Lack of Upgrade Deal for 811 Owners Who Waited for the New HD-DVR (622)

Carl B

Supporting Founder
Original poster
Supporting Founder
Dec 13, 2003
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Arvada, CO
Buried in a few posts in all the other discussions has been the sad fact that E* just "flipped off" all those 811 owners who were patiently waiting to upgrade to an HD-DVR. Since the 942s were released, E* hasn't wanted the existing subs to move to it because the MPEG-4 DVRs were coming in 2006. All us long time 811 owners and HDPak subs played along, with great expectations for the arrival of what is now named the 622.

But what did we get for our patience? The same deal every E* sub gets, a $299 rental hookup. E* says, gee thanks for not brow beating our "executive CSRs" into letting you lease a 942 and thanks for staying w/ the HDPak, but screw you anyway.

Come on E*, how about you throw us a bone. Even a $50 token rebate off the $299 would show some appreciation and provide some incentive to upgrade to the 622. The $299 lease for everybody is not an incentive. The wife and I are again looking through all the Comcast literature. With their initial deals and all the additional costs for us to upgrade to a 622 and keep the HDPak (and no, I don't think ESPN2 is worth another $5 or $10 and they came keep the VOOM channel crap that I'd never watch anyway), Comcast is now very cost competitive, if not down right cheaper.
 
I am a long time 811 owner and my thought is that I can get a 622 for $299 and then upgrade my 811 to a 211. The way I read the offer this would be only 1 upgrade for the year. Am I correct to assume this, and can I lease the 622 on Feb 1??
 
That's exactly how I feel.

I don't know this for sure, but wouldn't a new sub that came from outside the world of E* get their 622, dish or dishes, switches, and wiring done for the same $299 that an existing 811/6000 owner that already has all this hardware installed?

If so, then E* probably wants us to also lease their KY jelly as they screw us in the nether region! :mad:
 
That 299 also covers the Dish1000 upgrade, which is $87 by itself from Dishstore. And that $87 doesn't include installation.
 
KyDave said:
That 299 also covers the Dish1000 upgrade, which is $87 by itself from Dishstore. And that $87 doesn't include installation.

And what if you already have all the equipment necessary to receive the new MPEG 4?

That means I should get an $87 discount + the cost of install!!! :D
 
The Big Wood said:
And what if you already have all the equipment necessary to receive the new MPEG 4?
That means I should get an $87 discount + the cost of install!!! :D

Hmmmm......good point. Didn't think to many had Dish1000 setup yet. Maybe you could sweet talk some extra discount. ;)
 
mmdieter said:
I am a long time 811 owner and my thought is that I can get a 622 for $299 and then upgrade my 811 to a 211. The way I read the offer this would be only 1 upgrade for the year. Am I correct to assume this, and can I lease the 622 on Feb 1??

You can lease the 622, but that IS your 1 upgrade...have to wait till 2007 to get that 211, or get the 211 upgrade now, and wait till 2007 to get the 622. Pick your poison.
 
DWS44 said:
You can lease the 622, but that IS your 1 upgrade...have to wait till 2007 to get that 211, or get the 211 upgrade now, and wait till 2007 to get the 622. Pick your poison.


Or go and buy a 211 from dishstore.net
 
DWS44 said:
You can lease the 622, but that IS your 1 upgrade...have to wait till 2007 to get that 211, or get the 211 upgrade now, and wait till 2007 to get the 622. Pick your poison.

Well it is the one upgrade right now. I suspect about 6 months from now a new round of upgrades will become available once Dish has had the chance to build some inventory of the HD boxes. After all they plan to only have MPEG-4 boxes for new customers. They could not go out and get 20 million boxes over night and be ready to switch everyone. So, they are doing the new customers and STARTING the HD customers. Then they will finish the HD customers and work on others to get MPEG-4 spread further out.
 
mike123abc said:
Well it is the one upgrade right now. I suspect about 6 months from now a new round of upgrades will become available once Dish has had the chance to build some inventory of the HD boxes. After all they plan to only have MPEG-4 boxes for new customers. They could not go out and get 20 million boxes over night and be ready to switch everyone. So, they are doing the new customers and STARTING the HD customers. Then they will finish the HD customers and work on others to get MPEG-4 spread further out.

That's exactly the way I was seeing it...not exactly what their PR department would want you to hear, but it does make the most sense. Unless the worst that people are fearing is actually the truth--I'd like to give them more credit than that, however. Fingers crossed I'm not an utter fool for doing so (but if I am, again, I reiterate, there ARE alternatives. If they don't want their business to supply my three rooms w/ HD recievers, somebody else will, simple as that.).
 
mike123abc said:
Well it is the one upgrade right now. I suspect about 6 months from now a new round of upgrades will become available once Dish has had the chance to build some inventory of the HD boxes. After all they plan to only have MPEG-4 boxes for new customers. They could not go out and get 20 million boxes over night and be ready to switch everyone. So, they are doing the new customers and STARTING the HD customers. Then they will finish the HD customers and work on others to get MPEG-4 spread further out.

Why Dish will upgrade you again in 6 months? They will already get programming fees from you for two (three) HD receivers, even if you can watch MPEG4 only on first upgraded receiver. What Dish will gain from this second upgrade? Nothing. They will loose money again. They will force you to wait 1 year or buy. That is the sad truth.
 
OK. Let's look at this.

First, having all NEW installs have ALL MPEG-4 is the RIGHT move. I think we can all agree on that.

Second, we all know there's going to be a supply issue with MPEG-4 boxes, ESPECIALLY given the above. Fair enough.

Third, us existing customers are doing just fine overall with our existing equipment, and ONLY require the new stuff for new channels.

Fourth, the new channels are really MPEG-2 - for now.

SO, even if it's ready, DELAY "real" MPEG-4 for 3-6 months to allow supply to catch up. Just make DAMN sure that EVERYONE knows the channels are going to change to MPEG-4 THIS YEAR, and you MUST upgrade to keep them. At the same time, tell EVERYONE that the remaining MPEG-2 HD is going to be converted to MPEG-4 3-6 months after the new HD channels go "real" MPEG-4.

That leaves E* plenty of time to git-r-done. Problem solved.

I can't see ANY 921/942 user getting upset over that.
 
So I own my 811. Is this post saying that for 299 they will upgrade me to a 622? The 811 will not even function at all very soon, correct?
 
TJ22 said:
So I own my 811. Is this post saying that for 299 they will upgrade me to a 622?

Yes, as of now. Maybe they will come up with better offer for owners later.

TJ22 said:
The 811 will not even function at all very soon, correct?

No, it will continue to work. Only it will not work with new Mpeg4 channels.
Actually, I think that at one moment in the future, when Dish will shut Mpeg2 and will start only Mpeg4, then maybe it will upgrade 811for free.
 
While you may feel slighted, you are net ahead here by not shelling out cash to own an HDDVR only to have to lease the new one.

One question: why do you expect a company to reward you for NOT spending money with them earlier on an HD receiver. "For being such a frugal customer and sticking with your old equipment, we would like to reward you with the same upgrade path that our customers who shelled out the $600-$1000 will get. Thanks for your lack of support." ;)
 
KyDave said:
That 299 also covers the Dish1000 upgrade, which is $87 by itself from Dishstore. And that $87 doesn't include installation.

ihave an dish1000 if anyone wants it, just needs the LNBs since when i cancled they wanted them back, outherwise the dish is less than 3-4 months old.
 
SimpleSimon said:
OK. Let's look at this.
SO, even if it's ready, DELAY "real" MPEG-4 for 3-6 months to allow supply to catch up. Just make DAMN sure that EVERYONE knows the channels are going to change to MPEG-4 THIS YEAR, and you MUST upgrade to keep them. At the same time, tell EVERYONE that the remaining MPEG-2 HD is going to be converted to MPEG-4 3-6 months after the new HD channels go "real" MPEG-4.
That leaves E* plenty of time to git-r-done. Problem solved.
I can't see ANY 921/942 user getting upset over that.

But even on this timeline you have people who signed up with an 18 month contract to receive HD Programming as recent as a week ago. These people have an 811 and an 18 month HD contract. They cannot get rid of MPEG-2 completely until they've fulfilled those commitments, otherwise they'd face an enormous class action suit.

Unless those people are going to become the benefactors of a great "Free" upgrade promotion because they waited so long to upgrade, and DN wants to avoid the lawsuit.
 
Given Dish's history I suspect that the remaining holdouts when they want to switch to MPEG-4 will be given free upgrades. The early adoptors have always had to pay the most, the longer you wait the better deal you get. Dish is trying to get people to pay for the change over as much as possible. And they currently think people will pay $49 for an HD receiver upgrade and $99 for a DVR upgrade (ignoring the whole rent vs own) just to get new channels sooner. Eventually they will want the transponder space back which is almost priceless since they still have not really found more DBS space (yes temporarily borrowing space from Canada).

But, they do not have the boxes to just switch everyone for now...
 
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