Want to upgrade 301D to 211k

[dftheorist]

Been lurking awhile and finally signed up for my first post. I will try to keep it brief.

Currently, I have a 622 (lease) and a 301D (own). I have upgraded one TV recently to HD and would like to upgrade the 301D to a 211k. I live in the piedmont triad area of NC and have 2 dishes on the roof. I am a 7+ year customer with the following packages:
Top 250, HD 250, Dish Platinum, DVR service fee and solo receiver fee

So I call dish earlier this week to see my options. The rep seems very confused and uninformed. He doesn't know what a 211 is and asks me if it is 1 or 2 TVs, DVR or non. after holding a couple of times and repeating information, he tells me that my choices are to buy a receiver or agree to 2 years and they will ship me a receiver free of charge (as I expected). I agree to the contract and he takes my credit card info twice (for a dollar hold???). His computer then tells him that it requires an installer. He seems perplexed as I already have HD and places me on hold to check. Comes back and says that it is required because (I am summarizing his words) they will change my dishes because we will use different satellites. So this will cost me $95, however, because he is such a great guy he can help me get around this fee by signing me up for the service plan.

I say to him that this makes no sense. I have every HD channel (besides some premiums) currently through my 622. I am keeping that exactly as is, no change in programming. According to the story I am being given, I need to pay 95 bucks for a new dish to have HD. But I already have it. So if I don't agree to pay for the install or service agreement and just keep what I have, I still have HD. Or are you trying to tell me my current set-up will not work much longer and Dish is going to call me and say, "Sir, you need to pay $95 for us to upgrade your dish so you can remain a subscriber." At this point he is a little flustered and, if I am not mistaken, affirms my statement. He is just keeps asking me if I want to go through with this or not today. I am very frustrated at this point and say no, I'm not doing anything today.

So what do you guys think? Is there any real reason why I can't simply swap my 301 for a 211?

 

[MattG@DISH]

What satellites do you currently see with your setup?

 

[dftheorist]

Hi Matt,

I am looking at my system info screen and see 119, 110, 129, 61.5. I don't recall the actual physical dishes I have at the moment. Is there anything in setup menus that will tell me?

Thanks for the speedy response.

 

[MattG@DISH]

In system info (menu-6-1-3), field H has a device that will tell me, but the orbitals are good enough. We don't need to install anything, but our system may be forcing us to migrate you to a full eastern arc install since your HD locals are on 61.5 and you won't have any MPEG-2 equipment holding back the change (1000.4 eastern arc dishes are MPEG-4 only).

 

[dftheorist]

I wondered about the eastern arc and MPEG-2 as I had read about it here, although I admit that I am not fully versed in the details. Here is field h:
DPP 1K.2, 1K.2(1), 1K.2(2), 1K.2(3), Dual(4)
We have a lot of trees around and when I moved into this house a few years ago, the installer did a nice job working around it obtaining signal. I do get dropped signal during heavy storms but no problems otherwise. Perhaps the full eastern arc might produce a stronger signal. I am not opposed to upgrading the dishes, I just balk at paying to do it when it works fine now and provides what I want.

I recall reading about people being contacted about upgrades but since I had the 301, I was not. It is a bit ironic as I used the dish customer support chat to request removing my 301 from the account about a year ago. (I was not using it and didn't see the need to pay the fee if I wan't going to use it.) For some reason, it was never removed and I have still been paying the $7 fee for almost exactly one year. I was too lazy to put up with the hassle of calling or chatting back to see why it was never removed. But now, my needs have changed a bit, I upgraded the TV and would like to upgrade the 301 for it and get some use out of my 7 monthly.

Thank you for providing some clarity for my situation. So you think the only way I'm getting a 211 is to pay for the install?

 

[TheKrell]

Dish wants to get everybody off hybrid setups such as yours and just put everybody on WA (110/119/129) or EA (61.5/72.7/77), depending upon DMA. This becomes easier once you swap out the 301 for a 211. Dish replaced my hybrid dish setup with an EA setup for free.

Edited to add: Ha! 3 more posts appeared since I penned that and then family intervened and I finally hit the Submit button. As mentioned above, I got my EA dish upgrade for free. (Had to ask for it, though.) I also got two VIP612 receivers out of the Dishn' It Up program for $25 shipping, each. But I had to appeal to Executive Resolutions to avoid the "mandatory" installation.

 

[MattG@DISH]

The charge is account specific, so what you were told before is most likely correct. If you want to PM a phone number or account number I can double check for you.

 

[dftheorist]

Honestly, this is what I would expect them to do is change it at no charge. I understand that installers are professionals that cost money and this is why they have 2 year agreements. I am quite willing to accept the agreement.

 

[dftheorist]

Matt,

Thanks. I will pm you the account number in a moment. I have to hit 5 posts to do so and this should be number 5.

 

[dwdish]

You can try chatting and then requesting to be transfer to the loyalty department. I had a dish 500+ without service plan. I asked them to waive the installation cost to add the 129 lnb so I could sign up for HD For Life. The regular CSR couldn't waive the fee but the loyalty department did. I didn't have to add the Service Plan. I also got $5/month discount too by just asking if there is an discount for existing customer.