I used to have the welcome pack and then moved and stopped service. I finally got a dish setup and restarted service but I get an error code stating dish needs to enable hd so I can use my ota card. I called dish and they said I have to upgrade to a $50 package so I can have watch ota channels. I own the equipment. Is this really the case? It worked no problems before I had my account restarted. Doesn't seem right.
welcome pack and ota with 222k - dish says too bad
- Thread starter smikolaj
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
- Replies 56
- Views 6K
This doesn't seem correct. What is the number on the error message you are getting when you try to access the OTA channels?
New reason for sure. Can't remember anything about OTA not working with the Welcome package. If it does not get resolved I would get the Top120, see if the module magically works. If so, downgrade to the Welcome Pack. I'm betting the OTA module would continue to work.
I also would unplug the receiver and plug it back in, perhaps a reset will fix things.
I also would unplug the receiver and plug it back in, perhaps a reset will fix things.
I just decided to cancel service. The welcome pack is $20 and dish said I had to pay an additional $30/month for them to turn on the ota tuner so I can watch free tv. Makes no sense. Not sure if this is true or not or if they are hoping I'll pay more. I spent three weeks going back and forth trying to get this figured out. I hope others have better luck with dish than I did. I'm not sure why this so complicated, I must be missing something.
Smikolaj, there is no $30 fee for HD on local channels. You should get HD locals with your Welcome Pack as others said above. Even Zach said this "doesn't seem correct". He's a member of Dish IRT, all of whom are excellent. Did you ever PM him to find out what's going on? Did you ever have a hit sent to your 222 as Chad suggested?
Zach is helping out with this. Hopefully it is something simple. He has been very helpful.
I have one and get locals over that. My receiver has the ota module and I wanted to use that so everything is integrated. I am running into a problem where I can scan and see the locals in the setup menu but when I click done I get a message saying that hd needs to be enabled to use the ota module.
Even with my jaded view of DISH CSR's if you are indeed getting these answers this is a new low for them unless there is more to the story. Your last comment is a little more info than you gave before.
So you can use the module to scan the locals, it does scan the locals, but then you get a message. I had thought you could not use the module at all.
So after scanning and hitting save, Can you post exactly what the message says? And recheck the message alert number.
Until you hear back from Zach I would start with an update (Hit) to your receiver, then if that does not work force a rescan of the satellites, which should lead to a guide update, then try the module again. Something Zach would have to do is see how your account is provisioned though I don't know if that would affect using the module.
I suppose it could be the module isn't working correctly.
So you can use the module to scan the locals, it does scan the locals, but then you get a message. I had thought you could not use the module at all.
So after scanning and hitting save, Can you post exactly what the message says? And recheck the message alert number.
Until you hear back from Zach I would start with an update (Hit) to your receiver, then if that does not work force a rescan of the satellites, which should lead to a guide update, then try the module again. Something Zach would have to do is see how your account is provisioned though I don't know if that would affect using the module.
I suppose it could be the module isn't working correctly.
Last edited:
That's not what he said. He currently has the Welcome Pack for $19.99/month. The Dish rep is telling him he needs to upgrade to AT120 or Dish America or some package that's $50/mo ... $30 more per month.
After I scan and select done a box comes up and says - the off air channels that you have selected will not appear in the guide until your receivers high definition functionality has been activated. Please call 1-800-333-DISH (3474). This is code 784.
When I contact dish they said I need the AT 120 for them to activate hd so I can use my ota tuner. Sorry for the confusion. The ota module works but I can't use it. When I try to just type in the ota channel number it goes to dish channel 72.
This is what Zach is helping me with. I have unplugged and reset with no luck. I'll let you know what the solution is once we figure it out.
I also can't select/view the locals from dish that are up in the 6300's and get a similar message. I'm not sure if the welcome pack includes these or not but I thought I could at least use the ota module for locals. If these are included that would be great.
Thanks.
All Spanish and American packs have locals. International base pack does not. That is why this doesn't make sense. Even people with HD receivers that have the welcome pack can get locals in HD and any free previews in HD. Premiums as well. The only thing the HD add on gives you is the national channels in HD.
Ahhh, that makes more sense now, but that's a really poor business decision on Dish's part. I'm afraid Zach won't be able to help. He'll try but will probably get an answer you, or many of us, won't like.
I was told something similar - I inquired about downgrading our service for the summer (and maybe longer) and was contemplating the Welcome or Smart Pack. I presumed that with an HD receiver, I'd get the HD versions of the available channels. Not so... Dish arbitrarily blocks them. In the case of the OTA adapter, they consider the OTA channels to be exclusively HD channels as well. Using their logic, you should get the SD, OTA channels, but I'll bet you don't....
If you look at the advertised channel list for AT120, for example, it doesn't mention nor list HD channels yet with an HD receiver, they're automatically included.
Those aren't different versions of your locals, that's their actual channel number designation. Your receiver "maps" them to the channel numbers you're familiar with.
We need to know if someone with the Welcome pack and an OTA adaptor is able to use theirs. If they can, I bet my solution will work. Upgrade to the Top 120, get HD for life, and at some point downgrade back to the welcome package. Seems like if this was their policy someone long before now would have posted about this but it is entirely possible most who have the Welcome package came from having a higher package and HD for life.
