How to buy a Direct TV subscription without having it installed?

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satellitefunguy

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Nov 3, 2007
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I want to buy my own equipment from ebay or Direc TV and install it myself. How does the activation process work? At Direct's website there is no info on how to do it without having them install it. BTW, i live in NY.
 
Once everything is hooked up and you are receiving picture on channel 100 simply call DirecTV and inform them that you are ready to activate. It's as simple as that.

To "own" your own equipment you will need to by via ebay.
 
Thanks for the info. But how does Direct TV activate my account ( after i've payed for it with my CC, of course)? Through the phone line or dish/receiver?
 
Thanks for the info. But how does Direct TV activate my account ( after i've payed for it with my CC, of course)? Through the phone line or dish/receiver?

It's activated through the dish. Careful here, it sounds like you are going to do something illegal. That is not condoned at Satelliteguys.
 
With all due respect. What are you talking about? I'm not going to do anything illegal. I said I'm going to pay for my subscription from Direct TV and all i want to know is how do they activate my subscription. I wanted to know if D uses a phone line to activate my account because i don't have a land phone. I only have a cell phone.

Please follow this site's rules of "respect our memebers." This is not condoned at Satelliteguys...

Thank you.
 
You can get a receiver at a number of places like Best Buy, Circuit City or Costco. It will be a lease (you pay a "lease upgrade" charge). You may find dishes at some of these places (not Costco) or online at places like Solid Signal | DIRECTV® Systems, HDTV Antennas, DISH Network, satellite equipment and home entertainment supplies & accessories and install it yourself. You can then call Directv and activate the equipment. They may or may not give you some sort of rebate, but if you order from Directv itself, the price will be lower (free in some cases, depending on equipment) and the dish and installation will be included. The 5 LNB dishes are more difficult to align and a special meter is recommended. You will probably have tol pay more to "do it yourself".

If you are a new customer, rather than upgrading, you may have to go through Direct to obtain the equipment. I know they won't activate used equipment for new customers and there have been some recent postings about retailers only selling equipment for upgrading. Be wary of eBay, especially with newer equipment which may be leased not owned.
 
Once everything is hooked up and you are receiving picture on channel 100 simply call DirecTV and inform them that you are ready to activate. It's as simple as that.

To "own" your own equipment you will need to by via ebay.

Wrong, you have to build an account if you call and try to activate without an account rebuilt they aren’t going to activate a receiver. You can call and try to build a account on the phone and state you have your equipment installed already.
 
With all due respect. What are you talking about? I'm not going to do anything illegal. I said I'm going to pay for my subscription from Direct TV and all i want to know is how do they activate my subscription. I wanted to know if D uses a phone line to activate my account because i don't have a land phone. I only have a cell phone.

Please follow this site's rules of "respect our memebers." This is not condoned at Satelliteguys...

Thank you.

I meant no disrespect. I meant to give you a heads up. Your post made it sound as if you were going to use the receiver at a place other than you were going to tell D*, which is against their policies. If you had mentioned that you had no land line I would not have misinterpreted what you posted.
 
Raoul 5788, I don't know where you got the idea i wasn't going to pay for my account, but no worries, i accept your apology.:eek: All i want is to pay for an account and watch sports, sports, sports...and not lose my girlfriend because of it:)

For the rest of the satelliteguys: Thank you for all your helpful information and suggestions. I think i will buy and singup directly from DTV. This site rocks!
 
Raoul 5788, I don't know where you got the idea i wasn't going to pay for my account, but no worries, i accept your apology.:eek: All i want is to pay for an account and watch sports, sports, sports...and not lose my girlfriend because of it:)

For the rest of the satelliteguys: Thank you for all your helpful information and suggestions. I think i will buy and singup directly from DTV. This site rocks!

Where did I say you were not going to pay for the account? Talk about missing the boat! Your original post sounded to me like you were going to have the receiver somewhere other than where you going to tell Directv it was. You said NOTHING about not having a land line. I was simply cautioning you about it, THAT'S ALL! And what the Hell does your girlfriend have to do with it? Jeez, sorry I even replied to your post.
 
I want to buy my own equipment from ebay or Direc TV and install it myself. How does the activation process work? At Direct's website there is no info on how to do it without having them install it. BTW, i live in NY.

After checking out the same thing you are wanting to do, I went to D* directly as there is no way of getting the hardware as cheaply as they get it.

Also, lots of the stuff off fleabay CANNOT be used as the previous owners left D* owing $$$, so without paying that, you cannot get it returned to service (used hardware.) Also, buying your own hardware is not all that promising as the mortality rate on receivers (HD DVRs in particular) are such that you do not want to have to pay to have it fixed as it only comes with a 90 day warranty (unless you buy from Costco).

By the time you add the price of the components up, add in a bit of risk, etc. and figure there is NO price break for owning your own equipment, it makes more sense, to me. at least, to lease the hardware.

If you decide you don't want the setup before the lease period expires, the cancellation penalty is usually less than what you would have spent on your own, so that sealed the deal for me. :)

Best of luck!
 
Once everything is hooked up and you are receiving picture on channel 100 simply call DirecTV and inform them that you are ready to activate. It's as simple as that.

To "own" your own equipment you will need to by via ebay.

Also, the unit has to NOT have been used before by someone who left owing $$$ on their bill.

When you call, if you go this route, its like it used to be, receiver # is asked for, card # is needed, and valid credit card is needed for activation.

No land line phone is needed as it used to be.


PS: I own my own Hughes SD boxes from way back when, but when I came back to D* I am using their new SD set top box (plus the HD DVRs) as it cost the same for monthly service now either way and the new unit is faster, uses less power, is fully supported, etc. :) The 3 old Hughes boxes are with my E* hardware awaiting junk pick-up day when I remember them.
 
Where did I say you were not going to pay for the account? Talk about missing the boat! Your original post sounded to me like you were going to have the receiver somewhere other than where you going to tell Directv it was. You said NOTHING about not having a land line. I was simply cautioning you about it, THAT'S ALL! And what the Hell does your girlfriend have to do with it? Jeez, sorry I even replied to your post.
he was simply saying that he wants to get D* to watch tons of sports, and hopes his GF doesnt leave because of it. Lets all be nice:)
 
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