Save almost $500/yr on Dish TV

[Midpack]

So I called to cancel this morning, told them we were switching to streaming, and they immediately cut our monthly cost from $82.41 to $43.85 (for 6 months) - same equipment, same channel lineup, no changes in anything. I suspect we'll be cutting the cord in 6 months, but they got a reprieve in the meantime. DW was antcy about learning a new system, but willing.

Of course I'm not suggesting you try to bluff, we were all set to switch to PlayStation Vue at $39.99/mo (including major network/local channels), even bought another streaming device on Sat, just returned to Best Buy today.

I am sure the cable and satellite providers are feeling the squeeze, and it will only get worse. If anything, the picture quality and cloud DVR was better with PS Vue (than satellite). FWIW

 

[REWahoo]

How will you "Save almost $500/yr on Dish TV" when they only gave you the deal for six months, a savings of $231?

 

[ER Eddie]

Iirc, I did this with Comcast cable, too. Told them I was cancelling, and they offered to continue at the introductory discounted rate, which was a lot lower than normal. The woman said I could just call back in 6 months when the introductory rate ran out and do the whole process over again. I did that. Maintained the discounted rate for about a year, maybe more.

Eventually I cancelled completely, for other reasons (just decided I was better off without cable TV in my life). But for a while, I was getting the intro/discounted rate over and over (although I'd been a customer for 10+ years), just by telling them I was going to leave.

 

[Dawg52]

Only problem I see is ISP's going up on internet only subscribers. It's great for now but will be interesting to see if saving are still in the cards down the road. I do agree on picture quality with PS Vue, its just as good as any HD service I've seen.

 

[Midpack]

Only problem I see is ISP's going up on internet only subscribers. It's great for now but will be interesting to see if saving are still in the cards down the road. I do agree on picture quality with PS Vue, its just as good as any HD service I've seen.

I've been Comcast internet only forever, never had a "bundle." I may have missed it, but I never found a triple or double play that matched what I was able to get buying separately, and I looked no less than annually at all the providers in our area.

 

[Dawg52]

I've been Comcast internet only forever, never had a "bundle." I may have missed it, but I never found a triple or double play that matched what I was able to get buying separately, and I looked no less than annually at all the providers in our area.

That may be, but if more and more drop cable you have to believe they will go up to offset. I received a call not long ago from Comcast offering a double play package(limited channels with HBO) that would be the same as what I'm currently paying for internet only. It would be for a year so would have to deal with haggling over a new deal at that time. I didn't want to fool with their cable box so I declined.

 

[Texas Proud]

I've been Comcast internet only forever, never had a "bundle." I may have missed it, but I never found a triple or double play that matched what I was able to get buying separately, and I looked no less than annually at all the providers in our area.

I did the double, but it is phone and internet... I do not want to be tied to a cell phone...


I did call up when the cost went up to $125... but they had moved my speed up to blazing... it is now down to just fast.... but now am paying $75 per month for 2 years...

 

[ERD50]

How will you "Save almost $500/yr on Dish TV" when they only gave you the deal for six months, a savings of $231?

I think the answer is in your sig:

Numbers is hard.​

- ERD50

 

[Bamaman]

Comcast has about driven me crazy charging for 3-4 pay per views at midnight one night per month--$50ish. I never order any pay per view.

And their rates go up up up. I get tired of having to go to their office to either (1) straighten out my bill or (2) threatening to cancel my service.

They will always cut your bill $20-30 per month on a 6 month deal if you complain. But I find having to complain distasteful.

And the local sales agents have little authority to cut you a deal. But the foreigners you speak to on the telephone have much more leeway in offering specials--even though you can barely understand what they're saying.

When I moved, no Comcast person ever came to hook up my television. I found the hot coaxial cable outside stuck in the mud. Once I connected the coax., I still got no signal. The Service Dept. manager at Comcast skipped his lunch hour and figured out my service was given to my address in a different city. Then I had to go down again to complain about an over charge.

I finally cut the ties and went to Dish TV on a 3 year guaranteed rate. It's still expensive, but it works. And my bill is correct every month.

 

[zinger1457]

Of course I'm not suggesting you try to bluff, we were all set to switch to PlayStation Vue at $39.99/mo (including major network/local channels), even bought another streaming device on Sat, just returned to Best Buy today.

I've been switching between Dish and DirecTV for the past 18 years to get the lowest rate possible. It does seem like the last few years they haven't been willing to call my 'non-bluff' and offer me a comparable deal that I could get from switching to their competitor. So I end up switching and within a month I start getting 'we miss you' letters offering me a deal to come back that would have stopped me from switching in the first place.

 

[pb4uski]

A couple years ago I called Dish and told them that if they would offer me the same deal that they were offering to new customers (IIRC $25/month credit for the first 12 months and new equipment) that I would re-sign for 2 years, otherwise I was going to Direct.

They agreed... I was surprised, as was my installer who had never heard of such a thing and insisted that they confirm it with him because he didn't want to do a new install and end up not getting paid.

Will be time to do it again when I get back home for the summer.

 

[Midpack]

I expect to cut the cord in 6 months regardless of what Dish Network offers. Streaming offered a noticeably better picture, with a better channel package, and far better value IMO. I'd rather have 40 channels with 20 I watch than 120 channels with 20 I watch. YMMV

Cord-cutting: Turner’s Levy isn’t worried about cord-shavers and cord-cutters. “I am more worried about cord-nevers,” who grow up not having pay-TV subscription, he said, adding that’s why it’s important to have brands such as refinery29 and Mashable that reach that audience. Consulting firm PwC said in a report in December that as more audiences customizing their pay-TV bundles through trimming, the rate of households that either cut the cord, dropping their cable package altogether, or have never subscribed to cable in the first place, was relatively steady at 23% in 2016, up from 21% last year. But the rate of households opting to keep cable at lower cost and with fewer channels, dubbed cord shaving, jumped to 23% from 18% last year. Traditional pay TV subscribership dropped to 54% from 61% last year. Consumers’ “demands got louder in terms of what kind of content they pay for and how and when they access it,” PwC said.

 

[W2R]

Personally I would be so aggravated to be paying those exorbitant prices, and then have to hassle/negotiate with them periodically to keep from having to pay even higher prices.

I am happy that I "cut the cord/cable". That may not be the right decision for everybody, but it sure was for me. I have more entertainment options than I can shake a stick at, many of them much more fun than TV and free or nearly free.

 

[Texas Proud]

Personally I would be so aggravated to be paying those exorbitant prices, and then have to hassle/negotiate with them periodically to keep from having to pay even higher prices.

I am happy that I "cut the cord/cable". That may not be the right decision for everybody, but it sure was for me. I have more entertainment options than I can shake a stick at, many of them much more fun than TV and free or nearly free.

My problem is that there are a good number of shows I watch on some cable channels.... however, if I could get a skinny bundle for half of what I pay now I would love it.... and guess what.... the cable company would actually make more money from me as they would not have to pay ESPN or the food channel or some of these others that are on my package that I never watch...

Also, there are a few channels that I do watch a show, but would easily give it up if I could save some money... my package would be my local channels (which I now have to pay for since I get them through DISH) and maybe 5, but no more than 10 cable channels...

 

[NoiseBoy]

. . .we were all set to switch to PlayStation Vue at $39.99/mo (including major network/local channels), even bought another streaming device on Sat, just returned to Best Buy today.

I am sure the cable and satellite providers are feeling the squeeze, and it will only get worse. If anything, the picture quality and cloud DVR was better with PS Vue (than satellite). FWIW

Hi Midpack,

I follow the cord cutting threads with interest, but this is the first time I've seen a reference to the PS Vue. I am not able to get local channels OTA, and I want to be able to DVR NFL football games in HD, so I need to get my local network affiliates. Is that possible with the PS Vue? If so, it may finally be time for me to make the change. My rates went up by $20 two months ago, and like other's here, I've not been able to make myself call them up and haggle for a better price yet. I guess the good news is that my contract period is over with, so I'm free to drop cable at any time

Mind you, $39.99/mo for PS Vue streaming plus $xx.xx for Comcast internet will probably come close to what I am paying now. Hmm....

 

[Midpack]

Hi Midpack,

I follow the cord cutting threads with interest, but this is the first time I've seen a reference to the PS Vue. I am not able to get local channels OTA, and I want to be able to DVR NFL football games in HD, so I need to get my local network affiliates. Is that possible with the PS Vue? If so, it may finally be time for me to make the change. My rates went up by $20 two months ago, and like other's here, I've not been able to make myself call them up and haggle for a better price yet. I guess the good news is that my contract period is over with, so I'm free to drop cable at any time

Mind you, $39.99/mo for PS Vue streaming plus $xx.xx for Comcast internet will probably come close to what I am paying now. Hmm....

PS Vue included all the local major networks LIVE where I am, but you have to check your location - it's not available everywhere. The easy way to tell after your provide your location, if the cheapest pkg is $39.99/mo you probably have local channels, if they're not available the cheapest package will be $29.99/mo.

 

[Midpack]

My problem is that there are a good number of shows I watch on some cable channels.... however, if I could get a skinny bundle for half of what I pay now I would love it.... and guess what.... the cable company would actually make more money from me as they would not have to pay ESPN or the food channel or some of these others that are on my package that I never watch...

Also, there are a few channels that I do watch a show, but would easily give it up if I could save some money... my package would be my local channels (which I now have to pay for since I get them through DISH) and maybe 5, but no more than 10 cable channels...

New options are opening up all the time. Sling TV, DirecTV Now and PlayStation Vue all have much cheaper skinny bundles ($20-40/mo) than cable or satellite.

We all want ala carte, and maybe it'll happen one day, but I am not holding my breath. OTOH, CBS has already gone solo, and other majors are rumored to do so. Whether that saves consumers or not - remains to be seen.

 

[NoiseBoy]

PS Vue included all the local major networks LIVE where I am, but you have to check your location - it's not available everywhere. The easy way to tell after your provide your location, if the cheapest pkg is $39.99/mo you probably have local channels, if they're not available the cheapest package will be $29.99/mo.

Drat, I see the $29.99 package with no local channels for my zip code. I guess I will need to make the call to Comcast to bargain for a lower rate. Last time I ended up with the same (higher) rate, but more internet speed and channels. I must bargain harder this time!

 

[pb4uski]

Wow.. this could be big... I just got online and our favorite local affiliate which we can't get OTA is listed so this may be a great possibility!

We have Dish right now with 4 TVs connected to a central DVR and we like it that any TV in the house can view live programming. We also like being able to skip or fast forward through commercials on recorded shows. From what I am reading on their website it seems that the DVR is in the cloud... I assume that if I have my 4 tvs connected via a Firestick or Roku that any one (or all four) could watch live tv or recorded shows... correct? And fast forward through commercials?

 

[Sojourner]

I'm seeing a $29.99 package for my area (metro Atlanta) that includes all four major broadcast networks, but only two of those (Fox and CBS) look to be "live". The other two are listed as "on demand". But for me, that's irrelevant since I never watch anything other than sports live. I don't really see any advantage to live vs. on-demand for someone like me. That is, assuming I could start watching an on-demand episode of, say, Meet The Press within minutes of its airing live on the regular broadcast channel.

Midpack, are there any restrictions or limitations you've found watching things on-demand vs. live? And also, do you have full DVR functionality for everything you watch, including the ability to FFW through commercials?

 

[Carpediem]

You can also watch live or recorded shows on any mobile device with Vue. I was watching live TV on my smartphone earlier today. I too am a Dish customer and I love the Hopper and the Joeys but sick of paying $43 per month in *equipment* costs. I'm evaluating my options and plan on calling Dish soon to see what kind of deal they might be willing to offer. If it's not much, then I will probably make the final decision to go with Vue, an OTA antenna (which works great), and probably Tablo to record OTA programs.

 

[Midpack]

Wow.. this could be big... I just got online and our favorite local affiliate which we can't get OTA is listed so this may be a great possibility!

We have Dish right now with 4 TVs connected to a central DVR and we like it that any TV in the house can view live programming. We also like being able to skip or fast forward through commercials on recorded shows.
1 From what I am reading on their website it seems that the DVR is in the cloud...
2 I assume that if I have my 4 tvs connected via a Firestick or Roku that any one (or all four) could watch live tv or recorded shows... correct?
3 And fast forward through commercials?

1) Subscribers do have a cloud DVR for no extra charge. You designate "My Shows," and every time an episode comes on, it's automatically DVR'd for you. DVR'd episodes are there for 28 days, then they disappear. Seems like plenty of time to me. If you miss your DVR copy, there are also on-demand episodes of most shows, but those libraries are variable, some are complete, others are spotty (e.g. Big Bang Theory only has 4 episodes of the current season).

2) Up to 3 devices via PS3, PS4, Roku, Chromecast, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV - though how they look on the various devices is NOT exactly the same. I tried iPad/iOS, Chromecast & Roku myself, and I've seen Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and PS3/4 online, let me know if you have one in mind

3) You can fast forward, but on most streaming devices it's kinda hit and miss. My satellite setup had a remote button to advance 30 secs and rewind 10 sec, so it was very easy to skip commercials. With PS Vue, you hit fast forward and kinda guess when to resume play again. You don't see the program advancing in the background, and the onscreen timer only shows minutes (not seconds) so it's 'iterative.' A minor shortcoming IMO.

However, you can pause the DVR, on demand, or most if not all live shows. We were able to pause anything we tried, but I read that you can't with all shows.

And there's a catchup feature on most but not all networks. For example, there was a show yesterday called Epic Yachts that I discovered in the guide 58 minutes into the episode. At the top of the hour, I noticed that previous episode had a CatchUp designation on the guide. I scrolled back to it, hit play, and voila - I got to see a show I'd just missed without recording it. I've never had cable or satellite that would do that. Turns out in addition to automatically DVR'ing all "yours shows" - it keeps most/all episodes on many networks for up to 24 hours? My catchup episodes went back to midnight, so I am guessing it keeps things from midnight to midnight, erasing the previous day each midnight.

And even though our ISP is only 10 mbps, there was almost no stuttering/delay over the past 5 days, even when streaming to 2 devices at once. And the few times when streaming did pause for "loading" it was only 5-10 seconds.

You probably gathered but shows can have the status LIVE, DVR, ON DEMAND and/or CATCHUP.

Good luck. I'm pretty sure we'll switch to PS Vue in 6 months if not before. We loved it, the only true cable replacement we've seen in our area, no OTA required for live programming!

 

[pb4uski]

I was just checking out the Tablo item that Carpediem mentioned... I wonder if I could locate the antenna, Tablo and USB drive at a friend's that has great OTA reception and then view the programs at my home that has poor OTA reception.

 

[Midpack]

I'm seeing a $29.99 package for my area (metro Atlanta) that includes all four major broadcast networks, but only two of those (Fox and CBS) look to be "live". The other two are listed as "on demand". But for me, that's irrelevant since I never watch anything other than sports live. I don't really see any advantage to live vs. on-demand for someone like me. That is, assuming I could start watching an on-demand episode of, say, Meet The Press within minutes of its airing live on the regular broadcast channel.

Midpack, are there any restrictions or limitations you've found watching things on-demand vs. live? And also, do you have full DVR functionality for everything you watch, including the ability to FFW through commercials?

See my answer above on FFW thru commercials, you can, but it's not as slick as cable or satellite.

And the above might answer your other question. But you can only watch LIVE when the program is live. DVR for designated My Shows is immediately after the LIVE broadcast. ON DEMAND is after, next day I think but not sure - and not all previous episodes are ON DEMAND, so designating My Shows and relying on DVR is the way to go IMO.

You can try it for 7 days for FREE, I'd recommend you try it. If you don't have a streaming device, you can watch on your PC, iPad or iPhone - but you won't know how your TV streaming setup might behave. And there are lots of demos and reviews on YouTube, just search PlayStation Vue review.

 

[Midpack]

I was just checking out the Tablo item that Carpediem mentioned... I wonder if I could locate the antenna, Tablo and USB drive at a friend's that has great OTA reception and then view the programs at my home that has poor OTA reception.

You probably know this but with a cheapo indoor amplified OTA I got 49 channels upstairs, but only 8 downstairs - location is crucial. And we're 38 miles from the main tower.

Before I discovered PS Vue, I was going to get a better OTA antenna and put it in the attic or failing that, on the roof. FWIW