[mythtv-users] OT: DirecTV STB, Lease vs Own?

Kichigai Mentat kichigai at comcast.net
Sat Apr 8 02:45:26 UTC 2006


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On Apr 7, 2006, at 11.22, Jeff Simpson wrote:

> I know this is not a DirecTV support forum, but I imagine somebody
> here has gone through this:
>
> Right now I am paying $5/month to lease a DirecTV STB. I see that the
> box I have (D11) is available on places like eBay for $17 shipped.
>
> Some questions I have:
> Am I only being charged the box rental fee from DirecTV?

You'd have to check your bill on that one. If your fee is more than  
$5/mo, then probably yes. More than likely, this is a $5 fee on top  
of your regular monthly service charge.

> Or is there a fee associated with just having a box connected, even if
> I own it (a per-tv charge?)

I don't know about DirectTV, but ComCast handles things pretty much  
on a per-box basis. We have two digital cable boxes in the house, and  
one analog line for Myth. We don't have to pay anything for the  
analog line for Myth, but we are paying to receive the cable  
packages, and for the box rentals.

> Do I save any money by purchasing my own box?

Unless DirectTV starts charging you for not using their leased box,  
the thing should pay for itself in as little as three months or so  
(based on the numbers you give).

> Can I buy more than one and use them, or is there a fee associated
> with each of them?

Well, can your satellite dish feed multiple signals to multiple  
boxes? That would be the big catch. I know that in the past, it used  
to be you needed a satellite dish per box, but I don't know. If you  
have the physical capability of hooking up multiple STBs to one  
satellite, you're probably in the clear. As above with ComCast, we  
already had the line running into the room, so it didn't matter that  
we hooked something up to it.

> The people selling these boxes are all about the "activation", anyone
> know what that entails?

Can't help you there.

>
> Thanks!
>
>  - Jeff
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