max number of receivers on an account

[kyoo]

What is the maximum number of receivers you can have activated on a single Dish account? I know you can have 4, at least.. but can you do 6? I thought I heard a rumor that they upped the limit.


I realize the SW64 only allows 4 receivers.. but i'm talking about billing limits.

[dishrich]

6 receivers IS the limit & still is - sorry.

[motjes2]

Indeed it is. I have 6 receivers on my account. I e-mailed E* yesterday asking why only six receivers since they even post on their website diagrams how to connect up to 12 receivers. Isn't this contradictory? The response I heard is that their billing system does not know how to bill more than 6 receivers/account. This is very lame and it is not the way a business or any business should be conducted. I really though that E* would allow the supply/deman rule rule their business but that's not the case.

[MikeW]

Speaking of limitations, I asked why they wouldn't allow you to remove programming using their website. The CSR stated it was because they hadn't figured out how to charge 5 bucks for the removal of services. I contend they could not charge the 5 bucks since no CSR would be needed to complete the transaction...too simple I suppose.

[AllieVi]

E* accounting software limitations may well be the reason for the maximum of six receivers per account. When the code was originally written in the early days of DBS, I suspect they thought six was more receivers than anyone would ever want and designed-in the limit. Times change.

Rewriting the software to accommodate more receivers would seem to be a simple task, but I would resist making a change like that if I were Charlie. Anyone who has dealt with software knows that sticking with a program that works is often a better choice than possibly introducing new bugs when "improving" it.

The number of legitimate customers who want more than six per account must be very small. I suspect this software revision is very low on Charlie's priority list.

[JohnH]

Well, it seems to be an industry standard since DirecTV has the same limit of 6. I have 2 accounts with DISH Network because of receivers 7 and 8 :)

[HTguy]

The new DishPro hardware makes it easy to hook up 12-14 rcvrs to 1 or 2 dishes but what they have in mind is multi-dwelling units & commercial accts.

Don't expect to see more than 6 "slots" on an acct anytime soon. They're concerned about "Account Packing" (sharing with neighbors, etc.)

[Jacob S]

I thought they said they were redoing the whole system

[Mike123abc]

6 recievers is probably not really a software limitation, but more of a deliberate decision on the part of D* and E*. They have to balance piracy with what they think is a realistic number of settop boxes. Since you can get $100/month+ worth of programming for only $5 more it lends itself to piracy pretty easily.

You could for example split your bill with someone they have 3 recievers, and you have 3 recievers. The satellite cos are out the $100/month that the second person should be paying.

They have been nice enough not to "require" you to have your recievers call in regularly to be authorized. I would bet if they let more than 6 on the account they will make your reciever call in once a week or something to say "hey I am here on this phone line" to make sure you are not running an illegal dish at Aunt Betty's house 1000 miles away.

[Haywood]

It's called "stacking".

I once went to do a install at an apartment complex at UNCC and saw a single dish feeding 4 different apartments through the buildings cable feeds. I'm sure they were splitting the bill 4 ways.

I would think this sort of thing is happening everywhere, after all the public isn't stupid.

[Kagato]

Some Dish Comercial subscribers (like hotels) actually run a bunch of STBs into channel modulators. Obviously they don't do the 150 super pack. In fact I doubt many do more than 10-15 channels.

On an interesting note, I remember at an old condo complex we had basic cable included in the dues. The Time Warner rate was less than $15/month per unit for basic cable (All the unscrambled channels). That's was about 50% of Joe six-pack could get if they just called up. I can't help wondering what kind of deal big log term multi-unit deals get.