$5 per box fee WAIVED???

2255 Views 19 Replies 14 Participants Last post by Radio Enginerd, Dec 19, 2006

rutgersfan

Discussion Starter · Dec 18, 2006

Anyone else not paying the $5 fee per additional box? I have been a subscriber since the Primestar days, and have NEVER paid this fee. I currently have 5 active boxes, should be a $20 fee, but no! I only ask because several friends of mine are pissed at me and want to know why. I really have no idea(I never complained). Was wondering if anyone could shed some light on this.

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1 - 20 of 20 Posts

Dalek1963

· #2 · Dec 18, 2006

Hi,
The fact that you were a primestar customer is why you're not paying the fee. All primestar customers are grandfathered into a household fee rather than the per unit fee.

rutgersfan

Discussion Starter · #3 · Dec 18, 2006

Dalek1963 said:
Hi,
The fact that you were a primestar customer is why you're not paying the fee. All primestar customers are grandfathered into a household fee rather than the per unit fee.

ahhhh, thanks.

DTV needs to get rid of that fee. It's ridiculous. I almost had two $100 referrals, but once my buddies found out their bill would be $15 higher, they stayed with cable.

Mavrick

· #4 · Dec 18, 2006

rutgersfan said:
ahhhh, thanks.

DTV needs to get rid of that fee. It's ridiculous. I almost had two $100 referrals, but once my buddies found out their bill would be $15 higher, they stayed with cable.

Actually it is now a $50 referral credit for you and your friend also gets a $50 credit. I do not know when they changed this I just know that they have now.

http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/contentPage.jsp?assetId=900008

Blitz68

· #5 · Dec 18, 2006

rutgersfan said:
ahhhh, thanks.

DTV needs to get rid of that fee. It's ridiculous. I almost had two $100 referrals, but once my buddies found out their bill would be $15 higher, they stayed with cable.

I have lost about 8 refferals because of this

ajwillys

· #6 · Dec 18, 2006

rutgersfan said:
ahhhh, thanks.

DTV needs to get rid of that fee. It's ridiculous. I almost had two $100 referrals, but once my buddies found out their bill would be $15 higher, they stayed with cable.

Everyone I know says they would switch to D* if they didn't have so many tv's that would need boxes.

carl6

· #7 · Dec 18, 2006

It will be interesting to see what cable companies do in 2009 when the OTA digital change occurs. I would expect to see them also drop analog (even though they would not have to), and right now my local cable company charges a higher monthly fee for a digital STB than DirecTV charges.

The era of hooking up a half dozen tv's to your analog cable will come to an end sometime. The cable companies would absolutely love to see that happen, and I've no doubt they will use the 2009 OTA digital mandate to do that.

Carl

rutgersfan

Discussion Starter · #8 · Dec 18, 2006

ajwillys said:
Everyone I know says they would switch to D* if they didn't have so many tv's that would need boxes.

yeah, it's pretty ridiculous. At least they don't charge much, if at all, for hardware anymore. That used to be a big drawback to DTV. Now it's this stupid $5 charge.

It was $100 per referral just a couple months ago, wonder when it changed

notme

· #9 · Dec 18, 2006

carl6 said:
It will be interesting to see what cable companies do in 2009 when the OTA digital change occurs. I would expect to see them also drop analog (even though they would not have to), and right now my local cable company charges a higher monthly fee for a digital STB than DirecTV charges.

The era of hooking up a half dozen tv's to your analog cable will come to an end sometime. The cable companies would absolutely love to see that happen, and I've no doubt they will use the 2009 OTA digital mandate to do that.

Carl

Just look at Fios, if you don't have a box you get like 12 channels from what I understand.:eek2:

wipeout

· #10 · Dec 18, 2006

I could have turned many cable friends to Directv if not for this $5 per box fee. I hate it myself.

Earl Bonovich

· #11 · Dec 18, 2006

$5 fee has been there since Day one of DirecTV.
It isn't going anywhere...

Cable has their own version of it: $5 rental fee for additional digital boxes.
So as more and more content leaves the analog band for Cable-Co's, and goes to digital... that $5 rental fee comes back into play.

Here in Chicago area... last year, Comcast moved 10 of the top 25 most popular channels, to their digital band... I know of at least 5 people that switched to either SAT provider, when they did that... as if they where going to need a box... they rather it have been for a SAT provider.

That $5 fee used to account for more then half my bill (when I had 10 receivers).
So yes, I would like to see it go away too.... but... it isn't going anywhere.. and thus, that plays a factor into "cost"

rutgersfan

Discussion Starter · #12 · Dec 18, 2006

you know, that's a good point about cable. It seems like DTV would really gain an advantage over cable if they waived it even for the first TWO boxes. Once cable goes all digtial, cable people will get a little upset, and hopefully finally wise up and switch.

It still amazes me how many people ***** that cabe doesn't carry some channels, like NFL network, yet they continue to pay that bill. Why be loyal to them?

Earl Bonovich said:
$5 fee has been there since Day one of DirecTV.
It isn't going anywhere...

Cable has their own version of it: $5 rental fee for additional digital boxes.
So as more and more content leaves the analog band for Cable-Co's, and goes to digital... that $5 rental fee comes back into play.

Here in Chicago area... last year, Comcast moved 10 of the top 25 most popular channels, to their digital band... I know of at least 5 people that switched to either SAT provider, when they did that... as if they where going to need a box... they rather it have been for a SAT provider.

That $5 fee used to account for more then half my bill (when I had 10 receivers).
So yes, I would like to see it go away too.... but... it isn't going anywhere.. and thus, that plays a factor into "cost"

paulman182

· #13 · Dec 18, 2006

I must be rich and didn't know it because $5 per month per box doesn't sound like much to me.

Of course, I come from several years with E* and only one receiver in the whole house!

rutgersfan

Discussion Starter · #14 · Dec 18, 2006

$5 would be fine for a box or two, but if you have 4 or 5, which now a days is not uncommon, $20 extra per month is a lot. Apparently it is a lot, because it turns some people off from joining the satellite community.

Earl Bonovich

· #15 · Dec 18, 2006

You are right... it is alot.
I was droping $45 extra month for extra boxes, so I simply consolidated the boxes I didn't need any more.

FYI, those that are thinking about "cable-cards"... some cable-co's are charging a rental fee on Cable-Cards as well.

rutgersfan

Discussion Starter · #16 · Dec 18, 2006

I'm lucky I was an old Primestar guy. No fees on 5 boxes. I keep the unused ones active just in case I might need it.

I also think they charge the $5 to keep people from using one account to keep multiple households active.

dodge boy

· #17 · Dec 18, 2006

Earl Bonovich said:
You are right... it is alot.
I was droping $45 extra month for extra boxes, so I simply consolidated the boxes I didn't need any more.

FYI, those that are thinking about "cable-cards"... some cable-co's are charging a rental fee on Cable-Cards as well.

Earl, you know if you get the Titanium package you can get 10 receivers at no addditional charge.......

by the way..... how 'bout that game Sunday (Bucs-Bears)

cbearnm

· #18 · Dec 19, 2006

carl6 said:
It will be interesting to see what cable companies do in 2009 when the OTA digital change occurs. I would expect to see them also drop analog (even though they would not have to), and right now my local cable company charges a higher monthly fee for a digital STB than DirecTV charges.

The era of hooking up a half dozen tv's to your analog cable will come to an end sometime. The cable companies would absolutely love to see that happen, and I've no doubt they will use the 2009 OTA digital mandate to do that.

Carl

Good point about the cable companies being opportunistic. OTA dropping analog would really not affect cable companies at all. They could receive the digital signals and convert the to analog to avoid the customer requiring boxes to view the signal. Similar to cable channels that show up as analog today, they are just being converted to a non-digital stream. (They are received via satellite by the cable co, so they are digital at that point.)

That being said, they probably WILL use the conversion as an excuse to require boxes for all sets, but there is no technological reason to do so.

qw3rty

· #19 · Dec 19, 2006

We used to have 2 boxes, one for the upstairs TV, and one for the downstairs TV. There are 6 bedroom TVs that were hooked to both the boxes, one on channel 3 and one on channel 4.

Radio Enginerd

· #20 · Dec 19, 2006

Earl Bonovich said:
You are right... it is alot.
I was droping $45 extra month for extra boxes, so I simply consolidated the boxes I didn't need any more.

FYI, those that are thinking about "cable-cards"... some cable-co's are charging a rental fee on Cable-Cards as well.

If your TV has a cable card in it, how would it be a "rental fee"?

They should call it what it is... It's not a lease fee, rental fee or whatever, it's a surcharge and the price of doing business in the digital age. When all is said and done we'll see DTV, Dish Network and Comcast using that fee as a possible bargaining chip. It's only a matter of time.

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