Satellite No Longer Cost Effective?

[Bronxiniowa]

It was pointed out that you can get boxes for up to 4 rooms from both sat providers. But then you wind up paying for the boxes month by month.

 

[mdavej]

Charter Spectrum package seems to have nowhere near the channels, and I mean actual channels not fillers that the Top 250 does going by their site.

I also use a third party VOIP as I see you do, something alot of people overlook and use the more expensive Cable phone.
TIVO's are hard to factor in. $900 is a alot to plunk down to have no monthly fees. Likely in the long run worth it but it drives the cost up for the first few years. I pay $17 total in fees for the two rooms, at $200 a year for DISH fees that would seem to take close to four years including the cable card costs to then get ahead with two TIVO's. I don't think it is fair to count what appears to be the cost of mini's to you since we are comparing two rooms.
I have a TIVO Roamio OTA with lifetime so that I can record more satellite channels, and because it gives the OTA channels in a room for a one time $99 cost, we don't need satellite in there. Problem is it has to last long enough to because lifetime is not transferable, I would say most units last. But the second problem is technology, I see in the forums people bemoaning the fact they paid so much just a few years ago and now do not get the new features. And maybe worse, if ATSC 3.0 is implemented in the next three or four years they become obsolete or at least as a real DVR.
If the FCC goes through with making every provider allow other receivers DISH (and Directv) subscribers could benefit in the same way. If the pricing structure with DISH remains the same for me $17 total fees I would probably stay with the DISH receivers.

I can see in the long run you could be less than DISH and who knows what will be charged by anyone in the coming years, I do feel it is fair to factor in the cost of the Tivo's. If I missed you did in factoring in the $40 difference I apologize. Overall with purchasing some equipment you make a good case for at the least being competitive, and after awhile less.... with the caveat of technology thrown in.

Since you already have a Roamio OTA, you're all set. Just buy a cable card bracket, and you've got yourself a 4-tuner cable DVR for free (plus cable card fee). And obviously using Minis in other rooms for free saves a lot in fees as well.

My Roamio just got all the features of the current Bolt (Comm skip, HBO Go, Quick Mode, Channel logos, etc.), so I'm not terribly worried about that. Yours should have all those new features as well by now or at least in the next few weeks. ATSC 3.0 is years away, so I'm not concerned about that either. In 7 years, I'm sure I'll have moved on to different hardware anyway.

Check out the Silver package and see if it's a better match. It includes HBO/SHO/MAX, so you have to factor that in.

I factored in all the hardware costs when I said that I broke even in 2 years. Each Mini has a break even point of 10 months (assuming $7/month versus $70 Mini price). For a 2 room system, assuming 1 DVR and 1 Mini, the break even versus $17/month would be $370/17 = 21 months, or $70/17 = 4 months since you already own a Tivo. I think the cc bracket is about $15, so add another month if you factor that in.

Satellite fees drove me to Windows Media Center years ago. It was essentially free except for the hardware as well. Switching to Tivo was a break even on hardware since I was able to sell most of my old WMC related hardware. My total savings in the years I've had cable has been in the thousands since leaving Dish and DirecTV. Even if all my hardware dies or becomes obsolete tomorrow, I still come out way ahead.

 

[harshness]

so whats the current dish fee structure?
i wouldnt mind seeing side by sides of the major providers
see who is charging more for what

I think you're missing the point. The socially engineered fee structure is what the carriers use to dupe careless customers. The bottom line is what counts. A bundle isn't really a bundle if it is sprinkled with regulatory and other fees that they hide under a pale footnote or web link.

RSN fees are perhaps the latest affront that companies such as Comcast and AT&T's DIRECTV are visiting on unwitting customers in key markets.

In the end, there is no one answer to which provider offers the unconditional best value as customers have widely different values (or at least they claim to in defense of their choice). Channel count and perceived PQ are perhaps the most abused metrics in terms of personal choice defense mechanisms. Those that tout the importance of subchannels while testifying that they absolutely won't watch SD are perhaps the most disingenuous.

 

[harshness]

so whats the current dish fee structure?

Both DISH and AT&T's DIRECTV have online shopping carts that detail the prices fairly well. They're also willing to divulge what the post-commitment pricing is; something that some other carriers may not offer.

Wise shoppers know where they stand by checking the field occasionally.