Back in college, we signed up with some reseller of Dish Network. They promised us a similar deal; you pay for the equipment up front, and then get ridiculously discounted service each month, for the duration of the contract.

For the first two months, they did not give us the discount. We got a nice fat credit in the third month, though. However, a few months later, we were asked by the people that owned our apt complex to take down our dish.

We called the company, and they said that we would not have to pay an ETF because this was a special circumstance. Long story short, they charged us the ETF anyway and accused us of lying about the rep letting us out of the ETF.

The next time I go satellite, remind me to go directly with DirecTV or Dish.