Considering Leaving E* for D*

[broth]

I have been on E* for a number of years, basic 200 channel service. I called them the other night to see about changing service for DVR and adding locals.

This turned into a mess as they told me I could exchange one of the 301s for a DVR and that there would be a $5.00 lease fee and a $5.98 DVR fee. $129 one time fee and $100 rebate. I was ok with that and asked about dual DVR. That was $149 - $100 rebate. I would have a 18 month contract. Was hoping that it wouldn't be.

But than I asked about adding locals and was told that I needed the Dish 500 and that this would be $5.00 and that I would need to have an additional 18 month contract such tht I would end up with a 3 year contract. I wasn't impressed.

That was when I got thinking about switching to D*. I haven't done enough research yet, but am looking for pros/cons. I just want the comparable packge with locals and DVR. What is the better deal? Seems like the channels are about the same for what we are interested in. We don't see HDTV in the near future.

Thanks

[Oldford]

Find a local retailer and find out what he might offer. He'll have more of a stake in having a happy customer than the offshore CSRs that Dish is using.

[DBS Commando]

Try a different CSR. Some of them don't have their facts straight.

and when they say add a "dish 500," what do they mean? Don't you already have a Dish 500? Are you only seeing 1 satellite right now? What town do you get locals out of?

[braven]

A buddy of mine just switched from Comcast to D*. He got a SD dual tuner DVR and a SD non DVR tuner for the bedroom installed for zilch.

Like others have said. If you want to stick with E*, keep calling. You're bound to get a CSR that can help you out.