It was also to enable you to order pay per view movies. We had DISH too, but had already switched to an internet phone provider. They wanted us to fork out an extra $5.00 per month if we DIDN'T hook their receiver to our phone, so we agreed. The trouble was that their receivers were technically incompatible with internet phones so it didn't work. It took us months to convince them of this and rebate all those $5.00 charges because their tech staff didn't even know that. It also cost them three separate service calls (on their nickel) before they finally gave up and refunded our money.
Yup. I knew/know that but I didn't ever order their movies.