New Sears ad. (plus questions)

[Ruam]

Voom is only $400 and $39.90 per month. No mention of the cost for 2 or 3 rooms. No mention if it will work on analog TV's . It doesnt seem to give you Showtime or any other movie package for the $39.90 cost (I thought it used too) though Im not too sure.All channels are free till June.

Anyway if I knew the extra up front cost and monthly price for additional recievers plus if it had a PVR thingy then I would be highly interested.


My cable company is much more expensive than Voom (just 1 room of Digital cable is $45 and thats with just 11 additional channels and 30 additional DMX channels over basic, $6 for more for each room, plus a few $3 packs but only 6 more channels per pack) and the amount of avaliable channels sucks badly. I am a security guard and Direct TV is at my guard shack and the amount of channels there are unreal many more and better channels included in DirecTVs base package over the most expensive package for my Digital cable)and would be cheaper than my Digital cable bill.

I THINK DirecTV lets you own your equipment but my cable company makes you risk loosing $300 if your box (per digital box) gets damaged plus has the audacity to charge rent per box. Dish sadly isnt too good about letting you own your own equipment.Voom at $400 (remember you get an antenna installed) is quite a bargain if you only need 1 room (I am asking if anybody knows about additional rooms).

The best thing about Voom is they have some unique channels. They have B movie chanel for horror movies I heard with original programming. Who would have thought anybody would ever offer one of those?Once I find out what the cost for additional recievers is and whether there is a movie channel package included in the $39 charge then I might declair Voom to be the best deal around. (even though all the movie channels nowadays only run new crap ,circa 1999-2004, every now and then there is a half decent new movie , though Im waitting lol I had Showtime for 3 months and all I saw that I liked was Felinni Satricom and Bankok Dangerous which might have been older movies,I never heard of them before but boy were they worth having a subscription for).

Voom seems to be the best deal perhaps.

[madpoet]

"Voom is only $400 and $39.90 per month. No mention of the cost for 2 or 3 rooms. No mention if it will work on analog TV's . It doesnt seem to give you Showtime or any other movie package for the $39.90 cost (I thought it used too) though Im not too sure.All channels are free till June."

Right... no premium movie channels at that price. Extra receivers are a $5 mirroring fee per month. Each additional receiver you purchase beyond the first is $199. They will install up to 3 for free. It works with legacy TVs just fine, it has Svideo, etc; outputs.

-MP

[Ruam]

Once Dish started charging for PVR they lost their best deal status (You used to be able to have 70 plus cable/satellite channels plus about 15-18 off air antenna channels plus PVR and Showtime for only $36.99 a month with Dish for 1 room it went up with the 2-3 rooms which I would require) sadly.

Voom seemed like a good alternative with Showtime included for the $39.90 charge plus I thought there was a chance they didnt have that damn mirror reciever monthly fee.Now Voom isnt so great.Especially with no PVR.

Dish had a new deal that I at first thought sounded cool.You only needed 1 reciever and it could work on 2 TVs (meant you only needed 1 big box in your house and it would be wired to 2 different rooms PVR and all for the price of one) and monthly fee seemed the same as 1 room.Then I called them and found out (this isnt incredible bad but was a downer...it gets much worse) they required you to pay the extra $5 for local channels so that essentialy axed the $5 savings but still you didnt need to get 2 seperate PVRs plus 1 room didnt need a big box (o yea it comes with 2 through wall and floor remotes for each room).THEN I learned the deal stunk badly. It was one of those things where the equipment AT ALL TIMES remained the property of Dish meaning you could be out $500 with an accident or act of vandalism. This is true even if you rented it for many years. Its an accident waiting to happen. Naturaly I asked about a warrenty but it was an outragous $6 per month and yes i asked about a one time fee and it sadly didnt exist. I also think they charge you like $10 for a 3rd room(which includs a fourth since its another dual box but you cant have another PVR,and to edit to clarify Im not sure but I think the fee for a 3rd room goes up $10 over the second room due to a triple LNB antenna or something) on top of the $5 for a second room.

I think DirecTV could be the best deal if they could offer a 2 room PVR deal for like $100 (dont hold your breath) on a 1 roomer for free (to make matters worse I was told on this site that the 1 room PVR would drop to $50 by 3/1 but at Circuit City its still $100 as of Sundays ad). They dont charge more than $5 no matter how many PVRs.

Dish's dual reciever thingy offered promise for a good Satellite deal.

I dont know what to do.I hate my cable company but no decent deals are popping up anywhere.

[DarrellP]

Ruam, in case you were not aware, VOOM has a $0 down, rent each STB for $9.50/month plus $5 per box extra. Programming is $39.90 if you purchase prior to 5/31, otherwise it's $49.90. The above includes all equipment and installation with no time commitment.

[mini1]

when did they ad the $5/month charge for extra receivers, it used to say at my local sears store that there was no cost for extra receivers, as long as you owned them?

[DarrellP]

Maybe this is just for the Lease program? They are charging me $5/month. Monkey see Monkey do I guess.

[Ruam]

Ruam, in case you were not aware, VOOM has a $0 down, rent each STB for $9.50/month plus $5 per box extra. Programming is $39.90 if you purchase prior to 5/31, otherwise it's $49.90. The above includes all equipment and installation with no time commitment.

It all a scheme mainly started by cable companys to make more money. I know that because my cable company wont tell me which models to look for on Ebay and such for extra Digital box's. They want you to rent something expensive both for monthly fees then never let you own anything like their $300 digital boxes.BUT when it comes to the intenet modems they let your $10 monthly rental count toward purchase over a 25 month period. Amazing they will milk you for rent on something cheap AND let you eventualy own it probabilly because they know it wont make them much money if you damage it as you can simply go buy a replacment in store and pretend you never damaged their modem to begin with.

Anywy till these $0 down deals actualy let you purchase their equipment over so many months (with what $10 extra per month?) then you are simply better off using a Sears 36 month charge plan or a credit card (some get as "low" as 10%-12% annualy)and get milked that way.At least the equipment is yours (and its not some pride thing it out and out the best insurance policy around to own your own equipment).

Like I said before Dish has been the worst at letting you own your own equipment.Never buy from VMC satellite.Unless the sales people have lied to me then Dish (the company itself not retailers or net dealers) did actualy start letting you own your own equipment but apparantly their new dual reciever system now has a rental only plan (well you dont pay anything extra but it remains the property of Dish and they charge $300 just for the satellite if it gets damaged , and trust me the satellite is the cheapest part of the system plus the most vulnerable to being stolen or vandalized). DirecTV salespeople claim that the equipment is yours after you fill your contract.


EDIT also did I hear you correctly that the $39.90 standard monthly fee will be $49.90 for everybody who purchases after 5/31? Will the previous buyers be grandfathered? Is this before the monthly rental fees? Man o man VOOM is loosing me fast (scratch that they did loose me). First they take away Showime and make you pay $15 just for that then they add a $5 additional reciever monthly fee (would amount to another $10 increase for me likely though maybe I could get by with only 2 rooms though) now a $10 per month fee increase?

Anyway I really hope Dish lets you own that dual reciever thingy or otherwise hope DirecTV comes out with one. Its the last hope for a decent deal which gives you no/low upfront fee for an effective 2 room PVR plus cuts cost on additional rooms (1 reciever for 2 rooms and 2 for 4 is a great idea.... even if they get their $5 back by making you purchase local channels). I would also consider getting Dish's $82.99 everything package as it would only effectivly be $33 per month for all 30 movie channels when you consider the $5 PVR savings (of coarse movie channels suck now a days but at leat they are 100 times cheaper than they were 10-15 years ago and there are much more of them, still they were so much better long ago even though a single movie channel costed $15 in 1989 and $10 in 1995, a trade off I am trying to measure value wise). DirecTV's everything package is expensive and worthless to the none sports fan like myself but I like the company the best for some reason(seem to be the most reliable and least schemy).

[DarrellP]

STB's like this cost about $700 so you can rent it for 73 months and way before then, something better (like a PVR) will come along.

The $39.90 fee is good from now until the end of the year, then I believe it will go up to $49.90. Check out their website, it has the details.

The $5 fee per receiver is standard with any company. I still think Voom is a bargain compared to Dish. I'm paying Dish $28/month and all I get from them is the HD Pack and my locals. I'm being charged $5 for an extra receiver and a $5 no program fee. Heck, for $25 more, I am getting 21 HD channels and 40+ SD channels and an extra receiver from Voom.

[Ruam]

STB's like this cost about $700 so you can rent it for 73 months and way before then, something better (like a PVR) will come along.

The $39.90 fee is good from now until the end of the year, then I believe it will go up to $49.90. Check out their website, it has the details.

The $5 fee per receiver is standard with any company. I still think Voom is a bargain compared to Dish. I'm paying Dish $28/month and all I get from them is the HD Pack and my locals. I'm being charged $5 for an extra receiver and a $5 no program fee. Heck, for $25 more, I am getting 21 HD channels and 40+ SD channels and an extra receiver from Voom.

$400 to OWN and that includes 2 free months (well it is now it was about 70 days when the offer first caught my attention) which is an $80-$100 value (actualy more valuable with all programming) plus an off air antenna and instalation which is a $50-$100 value at the very least.

You pay $200 essentialy for the box and that is equal to about 1 year and a half of renting (plus comes with all the advantages of owning , meaning you arent screwed if something happens to it or the outside dish, no contracts, etc.). If they get something better then either sell your old unit or keep it as a backup when the newer more expensive model breaks.Or use it in another room.

[Mike Richardson]

If you buy a $300 receiver, on the RARE chance that it's stolen, you are out $300, AND you have to go pay another $300 to buy another receiver.

If you rent a $300 receiver, on the RARE chance that it's stolen, you are out $300, but you can go and rent another receiver.

Which one sounds better to you, and why?

[Ruam]

If you buy a $300 receiver, on the RARE chance that it's stolen, you are out $300, AND you have to go pay another $300 to buy another receiver.

If you rent a $300 receiver, on the RARE chance that it's stolen, you are out $300, but you can go and rent another receiver.

Which one sounds better to you, and why?

One reason why I heard recomendations on this site to buy a warrenty as it saves you money sending it back or something. Both DirecTV and Dish supporters say that.

Granted thats a technical glitch that the company will/,ight repair and is a slightly different issue.But the idea of having a rented dish (now I mean VOOMS Dish not Dish Network though DN does charge $300 if your rented Dish gets damaged) outside exposed to the elements in this country of unreal thunderstorms and tornados isnt wise.

I can see somebody who needs 2 rooms paying the $400 to get the antenna (ownership),antenna instalation,dish (ownership), dish instalation, and first reciever(ownership) (plus 2 free months of everything) THEN THEN maybe renting for the second room a reciever as a slightly o.k. temporary solution till a PVR comes out. I would only risk that very temporarily. At least indoors there is a good chance it wont get busted if only rented for a few months to a year.

Im soooooo smart.