I just signed up for Dish Network yesterday because this deal seemed too good to pass up. Of course, it's only good if you get the channels you watch most often since the TurboHD packages offer limited channels. For me, it's an upgrade of the basic cable (local channels, PBS, HSN, QVC) I've been getting.
Right now, if you sign up for Dish Network (New Subscribers) you can receive:
- Starz/Encore, HBO and PlatinumHD (Several HD movie channels) free for 3 Months - Free Installation - Free HD DVR Upgrade - $50 credit on first bill - First year of Cinemax for 1 cent for signing up for paperless billing / autopay
The lowest cost TurboHD package is the TurboHD Bronze for $24.99 which includes (all in HD): 105 / 9431 USA Network 108 / 9470 Lifetime 110 / 9462 Food Network HD 112 / 9461 HGTV HD 118 / 9419 A&E 120 / 9491 The History Channel 122 / 9432 The Sci-Fi Channel 138 / 9420 TNT 139 / 9499 TBS 140 / 9424 ESPN 142 / 9494 ESPNews 144 / 9425 ESPN2 172 / 9433 Disney EAST 176 / 9463 Cartoon Network 180 / 9434 ABC Family 182 / 9487 The Discovery Channel 183 / 9488 The Learning Channel 200 / 9436 CNN 208 / 9439 CNBC 214 / 9438 The Weather Channel 215 / 9437 The Travel Channel 362 / 9422 HDNet 364 / 9421 HD Theater 369 / 9469 Paladia (was MHD)
PlatinumHD Includes 366 / 9427 Universal HD 374 Smithsonian HD 383 / 9423 HDNet Movies 385 MGM HD 396 World Fishing Network 402 / 9508 NBA TV 403 NHL Network HD
Premium Channels as part of this deal 300 / 9456 HBO (East) 301 / 9455 HBO 2 302 / 9454 HBO Signature 303 / 9478 HBO West 305 / 9453 HBO Family 307 / 9451 HBO Comedy 308 / 9452 HBO Zone 309 / 9459 HBO Latino 310 / 9458 Cinemax 311 / 9440 Cinemax HD West 313 / 9479 Actionmax HD 314 / 9441 Cinemax 5 Star 340 / 9505 Encore (East) 350 / 9435 Starz! 351 / 9498 Starz! West 352 / 9496 Starz! Edge 354 / 9486 Starz! Comedy 356 / 9497 Starz! Kids and Family
With all this, you get the HD DVR which can record up to 3 shows at once (2 from Dish and 1 OTA) and provides 2 rooms of service.
The summary is:
TurboHD Bronze - $24.99 Cinemax for a year Starz/Encore, HBO, PlatinumHD for 3 Months HD DVR (~$5 monthly service fee applies) Local Channels ($5) $50 credit Free Install 24 month agreement required
All for $34.99 / Month
For me, this was a no brainer since the channels I would watch most of the time anyway are in the package. When I called Time Warner to cancel my basic service ($17 / month), they offered to lower the cost of my Road Runner internet service to $29.95 (from $44.95) if I signed a 2 year contract. Since I don't plan to move or change my service anyway, this was fine. I'm now getting all the same channels I did before, plus all the new ones for only $3-4 more than I have been paying anyway.
1. Go to www.dishnetwork.com 2. Navigate to 'Shop' -> 'TurboHD' 3. Click 'Order Now' 4. Click 'Enter' 5. Enter your info and click next 6. Select Platinum HD, TurboHD Bronze (Or one of the other TurboHD packages if you prefer), Locals if wanted (save $5 if you don't need them) and then click next 7. Check both Special Offers Boxes (Cinemax / HBO) and Click next 8. Ensure that your TV setup is correct. For me, I needed HD and DVR. Click next.
At this point, you can easily continue. You may see that the PlatinumHD is not discounted. If that happens, just call and they will fix it.
And if you do get SD channels, do you get both SD and HD for channels that have both? Some stuff you might want to keep for the kids isn't worth the space in the DVR in HD.
You get the SD channels for the locals, but not the TurboHD stuff. According to DN, the DVR can record in either HD or SD. It can down convert the HD to SD for space savings which is what we'll do for our 2 yr old. He doesn't need to see cartoons in HD.
So I just spoke to someone from Dish. They said that if you dont have a home phone line, there is a $5 surcharge because of the nightly updates that would have to be sent via SAT instead of the phoneline.
This was a rep that called once I filled out the order form.
Buyers beware, but kudos to you if you do indeed have a home phone.
mt3ch said:So I just spoke to someone from Dish. They said that if you dont have a home phone line, there is a $5 surcharge because of the nightly updates that would have to be sent via SAT instead of the phoneline.
This was a rep that called once I filled out the order form.
Buyers beware, but kudos to you if you do indeed have a home phone.
I thought this too and almost didn't sign up. I was livid..."You're going to make me pay $5 per month as a penalty for living in 2008?"
I ended up not signing up that night. Then yesterday, I researched and found that you can also attach this DVR (ViP 722) to your internet to get the updates. This elminated the problem for me as I already have network access near my TV for my video game systems. I confirmed this with the DN rep yesterday and then signed up.
One other solution that I found was that some people only hook it up once a week so that it can get updates and they avoid the $5 fee. I'm not sure how reliable this is though since the fine print of the agreement states something about 'Continuously Connected' as determined by Dish Network .
I ended up not signing up that night. Then yesterday, I researched and found that you can also attach this DVR (ViP 722) to your internet to get the updates. This elminated the problem for me as I already have network access near my TV for my video game systems. I confirmed this with the DN rep yesterday and then signed up.
For other people thinking about this issue, I just want to say that this is true and its how I have my ViP 722 connected.
Moviewatcher78 said:One other solution that I found was that some people only hook it up once a week so that it can get updates and they avoid the $5 fee. I'm not sure how reliable this is though since the fine print of the agreement states something about 'Continuously Connected' as determined by Dish Network . This is correct - I have my Vip722 attached to the network, and not the phoneline, and I don't get charged.
It is kinda nice to have the caller id popup on the screen, though (which is obviously only available when a phone line is connected).
mt3ch said:So I just spoke to someone from Dish. They said that if you dont have a home phone line, there is a $5 surcharge because of the nightly updates that would have to be sent via SAT instead of the phoneline.
This was a rep that called once I filled out the order form.
Buyers beware, but kudos to you if you do indeed have a home phone.
If you have a receiver unit with a single tuner (for one room connection), you don't get charge for not connecting to the phone line. However, if you have a dual tuner unit like DISH 322 or DVR 522, you will get charge $5 equipment fee for no phone line connection. I just got my DISH installed.
For those of you with Dish, are you generally happy with your service?
I signed up in august, hd absolute, and love it. The DVR isnt quite as good as my tivohd was but its light years ahead of the cable boxes. Im saving money too.
I'm very happy with my 2 ViP722 DVR's. I have 4 HDTV's connected and the setup works great for me. I also have a 1 TB USB external drive connected to each DVR for extra storage. They do charge a one-time $40 activation fee per unit, but I was able to talk them into refunding me on one of the fees. A co-worker told me that he can't watch content from the external drive, but I have no problem doing it.
I work for Dish, I have the HD Absolute package (discontinued) and a 612 dvr for $5.98/mo (employee discount). I am in dispatch and talk to the installers everyday, they hate the 612, they say it is a piece of crap. I personally have a problem with mine when connected with HDMI it blacks out every so often. I have it connected via component right now and it works fine.
The standalone turbo HD package is only available to new customers until Feb 09 when more channels will be added making the package more appealing to more customers (HD absolute customers will be switched to the standalone turbo hd package at that time also)
Moviewatcher78 said:The lowest cost TurboHD package is the TurboHD Bronze for $24.99 which includes (all in HD): 105 / 9431 USA Network 108 / 9470 Lifetime 110 / 9462 Food Network HD 112 / 9461 HGTV HD 118 / 9419 A&E 120 / 9491 The History Channel 122 / 9432 The Sci-Fi Channel 138 / 9420 TNT 139 / 9499 TBS 140 / 9424 ESPN 142 / 9494 ESPNews 144 / 9425 ESPN2 172 / 9433 Disney EAST 176 / 9463 Cartoon Network 180 / 9434 ABC Family 182 / 9487 The Discovery Channel 183 / 9488 The Learning Channel 200 / 9436 CNN 208 / 9439 CNBC 214 / 9438 The Weather Channel 215 / 9437 The Travel Channel 362 / 9422 HDNet 364 / 9421 HD Theater 369 / 9469 Paladia (was MHD)
PlatinumHD Includes 366 / 9427 Universal HD 374 Smithsonian HD 383 / 9423 HDNet Movies 385 MGM HD 396 World Fishing Network 402 / 9508 NBA TV 403 NHL Network HD
I m a bit confused - I had signed up for Dish HD (24.99) package a few months back and it includes all the channels listed (including premium) except the platinum HD lineup - so have they increased their price now and broken it up to Bronze and Premium?
Someone had asked, if SD channels were included - As per Dish they arent, but once you sign up for the HD, the same lineup of channels is also available in SD - hope this helps.
the platinum is a 10 dollar upgrade to any hd package, you can go to their site and test drive it for 3 months for for free if you have dish hd already, after the hbo starz 3 months ends, do that platinum 3 months free
new customers looking for sd and hd, you can order the sd channels with the TOP packages and add the HD for 10 bucks more. for instance top 100 is 32.99, locals is 5 and bronze hd is 10, top 200 would get silver hd for 10 more and 250 would get gold for the same, etc...
for locals, hd in addition to sd channels depend on the local market, for phoenix, we get all the major networks in HD
for local Regional Sports Networks, you get them with the Top 100 Plus and above. the HD depends on that particular local network as well
So I called Dish Network and did some complaining about how the new customers get treated better than the old customers (3 years for us with dish)
My old bill for TurboHD was 92+ tx per month (which included locals and the "250 channel pack"...no premium channels
After being transferred to someone to "cancel" my account I strongly (in a nice way) suggested to them I was considering switching to Direct TV
She asked me what They could do for me. I asked what will you offer. She clicked way and came up with...
65.98 per month for TurboHD Gold for one year. I said to her throw in 5 pay per view movies and you have a deal. She then credit my accont $25 (for the pay per views).
After a year My bill will be 75.98....as I am dropping the Platinum channels.
In a year from now I will call again and see what they will offer.
Just a note....if you call and talk nicely but still making it sound like you are going to switch to directtv or something else, good things will happened. They do not want to lose you as a customer. NOTE...for this to work you generally have to be transferred to the cancellation or account retention department.
Good Luck to all that try. And again THANKS ALOT OP..had you not posted this nothing would of changed for us
Edit to add...we did not have to sign a contract (or term length) to get this...we can still cancel at any time
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