I had a DTV R15 installed last month; it died, they sent another one and it's working fine. I really like it. The total monthly additional cost was about $11.
I do not have a land line phone and I didn't want to lie to DTV about it so I couldn't order it directly from their site. So I called them on my Skype out phone (just for kicks; I have a cell as the main phone) The first guy said I must have a land based phone line, "it's required." "That's not what I read on the web" said I. "Where on the web" said he. "satelliteguys" I responded. "Oh, well it's still required." So I asked for a supervisor and was put into that queue for about a 3 minute wait. The trick is just to tell them that you only have a cell phone and they will stumble around and then say ok. I noticed the sentence on my order "Land line to be installed later."
I did not need to take my box to a neighbors to make the first call. The technician did that with his cell phone. And, after the replacement box, I did it to set that one up.
The technician had only been in this country for 4 months and with his command of english I was disappointed that I couldn't have a dialog with him about the installation. But everything worked when he left. He did say that he also installs Cable.
Moving along, I think DTV will be in an uphill battle with cable in the future because of the bundle of services they offer (TV, internet & phone). In my opinion they need to merge with DISH because two satellite providers are going to have a tough time seperately in the future. I would love to have competition for my Comcast internet service. I pay $55 a month which is too much. Verizon DSL won't hookup my house because I don't have land based phone service with them. (even though my cell is Verizon, it's a different division, half owned by a German company) Done Ranting. Hope this contributes!!
I do not have a land line phone and I didn't want to lie to DTV about it so I couldn't order it directly from their site. So I called them on my Skype out phone (just for kicks; I have a cell as the main phone) The first guy said I must have a land based phone line, "it's required." "That's not what I read on the web" said I. "Where on the web" said he. "satelliteguys" I responded. "Oh, well it's still required." So I asked for a supervisor and was put into that queue for about a 3 minute wait. The trick is just to tell them that you only have a cell phone and they will stumble around and then say ok. I noticed the sentence on my order "Land line to be installed later."
I did not need to take my box to a neighbors to make the first call. The technician did that with his cell phone. And, after the replacement box, I did it to set that one up.
The technician had only been in this country for 4 months and with his command of english I was disappointed that I couldn't have a dialog with him about the installation. But everything worked when he left. He did say that he also installs Cable.
Moving along, I think DTV will be in an uphill battle with cable in the future because of the bundle of services they offer (TV, internet & phone). In my opinion they need to merge with DISH because two satellite providers are going to have a tough time seperately in the future. I would love to have competition for my Comcast internet service. I pay $55 a month which is too much. Verizon DSL won't hookup my house because I don't have land based phone service with them. (even though my cell is Verizon, it's a different division, half owned by a German company) Done Ranting. Hope this contributes!!
