Do I want Dish to access my receiver?

[Rudisill]

Yesterday the installer came out to our summer parking place and installed a dish for us. He also installed a Wi-Fi adapter on our 722K receiver and had me connect it to our Wi-Fi network. (We have no land line.)

Our Dish bill is paid automatically through a credit card, and we don't do pay-for-view. Is there any good reason to leave our receiver connected to our (motor)home network?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Tampa8]

No. Unless you want to be able to access it online to create a recording or watch something while away. It really isn't dish accessing your receiver, it's you being able to. Dish can already access your receiver via satellite.

 

[whatchel1]

So what do you think that E* is going to be doing to your unit?

 

[Rudisill]

No. Unless you want to be able to access it online to create a recording or watch something while away. It really isn't dish accessing your receiver, it's you being able to. Dish can already access your receiver via satellite.

My concern was Dish accessing information from my receiver, which they cannot otherwise do.

 

[Rudisill]

So what do you think that E* is going to be doing to your unit?

It's not what they could do to my receiver, it's what information they could retrieve from it. I don't wish to be subjected to marketing campaigns based on my viewing habits. I wouldn't be surprised if Dish even sold such information to third parties.

On the other hand, I don't pretend to know whether the receiver has the capability to "call home" by using my Internet connection. That's why I asked the question here.

 

[Spongekiller]

My concern was Dish accessing information from my receiver, which they cannot otherwise do.

What info are you worried about? Viewing habits?

 

[MaryB@SlingTV]

Hi Rudisill, the DISH Network receiver's are very limited in what information is transmitted over the receiver back to DISH Network. The main reason for having the connection is the ability to access the interactive features on the receiver. The receiver also runs a diagnostic that checks the receiver functions and the signal strengths that aid us in troubleshooting issues if they arise. DISH Network is already aware of what channels you receive and when other programming is ordered (PPV, VOD, DISH Cinema) as we do submit the billing for the additional services. You are not obligated to have the receiver hook up.

 

[mike123abc]

It's not what they could do to my receiver, it's what information they could retrieve from it. I don't wish to be subjected to marketing campaigns based on my viewing habits. I wouldn't be surprised if Dish even sold such information to third parties.

On the other hand, I don't pretend to know whether the receiver has the capability to "call home" by using my Internet connection. That's why I asked the question here.

The Dish receivers do report in to Dish which channels are watched and when.

But, I believe the Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988 prohibits Dish from disseminating the information to third parties.

 

[Rudisill]

Hi Rudisill, the DISH Network receiver's are very limited in what information is transmitted over the receiver back to DISH Network. The main reason for having the connection is the ability to access the interactive features on the receiver. The receiver also runs a diagnostic that checks the receiver functions and the signal strengths that aid us in troubleshooting issues if they arise. DISH Network is already aware of what channels you receive and when other programming is ordered (PPV, VOD, DISH Cinema) as we do submit the billing for the additional services. You are not obligated to have the receiver hook up.

Thanks for the response. Based on that, I'll leave it hooked up.

 

[dwarren2]

Plus, if you get the Sling adapter under the current promotion, $99 up front and a $99 gift card after 45 days, you can watch what's on your dvr or TV2 output from any computer.

 

[TG2]

The Dish receivers do report in to Dish which channels are watched and when.

But, I believe the Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988 prohibits Dish from disseminating the information to third parties.

Dish doesn't need third parties to provide marketing garbage to users, it can do so itself ... and I'd be with Rudisill on not wanting dish to market to me at all.

clarify that... I wouldn't mind if I could go to a specific channel, or to a page on the web site that lists offers, deals, etc.. that are available for me if I so chose. But when I already pay them a fairly hefty fee to provide their service as is ... I don't like paying them to send me commercialized information. Regardless on its basis ... personal habit or otherwise.

Hence my anger at the "instantly watch 3000 Epix movies on dishonline.com" banner appearing on the initial channel banner screen *every time* I tune to Epix on ch 295 ... and not the least of which that they recommend doing so on a website that is broken for me with regards to any of my DVR content! **that** is one of the reasons I turned off the "Tv Enhancements" ... first time I saw it provide a change in a commercial displayed on my Tv (press select button when you see X icon) and saw it was just more ad garbage, I immediately disabled that feature and never looked back. That dish *could* provide truely valuable information is one thing, but that they do both "valuable" and "advertising" information just meant more ways for them to peddle garbage to me.

And the side issue is the aggregation of data that dish DOES disclose to third parties.. Nielson Family Ratings would be nothing if it weren't for the data they get from Dish, DirecTV, and every cable company out there .. not to mention their ties into online media delivery too... Nielson wasn't sitting on the sidelines when the places people get their media from changed.. Nielson has found ways into nearly every single outlet there is. I think only borrowing DVD's from friends would miss getting recorded by something Nielson can get to.. and with Bluray players connected to the internet, even that is getting recorded if dvd's are played through one.

 

[Paradox-SJ]

Dish knows much more....they know what you watch, what you dvr'ed, when you watched what your dvr'ed, if you used any trick features during that playback etc...if that bothers you then you will need to go back to just OTA because most providers today have this capability.

 

[Rudisill]

"Dish knows much more....they know what you watch, what you dvr'ed, when you watched what your dvr'ed, if you used any trick features during that playback etc...if that bothers you then you will need to go back to just OTA because most providers today have this capability."

If that bothers me, I'll simply disconnect the Wi-Fi adapter from the back of the receiver.

 

[Frank7004]

The receiver also runs a diagnostic that checks the receiver functions and the signal strengths that aid us in troubleshooting issues if they arise.

I'll probably get thrashed for this response *and this is MY response, NOT Dish's response* ...but I've seen WAY to many systems with lower than standard signal levels, overheated systems, etc with phone/bb lines connected and operating for Dish to be testing signal strengths. -or for that matter doing ANY diagnostics (STBH).

That said:

-Ive NEVER had a customer tell me "dish contacted me and told me that the signal strengths are low, my rcvr overheated, etc...a tech needs to come out"
-Ive had MANY customers tell me "they ran me through this screen that your looking at now..."...so if that was the case, and dish already had STBH stats, a point dish screen wouldn't be needed for the CSR. Logic would tell me that an agent would be able to access the STBH info on the rcvr from their end...real time data, saved info, etc. with a phone line connected.
-Ive been to MANY migration work orders where Dish insisted a tech come out for the swap...to get there and find out there is already a "full arc" system...and ph line/bb connections are present. Again, if STBH was present, Dish should know what orbitals the customer is seeing and shouldn't send a tech...or for that matter even bug the customer to have the migration performed in the first place.

I could go on. To my knowledge, a dish (Dish/Direct/Primestar, etc) cant transmit anything...that's what a phone line is for. (of course a hughes/wild blue system can) IMO, with a rcvr thats plugged into the wall, good phone line or bb line connected, dish should be able to do anything to that rcvr that they wish, remotely.

My bottom line, a ph/bb line does nothing for dish other than the customer having the opportunity to view remotely, purchase movies, etc. So sorry, based on my experiences, I do not buy the STBH disclaimer that Dish spells out for people.

 

[mike123abc]

Dish uses the information to help flag account stackers. But, just because the boxes send the information to Dish, does not mean that Dish has any capacity to examine the information and act on it.

As Frank7004 mentioned above there are a lot of things the boxes could be reporting that Dish may not be able to process.

Taking viewing habits is something Dish collects since they make money selling the information to others. But, it is stripped of personal information. It is useful for ratings. It is how nielson can report same day DVR viewing and 7 day viewing. They have to know when you watched something you recorded.

It is probably only the newer boxes report diagnostic information back to Dish, and even then Dish might just ignore the data since most boxes probably do not report anything useful.

 

[Frank7004]

Dish uses the information to help flag account stackers. But, just because the boxes send the information to Dish, does not mean that Dish has any capacity to examine the information and act on it.

I wasn't going to say it, but since you did...yeah. I was just bouncing on what Mary, a Dish Rep, had stated.

 

[Dah-Henny]

Just to be fair, and this may not be common, but there have been posts here in the past where Dish called the customer regarding their STB health/signal strength and such.

 

[Frank7004]

Just to be fair, and this may not be common, but there have been posts here in the past where Dish called the customer regarding their STB health/signal strength and such.

Its good to be fair, but I base my statement off my personal experience.
Not trying to be rude or coming across as a prick...just simply stating

 

[old corps]

Just to be fair, and this may not be common, but there have been posts here in the past where Dish called the customer regarding their STB health/signal strength and such.

This DID happen to me. I had problems with signal strength due to trees and hadn't got around to calling them (dreaded it actually). They called me and it resulted in being swapped from WA to EA @ no charge & no commitment requirement. This was about 2 years ago.

Ed

 

[tom231]

So what do you think that E* is going to be doing to your unit?

Taken out of context, this comment is pretty funny.