The $5 No Phone Connect Fee

[wh5916]

Doh, why didn't I think of that. Problem solved. I had a bunch of filters laying around in the basement. Popped one on, now I get the same dl speed and won't have to worry about getting hit with the fee. Thanks for the help.

Am surprised you haven't seen a warning message displayed by the receiver before now. When severe thunderstorms hit, I'll sometimes unplug my computer setup, which includes an AT&T CallVantage VOIP box.

I left it unplugged for the latter part of a day while at work last summer, and the Dish Network dual tuner receiver as well. Soon as I got home and plugged everything back in again, this threatening message appeared onscreen, warning that a $5.00 fee would be charged if the receiver wasn't constantly connected to a phone line. I wasn't happy at all--possibly getting hit with a fee for trying to protect expensive electronics. This happened twice last summer, during thunderstorms, but no fee ever appeared on my bill.

 

[GNASH]

I'm not sure if they all need to be plugged in or just 1 . I only have 1 dual tuner so ,I'm not sure on the rules for more then one.

Not entirely sure on this one (as both our 625 and 722 are connected, but for a while, we got a nag screen on our 625 that it needed to be plugged in, even though it was and the 722 already was.

Geoff

 

[rdharper]

just leave it on 24/7 just to be safe because they usually dial out over night

The connect time is settable. So you think as long as its connected when the update is scheduled, the trigger for no connect will not happen?

I don't leave my router or sat-modem on when I don't use it as I develop my own power using a hydro system we built 30 years ago. 2kw.. plenty, but we do not waste the power, prefering to store unused power.

 

[reallyniceguy]

Your receiver has to be off in order to get the phone line fee threat. If your receiver is always on and you never turn it off(why would someone do that?) You wont see the message and it may delay the signal. Eventually it catches up.

If you got vonage or cable phone , you need to do the dial up prefix .. )was it *66 or something?).. on your phone line settings. Some dsl filters come bad. I personally have never had any issues with my dsl line/filter from att. Before I had cable and I never did the prefix, still worked fine. I guess lucky me.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

Your receiver has to be off in order to get the phone line fee threat. If your receiver is always on and you never turn it off(why would someone do that?) You wont see the message and it may delay the signal. Eventually it catches up.

If you got vonage or cable phone , you need to do the dial up prefix .. )was it *66 or something?).. on your phone line settings. Some dsl filters come bad. I personally have never had any issues with my dsl line/filter from att. Before I had cable and I never did the prefix, still worked fine. I guess lucky me.

I never had a problem using Vonage,and I don't use any prefix. I got Directv and Dishnetwork ran through my Vonage modem. Both work great. I also have my Directv hooked up with Cat5 to my Verizon Modem as well. No issues.

 

[LEADWORKS]

One of my installers told me the real reason Dish wants you to have the phone line connected is that the receiver uploads data to Dish Network about what shows you watch so that they can gather statistics for marketing (which they could sell, I assume). That's just what one of my installers said. If that's true, that makes me mad. We really can't keep a phone line connected to our 622 because of it's location, so I'm wondering if I connect a real long phone cord temporarily to the 622 and order a PPV movie once a month, if that will satisfy them and keep the additional access fee off my bill. If I'm going to pay $5 anyway, I'd rather spend it on a movie and get something out of it.

 

[Andrewwski]

You don't even need to buy a PPV, just hook it up a couple nights a month like that and it will dial out automatically.

 

[rv1pop]

I was told I had to have a phone line to have Dish or they would charge me extra. I told them to run the phone line, it would only be 13 miles. I also told them the line might have to be 8000 miles long because I live in a mobile RV. They gave me a waiver! And I did not have power to it for days on end, either. But I do not have a Dish subscription any more and DO NOT miss it! (I get my internet and phone from T-Mobile.)

 

[Scroll]

It must have been like 1 1/2 - 2 years ago I added a 2nd receiver and had neither on a phone line as I have Vonage and for a short while had enough problems between it and my internet connection to want to be bothered with phone connections to a receiver. Especially when only 1 box had caller id anyway.

Out of the blue I got the dreaded $5 charge but soon got it removed by plugging in both receivers and playing dumb.

Not long after I canceled service on the 2nd box and stripped down my subscriptions, in part due to the aggravation.

In fairness to Dish I did get calls from their department that handles such things (the name escapes me) but about the same time I was often getting Dish sales calls to up my programming and thought it was just one of those.

I still have just the 1 receiver subbed and no $5 fee, btw. I just reconnected the line last month for reasons I won't go into. So I suppose it's a 2nd tuner thing. I can see if it were 2 separate boxes and they were concerned about having the boxes at 2 different locations but it's kinda hard to do that when you folks have an integrated dual tuner, ya think?


All I can think of is it's either an antiquated policy in need of visitation or they feel that it's likely dual tuner users will rent PPV unplugged and run up a balance that either will go uncollected or at least not be paid for timely.

But looking at it another way, with that phone line connected I see a number of premium services and marketing tools made all too easy. Could it possibly be that some this is a lesser reason for demanding a connection that they excuse with single tuner accounts for reasons I won't offer speculation about, at least for now?

 

[Scroll]

One of my installers told me the real reason Dish wants you to have the phone line connected is that the receiver uploads data to Dish Network about what shows you watch so that they can gather statistics for marketing (which they could sell, I assume). That's just what one of my installers said. If that's true, that makes me mad. We really can't keep a phone line connected to our 622 because of it's location, so I'm wondering if I connect a real long phone cord temporarily to the 622 and order a PPV movie once a month, if that will satisfy them and keep the additional access fee off my bill. If I'm going to pay $5 anyway, I'd rather spend it on a movie and get something out of it.

I'd be willing to bet that wouldn't even be possible on some legacy single tuner STBs.

 

[catkoko]

you can use the wireless phone jacks, they work great. I use them for computers, fax machines even! You can get them at walmart or find them on ebay. You plug one control into an electric outlet and run a phone line to it (you can also plug in a phone). then just plug a wireless jack where ever needed and use phone cord to hook up your receiver, fax, another phone etc.