until I talked to csr's at dish. They said some very confusing stuff contradicting what I had read on forums and my understanding of how dish worked, leaving me very confused.

 

[Mojo Jojo]

What is the one channel that you want?

Also, if you are not wanting streaming but a DVR, I would suggest a 211 HD Solo receiver if you have just one TV and want DVR capabilities. 211 DVR integration is a one-time fee of $40 without the $6/month DVR fee; you will need your own external hard drive, though. The first receiver does not have an additional equipment fee as it is said to be in the base package price. If you have 2 TVs, you may want 211s although the second one would cost $7/month along with needing an external hard drive or two (depending on how many you want to integrate into a DVR) for high definition on both TVs, or you may want a 722 HD Duo receiver which does not have an equipment fee for just one that covers two Independent TVs- one in HD and one in SD and is a DVR for $6/month. (A second 722 would be $17/month.)

 

[Claude Greiner]

Instead of getting Dish just for you, why don't you talk your room mates into getting rid of cable?

Get additional receivers for the other tv's and keep cable just for the Internet.

You would get Better service and save money over cable as a whole.

 

[HanoverPretzel]

Some Dish installers will run a wire down from the receiver to right outside where the cable wire enters the home, and use a little switch box (I think that's what they're called) allowing them to plug the Dish wire in on one side and the wire that used to take cable into the home on the other side. This avoids drilling an extra hole and saves the installer some work. However, if you're keeping cable anything (TV, Internet, phone), it could mess it up.

That's the route the installer took with me and I questioned it and came very close to telling him to drill a hole or forget the installation. But, you know, I get tired of fighting every little thing sometimes and just wanted to watch some TV. It isn't horrible in my case, because a) I have cable that enters my home into two places, so when I signed back up for cable Internet 6 months later, the install guy used that input instead and allowed Dish TV to co-exist with cable Internet in my apartment, and b) Should I go back to cable for television at some point and need the entry point that Dish is now using (Probably will, because it's right by the TV), it should theoretically be as simple as the cable installer unscrewing the Dish line in to the switch box (or whatever it's called) right outside the building, and screwing the cable line back in (I think it's there ready to be screwed in, but if not it'd only require a running a couple feet of extra cable to bring it down).

But, anyhow, back to the point- if you still need your cable lines to work because you're keeping cable Internet, you'd better tell your Dish installer that when he shows up. They can run the wire from the Dish and drill a new hole in the wall to bring it inside on all new wiring, preserving your ability to use both services, but it's easier for them to hijack your existing cable line at the entry point (avoids drilling the hole and doing any internal wiring), so they may well do that if they think you're not using the cable line for anything. Basically, you just need to be there and tell them you're using the cable for Internet and you'd prefer they run a new line and drill a new hole, and they should do it (Although maybe not happily. ).