5 Tips to Ordering Satellite TV

If you’ve gone through the process of ordering satellite television or are doing it for the first time now, there are a handful of things that’ll help you get the most bang for your buck (and time). Here are our most important tips, listed in no particular order:

1) Shop around – it seems obvious, but a lot of people don’t check around for the best deals before ordering. You probably receive no shortage of ads in the mail, flyers on your car, emails in your phone and more, so you have plenty of access to the literature. Fact is, though, most of those high volume ads don’t include the best deals so you could be leaving money on the table. The best way to find the latest promos is visit some of the larger retailers online and comparison shop [ie, run a google search for “DIRECTV (or DISH) Certified Retailers”)]. We also list some of the leading promos as we find them – see the images at the top of this page.

2) Go with a smaller package – even though it’s tempting to get the biggest programming package available, remember the promotional prices won’t last and after the first year, your monthly rate will go up by about $10-$50/month. In general, it’s a good rule to sign up with a smaller package then add-on or upgrade as needed. It might up end up saving you a few hundred dollars a year.

3) Do Your Provider Homework – if you’re signing up for satellite TV for the first time, you’ll probably have to decide whether to go with DIRECTV or DISH Network. Their pricing and programming are fairly similar, but there are a few key differences. For starters, DIRECTV is the only place where you’ll find high-end sports packages such as NFL Sunday Ticket and MLB Extra Innings. With DISH, you always know you’re getting the lowest prices on the market. For a more detailed breakdown, check out the “COMPARE DIRECTV vs DISH” section at the top right of this page.

4) Go with AutoPay – if you’re comfortable with sharing your bank information, it’s highly recommended you sign up for autopay. With most promos, you’ll save at least an additional $10/mo (often much more) and it also eliminates the potential for late payments or any other billing problems. The only downside is if you share your pay-per-view password with others in your household, you might not spot the occasional, unapproved purchase!

5) Ask Plenty of Questions – when you’re on the phone with your sales rep, they’ll give you a rundown of all their packages and prices. As you begin to narrow down the types of service, receivers and programming you’ll need, be very active with your questions. Always find out if there’s a special package or promo you may be close to qualifying for. Often, slightly tweaking an order (or even adding a few extra dollars to it), can get you quite a bit more in savings per month. The only way you’ll know is if you inquire, so keep your rep in the loop and they’ll do the very best they can to help you save.

Well, that’s our top 5 when it comes to ordering satellite TV – we hope you found it helpful and it makes getting your TV hooked up just a little bit easier. If you can think of any other tips, please leave a comment below and we’ll add it to the list.

About the author

George Levint

George is the senior editor at DigitalFind and an expert in how technology at home impacts our lives. From funky analog radios to AI devices that try to out-think you, he's usually unfairly critical until proven otherwise. He also enjoys spending the occasional weekend off-grid to keep Skynet guessing.