Dish TV boxes

[Tom7227]

A friend recently bought a house in rural Minnesota and he said there are 3 satellite dishes on the house and at least 3 boxes inside the house. Does he have any responsibility to turn them in? How does the company turn off the service. He hasn't tried them so he doesn't know if they work or not, but is wondering.

[delcecchi]

They send a signal to the box periodically to keep it alive. No signal, no programs. Lost mine over the winter when the power was off and had to call to get it reinstated.

[LakeDocktor]

They just deactivate the receiver in their system. The smart card in the receiver needs to be active and obtaining signal from the dish in order to watch programming. Depending on how old the boxes are, they may have been leased equipment and the previous subscriber/homeowner would then be subject to receiver fees for not sending them back. I doubt this is the case. If they are owned receivers and he doesn't have service, he could always activate the receivers without going into a 24 month contract but also wouldn't receive any of the current promotions.

If he is looking for service, sometimes it is just better off to sign up for new service. Yes, he would be in a contract, but it also comes with warranty periods, new equipment and the current promotions.