Dish 942 HD Box without Phone Hookup??

[bradesp]

I have a remote lake cottage with a new HD 50" Plasma display. I have NO wired phone service to this cottage. I read an online review of the new 942 box indicating that phone hook-up is required. Major bummer for me if this is true!

Can someone confirm if this is true or not. If it is true, is there a work around of any kind?

Thanks!!!

bradesp

[greatwhitenorth]

Your 942 will work without a phone line attached, however, you will be assesed a $4.99 fee if it is not hooked up. Other than that, no worries....

[Stewart Vernon]

Originally Posted by greatwhitenorth

Your 942 will work without a phone line attached, however, you will be assesed a $4.99 fee if it is not hooked up. Other than that, no worries....

No worries unless they audit you for not having the phone connected... Dish is sending mixed messages on receivers like the 942 by saying it costs $4.99 more per month to not connect the phone line, but then auditing people who do not connect them.

I have become confused recently by the mixed signals myself.

[rjenkins]

On my first 942, the modem was dead, and the 942 wouldn't finish setup without having completed a phone-line check. I had to call support and agree to the extra $5 a month charge before it would get past that screen.

When I activated the replacement 942, I asked that they remove the $5 a month charge since the new one was hooked up to the phone line. They said the $5 a month charge was automatic, and would go away automatically when the new receiver called in. If the new receiver didn't call in within a certain amount of time, the $5 monthly charge would appear on my bill automatically.

So, for your remote lake cottage, you'll either have to live with the $5 a month charge, or if you're moving the 942 between the cottage and your regular residence, you might get tagged for the $5 charge during the time you have the 942 at the cottage. By the way, that's $15 in fees total, really. $5 additional receiver fee, $5 DVR fee (unless you have the Everything Pak), and the $5 no-phone fee.

The 942 works fine without the phone line, of course. On my first 942 with the broken modem, I was unable to order PPV at all was the only "issue". On other receivers, I've been able to order PPV without a phone line up to a certain limit, usually 3 shows, before it refuses to order any more until it can dial out. The 942 refused to order anything from PPV without the phone line.