Dish - Pay As You Go???

[wiredgeorge]

I looked all over the Dish site and can't find a good explanation for the "Pay As You Go" plan which RVers will likely be using. Thinking about Dish sat TV. Can someone explain this plan? If I call Dish, I have heard others say that their customer support has a hard time with this explanation... want to be armed before falling into terminal confusion! tia

[chuckster57]

From my understanding, you pay for the month(s) you have service.

I’ve had Direct since 2002 and just take a receiver from the house.

[rhagfo]

Dish RV package you buy the equipment the receiver and antenna. Then select a package and pay one month in advance. That is the requirements for startup.

You only pay for what you use! If you go out for a weekend and have the required clear view of the satellites, you call dish or use the the app or web site to activate. Once activated your service can take up to 20 minutes to be activated.
Now at the end of the weekend 2 or 3 days you call dish and CANCEL your service! This is the part they really don't have down that well, you want to CANCEL. ALL CHARGES STOP!!! If you PAUSE or SUSPEND your service you will incur a small monthly charge about $5. If you CANCEL you have 9 months to reactivate the service.

Now that you CANCELED the next weekend or week you wish to use it you call and need to bring the balance on your account back up to a full months charge, so you will owe for the three days you used the last time.

We did this for over three years before we went full time, now we just pay month to month.

[ctbruce]

Per the instructions given to me, you just dont pay for the next month if you dont want it. When you do you hook up again. It worked great for us in Colorado last week. I was able to change my local from the phone app. Easy peasy.

That's good advice that Rhagfo gives above.

[rhagfo]

Per the instructions given to me, you just dont pay for the next month if you dont want it. When you do you hook up again. It worked great for us in Colorado last week. I was able to change my local from the phone app. Easy peasy.

That's good advice that Rhagfo gives above.

That would mean paying a months charge for a few days use, great profit plan for Dish!

[notanlines]

Seriously, y'all didn't think you could just pay for 4 days use while you're in camp and then another five days late in the summer.....9 days total for the amount of $15.00? Uh huh, Dish would be around about a week and a half and then gone.

[Homer & Marge]

If you have Dish at home, you can add RV dish for $7 per month.

[LuvsPalmTrees]

We had the plan at one time. At first - it was - only pay as you go. Then all of a sudden I started to get charged $5.00 per month that we did not use it. When I called they said - "oh, this is the way it is" well, that was not how it was sold to me in the beginning. I kept it for about a year and then cancelled it completely. I may use it when we eventually go seasonal.

[rhagfo]

We had the plan at one time. At first - it was - only pay as you go. Then all of a sudden I started to get charged $5.00 per month that we did not use it. When I called they said - "oh, this is the way it is" well, that was not how it was sold to me in the beginning. I kept it for about a year and then cancelled it completely. I may use it when we eventually go seasonal.
That is because you didn't CANCEL the service, you likely paused or suspended it, and yes they will charge you $5 a month for that. If you own your equipment you cancel and no more charge until you start up.

Russ

[rhagfo]

Seriously, y'all didn't think you could just pay for 4 days use while you're in camp and then another five days late in the summer.....9 days total for the amount of $15.00? Uh huh, Dish would be around about a week and a half and then gone.

Did that for four years before we went full time. Owned our equipment, would cancel at the end of the weekend, they held the remainder of the one months prepayment until we reactivated. next time we reactivated then paid the difference for the days used. I don't like paying for something I don't use.

I will add that we DIDN'T have Dish at home we were on cable.

[mfifield01]

I did the debate two years ago. The best option was to switch the cable at home to satellite. I did go with Directv (only SD). In the end, I don't pay any additional. The RV receiver is used as the 3rd receiver at home. I just move it the TT when I hit the road.

My promo period is up next month, so I'm looking at options. I may switch the home to Dish.

[grey ghost]

I have dish and just up graded to the Hopper and two Joeys in the house, the service tech suggested I just purchase a Wally and put it in the camper and leave it there, it costs me an additional $7.00 per month. I have used it twice and it really works well.

[wiredgeorge]

The reason I asked is that we are in a contract with DirecTV for our home and they charge $20 a month pro rated to cancel plus a $15 disconnect fee. We got on the new contract because we cut out some of the stuff we WERE paying for an not using to lower our incredibly high bill. I have an extra receiver that I don't use from my business office I could put in the trailer and could buy an SD antenna but news from the DirecTV world indicates they are shutting down the SD bird next year; the news is vague but I don't want to chance spending several hundred bucks buying what could become an expensive boat anchor (SD only antenna). For reasons I don't really understand, the only antenna maker who makes an SD/HD antenna for DirecTV is Winegard at about $2000... not worth it to me. The antenna is called the Traveller and looks heavy and looks to be at home on the roof of an RV (not portable). Will wait till out DirecTV contract ends and go with Dish. Thanks!

[chuckster57]

I have a HD receiver in the family room and an SD receiver in the bedroom at home. Both work, just don’t get the HD channels in the bedroom. I suspect it will still work with my carryout if/when they shutdown the SD birds.

[ctbruce]

That would mean paying a months charge for a few days use, great profit plan for Dish!Yep, but great service for us. The trade off is ok. We get a great picture, no more OTA problems, only pay while we are using it, and it scratched our itch. I count that as a win. I will cancel it, though, when we aren't using it. I appreciate that tidbit.

[mfifield01]

I have looked into the SD channels going away. Like you said it is vague. I have read a few things that might happen.


The 101 satellite will no longer broadcast channels. For Directv RV, you would need the expensive roof mounted satellite or have to manually tune.
Currently, King has a controller that can change the satellite you tune on the King Quest. It might be possible for them to tune other Directv satellites.
HD channels could be broadcast on the 101 channels. This is unlikely and would probably reduce the total channels.


Currently, the 101 satellite is the only satellite you can tune on the less expensive portable units. To get Directv HD, you need to tune three satellites at the same time.

Another thing I read is about the AT&T purchase of Directv. AT&T could be using Directv for their new streaming service Directv Now only. Some speculate that they would let the Directv satellites run out of fuel and stop satellite service. This is based on the fact that Dish plans to launch new satellites to replace aging satellites and Directv shows no plans to replace older satellites.

[wiredgeorge]

A lot of ifs... the DirecTV forum is full of speculation and little in the way of fact. Many folks have said DirecTV made an announcement the SD bird is going down but I haven't seen it. I am going to wait till we Dish in the house and add a receiver in the trailer as one of our bunch paid on a single bill. Most of the time we will have decent OTA or if not, can watch NYPD blue... we binge watched and didn't finish season one last time out. They had great wifi at the River Oak Camp Ground in Camp Wood and we could also stream netflix with no buffering on my missus laptop. I think if DirecTV pulls SD, the antenna manufacturers will be forced to come up with HD hardware... time will tell.

[MattHelm21]

For reasons I don't really understand, the only antenna maker who makes an SD/HD antenna for DirecTV is Winegard at about $2000... not worth it to me. The antenna is called the Traveller and looks heavy and looks to be at home on the roof of an RV (not portable).

Not exactly true. If you want an automatic HD dish that is portable then it is true that the Winegard is the only option. I have it and am very happy with it. However, if you want HD, you can get a portable manual dish where you will have to set up the skew. I haven’t set this up personally, only the SD dishes but I’ve read it is not too difficult.

[takpak]

We've had Dish at home for years. Bought the equipment for the RV and set up that service. Have had it several years now and like it. In the winter, when the RV is "laid up" I just take the receiver and put it in my shop. I have a small TV in there, so I can watch the news, listen to music, etc. Come RV season again, just take it back to the trailer. For $7.00 a month, it's not worth stopping/starting it again and again. Plus, Dish is HD on the RV. Direct (unless they've changed) is not. Plus they are now part of AT&T.

[Ncgrandma]

We’ve had Dish pay as you go for 4 yrs. when I know we are going camping and want to use the tv I just call Dishes 800 number and pay for 1 month, give them the zip code of the area we will be in. That’s it. At the end of the month I paid for the will send me an email that the next month is due. If I don’t want it for the next month I just don’t pay the bill. No problems.

[Hblick48]

I've had Dish at home for 20 years. Got my first RV in 2003. Added automatic SD dish back then, and it worked great from coast to coast.

Sold that rig and got a Pathway X1 and 211k receiver (added hard drive for DVR) for my Montana. Originally had the dish hard mounted on the roof, but 20% of the time trees or other obstacles block the view. I have engineered a removable mounting system. Dish can be easily removed from the roof (mounted by the ladder) and placed anywhere (with 25' of RG6). I've used this setup from coast to coast, never having any problems receiving the western arc satellites. Use OTA antenna hooked up to 211k so locals show in guide.

Added HDMI splitter and ran HDMI cable to bedroom TV, so we get HD there also. Only issue is both TV's have same channel, but that's not an issue for us. Also had to add a wireless remote extender so we could change channels from BR, 211k uses infrared only remote.

I thought about upgrading to Wally, but I read that it must see all 3 satellites or it won't work. 211 works with 1, 2, or all satellites. There have been times when we could only get 2 satellites because of obstacles.

BTW, Winegard has a great app. It locates both satellites and broadcast towers using virtual reality. You can see the satellites or broadcast towers superimposed on your phone screen.

[Frederick]

Make sure your Sat, connection installed in the trailer works.. I had a lot of problems when first went sat, Ended up running main cable in window directly to box Dish told me they have lot of problems with RV cable because of the way it is installed. Even seen one rv that had installed a direct thru the side of the RV with a regular wall connections

[Bnrc73]

Fredrick could have seen me. I used a wall outlet in the side of my entertainment slider. Run directly to my Wally. Hard drilling that hole, but it works great. I'm using the Dish Tailgater. It only has one outlet but that's all we need. The only time the bedroom TV is on is when I program it for the OTA. I also have the Dish Hopper system at home, so it's $7 a month and I still get my local channels wherever we are. Love my setup.

[rhagfo]

We’ve had Dish pay as you go for 4 yrs. when I know we are going camping and want to use the tv I just call Dishes 800 number and pay for 1 month, give them the zip code of the area we will be in. That’s it. At the end of the month I paid for the will send me an email that the next month is due. If I don’t want it for the next month I just don’t pay the bill. No problems.

Such a waste of money even for a two week vacation if you call and cancel at end of your trip, you still have the remaining prepaid amount to use the next time you go out. There is no need to pay for the whole month.

[Kylemcmahon1]

Such a waste of money even for a two week vacation if you call and cancel at end of your trip, you still have the remaining prepaid amount to use the next time you go out. There is no need to pay for the whole month.



Good luck trying to get dish to do that. I have tried that multiple times. Tried cancel. Tried suspend. Every single time they take the whole months worth. You can not put it on hold. And have it next time.

[SonneSmiles]

We have Dish on the Go. Dish at home and then $7 a month for our rv. It's worth it 😎

[stokesrl]

They recently changed it and I ditched them. The support team has always been confused. Now, if you use if for one day in the month, you pay for the whole month.

[notanlines]

Do not believe that one can piecemeal a month of service. It can't be done. You must use the whole month.