fonrob

I just bought a new HDtv Directv wants 200 to upgrade my receiver. with everything going digital in June can I wait until then. or will I still need a HD receiver after everything goes digital. I thought I heard if you have satalite service then you do not need to buy additional equipment.

SoSpacey

so you have a standard dish on your house and need to upgrade to a HD dish, correct?

The digital transition is June will not effect you.

fonrob

I have HD in the family room and wanted to add it to another room. I have the dish to receive HD but wanted to know if I would need to get a new reciever after the transition to digital. I want HD in the other room an was wondering if I had to get a HD receiver.

fujishig

Digital transition will not affect you at all if you only use dish. It will only affect you if you're using antenna for the other tv.

Yes, you will need another HD receiver to get HD on your other tv. You have to check with them to see if your dish supports more than one HD box at a time (I'm pretty sure it will, but I have no idea).

OldDude

What transition to digital? Digital OTA is already up and running. Analog OTA turn-off is in June (except for 1/3 of stations that went in Feb).

Anyway, satellite is all digital already - standard, crappy digital. If you want HD, you have to pay for it or go OTA.

clckworang

As others have basically already said, HD is not the same thing as digital. You are fine as far as the digital transition, but if you want to be able to watch HD channels, you will have to buy an HD receiver for each TV that you want HD accessibility.

dgmayor

I'm shocked nobody has pointed out yet that the digital transition does not mean HD.

Jeeden

How did you go about trying to upgrade to HD on directv? Did you just call and ask about upgrading and they told you $200?

There are lots of threads about this on the net, but basically you need to threaten to cancel. You need to be very careful how you do it so they don't actually cancel you (have heard of this happening). Some quick steps are:

1. Call directv and ask about upgrading, they will say $200 or whatever. Ask if that is the best deal, they will say yes.
2. Say your not happy with that and who would you talk to about canceling because you can get HD equip etc from comcast (over my dead body ) or DISH. They may say at first that your under contract and it will cost you money to cancel, etc, just say yea yea, who do I talk to, they will transfer you to account retention.
3. When transferred they will say they understand you are interested in cancelling. Say you want to know how much, what is involved, etc IF I repeat IF you were to cancel right now. Don't say you want to cancel, act like you want to know what is required TO cancel.
4. At this point they should say that they are happy to tell you all the money, proceedures involved in canceling, but can they ask why you want to cancel. Basically give them the same story as before about DISH and comcast and your new HDTV and loving Directv, but can't afford the $200 the other rep said it would be when others will give you equipment for free. Don't talk too much, let them get a word in to start offering you stuff.
5. They should offer you the HDDVR or HD reciever (depending on which you want and should be asking for from the begining) for free with free shipping. Then ask how much the HD package is each month and they should tell you how much, but will probably offer it to you for free for 6 months or something. Then say you want to make sure this means they will come and hook everything up and give you the cable/dish/other equipment you need and they should confirm they will. Be very thankful and happy at this point and let them speak, they sometimes will offer even more stuff like free premium packages, etc. Then they will want to set up the appointment.
6. Usually they will charge your account for all the stuff and then credit all of it again to zero it out. Watch your bill, they forgot to give me my free HD for 6 months and the first bill was the $9 more a month, but I called and they saw it in the notes and fixed it right away.

Key is, be firm, well informed, ready to make a decision and accept the offer, but don't be a jerk and be very happy when you get your way, the first guy has no power and the retention people do.



Oh yea...and as said above, none of this matters for the Digital transition.

JuryDuty

This is excellent advice and this works no matter what service you use. For instance, I use Charter and was recently told my bill was going up to $128 for what I receive (cable/Internet/phone) and was told the absolute best offer they could give me was $118. I told them I'd think about it and hung up.

I called back an hour later and talked to a different rep. I told them I was thinking about canceling because $128 was too much and that $118 wasn't much of a break when AT&T offers the same services in my area to new subscribers for $99 and they get more channels, dvrs, etc.

Before I knew it, this guy in cancellation was offering me the same package--cable/Internet/phone for $77/month with a one-year-no-price-increase guarantee. Nearly 1/2 the price of the original offer!

The moral of the story is: Be nice and keep calling back until someone offers you something you want.