How Long Can You Pause Dish Network? Complete Guide

Do you travel for up to months in a year and wondering how long can you pause Dish Network?

There’s a good chance that you still pay full price for your Dish Network while you’re not using it. You can always cancel it, but the early termination fees can be expensive.

You can easily pause your Dish Network service for up to six months. This can come in handy if you’re traveling and won’t be able to use your service. Dish does charge $5 per month for accounts that are on hold, but you will still avoid paying the early termination fees.

A Dish Network service pause or a vacation hold allows you to turn off your service temporarily.

You will still get to keep everything like the equipment and setup, but you will not be billed for your regular fee.

After you return, you can then have your service turned back on, and you should be able to watch your favorites again.

Reasons to Put Dish Network on Hold

1. Expensive Early Termination Fees

One of the reasons why you want to put your Dish Network service on hold rather than cancel it is to avoid the incredibly expensive early termination fees.

Dish offers service contracts of up to 2 years every time you apply, and canceling early can mean paying up to $480 in fees.

Dish Network customers can feel like they are locked in for this period. However, you can put it on hold, and it should not change anything in your contract.

2. To Save Money

It’s one for you to save money if you are going for an extended vacation. Since no one is going to be using your Dish Network service anyway, it’s better to have it on pause.

Pausing your Dish Network subscription is also helpful if you need a break with your bills. Maybe you lost your job or having a hard time paying off your other bills and fees.

Pausing your service is an excellent way to save money since you’re going to avoid paying early termination fees.

Whenever you decide to have your Dish Network service reinstated, you will also save in installation fees.

You can simply call and have your service resumed and not have to go through the hassle of re-applying for the service.

How Long Can You Pause Dish Network? Here’s How To Do It

Pausing your Dish Network service is a simple process. Here are the steps you need to take to get it on hold.

1. Call Dish Network using their customer service numbers.
2. You can call Mondays through Fridays from 7:00am to 1:00am.
3. During the weekend their schedule is between 7:30am and 12:00am midnight.
4. Have your account number ready.
5. Ask them to pause your service for up to six months.

Note: You may have to wait for a bit, but once you get a hold of one of their customer service representatives, they should help you out quickly.

Dish Network does have an app, but you will not be able to pause your service that way. It would be incredibly convenient. Unfortunately, the only way to do this is by phone.

You might also have to wait for a few minutes when you call about a service hold or pause.

Usually, it takes around 8 to 10 minutes of waiting for a customer service representative. However, they take care of you and pause your service quickly as soon as they pick up the phone.

Can I Put My Dish Network Account on Hold?

Whether you’re going on vacation or traveling for business for a few months, you can put your Dish Network account on hold.

This is one way to avoid paying full price for a service you know you’re not going to use.

The best part about this is that you can contact them and put your account on hold when you leave.

They should take care of it for you and pause your account. After arriving, you can also contact them to reactivate your account so you can watch your favorites.

Can I Also Cancel My Dish Network?

Canceling your Dish Network subscription is also going to be an alternative to pausing it.

However, you’ll need to remember that you might incur some hefty fees.

The early termination fees can be as high as $20 per month. Depending on how many months you have left on your contract, that’s the amount you will have to pay.

You will also have to return all the equipment they had provided to you when you applied for their service. If you don’t return it, they might charge you additional fees.

What You Need to Know Before Pausing Your Dish Network

There are some things you need to know before pausing your Dish Network.

You will want to take these into account as you’re deciding to pause your service so you will not be shocked in any way when you resume it.

1. The Service Hold Does Not Change The Terms Of Your Contract

A paused service will not usually count into your months of service. If you have a two-year contract and you paused your service for 5 months, that gets added up.

You will not be able to get out of your contract early, but you can surely save on bills while your service is on pause.

2. The Service Hold Does Not Include Payments For Sports Season Passes

A pause on your Dish Network service means that add-ons that you may have, as sports season passes, are not on hold or canceled.

If you pause your service, you will still have to pay for these, even if you will not be able to watch them.

3. The Service Hold Does Not Pause Promotional Discounts

If you have a $10 discount on your monthly fee for 12 months, a pause does not put this on hold.

Let’s say you have 5 months of deals remaining, and you pause your service for 2 months. You will only have 3 months of discounts left after you resume service.

Dish Network allows you to pause your service for up to 6 months. You will still be paying a minimal fee of $5 per month during your pause, but it sure does beat paying full price for a service you will not be using.

You will be able to resume as soon as you are back so you can enjoy watching your favorites.

Read Next: How to Get Rid of Small Screen on TV Dish?

Last Thoughts

If you’re still asking how long can you pause Dish network subscription, you can do it for up to 6 months.

It’s a pretty straightforward process where you need to call their hotline and ask for their help. They are usually helpful and should fulfill your request right away.

Putting your service on hold has its own set of perks, especially if you are the type of person who travels for months in a year.

It’s also helpful if you have another and don’t want to be paying for a service that you are not going to be using the entire year.