# To lease or not to Lease?



## subhuman (Mar 16, 2004)

Okay, obviously with the big hopla of late about the the new dish Mpeg 4 receiver upgrade/lease I have a few questions.

First of all I currently have an 1-811 and 1-301 receiver that I own. I understand that I am paying and additional $5.00 a month to have 2 receivers ($5.00 per an additional receiver).

Now I am thinking about biting the bullet and doing the VIP622 lease upgrade for $299. I will trade-in one reciever so I will have a total of 2 receivers (1-811, 1-VIP622). How much will this cost in receiver fees( DVR Fee, Lease Fee)? I also don't have a land line. This is my understanding of wait I will have to pay:

VIP622
$5.00 - No land line fee / to room connection
$5.00 - DVR fee
$5.00 - lease fee

$15.00 - Total for VIP 622

Dish 811
$5.00 - additional reciever fee

$20.00 - Total just to have the receiver

Is this correct? Seems to be getting a little out of hand with all of the fees. Thanks!


----------



## AcuraCL (Dec 12, 2005)

Leasing always has been and always will be, an excellent option for maximizing Dish's profit.


----------



## Rob Glasser (Feb 22, 2005)

subhuman said:


> Okay, obviously with the big hopla of late about the the new dish Mpeg 4 receiver upgrade/lease I have a few questions.
> 
> First of all I currently have an 1-811 and 1-301 receiver that I own. I understand that I am paying and additional $5.00 a month to have 2 receivers ($5.00 per an additional receiver).
> 
> ...


While yes there are a lot of fees the only difference in your totals for leased vs. owned of the same equipment is that additional $5.00 lease fee. The other $10.00 in fees for the 622 you'd still pay even if you bought the receiver. Also, if you lease a receiver you don't pay an additional receiver fee on it, it's a one or the other deal. So really it's a wash on an account with one owned and one leased receiver. Actually I lied, it's $0.02 more for the lease fee ($5.00) than the additional receiver fee ($4.98). That is exactly how much my monthly bill went up when I returned my owned 921 and replaced it with a leased 942.


----------



## langlin (Apr 8, 2005)

I thought I heard $19.99 for the HD package on the chat, now that is an additional $5.00 unless it includes a DVR fee, am I wrong???


----------



## subhuman (Mar 16, 2004)

robglasser said:


> Also, if you lease a receiver you don't pay an additional receiver fee on it, it's a one or the other deal. So really it's a wash on an account with one owned and one leased receiver. Actually I lied, it's $0.02 more for the lease fee ($5.00) than the additional receiver fee ($4.98). That is exactly how much my monthly bill went up when I returned my owned 921 and replaced it with a leased 942.


So basically if you lease instead of buy that maximum difference is $5.00 per month because if you own your equipment you first box doesn't have a receiver fee but each additional receiver does. So leasing is essentially the same except you pay $5.00 for every receiver including the first receiver. Does that sound right or is it $5.00 a month to lease no matter how many receivers one has?


----------



## Rob Glasser (Feb 22, 2005)

subhuman said:


> So basically if you lease instead of buy that maximum difference is $5.00 per month because if you own your equipment you first box doesn't have a receiver fee but each additional receiver does. So leasing is essentially the same except you pay $5.00 for every receiver including the first receiver. Does that sound right or is it $5.00 a month to lease no matter how many receivers one has?


Yes. Lease fee is $5.00 per receiver, and if you lease it replaces the additional receiver fee. So if you own your first receiver and lease your second the montly cost is the same as 2 owned receivers.


----------



## Bob Ketcham (Jan 2, 2006)

subhuman said:


> Okay, obviously with the big hopla of late about the the new dish Mpeg 4 receiver upgrade/lease I have a few questions.
> 
> First of all I currently have an 1-811 and 1-301 receiver that I own. I understand that I am paying and additional $5.00 a month to have 2 receivers ($5.00 per an additional receiver).
> 
> ...


I'm a new customer. I'm paying no lease (or equipment rental) fees. I have three receivers, all "leased". I do pay $10 in extra receiver fees for the 2nd and 3rd receiver. As best I can tell, the lease requirement is that I maintain AT60 or better as a minimum programming package. The lease fee is included in the $31.99 / month (w/locals) AT60 price.

You might want to talk to a customer retention rep about the fees if you are meeting the minimum programming package requirements.

And if you want to do something to reduce your fees, why not run a phone line. $5.00 will buy 50 feet of phone cord at Wal-Mart. They really want that phone line install so you can order PPV. Put the phone line in and resist the urge.

I'm quite pleased with Dish equipment fees vs. Time-Warner cable. With Time-Warner, I was paying $18 for an HD-DVR and a cable card. Now I'm paying $15 for three receivers (one that serves two sets and is an HD-DVR). With AEP, $5 of that (the DVR fee) is waived. More equipment, fewer monthly fees. Of course the lease upgrade fees wipe out the savings, but for the equipment and services I'm getting, the cost is competitive. I wouldn't be here if it weren't.


----------



## nospam (Sep 28, 2005)

I believe, there is no lease fee for the first receiver anyway. Lease fee/additional receiver fee appears only for the second receiver and for any consequent receivers.
Most important question is an absence of land line phone. I believe, you will not be able to lease, if there is no land line phone in the household. A lot of people are using VOIP and/or cell phones only. Correct me, if I'm wrong.


----------



## subhuman (Mar 16, 2004)

BOB said:


> And if you want to do something to reduce your fees, why not run a phone line. $5.00 will buy 50 feet of phone cord at Wal-Mart. They really want that phone line install so you can order PPV. Put the phone line in and resist the urge.


Bob - I don't have a landline. I use my cellphone for all of my phone calls. I am not going to pay $45 bucks a month (minium phone rate) for a phone line so i can order PPV with the remote control.

Can anyone else verifiy that I am not able to lease unless I have a landline? They would have to wave this if the only way you can have the receiver is buy leasing it. It's not like they are selling it.


----------



## AcuraCL (Dec 12, 2005)

subhuman said:


> Bob - I don't have a landline. I use my cellphone for all of my phone calls. I am not going to pay $45 bucks a month (minium phone rate) for a phone line so i can order PPV with the remote control...


Where the heck do you live? I have a landline for less than $20 with limited service ....


----------



## KingLoop (Mar 3, 2005)

subhuman said:


> Bob - I don't have a landline. I use my cellphone for all of my phone calls. I am not going to pay $45 bucks a month (minium phone rate) for a phone line so i can order PPV with the remote control.
> 
> Can anyone else verifiy that I am not able to lease unless I have a landline? They would have to wave this if the only way you can have the receiver is buy leasing it. It's not like they are selling it.


You can lease with or without a landline. There is a lot of confusion about this fee or that; If you sub to AT60 or more the monthly price is the same if you own or lease your equipment. The only thing you can do if you own your equipment is not have to sub to a minimum programming tier.


----------



## Rick_R (Sep 1, 2004)

According to my calculations, if the cost of the new HD package is $19.99 and the AT120 w/locals is $44.99 then $19.99+$44.99=$64.98 vs the $64.99 cost of the new HD w/AT120 & locals fee. Thus the lease looks like $.01. Is there an additional DVR fee if I get the 622?

My problem is that I have to return the Dish 6000 that I own. Also if I ever quit having the AT60 or higher I have to give back the receiver that I paid bucks for. Second problem is that I have to connect a telephone line which is a pain in the a**. I used to ocassionaly order PPV and then connect the phone line for the night (draping it across the room) and disconnect it in the morning when the purchase was picked up. Then they changesd the way purchases were picked up and I no longer could do that. So I now never order PPV. To be honest I do not like Dish being able to monitor my viewing habits.

It looks like my monthly fee will go up one cent but I will be locked in to Dish unless I forfit a $299 DVR right to lease fee.

Rick R


----------



## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

Rick_R said:


> My problem is that I have to return the Dish 6000 that I own.


That's me... if they wanted me to return my 6000u... but at the same time, it does me no good to keep it if I ever left Dish anyway... and it won't be good for the new channels... and in 1-2 years if they cutover to MPEG4 completely it won't be any good at all... so it's not like it has a lot of long term value left at this point, unfortunately.


----------



## KingLoop (Mar 3, 2005)

The way I see it is that if a sub owns an IRD and wants to go to a 622, sell the current IRD, and purchase the 622. The overall upgrade cost would be less, and the 622 would still retain resale value.


----------



## Danny R (Jul 5, 2002)

Leasing is a no brainer for me. New 622 costs $649. With the $299 lease option, it would take 70 months before the $5 fees add up to match the price. Sure I don't have a resale value, but I also don't have to worry about the drive dying after the warranty expires and needing to rebuy the whole thing either.


----------



## datwell (Jan 26, 2005)

Danny R said:


> Leasing is a no brainer for me. New 622 costs $649. With the $299 lease option, it would take 70 months before the $5 fees add up to match the price. Sure I don't have a resale value, but I also don't have to worry about the drive dying after the warranty expires and needing to rebuy the whole thing either.


Yes! And I am willing to wait for the April deal that discounts the $299 to $99 - that's a nice return for waiting a little while. But to use Danny R's example, this is more than 5 years before the break-even point is reached. Think - how many of us keep the same receiver units for that length of time? I feel leasing is a no-brainer, for my family anyway.

---Doug


----------

