I love Dish but can no longer justify it.

[zippyfrog]

As time goes on and the price increases keep on coming every year ,I think you will see more and more satellite dishes by the trash can. I can get everything I had with DISH and get it on all of my tvs in my house using Sling tv and it only cost me $56.00 a month before taxes. The locals are integrated from my ota antenna and I can record 4 ota channels at a time and it cost me nothing. Loved DISH and the Hopper dvr is great and have been with them for almost 25 years in January 2022, but I have been on pause since June and plan to dump DISH next month when my pause ends. The price increases and equipment fees are simply too much now. Streaming is where we are headed for everything now.

I have been Dish much less time than you have been. I got Dish in November 2009 and started with the "Classic Silver 200" package at $52.99 a month along with Multi-Sport Pack with RedZone for $5.99 a month. Had my Comcast Sportsnet Chicago and got all my local sports. Time has changed in the 12 years... Now the Top 200 is $109.99 (with locals) and no RSN's. I remember seeing the America's Everything Pack and it was $99.99 a month and thought "I would never spend that much on TV"

 

[redelephants]

From someone that has been in this position recently, I can say that we are extremely happy with YTTV via Fire TV Sticks. Sure I miss the autohop, but man the savings make up for it big time. YTTV just added the Hallmark channels and now checks all of the boxes for my family. If you're with T-Mobile, you can save $10/mo on both YTTV and Philo. I was a loyal Dish customer for 14 years, but the costs finally led me to cancel. I have no regrets and am glad I have moved on.

 

[Mochuf]

As time goes on and the price increases keep on coming every year ,I think you will see more and more satellite dishes by the trash can. I can get everything I had with DISH and get it on all of my tvs in my house using Sling tv and it only cost me $56.00 a month before taxes. The locals are integrated from my ota antenna and I can record 4 ota channels at a time and it cost me nothing. Loved DISH and the Hopper dvr is great and have been with them for almost 25 years in January 2022, but I have been on pause since June and plan to dump DISH next month when my pause ends. The price increases and equipment fees are simply too much now. Streaming is where we are headed for everything now.

It's been two years since I dropped cable, and my wife and I aren't looking back. People like to say that streaming will soon catch up with cable/satellite in pricing. But that's assuming that cable/satellite prices won't rise. We were paying $157 for tv and internet and when including the streaming services we had, the total price per month was around $191/month. We now have Philo plus the following services HBO Max ($109.99/year), Netflix, Hulu w/ads ($59.99/year), Acorn TV ($59.99/year), Amazon Prime (even though it is more than just video) ($126.14/year w/taxes), Apple TV+ for a total of $113.65/month (with internet). We also have the first AirTV for OTA. Which gives us far more stuff to watch than we could ever possibly watch. And, since all apps are on my Roku, we don't have to change inputs like we did when we wanted to watch apps like Netflix or Amazon Prime when we had a cable box.

 

[Mochuf]

I got rid of Dish a over a year ago. My reason wasn't so much to save money but to end my frustration with rain fade.

I first bought a TIVO with the one remote for for local channels with DVR and commercial skip. Works great! Lifetime subscription package and has better image quality than my Dish DVR had.

Second, for the "cable channels" I subscribed to FUBO with the 500 hr DVR option for $69 a month. I had an Apple TV box for 4K IPTV which has worked great too.

Last summer FUBO dropped the History channel so I had to subscribe to Sling to get one of my favorite cable channels back. That also comes with a digital DVR and commercial skip. I think that cost $39 a month more. So, I'm back to what Dish cost me but everything works very well and I haven't lost any of my programs in over a year since switching. I took down all my 3 sat dishes and tossed everything in the trash.

I also have the freedom of adding so many new options that I was always limited with Dish or Cable to what they allowed me to see. HBOMax, Disney+ Hulu, YOU Tube commercial free etc.

Philo has History for only $25/month extra. Unlimited DVR with commercial skip. I'm still grandfathered in the $20/month plan.

 

[TheForce]

Philo has History for only $25/month extra. Unlimited DVR with commercial skip. I'm still grandfathered in the $20/month plan.

Thanks for the info but I'm good for now. I am keeping Fubo as my base but if they drop anymore channels, I plan to drop them. Love that we have options. With Dish Network I always felt I was trapped by what they would do during contract negotiations. I saw a notice that Dish had dropped one of out locals due to them in a spat with the network. Can't recall the details. It was on our local news program. I just smiled thinking, not this year Dish.

 

[peggy97850]

In same situation, $15 cheaper for YTTV which actually has my local NBC so I won't need to keep paying for Peacock Plus. Really dislike the way recording works on YTTV (can't record new episodes only so managing a lot of recordings is a pain). This past year I first dropped a Joey, then dropped the other Joey and use Dish Anywhere through Google Chromecast with Google TV but now there's nothing else to cut since I'm already down to Flex w/locals (OTA here really isn't an option). Will call soon to see if they offer a deal but not knowing when NBC contract will get settled makes me hesitant to commit to anything. I guess after a few months I could always come back when they offer me the new customer deal. I'll miss the H3.

 

[MikeD-C05]

I'll add this to the discussion. With Streaming you can try different companies and switch when you want and you never really have to talk to anyone . You can add HBO max and when the show is over you watch you can drop it and save the $15.00 a month. Same for any service. It's all at your fingertips and your computer. This is why I see streaming + antenna +dvr will be everyone's preference in the near future. If DISH was smart when someone cancels the satellite service DISH would offer them a free 14 days of Sling tv and try to sell them an Airtv anywhere dvr at a promo price to them in its place and install an out door antenna for them if needed. That way the money would still be coming in to DISH, but through Sling tv service ,which they own too.

 

[tobsandmags]

I'll add this to the discussion. With Streaming you can try different companies and switch when you want and you never really have to talk to anyone . You can add HBO max and when the show is over you watch you can drop it and save the $15.00 a month. Same for any service. It's all at your fingertips and your computer. This is why I see streaming + antenna +dvr will be everyone's preference in the near future. If DISH was smart when someone cancels the satellite service DISH would offer them a free 14 days of Sling tv and try to sell them an Airtv anywhere dvr at a promo price to them in its place and install an out door antenna for them if needed. That way the money would still be coming in to DISH, but through Sling tv service ,which they own too.

That would be a good idea. SlingTV isn't a bad way to go and is generally cheaper than many other options.

One thing I really like about Dish is all of the flexibility it offers you to shave $$ off your bill. Locals are optional, the Dish Anywhere app on FireTV allows you to cut Joeys, and the Flex pack + add-ons really lets you to tailor the channels you get and narrow down your costs.

I recently checked out Root Sports alternatives including Comcast. They charge $20/ month for locals as an add-on fee….no option to skip that if you can get locals OTA. Then they tack on a mandatory $15/month regional sports channel. FuboTV does the same thing too. Locals are not optional and they tack on a mandatory $6/month regional sports channel fee.

 

[DishSubLA]

I believe that the equipment charges are really subsidizing the cost of programming at Dish for many years. It is probably the only way they can keep the Program Package numbers looking lower than they would otherwise appear. Right now, deal old Mom can not adapt to the AWFUL remotes of the connected devices such as Fire TV or Roku, etc. when watching content, and even I find it frustrating to use on MANY occasions.

Frankly, when she passes on, I will most likely just keep Netflix, Hulu, the FREE regular YouTube for free content including the serious, mature, quality YouTube creator content or 3rd party podcasts that also upload to YouTube, and my DVD's and Blu-rays and a ton of content on my TiVo's that I have yet to view, and my music CD's (xfered to a quality player), the most recent additions of which I have yet to listen to. Did you notice that I plan on NO paid TV linear services via internet?

Charlie said it himself, I'm guessing almost TEN years ago, in reference to ever increasing programming costs, that it (the MVPD business) was going to hit a tipping point where most people were just NOT going to pay a $1,500 per year (or somewhere around that figure) TV bill. That's why Dish is trying so hard in putting its future in the 5G network, but Dish does offer some less expensive equipment and packages that could satisfy some people.

Many, many years ago, I lived without any TV at all for over a year, and I did just fine. The world is changing, and I think that as a result, I will likely change to living without any of the linear TV services, be it cable, sat, or streaming because I just won't like paying even the lowest Sling prices nor the more expensive YTTV prices for all the extras YTTV provides. Forget it!

Now, if I should win that really big Lotto . . . then I'm keeping Dish and traditional linear TV with Hopper 3, etc. An EPG (and DVR to capture the content) guide is still the best aggrigator to anything in existence relating to on-line content. And BTW, I have been stung by streaming service having LOST rights to shows I was not finished watching and it was later episodes of those shows on my Dish DVR that allowed me to complete the viewing of the remainder of the episodes for that series because a DVR recordings can stay on our DVR's (or transferred HDD's) in our domicilses for as LONG as we wish as per, I would say, FAIR USE.

 

[Lehman bud farm]

Do you guys not realize these suggestions involve spending even more money just to save money, buy Wallys, buy OTA adapter, buy Firesticks, once you do all of that, he will not be saving that much.

We have been experimenting in the streaming world for nearly a year now.
Our biggest one time expense was in the Nvidia Shield Plus for $200.
We searched and found a streaming service that runs us about $80.00 a year that gives us everything we wanted.
In twelve months time, that comes out to $23.34 per month which is much less then what we pay with Dish. So we will be saving and in the future our savings will be even more as we will only have the yearly streaming service to pay.
Our Dish receiver hardly gets turned on anymore. I know when our offer expires that the cost will be more than what we want to pay monthly and we will have to pull the plug on Dish.
At least we were proactive just to see if streaming would fit our needs and we were not disappointed. I do believe it is the future and is improving more and more.

 

[DWS44]

What do you think of the new Firestick 4K Max Streaming divice?

Amazon product ASIN B08MQZXN1XView: https://www.amazon.com/fire-tv-stick-4k-max-with-alexa-voice-remote/dp/B08MQZXN1X/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=fire+stick&qid=1637529092&qsid=147-8997085-1556661&sr=8-4&sres=B08XVYZ1Y5%2CB08C1W5N87%2CB079QHML21%2CB08MQZXN1X%2CB08P3QB66R%2CB07YNLBS7R%2CB08XMDNVX6%2CB01J6A6H74%2CB0924SX7P1%2CB08SQ3W2T2%2CB07F84C1BL%2CB075XLWML4%2CB07KGVB6D6%2CB08P6DG1XC%2CB085PY6VH1%2CB08T6J1HG8

I just picked one up over this past weekend. It's my first Firestick, so I can't really compare to the other models, but I've been happy with it so far. It certainly connects to my router at faster speeds than the Roku Streaming Stick+ would.

 

[fmj77]

We have been experimenting in the streaming world for nearly a year now.
Our biggest one time expense was in the Nvidia Shield Plus for $200.
We searched and found a streaming service that runs us about $80.00 a year that gives us everything we wanted.
In twelve months time, that comes out to $23.34 per month which is much less then what we pay with Dish. So we will be saving and in the future our savings will be even more as we will only have the yearly streaming service to pay.
Our Dish receiver hardly gets turned on anymore. I know when our offer expires that the cost will be more than what we want to pay monthly and we will have to pull the plug on Dish.
At least we were proactive just to see if streaming would fit our needs and we were not disappointed. I do believe it is the future and is improving more and more.

What streaming service are you paying $80 per year for?

 

[Tvland1]

What streaming service are you paying $80 per year for?

frndly tv is $6.99 month for 30 channels

 

[fmj77]

frndly tv is $6.99 month for 30 channels

Thanks. Might have to check this out.

 

[Tvland1]

Thanks. Might have to check this out.

If they had ID it would work for us but my wife wouldn't go without her crime shows..We have a prepaid RV account so we let it shut off for the winter and going to use philo along with the OTA.. Like mentioned earlier we have T-Mobile so will be getting the $10 off for 12 months.. not a bad deal for $15 month...Our FireTv's (we have 3)combine Philo,Pluto,Xumo,Plex and Tubi along with the OTA in the guide so there's no fooling around going back and forth..Nice feature

 

[fmj77]

I did notice that the Frndly app is not compatible with my Nvidia Shield TV. I guess I can try side loading the APK and see if it works.

 

[mwdxer1]

I'm in the same boat. Love Dish (been with them since 1999) and the Hopper but the equipment fees are hurting them. We are trying out Fubo on the side to see if we like it. The dropping of Root Sports pushed us into looking at options.

I was talking with a friend the other day that has Spectrum cable and he has the same issues with receiver fees. Even though it would be nice to have more features. Not enough to put out more money.

 

[Bruce]

I was talking with a friend the other day that has Spectrum cable and he has the same issues with receiver fees. Even though it would be nice to have more features. Not enough to put out more money.

You do not have to rent the boxes from Spectrum, they have a app on the Roku that turns it into a Cable Box, no charge.

 

[man00]

I got rid of Dish a over a year ago. My reason wasn't so much to save money but to end my frustration with rain fade.

I first bought a TIVO with the one remote for for local channels with DVR and commercial skip. Works great! Lifetime subscription package and has better image quality than my Dish DVR had.

Second, for the "cable channels" I subscribed to FUBO with the 500 hr DVR option for $69 a month. I had an Apple TV box for 4K IPTV which has worked great too.

Last summer FUBO dropped the History channel so I had to subscribe to Sling to get one of my favorite cable channels back. That also comes with a digital DVR and commercial skip. I think that cost $39 a month more. So, I'm back to what Dish cost me but everything works very well and I haven't lost any of my programs in over a year since switching. I took down all my 3 sat dishes and tossed everything in the trash.

I also have the freedom of adding so many new options that I was always limited with Dish or Cable to what they allowed me to see. HBOMax, Disney+ Hulu, YOU Tube commercial free etc.

Rain fade is really bad worse than DTV and it was bad, I recall the installer saying fade isn't near as bad as DTV...wrong for me anyway

 

[ethanlerma]

Rain fade is really bad worse than DTV and it was bad, I recall the installer saying fade isn't near as bad as DTV...wrong for me anyway

It really depends on where you are in the country, some don't have it that bad, some go out with a drizzle. Doesn't help that both company's uses different (DTV with Ka band) yet similar (Both use Ku band) technology. Ka band is used for DTV HD broadcasts, and known for being a lot more susceptible to rain fade compared to Ku, but if your Dish satellites are in a bad location in the sky it wont matter if you are Ku band.