As a former Alphastar owner I got a call today from Expressvu Rep. (they bought list I Guess) offering me the following deal :

1 - I send Expressvu $60.00 cdn. in advance

2 - They send me a replacement receiver for my old Alphastar Receiver

3 - I send back my old receiver and get billed $50.00/mth for 24 months to receive their services (30 audio channels / 40 video)

4 - They use Echostar technology (4500 model with UHF remote)

5 - After 24 months, I return to normal $35.00/mth fee. any opinions??

Signing up to be an ExpressVu installer

Sign up deal is as follows:

If you are one of the first hundred you PAY $1995.00

After that it is $2995.00

Consumer pays $599.00 plus taxes for equipment. Store (major retailers only) sign up customer for installation if required. Store charges $25.00 deposit. This is their piece of the installation pie. Store contacts Express Serve and informs them of the install. Express Serve then contacts local installer, installer contacts customer, dish is installed, customer pays installer remaining $174.00 of the installation fee.

Get ready for this....

Express Serve charges the installer a $54.00 marketing fee. Installer walks away with $120.00 gross for the install. Who pays for the coax, staples, etc, etc? Installer. Can an installer make any money at this? Express Vu told me on Aug 29 that they expect to have 4-5 installs per week in my area (pop 120,000 plus). Can anyone make any money at this? Not likely. No wonder they are looking for alarm installation companies to do their installations. I was told the reason was alarm companies understand and are able to upsell once they are on site.

And I thought it might be because we are able to do better installations due to our expertise and professionalism. HA!

Do I sound pessimistic? Well, yes. And no. What I'm afraid of is that I'll say no and be kicking myself in a couple of years as ExpressVu becomes Canada's largest DTH satellite provider. On the other hand there is

Alpha Star.....glad they denied me first.

Oh, and I will be dealer number 74, so I can get in "cheap", plus ExpressVu will pay me $300.00 per location for the local retailer's required installations. There are four of them, so it does take a major bite out of the original two grand sign up fee.

Here’s Another One:

After using my StarChoice system for 2 months I am surprised at all the talk about how hard done by Canadians are for satellite services. StarChoice has started off very well with a good selection of channels - 3 Canadian networks, 4 US networks, several local channels, TSN, Discovery, Country Music, A&E, Newsworld, 4 US superstations, 5 good movie channels(currently free), and 20 digital music channels. The General Instrument receiver is state of the art, fully digital, modem and internet ready with a remote that operates my TV, VCR, and stereo. The 24 hour customer service is first class. Next year StarChoice will be on the new Telesat satellite which will mean more power and channels. I always find something good to watch or listen to.

If more Canadians supported this Canadian company it can only get better. I'm sure I haven't paid any more than those that pay for US addresses and short lived access cards and I'm totally legal. I'm not an employee or a shareholder just a satisfied customer. I'm sure our government will change to more realistic policies in the future but it is a complex issue. In time I'm sure we will have access to virtually every channel we want. But in the meantime a proud Canada needs Canadians with positive attitudes and constructive suggestions.

And Another:

(The message:)

Soon I will expose a dealer who is part of a large Pirate Card distribution network in Montreal. His contact, in Vancouver (the manufacturer of the cards) will also be exposed.

I will be doing this because I have been RIPPED OFF and LIED TO. I think you know who YOU are. If this matter is not straightened out to my complete satisfaction, I will procede with the disclosure. You have to the end of the month.

A disgruntled DSS owner.

(A reply:)

Well that is all fine and dandy and I agree that people who are hoses and rip off people should be dealed with but up here in Canada, the manufactoring and distributing of the pirate cards are perfectly legal. Already gone through the courts through Alberta to deal with the pirate cards and Saskatchwan for dealing with subscribing to a US based subscriber. Hell, we still have no regulation on the old 8 foot satellite dishes. Welcome to Canada, please set your watch back 30 years.

And Another:

As 3-Year DSS veteran (remember when they offered Prime Sports Net and no sports regionals?) who paid $899 for the RCA Deluxe system when it first came out, all I can say to D*TV is THANKS!! Through your lousy service and moronic customer support agents you enabled me to get a BUD, which is what I really wanted in the first place. Through your let's-offer-the-new-subs-the-moon-and-the-old-subs-a- price-increase specials, we waited, but you forgot us.

Through your first outage days, through audio cutouts and picture crashes(it's not nearly as bad as it once was) we waited, but you compressed the video even more. Through your endless price and package adjustments we suffered as our bill went up and channels went down. If you hadn't pulled even 1 of those stunts we would still be giving you and USSB upwards of $84 a month.

Hey USSB: nice addition of TVLAND and M2, been there, watched them free (F3/18 and F3/16)

You actually are saving me money since BUD programming is cheaper for the same channels AND NO RAIN OUTS!

You blacked my wife out of 1 too many sports contests and then your support agents lied through their teeth to cover your incompetence. Thanks for driving the point home as we watched an MLB game on BUD as the DTV screen showed us the blackout banner. You can kiss our $425 sports money goodbye. We've downgraded to Partial Choice (from Total Choice Platinum) and may just turn the damn thing off since we watch the BUD more anyway. We would downgrade further except that is the minimum pkg required for cartoon network. Thanks again and keep up the bad work. Thanks to you and P* for keeping the DISH and BUD industries alive through your disgruntled customers. Soon to be former subscriber.

For you Picture-and-sound-quality freaks out there, Nothing beats a BUD. Whereinthehell do you *think* D*TV/USSB gets its signals FROM? Just try a side by side with BUD and see how much DTV blurs the picture. See anything under the MSC logo? Look on a BUD (G6/15)!

BTW It's about time that they put something useful on Foxnet. (old timers-remember WFLD Fox 32? formerly channel 289) That's almost as good as the 8 commercial-free Simpsons episodes in a row that FOX (the REAL Fox - T5/13 & T4/5) shows every day for free in addition to the 2 on KDVR(F1/5) or the other 2 regular episodes on T4/5. Of course Channel 297(which you pay for)=S4/10(FREE).

I know the flames are coming, but all I can say is GET a BUD! Like the season premier of Voyager (S3/3 , S4/14, T5/16)? How about next week's DS9 this week (G4/14)?

For those of you who live in an apartment or someplace and can't have a BUD, you have my deepest sympathies.

It has been interesing monitoring the many messages about the recent USSB Chips and Sauce promotion. It seems the programmer sent out ads for it’s service, including a small bag of chips and a plastic container of sauce.

By the many humorous messages, not many received the promo with either chips or sauce packaging intact. Sorry space does not permit us printing the hilarious descriptions of this debacle. -SWN-