HR34 Monthly Charge??
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Looking at my bills again I still have some questions before I contact D*. There is a $10 charge for "Advanced Receiver-HD Monthly" and then the $8 charge for
"Advanced Receiver-DVR Monthly" which is explained. It is the $10 charge I am questioning.
I will most likely remove the $4.99 for "DIRECTV HD EXTRA PACK Monthly" which we hardly ever use. From what I see on D* website this is for getting 9 channels only. Is this correct? Now that I am retired I am cutting back on my expenses.
"Advanced Receiver-DVR Monthly" which is explained. It is the $10 charge I am questioning.
I will most likely remove the $4.99 for "DIRECTV HD EXTRA PACK Monthly" which we hardly ever use. From what I see on D* website this is for getting 9 channels only. Is this correct? Now that I am retired I am cutting back on my expenses.
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If you have HD equipment, and you are not exclusively in an MPEG4 market that requires H/HR devices to receive your locals, you have to carry HD service at $10/month. If you have DVR, you have to carry the DVR service fee at $8/month. If you want the excellent channels in the HD Extra pack, you have to pay the $4.99 fee. If you want MRV, you have to pay the $3 for Multi-Room Viewing. There is the new fee structure called advanced receiver monthly that is $20 that includes HD, DVR, and MRV which for those playing at home makes it $1 less than each individually. The only charge you have mentioned that is voluntary if you have an HR34 is the HD Extra pack.
Boy, they sure nickel & dime this stuff. I find the DVR fee a stretch, though I suppose the hardware costs more so they need to "subsidize" its occasional replacement with a higher fee. A fee for multi-room viewing is a bit much, though, as that doesn't really represent an ongoing expense to DirecTV.
I'm glad my water and electricity utilities don't charge me for how many outlets and faucets I have, or how many I want to use simultaneously, or charge me extra for 220 volt service for my range and clothes dryer.
I'm glad my water and electricity utilities don't charge me for how many outlets and faucets I have, or how many I want to use simultaneously, or charge me extra for 220 volt service for my range and clothes dryer.
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Water and electricity are pretty much considered necessities...you don't have to have HD sat tv....you can easily cut your bill back by not subscribing to HD, have fewer receivers installed, and take lower programming packages.TMan said:
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It's the nature of the business. They also have to pay for various patent agreements etc for DVRs. It's a no win scenario in this case. They could roll the DVR fee into the normal plan (like they used to with Premiere), but then someone without a DVR will feel like they are paying for something they don't have.TMan said:
Honestly, compared to some other providers, DirecTV does it better. I'd rather pay the per account DVR fee than a per DVR fee like can happen with cable. To me, that's really nickel and diming, and really starts adding up. That costs a lot more than DirecTV's per box fee. I think some charge $15 for each DVR.
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2,322 Posts
I just looked, I think Im getting overcharged. I have one HR34 connected to my living room tv, then one H25 for the bedroom.
10/23 11/22 Advanced Receiver-DVR Monthly 8.00
10/23 11/22 Additional TV - 1 Client 6.00
Fees
10/24 Additional TV 6.00
10/24 Primary TV 6.00
Those are my charges, with one $6 credit later in the bill for my Primary TV.
10/23 11/22 Advanced Receiver-DVR Monthly 8.00
10/23 11/22 Additional TV - 1 Client 6.00
Fees
10/24 Additional TV 6.00
10/24 Primary TV 6.00
Those are my charges, with one $6 credit later in the bill for my Primary TV.
I think you're missing my point. I'm perfectly willing to pay for access to the channels cable and satellite companies offer. I'm enjoying my new DirecTV services. It's just the fees beyond the main package that get annoying.
I finally had to bail on my beloved pair of TiVos, and cable service, because those units couldn't do what I needed them to any longer. Most channels unavailable on my old SD one (only a few analogs channels still on the wire), and my HD one always struggled with its CableCARD and tended to lose channels in the lineup. Also upgraded my bedroom TV to HD finally. I liked the cost more, though: $2/month for the CableCARD, and no other ongoing monthly fees for having DVRs. No extra fees because I had a second television connected. (Granted, I got by on the second TV because it was an old analog model, and I didn't have a cable box on it.)
I bought lifetime service on both TiVo units years ago, and the effective monthly cost of what I paid up front over what would be a reasonably long life is quite tolerable. And I could transfer shows between them without paying a ridiculous monthly fee for the privilege of doing so.
So that's my frame of reference when I look at how the bill breaks down.
I realize DVRs are more complicated that regular tuners, and thus more expensive. I can see the rationale for that fee, even if it annoys me.
I'd rather buy my equipment outright, own it outright, and also not be charged a fee because a couple of devices happen to have access to each other over a coax or Ethernet network in my house and want to share recordings between rooms.
Most people here have home broadband internet. What if your provider wanted to charge more EVERY MONTH because you had the gall to print from your laptop in the kitchen to the desktop computer's printer in the basement? There is no burden on the internet provider to move print job data within my home; why should DirecTV care if I want to move shows around? I doubt it costs DirecTV more if I have interconnected DVRs and/or C31 clients versus a pair of independent DVRs or two regular tuners.
If the internet provider followed the cable/sat model, we'd have to pay for every internet-connected device in the home individually, beyond the basic package and the first "free" device. And you'd have to lease a router from them to manage all these connections. In some ways, I'm surprised they don't. Having more computers in a home will likely use more of the provider's finite bandwidth capacity. Having more tuners/DVRs in one's satellite service has no impact on their systems; receiving the signals is completely passive as far as DirecTV's burden is concerned.
I'd rather buy a cell phone for $600 instead of $200, have no fixed contract period, and have the bill be at least $20 less for the next two years because they're not subsidizing my hardware, too, but that ain't gonna happen.
I finally had to bail on my beloved pair of TiVos, and cable service, because those units couldn't do what I needed them to any longer. Most channels unavailable on my old SD one (only a few analogs channels still on the wire), and my HD one always struggled with its CableCARD and tended to lose channels in the lineup. Also upgraded my bedroom TV to HD finally. I liked the cost more, though: $2/month for the CableCARD, and no other ongoing monthly fees for having DVRs. No extra fees because I had a second television connected. (Granted, I got by on the second TV because it was an old analog model, and I didn't have a cable box on it.)
I bought lifetime service on both TiVo units years ago, and the effective monthly cost of what I paid up front over what would be a reasonably long life is quite tolerable. And I could transfer shows between them without paying a ridiculous monthly fee for the privilege of doing so.
So that's my frame of reference when I look at how the bill breaks down.
I realize DVRs are more complicated that regular tuners, and thus more expensive. I can see the rationale for that fee, even if it annoys me.
I'd rather buy my equipment outright, own it outright, and also not be charged a fee because a couple of devices happen to have access to each other over a coax or Ethernet network in my house and want to share recordings between rooms.
Most people here have home broadband internet. What if your provider wanted to charge more EVERY MONTH because you had the gall to print from your laptop in the kitchen to the desktop computer's printer in the basement? There is no burden on the internet provider to move print job data within my home; why should DirecTV care if I want to move shows around? I doubt it costs DirecTV more if I have interconnected DVRs and/or C31 clients versus a pair of independent DVRs or two regular tuners.
If the internet provider followed the cable/sat model, we'd have to pay for every internet-connected device in the home individually, beyond the basic package and the first "free" device. And you'd have to lease a router from them to manage all these connections. In some ways, I'm surprised they don't. Having more computers in a home will likely use more of the provider's finite bandwidth capacity. Having more tuners/DVRs in one's satellite service has no impact on their systems; receiving the signals is completely passive as far as DirecTV's burden is concerned.
I'd rather buy a cell phone for $600 instead of $200, have no fixed contract period, and have the bill be at least $20 less for the next two years because they're not subsidizing my hardware, too, but that ain't gonna happen.
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Looks like they think you have an RVU client on your account. Logon to your account then select MY SERVICES and then the ADDITIONAL TV tab and see if it's showing any RVU clients, if yes I'd contact them and have them correct your account.Jason Whiddon said:
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Thanks RAD, what I was thinking. I sent them an email earlier. I guess I never noticed, the damn bill is like reading hieroglyphics with all my credits on it.
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An mpeg4 market gets you the HD gear at no additional cost over older SD equipment, it does not get you free HD channels.joshjr said:
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Yes, if you live in an MPEG 4 market and cancel HD Access they will lock your receivers down to Hide HD duplicates (so only SD channels show in the guide), and de-authorize all of the HD channels except for your locals (so your existing series links won't work anymore). I believe they also lock the box to a maximum of 480p, but I'm not positive about that, you might still be able to watch your locals in HD instead of downscaled to SD.joshjr said:
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