Direct TV DNS rate going up

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It now costs $20 to get what used to be $14, a 42% increase. And other than CW, all you are getting is the same national networks you would get locally if you were a fixed site subscriber. There is no extra cost to DTV to provide DNS except the space on the satellite to carry the channels. In my opinion they are merely exploiting of a customer segment that has few alternatives for service.
 
If you have been following along all the local channels are upping their rates to the cable and satellite distributors which is probably part of all this.
 
Yeah, Fox led the fight for higher fees and now they all want to get on the bandwagon. But DNS channels are substitutes for the locals that DNS subscribers do not get and are not an additional service.  There should be no net extra cost for subscriber fees.
 
No one here has mentioned that they have to pay $ 5.00 per month for the receiver like we have to.  In other words, we have been paying $ 19.00 for years now.  The rest of you only had to pay $ 14.00 per month?  Hmmmm????  What do you think about taking the receiver from the house whenever we get ready to travel and forget the mobil package?  But then I guess we wouldn't get the networks.  Locals we never got anyway, even though we pay for them at the house.  Oh well...
 
When we replaced our old DirecTivo with an R-15 receiver/DVR this past summer, I was resolved to the fact that our bill would increase due to the receiver lease fee and DVR charge.  Much to my pleasant surprise, the receiver charge of $5.00 is being credited each month and our lifetime Tivo subscription is shown as a no charge Direct DVR Service Lifetime subscription on our bill.  So even though we now have a leased receiver and no more Tivo service, our bill remained the same.  So sometimes DTV does the right thing :)

But I do miss our Tivo.
 
Babette said:
What do you think about taking the receiver from the house whenever we get ready to travel and forget the mobil package?  But then I guess we wouldn't get the networks.  Locals we never got anyway, even though we pay for them at the house.  Oh well...
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We do just that.  In the stick home we have three receivers.  When we travel we take the kitchen receiver with us and have DTV suspend the other two ($10 mo savings).  Upon arrival at a place where we intend staying for a while, we call DTV and have them change our "service address" so that we can get local stations there.  Upon arrival back home we reverse the process.  Works great. 
 
Our total DTV bill is about $80/month, with a $60 program package plus DNS plus tax. We get a $5 credit every month because we own our receiver outright, but most are leased.

You can get probably locals if you notify DTV each time you move and update your "service address" zip code.  However the local channels may be on different satellites in some areas, and those satellites may or may not be accessible with a dome type dish or with certain receivers. For example, the locals in some regions are on Ka band satellites and no dome made can receive those.
 
Our Hughes receiver came installed in our 2004 Fleetwood Revolution.  When we got the Itasca Reyo in April we took the receiver out of the Revolution and installed it in the Reyo.  Didn't know that it was leased.  $ 5.00 a month for leasing that thing over a number of years could have bought a nice receiver.  Wonder if DTV will charge us the new rate of $ 20.00 plus $ 5.00 for the receiver?  If they'll do that, we'll go to Best Buy and buy us a receiver...
 
Babette said:
Wonder if DTV will charge us the new rate of $ 20.00 plus $ 5.00 for the receiver?  If they'll do that, we'll go to Best Buy and buy us a receiver...
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Check with DTV before you buy your own receiver. I was told by a salesman at Best Buy the DTV considers ALL receivers theirs no matter where or how you got it. So they charge the $5.00 rent.

YMMV
 
Good point, Don.  Most receivers you "buy" are in fact a leased receiver, owed by DTV. If you paid $40-$60 for a new receiver, you can bet it's leased and will pay $5/month.  I happen to own mine outright, so get a credit for the lease fee.
 
I just take the 2 from the house and change address if i can't get locals due to them being on other satellites i use a regular antenna.
 
On my DirecTV bill they charge a leased receiver fee and then credit it back. Note says included in base price or something like that.

I tried to find out which coast feed I will get under the new DNS policy. Guess what? DirecTV doesn't know. According to the CSR I will find out AFTER the change occurs, wow no kidding.  Only then will they send me a letter and tell me which coast will supply my DNS service. Of course I'll know right away, long before their redundant letter arrives, when I turn on my TV the day of the change. The decision will be based on the billing address. In as much as my billing address is in South Dakota there was no way of telling because it's in the middle of the country. He did say that I may be able to chose but he couldn't guarantee that I actually would have that option. Telephone time wasted on DirecTV: 1 hour .. to know nothing more then I did when I started.

What a crazy way to do something, however it is the DirecTV way.
 
IIRC for HD Direct pretty much uses a North-South line through the middle of ND down through central Texas to divide East and West coast feeds.
 
I guess there will be more of this behavior... they are getting hammered by Netflix, Roku, streaming video from more souces than I can count... all on demand and much of it is lower cost than DTV.  Kinda like the land line telephone business.  The battle for eyeballs is going to get intense as WIFI gets bigger and faster.  You might think DTV would notice this but it seems to be under their radar.  ::) ::)
 
SCR said:
On my DirecTV bill they charge a leased receiver fee and then credit it back. Note says included in base price or something like that.

I tried to find out which coast feed I will get under the new DNS policy. Guess what? DirecTV doesn't know. According to the CSR I will find out AFTER the change occurs, wow no kidding.  Only then will they send me a letter and tell me which coast will supply my DNS service. Of course I'll know right away, long before their redundant letter arrives, when I turn on my TV the day of the change. The decision will be based on the billing address. In as much as my billing address is in South Dakota there was no way of telling because it's in the middle of the country. He did say that I may be able to chose but he couldn't guarantee that I actually would have that option. Telephone time wasted on DirecTV: 1 hour .. to know nothing more then I did when I started.

What a crazy way to do something, however it is the DirecTV way.
Click to expand...

I found out how DirecTV will split the DNS feeds. In the pacific and mountain time zones you get the west coast feeds, central and eastern times zones get the east coast. This is based on your service or billing address. Found the information  through DirecTV Mobile Support at 800 769 4635. So DirectTV does know it's just that the CSR's don't know.

These changes will occur on 11/29/10.
 
Has anyone else receiving the non-HD DNS stations from both east and west coast NOT received the reported post card?
 
We do what George Drake does (see above) and it is free and works great.  Not much of a hassle either. Most of the time we use it between Arizona and Colorado.  They have an address listed for each state.  When we reach the New Mexico border on our way north we give them a call and tell the we are using our summer address which is in their records.  In 30 seconds voil?!  We are suddenly getting Denver instead of Phoenix.  We also have Sunday Ticket and it works no matter what local we are in. 

When we spent a few months in Baltimore, we gave a temporary address for that and in 30 seconds, new local service for there. 

For us there is no point in using East Coast or West coast.  We save money and no hassle and we are also allowed to purchase Sunday Ticket.  The only time I ran into the problem that Gary mentions was in Kalispell Montana.

Smoky
 
Has anyone else receiving the non-HD DNS stations from both east and west coast NOT received the reported post card?
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Ned,

I will let you know on Tues when we get home.  I have not received anything by email yet.
 
Smoky said:
We do what George Drake does (see above) and it is free and works great.  Not much of a hassle either. Most of the time we use it between Arizona and Colorado.  They have an address listed for each state.  When we reach the New Mexico border on our way north we give them a call and tell the we are using our summer address which is in their records.  In 30 seconds voil?!  We are suddenly getting Denver instead of Phoenix.  We also have Sunday Ticket and it works no matter what local we are in. 

When we spent a few months in Baltimore, we gave a temporary address for that and in 30 seconds, new local service for there. 

For us there is no point in using East Coast or West coast.  We save money and no hassle and we are also allowed to purchase Sunday Ticket.  The only time I ran into the problem that Gary mentions was in Kalispell Montana.

Smoky
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We've had HD DNS East for a year now and since we're set up in Sacramento for a couple of months I called, gave them a temp address, and got the locals feeds.  I'm not sure I'd give up the DNS because of not wanting to call EVERY time we travel but it sure was easy!


Smoky, how many times per year would you say you make a call to change?  Does DTV limit it?

Rick


 
Jim Johnson said:
I will let you know on Tues when we get home.  I have not received anything by email yet.
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Thanks.  We'll have another mail package on Monday and if there is no postcard I may have to call DTV Mobile Support and ask about it.
 
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