Is the dish network box supposed to be connected to a phone line?

Question

does it affect the internet speed or something if you don't?

Answer 1

Pure and simple, A single tuner NO, A dual tuner Yes, Unless you want to pay The $5.00 fee. Although you can fight the fee and win, I dont use a land based phone service. I  use only cellular, When I told them I  had friends that didn't pay the fee they waived mine. The trick is if the operator says they cant do it ask to talk to a supervisor, They dont want to lose you as a customer and they will waive the fee. Also the software upgrades will download from the satellite when your receiver is turned off. So unless you order allot of pay per view, You dont need the phone line. The phone line has nothing to do with internet speed.

Answer 2

The only reason of the phone line is for ordering PPV channels faster, and for the On-Screen Caller ID. They also have the option to pay your bill directly thru the reciever. They will not charge you anything extra or discount you if you don't have the phone line plugged in.

Answer 3

It depends on what type of equipment you have.  If you have dual tuners you should hook it up to avoid a $5 fee.  This allows your equipment to update.  You can still order PPV but you have to call from a phone and type in the event code.  You can also hook up your equipment to an ethernet connection if a phone line isn't an option.

If you have single tuner equipment you don't have to hook it up to a phone line.

Check out the Phonex connection kits if you need the connection.  These kits transmit your phone line over your electrical wires.  It's much easier than running a wire.  I ordered mine from Dishnetwork.com and I think it was around $40.

Answer 4

since the dish technology is one way transmissions, it is the only way the box can talk to the subscription service to keep it from shutting down.........

Answer 5

the dish network box is for the satellite only, the reason they want a phone-line is because it gets updated every-night while you are sleeping, plus you cant get pay per view without it, and if its not plugged in they will charge you 5 dollars because the have to update a different way....