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Subject: 1. INTRODUCTION

Welcome to alt.dbs.echostar, an unmoderated Usenet newsgroup for
posting news, questions, and opinions about Echostar's Dish Network
products and services. See Subject 4 to find information on other
products.

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Subject: 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION
2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
3. POSTING GUIDELINES
4. ON-LINE RESOURCES
5. ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS GROUP
6. SOURCES OF CONVERSATIONAL AND OTHER ACRONYMS
7. CONTACTING DISH NETWORK

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Subject: 3. POSTING GUIDELINES

In general, it's always good to lurk at a newsgroup and read a few
hundred messages before posting one of your own. Although there are
good guides to news group etiquette, each news group has a personality
of its own. What is proper procedure in one, may get you flamed in
another.

Discussion of alterations to Dish equipment with the purpose of
obtaining a free signal are considered *off-topic* in this group and
should be directed to news:alt.dbs.echostar.hack. The same applies to
offers to buy/sell/trade related equipment.

There is greater tolerance for discussions that stray off-topic as
long as they are allowed to end.

- Please post in PLAIN text. No attachments and no HTML. Since it is
not a bin group, alt.dbs.echostar is not defined as a place where
binaries will be posted. Signatures are OK, as long as they're plain
text.

- Specify sites with an http:// (Who's computer is this?) prefix and most news clients will make
them linkable.

- Quote effectively. Repeat only the portion of the post you are
commenting on; do not quote signature blocks.

- Separate your response from the quote with 1 blank line so it can be
found.

- Make an effort to spell, capitalize, and punctuate properly.

- Start each question on a new line to make point-by-point replies
easier.

For a more complete discussion see:
http://www.imagescape.com/helpweb/news/newsnet.html (Who's computer is this?)
http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html (Who's computer is this?)
http://www.reference.com/Dir/Computers/Usenet/Etiquette (Who's computer is this?)
http://web.archive.org/web/20020106204242/www.echostaruser.org/openfaq/general/4.html (Who's computer is this?)

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Subject: 4. ON-LINE RESOURCES

Echostar Knowledge Base http://www.dishuser.org (Who's computer is this?)
The EKB is a user-maintained information site for Dish Network
programming packages and channel charts, receivers and software
versions, installation tips, dishes and switches, and other FAQ.
Updated nearly daily.

FAQ
http://web.archive.org/web/20020204064345/www.echostaruser.org/faq/ (Who's computer is this?)
Some of the oldest FAQs from alt.dbs.echostar, last updated in 2001.
Expect some dead links and outdated information, but covers the basics
in one document.

DBS Forums
DBS Forums was established and opened in early June 2000 by the
founder of the original DBS Dish and a few associates, not available
since April 2008.

DBS Talk http://www.dbstalk.com (Who's computer is this?)
DBSTalk was founded June of 2001 to promote the free exchange of
information and ideas from members of the satellite community.
Strongly focused on discussing Dish Network and DirecTV, DBS
discussion is what DBSTalk is all about.

SatelliteGuys.US http://www.satelliteguys.us (Who's computer is this?)
Founded Sept 2003, SatelliteGuys.US will work to bring you the best
DBS News, Talk, Rumors and Information found anywhere on the Intetnet.

AV Science Forum http://www.avsforum.com/ (Who's computer is this?)
The AVS Forum has over a dozen discussion areas of which two are
specifically DBS related. Visitors should visit the HDTV forum also
for discussion of DBS related HDTV issues.

Home Theater Forum http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htforum/index.php (Who's computer is this?)
The Home Theater Forum has over a dozen discussion areas of which only
one is dedicated to satellite and DBS issues.

Competing or related products
Echostar C-band: news:rec.video.satellite.tvro
DirecTV: news:rec.video.satellite.dbs, news:alt.dss, news:alt.dss.tech

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Subject: 5. ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS GROUP

D500 Dish 500 (20" elliptical dish that "sees" two satellites)
D* DirecTV
DBS Direct Broadcast Satellite
DD Dolby Digital (AC-3) http://www.dishuser.org/dolby.php (Who's computer is this?)
Sometimes Digital Dynamite
DHP Digital Home Plan
DHPP Digital Home Protection Plan
DiSEqC Digital Satellite Equipment Control
D/L Download
DMA Designated Market Area as determined by Nielsen Media.
See http://www.nielsenmedia.com/DMAs.html (Who's computer is this?)
DP DISHPlayer. See http://www.dishuser.org/7100.php (Who's computer is this?)
DP DishPro. See http://www.dishuser.org/dishpro.php (Who's computer is this?)
DPC DirecPC
DPL Dolby Pro-Logic
DSS Former name of combined DirecTV/USSB services.
DTH Direct-to-home
DTV Digital television. Also often used for DirecTV.
Dual Single-satellite LNBF with 2 outputs.
NOT another name for the Twin.
DVB Digital Video Broadcast
DVI Digital Video Interface
DVR Digital Video Recorder. See http://www.iwantptv.com (Who's computer is this?)

Available on-line with additional links at
http://www.dishuser.org/glossary.php (Who's computer is this?)
http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=9058 (Who's computer is this?)
http://www.dbstalk.com/acronyms.htm (Who's computer is this?)

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Subject: 6. SOURCES OF CONVERSATIONAL AND OTHER ACRONYMS

http://www.utdallas.edu/~pauls/acronyms.htm (Who's computer is this?)
http://users.erols.com/amato1/AC/Reg.acr.html (Who's computer is this?)
http://www.freewarehof.org/acronyms.html (Who's computer is this?)

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Subject: 7. CONTACTING DISH NETWORK

INTERNET

http://faq.dishnetwork.com/ (Who's computer is this?)
World Wide Web site contains a large amount of information that may
assist you in getting your questions answered.

E-MAIL

feedback@echostar.com (feedback)
Customer Service, billing and programming issues.

DishQuality@echostar.com (DishQuality)
This e-mail address is primarily for picture and sound quality issues.
Provide the channel number, time, and description of the problem. Each
comment is reviewed by the Quality Assurance Team but don't expect an
individual response.

tech@echostar.com (tech)
As you may have guessed, the technical folks. Include the following
information from your receiver System Info screen:
- Model ID (in box D):
- Software Version (in box D):
- Receiver CA ID (in box E, R00):
- Smart Card CA ID (in box E, S00 or S19):
- The number starting with DNASP:
- Bootstrap Version:

charliechat@echostar.com (charliechat)
Charlie Chat Questions or comments.

ceo@echostar.com (ceo)
Last resort for trying to resolve problems if you are unable to get
satisfaction from a CSR or the feedback or tech e-mails.

PHONE

1-800-333-3474
Main contact number for new subscribers, adding/dropping programming,
customer service and technical support.

1-888-920-GIFT(4438)
Club DISH. For existing customers to request referral cards and new
customers to redeem them.
Details: http://tinyurl.com/36e3rj (Who's computer is this?) (dishnetwork.com)

1-888-220-3474
RMA Department. Calling this first won't do much good - they have to
have notes on the customer's account, from the CSRs at the main
number, supporting any return. They typically sell a lot of
individual parts that the normal CSRs cannot.

MAIL

address for payments

Dept 0063
Palatine, IL 60055

address for correspondence

EchoStar Communications
Attn: Customer Care
PO Box 33577
Northglenn, CO 80233

Dish Network
Waiver Dept.
PO Box 9036
Littleton, CO 80160