Free Receiver, Dish, Installation & 90 Days Movies--No Unreasonable Catch
Written: Apr 14 '01 (Updated May 24 '01)
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Pros: Perfect reception, many channels
Cons: Remote control is awkward
The Bottom Line: No need to buy an EchoStar Receiver. Get it free with a great deal from Dish Network. Highly recommend receiver and system.
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| GlendaG's Full Review: EchoStar 2710 Digital Satellite System |
Get a free EchoStar receiver and a dish with free installation plus free 90 days HBO, Showtime, Starz, and Cinemax, if you agree to subscribe to Dish Network's Top 150-channel package for one year at $39.99 per month. The small catch is that either (1)you have to pay $199 for the receiver and they will send you a full rebate, OR (2)you can get the receiver free with no payment up front if you have a current Cable TV bill for the same address. We paid $199 and received a rebate in about 6 weeks as promised. They do charge $24 for shipping the dish and receiver, but will waive this charge if you give them a credit card number to automatically pay your monthly bills.
There are other packages available besides the Top 150. These include a 100-channel package for $29.99, 40 channels for $19.99, Dish Latino (all Spanish) for $19.99, and Latino Dos (Spanish and English channels) for $29.99. (I don't know whether they have any type of receiver/dish deal with these smaller packages.) Pay-Per-View is $3.99 and up. Regional Multi-Sport channels are $4.99 per month (Fox Sports plus 4 alternate channels). These are subject to blackout. Local Network channels, when available to you, are $4.99 per month per package. National PBS is $1.00. A package of Showtime/HBO/Starz/Cinemax channels is $35.99 but, as mentioned before, you get this package for 90 days free when you subscribe to the Top 150. After your free 90 days is ended, you may subscribe to any of these separately if you like.
If you're considering signing up with Dish Network, you may be wondering whether you'll be able to receive the network channels via satellite. The answer is that it depends on where you are. Here we receive all four network channels out of Houston because we have no local network channels and Houston is the nearest large city. We are also permitted to subscribe (for $4.99) to 2 other network channels in any other time zone. If you live in a city that Dish Network covers then you'll be able to receive all the network channels. If you live in a place that is able to receive any network channels by antenna, but Dish network doesn't cover these local channels, then you won't be able to receive any of these network channels by satellite, not even from another city. If some but not all of the network channels can be received locally by antenna, then you can receive the other channels by satellite from another city. (These regulations aren't the fault of Dish Network; they are the law).
If you sign up, be sure and find out when the earliest available installation date is. In our case it was in eleven days because we live some distance from a city. An eleven-day wait was not acceptable to us, but my husband had installed a dish before (another brand), so he installed this one. If you install yours yourself, you'll need a good compass in order to point the dish as directed. You should attach it to a place where the signal won't be blocked. For example, in our case it had to be attached to the edge of the roof at the very top (about 30 feet off the ground) because of tall trees all around the house. On the other hand our neighbor with no trees has one on the bottom roof edge about 10 feet off the ground.
The Dish Network dish is more difficult to install than another brand because the dish receives signals from two satellites, so the dish has to be pointed in a position halfway between the two satellites. While you are installing, set the receiver so that you can see on your TV screen a graphic display representing the 2 satellite signals being received. This will be two moving bars, representing the two satellites. Both bars have to indicate that its signal is locked on or else you will only receive half your channels. Both should have a strength of around 100 or you'll have picture breakup sometimes. When installing the dish, you probably won't be able to see your TV screen yourself and will need another person to holler to you when you've got both satellites locked in and to let you know the strength of each as you make adjustments.
When properly installed, the picture is just about perfect, at least when there's no precipitation. Light rain poses no problem but heavy rain causes breakup or freezing of the picture, at best, and complete loss of signal, at worst. I can't tell you about snow, because we never have any.
I highly recommend Dish Network/EchoStar if they're right for your own situation. We've been very pleased with Dish Network with no regrets.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): Free w/deal
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Epinions.com ID:
GlendaG
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Reviews written: 25
Trusted by: 118 members
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