...again you can't receive new customer benefits? Do they collect your ssn? Would they know if you got married and changed your name? What if you disconnected your service and reconnected under another name at the same home? Anybody done this?

why you can't is because of the cash Dish has already put out. You can do an upgrade of your system (DISH IT UP) at little or no cost, up to 4 tv's.
But. People have gotten a new dish contract under someone else.
It will then be a new dish customer, with all that goes with it.

You should tell them that you are disconnecting it to go with Comcast. When I called Comcast and told them that we were discontinuing their service because we had Dish, they said we should have said something before we actually got it and we could have had the premium package for a year for some outrageously low amount. Maybe Dish does the same. Frankly, Dish is as good as the Comcast commercials say. Even on a beautiful day like today, the satellite went out for a while. I wish we could afford Comcast.

I have a friend who switched from Dish Network to DirectTV. after a couple of years she wanted to go back to Dish but they would only give her 1 receiver (covers 2 rooms) but she needed 2 receivers (for 4 rooms) she called back and signed up under her mothers name and they gave her all 4 rooms plus free activation and a free movie package as well so yes people do it and get away with it. You might call them and tell them that DirectTV offered you a better deal and see what they say, sometimes they will work with you better if they think they are going to lose you as a customer, then again sometimes they wont. Good luck!