Has DishNet subscribers received the letter on price jump? (1 Viewer)

[Jeff_P]

Before I called customer service I wanted to see if I understood this correctly. I do not have the letter in front of me so I might get some thing wrong. But it said all packages would be going up $1.00. I subscribe to the Everthing pack. S does that mean $1 for the America's T150 plus $1 for each movie pack that contains or $1 just for the whole thing.

Plus, if they are taking away the $1 charge for PBS since it will be included in the local channels(which went up a $1, also) why did the bill I received on Monday charge me $1 for PBS?

Jeff_P

 

[DougRuss]

I thought I read somewhere,that the Increase wasn't going into affect until Feburary?

 

[RAF]

My understanding is that the increase is $1 total, for the whole thing. If you hear otherwise please let us know.
In any event I'm not bothered by this for a couple of reasons.

• Since I already subscribe to PBS the $1 reduction now that PBS is considered local offsets the $1 rise in the package price.
• Because I signed up for a 1 year commitment in September, the $1 charge doesn't even go into effect until the year is up. Therefore, I'll actually be getting a price reduction of $1 for about 7 months.
• Even when I'm back to even, I'm actually ahead. I notice that, at least here in NY, the number of local channels has been increased with the addition of several local stations (Long Island PBS, WNYE, etc.) that weren't there before. The 8000 block is populated with some old friends that I lost when I dropped cable.
• Speaking of which, no matter how you slice it, Dish has been so much better than cable as far as price increases are concerned that this is no contest. It seemed as though every time I turned around my cable bill was going up by 3 or 4 dollars for no rational reason. Good riddance to that!

Now if Dish would only get off its butt and overtake DirecTV as the leader in HDTV broadcasting that it once was (and a primary reason I went with Dish) then I'd be a happy camper. Yes, I know all about the merger, but that's going to take time and, in the meanwhile HDNet is very tempting.

 

[Jeff_P]

Robert,

I just noticed the local channels up in the 900 or 800's. I am in NY also and always used in the 241(NBC) range. I noticed on the letter I just received that said something about the locals up on the 900's. Has that always been there and should I start watching my locals up there.

I do have to agree that Dish certainly beats out cable. Whenever my friends ask me about the dish I tell them the amount of stations you get. My parents get one HBO channel compared to my 8.

 

[Earl Simpson]

Yep! Got the ltr yesterday. I have no choice. I live in the sticks. However, if I had access to digital cable I would look at that option first if the price was right.
Dish has been great so far(4 years for me).

 

[JerryLA]

I've been with Dish since the second year they were around and I love it. That is the kind of rate increase I like to see. How many things do you know of that only increase by one dollar. I've had very little increase in cost over the last 3 years to be quite honest. I too wish they would get this merger over and get on with business. I don't know if any of you watch TechTV but very interesting news this last week from the CES in Las Vegas. Best of Show award went to a company called Moxi. They will have on the market this year through Echostar a new set top box that blows all others out of the water. A command center that runs all your equipment and lets you network to other rooms of the house wirelessly. Huge hard drive that allows recording of two programs while watching a different pre-recorded program. According to what I've heard, it will be out around Christmas of this year.
Check out this amazing piece of equipment. Although the linked article does not mention who will distribute this unit, I saw the acceptance speech at the awards show and Steve Perlman mentioned it would be distributed by Echostar.
Link Removed

 

[RAF]

As far as I know the 8000's range for the locals has now been implemented. Channel 754 in my area is now a "Local Channels Info" channel. Check it out. I would assume that at some point the old 241, 243, 245, etc. assignments will be changed so be sure to program your PVR 501 accordingly. For now the channels are in both locations (but with many more local channels up at 8100+).

Hats off to Dish for this!

And, yes, I'm a TechTV addict. Thank goodness they only have a limited numbers of programs daily (which they repeat continuously) or I'd get absolutely no sleep at all. I was aware of the MOXI box, but I wasn't aware it had a tie-in to EchoStar! This is very good news and will be a no brainer acquisition for me at some point.

True, E* has had some growing pains and is currently playing catchup once more with DirecTV on HDTV offerings (thanks to Mark Cuban's HDNet) but I'm confident that Charlie won't play second fiddle for long. In any event, I feel that I've been very fairly treated in the half year I've with Dish and I'm very satisfied with what's offered and what's promised in the future.

(Incidentally, I've recently upgraded my HT website to include a section on the installation of my DISH equipment complete with pictures, etc.)

 

[Chris Ryan]

Hi:

Does the "Must Carry" rule mean we can stop paying for our locals package?

Thanks,

Chris

 

[Dave Morton]

The must carry rule just means that the channels are available to you. It is up to the provider to charge a fee or not. I did get the $1 increase letter, but it is still cheaper than cable and quality is much better than cable, digital or not.

 

[RAF]

but it is still cheaper than cable and quality is much better than cable, digital or not.

A big AMEN! to that.
I have to laugh now that here in the NY area I'm receiving what is Channel 21 (Long Island PBS station WLIW) on the Dish Network. When I used to have it on my cable system the signal was ATROCIOUS! As bad as regular cable is (was), Channel 21 was even worse. They dismissed this by saying that Channel 21 was "out of their control" and they must receive it over the air instead of from a downlink so the quality is whatever they can capture.
Well, now that WLIW is on my Dish Network the picture is crystal clear. And my neighbors who are still saddled with cable are still receiving a crappy Channel 21 signal. I guess that Dish has some "magic" solution. Yeah, right!

'Nuff said.