Echostar T-105 TV To Go

I have an HDT-610. It is OK, but. Echostar no longer support this, or, as far as I can find out, anything else, and it has a few severe s/w bugs.

I had cancelled my Sky subscription and purchased the Echostar T-105 TV To Go unit with high hopes.

However, immediately it was a disappointment. Within 5 minutes of plugging it in it completely froze up. The longest I managed to get it to stay on for was 1 hour. So, within 48 hours it was back with Argos!

The support phone number provided by Echostar did not exist, and still (14 days later) they have not responded to my initial email.

Overall this is a very poor product, and should be avoided.

Strange remote functionality; not especially intuitive; no teletext; unreliable; manual software updates; very bright LED's on fascia, one of which is orange???? EPG only allows you to exit to the text/channel being viewed! Be advised, look elsewhere. Shouldn't be allowed to peddle this rubbish.

Reasonable cost for the unit (Argos) and included the top up TV card. Unit itself is large compared to some of the others. Top up card hidden behind a door which keeps prying fingers of my 2 year old out.(Sky box is a nightmare, sorry was, I cancelled)

No real problems or difficulties with the unit.

I bought the ECHOSTAR T-105 Top Up TV To Go pack (£89.99 Argos No 16 day return) as a Christmas present for my 70 year old father in law - He has no real problems with it. After reading all the bad reviews the THOMSON DTI2300 & 2305 have received I was worried about buying a freeview/Top Up TV set top box and couldn't find any views on the ECHOSTAR T-105 so this should help all who need to know. The ECHOSTAR T-105 is an excellent unit. The digital quality TV pictures are very crisp, The Freeview channels offer a reasonable selection of alternative viewing. The 8 day TV guide is an real advantage for easy checking what's on. The Interactive (Press the Red Button) ads another dimension to viewing and works fine on the channels that transmit the service. In my opinion Top Up TV is not worth the £7.99 per month extra, (but I still went for this option to be future proof) Only any 4 of the 10 channels are transmitted at any one time. That said, if you want Cartoon network or Boomerang (Cartoons) for the kids or the Discovery channel and can't afford Sky it's probably just about worth it. The one thing I'm not happy about is the way Top Up TV fail to inform how they work until after you've purchased the product. When you register/Activate your Top Up TV card (Telephone number given inside the box)You have to give them your credit card or Bank account number. They then direct debit (one month in advance!) your subscription. Even if you have bought the Top Up TV To Go pack which includes the first month's subscription they will still deduct another month money. If you want to cancel - you can - but have to give 30 days notice. I have no problem with any of this but, Where's the telephone number to cancel? and I bet you don't get through as easily as when you activate? Hopefully Top Up TV will bring onboard more channels making their service better value and will stop the need to cancel. Hope you find this useful - Enjoy