Is a phone line still required for Dish install?

syphix

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Jun 24, 2004
541
246
Minnesota, USA
I'm scheduled for a 1H/2J install next Thursday (7/12), yet I have no phone line near the TV that the Hopper is to be installed. Is this an issue?
 
syphix said:
I'm scheduled for a 1H/2J install next Thursday (7/12), yet I have no phone line near the TV that the Hopper is to be installed. Is this an issue?

No it is not required.

If you have internet, you will want it hooked.up to that though.
 
The only thing a phone line does for you at this point (assuming you have internet connected) is show caller id on the screen (if you have that).
 
To the best of my knowledge, Dish has NEVER required a phone line connection.. In the past they bribed people to hook it up with Phone line credits on the dual tuners. But no requirement. DirecTV tried it back years ago and they lost customers. And they dropped it. To many people today are cell phone only so no way they are getting it to happen now.
 
To the best of my knowledge, Dish has NEVER required a phone line connection.. In the past they bribed people to hook it up with Phone line credits on the dual tuners. But no requirement. DirecTV tried it back years ago and they lost customers. And they dropped it. To many people today are cell phone only so no way they are getting it to happen now.
Yeah, I remember a $5-6 charge years ago when I had Dish and didn't have a home phone near the receiver.

Glad to hear they got rid of that requirement.
 
I wish Dish still gave a $5 credit for each receiver connected to a phone or Internet. I remember when we paid $7 for 2 Duos after two $5 credits. Now, it is $14 for an additional Duo.
 
It's a wash about receiver fees, because when they introduced the $17 fee they also dropped the HD fee for many customers. So say you have 2 722s, in the past it was $6 per receiver, $10 for HD. So that's $22 + TV2 connection if no phone line. Now it's $6 + $17 = $23. Now more than 2 receivers, yeah, costs a lot more than it used to.
 
lakebum431 said:
The only thing a phone line does for you at this point (assuming you have internet connected) is show caller id on the screen (if you have that).

All receivers, except 301 and 311, including 311k have what they call set top box health, where 3 times a week the receiver will check signals on the 4 major transponders of all your orbitals and send them in to dish. This allows them to monitor your signals, and if they drop below minimums, they call you up to set up a tech visit.

This is available with a phone or broadband connection. Yes you put in parenthesis if your connected to the internet, but not everyone has internet and would still like to be informed of the featuresbfrom a phone line.
 
I believe it is only once a month from what i was told that it send signal levels, and the 301/311 series does have the send status to
 
kbkjesus said:
I believe it is only once a month from what i was told that it send signal levels, and the 301/311 series does have the send status to

Our regional dish manager told us it was 3 times a week. And when it is first activated it is actually 3 times in the first 48 hours to verify the tech didn't connect, send status, and remove connection.

While the 301 and 311 do have a send status button, it is different than the stbh on the other receivers.