phone line charge

How often do the dual tuner with dual tv output receivers have to call out to avoid the additional outlet phoneline fee?
 
Stargazer said:
How often do the dual tuner with dual tv output receivers have to call out to avoid the additional outlet phoneline fee?

I think i read once a month. Although someone with a little more experience should probably confirm.
 
In the hopes of ending the questions about this mysterious phone line fee beast, allow me to explain exactly what that fee stands for. The phone line fee is specifically only for dual tuner receivers capable of outputting independently to two televisions. As a result, the 721/921 receiver models are exempt from the fee. The phone line fee is in no way an additional charge over what you would pay for two televisions because (and those who own their equipment will vouch for this) there is a monthly additional outlet charge for each receiver beyond the first in the same amount as the phone line fee. Hence the phone line fee replaces that additional outlet fee for a dual receiver because technically you have only one receiver. This, in effect, means that you are saving the additional outlet charge that is a standard fee with every television provider that is in the business of making a profit. For those of you that have a 522/622/625/942 receiver in single mode and don't want to connect a phone line, you need to scrounge up a 721/921 if you want to save that money because they don't have the ability to output independently to a second television, regardless of whether you choose to utilize that ability. So really, the phone line fee is a benefit, rather than a penalty in that you have an option to make it go away on your bill.

Also to address the paranoia that Dish Network is stealing people's souls via the phone line, rest assured that is not the case. Yes, the phone line is used for equipment verification purposes. Yes, this is a preventative for people having programming at more than one physical address on one bill. That, by the way, is like stealing cable and going halvsies with your neighbor. It also offers an opportunity to drive Pay-Per-View sales. There is no other tracking or monitoring of your life beyond where the receiver is calling from. Honestly, I'd be way more concerned about what the federal government does with information from my phone line than what Dish Network is doing with said information, but that may be just me.
 
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:) i totally and completely understand but i still strongly be live it is for a control perpose and not just a money thing. they want you to specifically have a phone line one these for there ability to control something. if it was only money they would say with the everything pack we will drop the fee just like they do for the dvr fee. I'm thinking controlling its known location or vod/pay-per-view. or may be so it can send info about how its being used like temp/channels/errors/amount of use/and much more.
 
:) forgot to add I'm a full time rv'r and will not have the phone line connected to any of mine. i just got my first dual tuner but before this never had a problem with there phone line policy. i do not use vod or pay-per-view. and maybe every 3-4 months connect them to call out. not for any particular reason but just to check them all out and working properly.
 
hope this isn't too off topic....

Is testing through the diagnostics menu enough to check if you have a working phone line connection on the satellite receiver?

I just bought a phonex wireless for one of my receivers and want to thoroughly check out the jack system making sure it works properly.
 
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I switched to Sunrocket (which by the way has been fantastic for me- if anyone wants to sign up and I can get some credits, PM me and I'll give you a referral number- but I digress), and for a couple of days I didn't have any phone service while I was setting everything up. (which had nothing to do with Sunrocket, just my stupidity!)

My 622 came up with the "plug into a phone line message". A couple of days after I plugged it back in to the working phone line, guess who calls- The Dish Audit Nazis. I told them I had phone problems, and they were all connected again, but they still made go through all the crap.

So, I think that its not only a money thing, but they really want to stay on top of possible account stacking.

And Sparc, getting a connection OK on the diagnostics menu should mean you are good to go.
 
BruceE said:
If you own your Dish receivers do you have to have them connected to a phone line to avoid an extra charge.

Thanks,
Bruce
This is the scoop......All dual tuner receivers must be connected to a continuously working land based phone line in order to avoid the 5 dollar per month addtional outlet fee..To date I have heard nor experienced any exceptions to this rule..
 
BobaBird said:
Yup, as BFG said, "only 2 room receivers," which does not apply to all dual tuner receivers. The 721 and 921 are dual tuner but only for 1 room. The fee applies whether you own or lease.
That is correct!....I did not consider these older models...
 
I'm glad I found this post. My installer yesterday told me my 625 did NOT need to be continuously plugged in. He actually told me not to because if lightning strikes nearby (and lightning storms are common around here) it could fry the receiver. He showed me when he first turned it on, it told him to plug in the phone cord and hit OK. He did, it went through some kind of check, and then he unplugged it. He said if the screen telling me to plug it in comes up again to just plug it in for a second and do what he did. I even specifically asked if there would be a charge if I didn't leave it connected all the time, and he said "absolutely not".
Then today when I turned on my tv a different screen was up telling me I would be charged if it wasn't connected to the phone line. So I plugged it in for now, but I'm going to have to reconfigure my phone jack in my room and run the phone cord across the room in the basement in order to keep it connected. What a hassle!
Does anyone know if since I had it unplugged for several hours, will I be charged? Heck, I guess I don't care because if I am I will definitely call and tell them what their installer told me.
Anyone else get conflicting info from their installer?
 
angiodan said:
And Sparc, getting a connection OK on the diagnostics menu should mean you are good to go.
Not necessarily true. I have Packet8 VOIP service and the diagnostics give me a connection ok message but it cannot successfully connect to Dishnetwork.

When I listen in on another line it appears to be a problem on the P8 side. I can't remember the exact message but I remember thinking that if I knew what number my 625 was dialing I may be able to fix it.
 
SmityWhity said:
My thoughts exactly, "don't make sense" but "does make cents" :)

I don't think I had all of those questions, but am suspecting that they were building a database on you to understand where everything is in case they needed to help you, in the unlikely event you did not know something.:)

Also, when I had DirecTV here not long ago, DirecTV wanted to know where each receiver was so that they could disable the correct receiver when they sent you out a replacement. You would not have to give them the serial number or any of the other numbers associated with the box.

EDIT: Easier to say the receiver in the Living Room, Bedroom 1, Bedroom 2, Barn, or maybe at the neighbors house.

One wonders what they would say if one was labled my next door neighbors reciever
 
honeybee1981 said:
I'm glad I found this post. My installer yesterday told me my 625 did NOT need to be continuously plugged in. He actually told me not to because if lightning strikes nearby (and lightning storms are common around here) it could fry the receiver. He showed me when he first turned it on, it told him to plug in the phone cord and hit OK. He did, it went through some kind of check, and then he unplugged it. He said if the screen telling me to plug it in comes up again to just plug it in for a second and do what he did. I even specifically asked if there would be a charge if I didn't leave it connected all the time, and he said "absolutely not".
Then today when I turned on my tv a different screen was up telling me I would be charged if it wasn't connected to the phone line. So I plugged it in for now, but I'm going to have to reconfigure my phone jack in my room and run the phone cord across the room in the basement in order to keep it connected. What a hassle!
Does anyone know if since I had it unplugged for several hours, will I be charged? Heck, I guess I don't care because if I am I will definitely call and tell them what their installer told me.
Anyone else get conflicting info from their installer?

Yes, I asked the installer about the phone line and he said it was "not needed". Another gripe I have is that nothing was said to me about it when I placed the original ViP 622 order, and I have yet to find this charge mentioned anywhere on the DISH web site (especially it is not listed in the "Fees" section). So, I am looking for an "Easy Jack" wireless phone jack....
 
kimr55760 said:
Not necessarily true. I have Packet8 VOIP service and the diagnostics give me a connection ok message but it cannot successfully connect to Dishnetwork.

When I listen in on another line it appears to be a problem on the P8 side. I can't remember the exact message but I remember thinking that if I knew what number my 625 was dialing I may be able to fix it.

Packet isn't using g711u like other VoIP carriers. You will have a hard time making an analog connection on a non-g711u line.
 
Hi, new guy! First post....:confused:

So, as i suspected, my Vonage phone line is causing the problem of not being able to connect to dish network? I ordered 2 ppv events the other night and was charged the next day on both of them, but cannot use the interactive CS, or add channel system.

Thanks for any replies.

Bull
 
Bull76 said:
Hi, new guy! First post....:confused:

So, as i suspected, my Vonage phone line is causing the problem of not being able to connect to dish network? I ordered 2 ppv events the other night and was charged the next day on both of them, but cannot use the interactive CS, or add channel system.

Thanks for any replies.

Bull

I also have the same problem using Vonage and I've tried all sorts of things like using a DSL filter and *99 prefix. The strange thing is that I can use the modem in my computer to connect to my ISP and surf the web over Vonage, yet I can't connect to Dish?
 
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