Dish Network to require "Free Phone Line Installation"

Doctor Bob

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Nov 22, 2003
566
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Riverside, California
Well, I guess that Charlie found out about all that money that Rupert was making, from those "Stat" Guys" and decided to see how far he could push the envelope!!! RONTGLMAO....

It seems that Dish Network has been pushing "LinkUS" http://www.linkuscorp.com/contactushome.htm , to hard lately, and wants to not only require them to install free phone lines, but they are going to lower their rates as well!!! One other little note, and that is Dish Network is planning to take Las Vegas and Central California away from LinkUS, and give it to their DNSC Division...

Well, that won't set well with LinkUS, because they word on the streets, is that they are discussing matters with some "Legal Beagles"... BTW, LinkUS is one of the largest RSP's Dish Network has!!!
 
Must be a reason why they are taking it away from them and knowing dish it probably has to do with quality of work, repeat trouble calls, charges to the customer, and customer complaints. If this is the case then it means that dish will be pulling in about 50 - 100 techs from out of state into vegas and possibly double that for central california to get shops setup and staffed.
 
Great. Are they going to force people to have a POTS line ??? A vast number of the customers I install ONLY have cell phones. Will we have to require a POTS line to install service ??
 
Only way that it can be remotely required is if all receivers look for a phone connection and even then theres the phone line fee and if dish goes to that ploy they will risk loosing a substantial amount of their subs. I get enough customers that either use cells only or have tv's place in locations that would require drilling and fishing the phone line and many dont want anymore holes drilled than is required, oh and then theres those who imediately distrust you and the company for needing a phone connected.
 
As long as Dish maintains the $5/month phone "incentive", then I really doubt they'll make it a national policy. As Van stated, it's just too much of a pain in the ass to run a phone line. Not to mention there are too many outfits who have a contract with Dish that states they don't HAVE to run phone lines. Oh...and finally. Wouldn't it just take one good phone call to AT&T and mention to one of the head shop stewards that their so-called "partner" is taking away work from their own phone techs? Imagine THAT chaos that would ensue
 
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Yea that wont fly with ATT seeing as their techs are union wich I sometimes think dish techs need to be unionized for their own protection.
 
The phone company charges a LOT to come out and do service to the phoneline in your house or to install it. It looks like it is has raised a bit from when I last saw the rates. It is now $110 for the first 60 minutes or fraction therof and $46 for each additional 30 minutes or fraction thereof with Verizon. If you request work to be done outside of normal business hours or at specific times, other charges may apply. The fixed fee rate to install or rewire telephone jacks for residence customers is $95 for one jack and $53 for each additional jack in the same premises for the same customer at the same time. It costs the same to rewire one jack and to rewire an additional jack. If Verizon determines that the jack installation or rewire requires work that does not qualify for fixed fees, charges will vary depending on the amount of time and the cost of the materials needed to do the work. This is when they will start charging that minimum of $110. One example is concealed wires.

Installers do not get paid this much to do a satellite installation in many cases let alone run phonelines. Some people if they were smart enough might order Dish Network and cancel in 30 days because of the money back guarantee just to get phonelines hooked up for little or nothing.
 
Exactly!! This is the same crap Adelphia pulled on their installers years ago when their digital boxes were introduced. At that point digital cable wasn't a 2-way, send and receive thing. As an installer I was not only expected to run a cable outlet, but the phonejack as well. Too many times people would order the cable and then quickly disconnect.

Who could blame them. Free install. No commitments. Oh! And a free phonejack. F* yeah!! What a bargain. LOL
 
what if you're a cell phone only user? or a voip user? no phone lines to run there! If they were smart they'd include ethernet ports in all new receivers and actually turn them on, it's easier dealing with network connected boxes than to have a huge POP center. get with the times dish!
 
abricko said:
If they were smart they'd include ethernet ports in all new receivers and actually turn them on, it's easier dealing with network connected boxes than to have a huge POP center. get with the times dish!

"If they were smart" *sigh* I wish that they were but look at the 921, 721 ( great receiver ) 7100/7200 ( anyone that has set them up 2000 - 2001 knows what I mean ) 111, dual tuners, super dish, dish 1000, must carry dish, phone connection requirement, expansion ports on many receivers over the years that have never been used but they always told you that it would be for future use, giving away so much stuff for free, theres more that I could bring up but I dont think that scotts hard drive can hold it all.
 
webbydude said:
As long as Dish maintains the $5/month phone "incentive", then I really doubt they'll make it a national policy. As Van stated, it's just too much of a pain in the ass to run a phone line. Not to mention there are too many outfits who have a contract with Dish that states they don't HAVE to run phone lines. Oh...and finally. Wouldn't it just take one good phone call to AT&T and mention to one of the head shop stewards that their so-called "partner" is taking away work from their own phone techs? Imagine THAT chaos that would ensue

It is going to take more than "ONE" good phone call, to AT&T or anybody for that matter... LOL These Bums don't care about anything except money!!! RONTGLMAO....
 
I have mixed feelings on this. I know some installers that have been telling customers the phone was required when it wasn't for years, and then extracting extremely some pretty big fees. While not the norm, it's not exactly uncommon.

On the other hand I think the installer should be compensated for everything. Althought most contract CATV techs are paid less than a DBS tech, they do seem to get paid for everything they do at least.

As far as the actual telco techs, they get paid well, and the reason they do is because most are in the union. Almost everything is unionized at a telco, including the sales force in many cases.
 
Here's pretty much the routine I give during any install. If the customer doesn't have a phone jack close enough to the receiver I'll alert the customer to the $5/month phone fee (dual-tuners). At that point they have several options.

1) they don't have a phone line hooked up and eat the $5/month
2)I offer to sell a pair of wireless phonejacks at the price I paid. Usually $45/pair
3)I'll run a phone line. Usually will charge $40 for that. More, if any extensive wallfishing is required

As I stated earlier, a satellite installer is paid for a normal install. Why should I be required to run a phone line for a dual tuner receiver? For free!! Hell with that. I'll do my best to modify the work order to 2, single tuner receivers if that is the case.
 
I think someone is confusing AT&T with the old company - and not the new company that has hijacked the name AT&T that was called SBC up until several months ago. The company is based in Texas which is one of the largest anti-union right to work states out there.
 
Thats where they may be based at but sbc was/is in alot of heavy pro union states with some having no competition from other telco's in large scale metro area's, if att wants to wage an anti union war with sbc employee's they will have a seriously bad war on their hands.
 
you know, why don't Dish just give their receivers the ability to transfer info over the sat link--with GPS so they know you have it at your house, or perhaps a sensor that senses other receivers, and then tells them if any others are present, if there isn't and there is supposed to be, then they'd know they are being cheated? Seems stupid that they HAVE to have a land line to keep track of you. It could be done, I know it can be I have Direcway, that requires NO phone line.
 
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No way is Dish gonna reissue new receivers to people!

As to the OP, I think DNS may be "attempting" some sort of punitive action in the form of this phone line thing. Think about it. There are just too many scenarios where a phone connection isn't going to happen. To cover bases (and to make $$, evidently) Dish is doing the $5/month surcharge. This is something Direct probably should've been doing in the first place instead of placing the burden on the installer and retailers. They're getting screwed with huge amounts of chargebacks!
 
HDTVFanAtic said:
I think someone is confusing AT&T with the old company - and not the new company that has hijacked the name AT&T that was called SBC up until several months ago. The company is based in Texas which is one of the largest anti-union right to work states out there.

Unfortunately, just because a company is based in Texas doesn't mean that Texas' laws apply to elements in other union ruled states. I will say that the case of the Dish Installers might well be one rare case where unions might serve a useful purpose.
Patrick
 
The best thing that Dish and Direct can do is put something at the dish/switch/line to make it to where it can detect whether or not both receivers are hooked up to the same dish/switch/home. That is the best that they are going to be able to do without having one unit that feeds the whole house where you can add tuners and hardware and upgrades to the one unit that acts as a server for the whole house.
 
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