Upgrading Dish after 12 years.

[emanresu2]

I started looking into this last year, but decided to wait. I contacted Dish by email to see what kind of offer I could get, and received no response at all after several attempts (using the online form, providing customer number, etc.). I know phone is preferred, I just like email, especially when it seems I get a run around any time I call anywhere. I have been a customer for 12 years. I purchased and installed all of my own equipment. Dish has never been on my property, and I have never had a tech problem or contacted them at all, except 2 or 3 times with programming. So I was thinking I should get a good deal (better than paying $95 for a new dish install). Since I passed up certain free upgrades, I think I deserve better. Especially since never even getting the new install that all new customers are now entitled to. And since I am one of their "most valued customers", never missed payments or anything, and my credit score is in the 800s if they factor that in.

I would like HD on 2 tvs (eventually, 1 for now) with DVR. Looking at fees, especially the goofy additional receiver fees, I am kind of thinking the 922 is the better option, even with the extra DVR fee, utilizing the sling adapter for tv2 if/when it's released (I can wait for tv2 since it's still SD at the moment, but would like tv1 now). I know I could do a couple of 211s with external drive and save a DVR fee for now, but I'd like access to all shows on both tvs, as well as having access to both tuners on both tvs (one at a time, I know how it works).

What I am writing about is the lack of response from emailing Dish, I find that a bit irritating. Don't think I'm asking much for a response. Also, I suppose it's still a requirement for broadband to get the 922, is that still the case? As in to get the $200 price and not having to purchase the thing. Also when getting certain HD packages. Does anyone know if Dish considers Wildblue broadband? Satellite is my only option, and it's not really fair to be forced to pay $80 for the 1.5Mbps and limited 30 day download, if they even consider it broadband. Seems strange that a satellite company serving rural America would make broadband a requirement for their "best" stuff (best subjectively, I know about the problems) when it's not available, at least affordably or without caps, in a lot of rural areas. Most of Nebraska and South Dakota for instance, and I'm sure others. Where I am, DSL is coming in a few years at least, though it will be high. And if I would buy a cell booster, I could get 3g with a 5GB cap for $60. Others aren't so lucky.

Thinking about switching to Direct too, at least for a couple years. Higher yes, but with all the new customer discounts, free install, refferal, $14 off the second year each month, etc., at least for 2 years it works out about the same price for what I'd consider with many more channels, with less start up costs and 2 HD DVR receivers (connected). One other thing, I know they want my business, but they responded to my email within 2 hours.

I "like" Dish, if they'd just respond with a reasonable offer, I'd probably stay. I'd like not to have to argue with them on the phone just to get it done though. When the only time I am trying to get something done, by one easy way they provide (email), and they ignore me, guess I am not having a good feeling about the company.

 

[KAB]

The ceo email address is generally used as a last resort for major problems that have been unsuccessfully resolved by CSRs. It is not, nor has ever been a vehicle for equipment or programming changes. And it should not be. Negotiation is a two way street that email is far from best at accommodating. If you don't want to argue (sounds like you a pre-disposed to) on the phone, then use the Chat.

 

[TheKrell]

Lots of question there (mostly well deserved). I'll take a swing at a couple.

The Sling Adapter is out and available now ($99) for the 722/k receivers only. The 922 has it built-in. Given your iffy situation with broadband, I would look into a better solution for HD on your 2nd receiver than Sling tied to broadband. That said, I think it would work via Wildblue, slow DSL, 3G, or even one of those dialup-to-LAN adapters. That is to say, you could sling the TV2 HD output around your LAN at full bandwidth, even if you couldn't watch it remotely.

I personally (2 years ago) went with two 612 receivers (leased) and one 722 (owned) to service 3 HDTVs. I can move programs among these 3 receivers with an EHD (which is now free). Rumor has it that a new Dish solution for MRV is coming soon, but if you have to jump now, I would make the decision based on present day offerings, and not something coming soon or maybe never.

 

[patrick80639]

I'm sure you could use wildblue to get your receiver online. It's fast enough and the inherent latency shouldn't be an issue. I used to have broadband at that speed and would just do my VOD downloads overnight and have them ready for me when I woke up.

If you're worried about a 5gb cap with cellular Internet (which is very understandable), wildblue isn't unlimited either. Hughesnet might be better if you want to download shows, they have a daily window where your downloads don't count towards your cap.

As KAB said, you can go through chat if you dislike the phone. Dish actually encourages it.

 

[emanresu2]

The ceo email address is generally used as a last resort for major problems that have been unsuccessfully resolved by CSRs. It is not, nor has ever been a vehicle for equipment or programming changes. And it should not be. Negotiation is a two way street that email is far from best at accommodating. If you don't want to argue (sounds like you a pre-disposed to) on the phone, then use the Chat.

Sorry if I sound argumentative when explaining my situation. I feel if they provide a way to contact them, that I prefer, I should be able to use it. Since my on the fly communication skills are much worse than this (I deal very rarely with people in general), it's just how I prefer. There are categories in the email form such as Sales and Equipment, Customer service, New Customer Sales, etc. If a question about upgrading equipment doesn't fall in any categories they offer, they could offer the courtesy of telling me so, instead of dead silence. In the thousands upon thousands of dollars I have sent them, the one time I have a question, they could either answer, or tell me they can't answer. I've tried no more than a time or two each of the past few months, received nothing, guess I thought I was being patient. But when I asked them to correct my service address, quick response to that, but not to anything else.

Lots of question there (mostly well deserved). I'll take a swing at a couple.

The Sling Adapter is out and available now ($99) for the 722/k receivers only. The 922 has it built-in. Given your iffy situation with broadband, I would look into a better solution for HD on your 2nd receiver than Sling tied to broadband. That said, I think it would work via Wildblue, slow DSL, 3G, or even one of those dialup-to-LAN adapters. That is to say, you could sling the TV2 HD output around your LAN at full bandwidth, even if you couldn't watch it remotely.

I personally (2 years ago) went with two 612 receivers (leased) and one 722 (owned) to service 3 HDTVs. I can move programs among these 3 receivers with an EHD (which is now free). Rumor has it that a new Dish solution for MRV is coming soon, but if you have to jump now, I would make the decision based on present day offerings, and not something coming soon or maybe never.

That is what I was meaning with the 922, the sling is built in, and buying the 2nd adapter later to go to number 2 over the home network. I am not able to travel, I can't have a day off (never had one, well, since I was a kid), so I have no interest in off site viewing.

Does the sling for the 722 mirror tv1 or tv2 (don't need to answer, I'll look it up). I never looked into it, but I was thinking you'd need an adapter sitting at the 722 and then another at the other tv, if it just needs one on the receiving end, I'd consider it more. Wouldn't mind the 922 just for the fancy, if not functional interface. I guess what I was thinking my elderly disabled and poor sighted mother would be able to see the tile interface better (though I'll admit I haven't even really looked into that either). I know the sling adapter may take a long time yet to come, but it "should" be out some time. As far as more boxes, I was just thinking it would make more sense if just one would work. $10 fee for one box serving 2 HD tvs. Or the dvr fee plus $10 for the second hd dvr, it would be more tuners, but I only need two, I wouldn't notice much difference. Not trying to sound cheap, I'm just saying that paying that extra money for the extra receiver, I wouldn't have any benefit to that, much anyway. I've considered moving hard drives between them, that's not ideal, but not out of the question. With just the one box though, I could control what programs are being recorded for my mother without having to go in her room to set them. Since she sleeps a lot especially on the days she can't get out of bed, it'd just be handier if I wouldn't have to bother her if I see something on.

Are you getting along with the 612s? I've read reviews on them, here and elsewhere, I know most people don't have problems, but some of the reviews aren't what you'd call great.

I'm sure you could use wildblue to get your receiver online. It's fast enough and the inherent latency shouldn't be an issue. I used to have broadband at that speed and would just do my VOD downloads overnight and have them ready for me when I woke up.

If you're worried about a 5gb cap with cellular Internet (which is very understandable), wildblue isn't unlimited either. Hughesnet might be better if you want to download shows, they have a daily window where your downloads don't count towards your cap.

As KAB said, you can go through chat if you dislike the phone. Dish actually encourages it.

The cap is my main concern with Wildblue and all, I don't plan on using VOD anyway, figured I can't. I was just thinking if Dish had a minimum speed requirement, of what I'd have to pay, just to get the receiver installed, for which I'd just use to watch normal sat TV. Hughesnet does have unlimited during the night. But on the plan that I'd get, it was a 200mb or so daily limit (times when I could use internet). One hour on Ebay with the listings I look at (lots of pictures), I'd be over. Wildblue has to be used cautiously, but if I choose to do something all day/go crazy downloading stuff one day during a reasonable hour, I can. Wildblue is launching a new increased capacity satellite. It was supposed to be up already, but has been delayed until summer, then months of testing before use. Wildblue's cap is 7.5GB on the cheapest plan ($50, what I'm on), so it's more than the cellular option. The cellular option is iffy anyway for 3g, I don't know if it would work correctly even with the booster.

I will call them if I have to, like I say, I just prefer email. It's just the way I am. I just don't figure something like me asking "Hey, what can you give me?" couldn't get a response of "Well, this receiver for this price, and this much for the install." by email much differently than chat, or something, but I guess. I know if I'd call and just get what they'd offer right off, I'm paying for the receiver, plus install. Like I say, I know people do better than that.

Thanks everyone.

 

[TheKrell]

Again a couple of quick comments. On the email, I suspect you fell afoul of somebody's spam filter and emails going to the upgrade department are being automatically placed into a bit bucket somewhere. I don't know this, but I agree that somebody should have gotten back to you long ago. If a human eyeball actually read your email and ignored it, I'm surprised. Perhaps a more pithy message, and not a tome? My sister does this to me. Gargantuan email with so many loosely related and/or erroneous comments, I store it up for later careful rebuttal.

I think you are referring to the Sling Receiver 300 (also known as the Sling Extender) and not the Sling Adapter. Slingboxen (in whatever form) require a 2nd box of some sort, in order to view the video data stream. This can be a PC or a mobile device or a Slingcatcher (now discontinued) or the Sling Extender. Note that my experience with the PC client and Mobile client is that the interface is rather cumbersome if not troublesome or downright buggy, so my hope of replacing a 612 with a Sling Receiver is on indefinite hold. Snappy GUI is important, preferably one that looks identical to the DVR itself.

I was lucky (apparently) and got two good 612s that almost never give us trouble. The best part is that the menu system is very similar if not identical to other Dish DVR receivers. Snappy. Not cumbersome at all. And as you know, no broadband is required.

 

[JeremyL]

The ceo email address is generally used as a last resort for major problems that have been unsuccessfully resolved by CSRs. It is not, nor has ever been a vehicle for equipment or programming changes. And it should not be. Negotiation is a two way street that email is far from best at accommodating. If you don't want to argue (sounds like you a pre-disposed to) on the phone, then use the Chat.

Please re-read his e-mail. Nowhere does he mention e-mailing the CEO address. He specifically states he filled out the online e-mail form.

 

[MaryB@SlingTV]

Hi emanreu2, I am with Dish Network Customer Service. I have read your posts and I apologize for not getting a response to your upgrade questions. I would be happy to offer my assistance to you and together see if we can come a mutually beneficial solution. Please send me a message with your account number or phone number. I promise I will respond to you! Thank you and have a great day!

 

[emanresu2]

On the email, I suspect you fell afoul of somebody's spam filter and emails going to the upgrade department are being automatically placed into a bit bucket somewhere.... Perhaps a more pithy message, and not a tome? My sister does this to me. Gargantuan email with so many loosely related and/or erroneous comments, I store it up for later careful rebuttal.

I think you are referring to the Sling Receiver 300 (also known as the Sling Extender) and not the Sling Adapter. Slingboxen (in whatever form) require a 2nd box of some sort, in order to view the video data stream. This can be a PC or a mobile device or a Slingcatcher (now discontinued) or the Sling Extender. Note that my experience with the PC client and Mobile client is that the interface is rather cumbersome if not troublesome or downright buggy, so my hope of replacing a 612 with a Sling Receiver is on indefinite hold. Snappy GUI is important, preferably one that looks identical to the DVR itself.

In negotiations, not much yet.

I'll point out with the spam thing, I could see filing away email in personal life. But when a person fills in an online form, with name, account number, phone number on the account, and email address on the account, and it all matches up, I feel it should bypass spam filters. We are paying them to read them. If they aren't able to understand what a person says, then they should have the courtesy of saying something like "clarify/simplify please". How a person writes is how they write. I tried without filling the forms, just name, no response. I also sent a couple messages asking why I wasn't getting a response, no response. Beginning to think they either blocked me, or my IP address.

Concerning Sling adapters. I was pretty sure it required two boxes, but I didn't know if there was some sort of "magical" signal sender that just attached to a port on the 722 (basically connect the cable and have the box at location 2, because they could do that). Like I said, I was interested in in home, second tv hd only, so whatever Sling that would be mentioned, would be in home devices for that purpose. As far as what the devices are called specifically, don't care personally. Truth be told, I get to watch maybe an hour or two of tv every other day. Just need something that works, don't care to research certain things, well in this area anyway. It's 5 below out with 30 mile an hour winds and colder tonight. I'm in for about 20 minutes after being out the past 4 hours after 1 hour of sleep. I'm sorry if I'm not too concerned about what things are called, how much I ramble about unnecessary things, or my sentence and paragraph structure when I can barely feel my fingers or see out of my fogged and frozen over glasses.

 

[harshness]

I "like" Dish, if they'd just respond with a reasonable offer, I'd probably stay.

I would guess that you would get better response if you used pretty much any other method of contact. They want very badly to up-sell you and they're smart enough to know that isn't an option in an e-mail exchange.

Suffice it to say that your idea of ideal is not shared by those who are making offers.

 

[TheKrell]

If the OP just wants something that works, I would not recommend fiddling around with the Sling technology. At least it fails on me in one way or another rather often. (I have a Sling Adapter on a 722, and assorted clients.) A second HD receiver would be a better fit. Or a long HDMI run from TV1.

 

[emanresu2]

I was offered the 922 at $200 (non-negotiable), waived the broadband requirement, offered $10 off for 12 months, and free installation for the dish and receiver. “Very best deal we can offer”, not too bad. Now here's what I'm looking at, like I said, goal is HD and DVR on two TVs (eventually, but soon, 2 different HD channels). I may have some errors in there, I was again out checking cows all night in below zero weather (at least without the 50 mph wind gusts this time, so it wasn't bad), and absolutely no sleep. Looking at maybe 5 hours total the last 3 days. Irrelevant/who cares/off topic, I know, but just saying take any errors (or the way I write/my ramblings) lightly please, caught myself adding 6 subtracting 10 and coming up with a positive 4 so it's hard telling if anything is right. Really don't know why I'm having a hard time deciding, I don't normally do that with anything. I guess I'll think another 2 or 3 days.


Dish with 922
(44.99+10-10)*12
(44.99+10)*12
200 receiver
539.88+659.88+200
1399.76 net 24 months
plus 1 Sling adapter for HD on tv2, unknown release or price


Dish with 722
(44.99+6-10)*12, if the 10 works on the 722 as well
(44.99+6)*12
491.88+611.88
1103.76 net 24 months
Requires purchasing 2 Sling adapters to get separate HD on tv2, or +10*24 for second dvr (vip612)


Directv Choice Xtra (don't really watch movies)
49.99*12
59.99*12
100 second HD dvr receiver
599.88+719.88+100
1419.76
100 referral
120 American Express bonus
1199.76 net 24 month
content between dvrs is shared (handy)
I know it goes up after the promotional, but in 2 years, tv will be different, and probably would need to reevaluate it again anyway.


On paper, Directv would be cheaper, with more channels, set up basically the way I'd like already without buying anything else, for the next two years. But Dish has been good to me, but I guess I never asked them for anything before either. Really don't know why I didn't at some point upgrade receivers, it's been many years since even the guide was functional beyond the next program without waiting several minutes.