What happens after a 2 year contract with DIRECTV?

At the beginning of subscribing to the DIRECTV service, you enter a basic 2-year service term. This forces you to pay for DIRECTV service during that period in exchange for inexpensive equipment like receivers and satellites or cheaper monthly rates. Many people find themselves asking those questions as they approach the end of their 2-year contract with the company. Here is a brief look at what you can anticipate and some suggestions on how to handle it.

The Advantage Plan

Just before you complete your two years of contract with DIRECTV, you will find yourself auto-enrolled in the Advantage plan. This is an option that allows you to continue the contract beyond two years, on a month-by-month basis. The only thing it does is enable you to retain the same equipment that you acquired at the time of signing your first contract. So any that you have of receivers, DVRs, Genie devices, or satellites will remain functional.

The Advantage plan also retains the majority of your base pricing, programming, and services agreed upon during your initial contract. This applies to your basic cable package and all the channels that come with it, extra options such as HBO and Showtime, and additional services like High Definition, Digital Video Recording, and Whole Home Digital Video Recording services. Sports subscription packages are also transferred.

The only thing that may vary or become unavailable is certain fees or promotions that may be offered to a client. For instance, you may begin to be charged the normal price for the DVR services if earlier you were charged at a subsidized rate. There also can be some changes in the rates of certain fees over time as the costs for DIRECTV are increasing. However, your core services and price do not significantly change when upgrading to the Advantage plan on a month-to-month basis.

Upgrading Your DIRECTV Package

Once you are on the Advantage plan after your 2-year contract is up, you are in that plan and have the option to switch your programming if desired. For instance, you can move up to a more expensive channel package to get more sports, movie, or international channels. You can opt to include additional channels or a sports package that was not included in the previous package. To extend these features, you can include additional options like increased DVR storage space or the Genie HD DVR.

Since you have gone through month-to-month, changes that you make to the programming are implemented immediately in the next bill. All you have to remember is that the higher tiers and additionally included add-ons will increase your monthly payments. That said, the Advantage plan does allow you to make changes to your DIRECTV services going forward.

Renewing for a New 2-Year Contract

One of the other choices that you can make when your contract with DIRECTV is about to expire is to enroll in a new plan for 2 years. DIRECTV usually provides new-client bonuses and some extra services if the client agrees to sign the contract for 2 years. For example, they may offer you premium channels with a discount or free for 6 months. Or they may allow you to upgrade to advanced HD-DVR receivers for free if you are willing to sign up for 2 years.

This means that if there are new services in the DIRECTV services you have been waiting to be added to your plan, this might be the time to grab them especially because you are renewing your 2-year contract. This route only makes sense if you are quite sure that you want to be a DIRECTV customer for an extended period. But do note that you are stuck with another 24 months of service payments if you go this route.

Switching to DIRECTV MONTH-TO-MONTH

If your contract expires, another option is to transfer your account to the month-to-month offer instead of the Advantage Plan. The main difference is that you do not have lock-in contracts or must pay high cancellation fees anymore. Similar to the Advantage plan, your programming, pricing, and services normally remain the same initially when you change to the month-to-month plan.

The advantage is that after a month of subscription, you are free to terminate the subscription at any time that you wish with no consequences. You can also make account changes without having a contract with the firm for the long term. The potential drawback of this is that after the first month, DIRECTV does not freeze your rates. Any standard pricing changes happen to your account. Without such contract commitment to you, DIRECTV may restrict future promotional discounts on the new services. However, if flexibility is vital to you, there is always the availability of month-to-month leases.

Canceling DIRECTV Service

Last of all, should your contract run out, you are free to even cancel your subscription with DIRECTV. Be sure to watch out for the date of the official contract termination when you receive the final bill. If you cancel before this date, the early termination fees will still apply. After your date, you can cancel at any time without any penalty and all you need to do is to contact customer service.

Cancelling makes it possible to subscribe to other TV providers who suit your needs and preferences in the market. But if you do not want to switch to another service to replace DIRECT then you can stop your DIRECTV bills by canceling it. And just as a word of reminder if you rented equipment from DIRECTV, you will have to return this equipment once you cancel your subscription because failing to do so will attract unreturned equipment fees. When thinking about canceling a service, remember what equipment is owned and what is rented.

Summary

When your two years of contract with DIRECTV is complete, the decision that you are going to be making mostly are these four. First, you maintain your current services with DIRECTV and enrolling in their Advantage plan will convert your subscription to month-to-month service. Second, you can renew for another full 2-year contract to lock in new customer promotional offers. Third, you can transition to the basic Month-to-Month plan offered by DIRECTV with the option of terminating the subscription at will. Fourth, one can discontinue DIRECTV services in their entirety and opt for a better service or do without a television service at all. Take time to analyze each of these options when your contract is due to choose the right direction for your household.

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