How to Pause Your DISH or DIRECTV Service

You can pause or restart your DISH TV service by calling DISH directly at 1-866-974-0769. It’s not quite 24/7 customer service, but it’s close. They’re open Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. On weekends, they open at 7:30 a.m. and close at midnight.

You can pause your DISH service for up to six months. DISH charges $5 per month for accounts on hold. To learn more about DISH policies, check out DISH Satellite TV Review.

And for the record, no, you can’t pause service with the DISH TV app. As if to be purposefully inconvenient, calling is the only way to pause your DISH service.

You’ll need to have your account number handy or call on the phone number associated with your account. You may have to wait a bit (we waited an average of eight minutes every time we called), but they’ll take care of it for you pretty quickly once the wait music ends.

If you’re moving south for the winter or RV-ing with family for the summer, you can pause or suspend your DIRECTV services by calling 1-800-288-2020.

When prompted, say “suspend account,” and it will connect you with a service representative who can pause your DIRECTV service. Just be sure to have an old bill ready with your account number, or know the phone number associated with your account.

Like DISH, DIRECTV’s app doesn’t allow you to pause service from the app. You have to call to put your DIRECTV on hold. Once you’re ready to resume service, call again and you’ll be ready to go.

You can pause your service up to six months with DIRECTV. DIRECTV charges $7 per month for accounts on hold. If you want to dig deeper into DIRECTV pricing or policies, check out DIRECTV Satellite TV Review.

Pausing service can save you a lot of money. Early termination fees for satellite TV service can be pretty steep—up to $480, depending on how many months you have remaining on your contract. You’ll pay $20 per month for each month remaining on your contract (the rate is the same for both companies). So, if you just have two months remaining, it’ll cost $40. But if you have a year left, it’ll cost you $240.

In addition to the early termination fees, you may also have to pay equipment fees if your equipment is damaged or doesn’t get returned properly.

Pausing your service is a good idea whenever possible because you won’t incur those hefty fees. You can pause your service up to six months with DIRECTV or up to nine months with DISH.

A service pause won’t change the terms of your contract. If you sign a two-year contract, the months your service is turned off won’t count toward the two years. So, if you have service turned off from May until September, a two-year contract will actually last two years and four months to make up for the four months of paused service.

And, if you have a promotional discount, such as $10 off for 12 months, your service pause can’t pause and resume a discount. If you have three months remaining on a $10 discount and you pause your service for two months, you’ll have only one more month left of the discount when you resume service.

If your satellite TV bill is getting a little too high, you can save money by cutting out premium channels. You might also be able to switch to a smaller TV package. Do you really need a package that includes all the Hallmark channels just for the few weeks a year when your mom visits?

Be aware that sometimes switching to a less expensive plan might restart your contract. That's why we recommend starting with a less expensive package and upgrading later on.

Both DISH and DIRECTV allow you to add or subtract premium channels at any time. You can use this to your advantage by adding a premium channel like HBO® for a few months when a new season of your favorite show comes out, and then dropping it after you’ve watched every episode. This is a much cheaper option than paying for an entire year’s worth of premium channels.

If you combine the premium channel canceling strategy with downgrading your TV package, you can save money on your satellite TV. You’ll just need to rotate between premium channels if you want to watch season premieres on your favorite networks.

Or, you could always switch to a reliable internet provider and streaming service. You might not get the full robust channel guide, but if you're only interested in your favorites, you could save easy double-digits per month

Pressing pause on your DISH or DIRECTV service is fairly easy and painless. And it’ll save you money while you cruise the country in your RV or get ahead on the bills during a downturn. While it’d be cool if you could put a vacation hold on your service with an app, a phone call isn’t much harder (which is bad news for people with phone anxiety but good news for the rest of us).

No, it is not free to pause DISH or DIRECTV, but it costs only $5 to $7 per month. You do not need to pay at the time you put your account on hold, but you will need to pay a monthly service pause fee. DISH charges $5 per month for accounts on hold and DIRECTV charges $7 per month.

You do not need to pay an equipment rental fee with either of these services while your service is paused, even though you will still have the equipment at your home.

With DIRECTV, you can pause your TV service for one to six months at a time. With DISH, you can pause your TV service for one to nine months at a time.

To pause your DISH network service, call DISH customer service at 1-866-974-0769. They’ll ask you for your account number and then they can pause your service. When you want to resume it, just give them another call.

Yes, you can pause your DIRECTV service by calling customer service at 1-800-288-2020. When prompted, ask to suspend your account. This places a hold on your service, which will be turned on when you call back to resume it.

We have a DISH FAQ page for more information.

We have a DIRECTV FAQ page for more information.

1. DISH, “How Much Does It Cost To Cancel DISH Network Early,” July 2017. Accessed August 20, 2020.
2. AT&T/DISH network, “Put Your Service on Vacation Hold,” [undated]. Accessed August 24, 2020.