Direct Tv or Cable

[Splitter77]

Re: Direct Tv or Cable

You guys need your dishes adjusted, I don't remember the last time I lost my signal.

maybe. it doesnt really bother me when i lose signal. its maybe 10 minutes tops. or until the clouds go by.
my signal strength is good though. if i recall, they were 93-100 in the 101 and then for the hd channels in the 99c and 103, they were ranging from 72-100. mostly around 80.

probably could be adjusted to get those better, but how much would that cost??

[8]

Re: Direct Tv or Cable

I don't have too much of a problem losing signal. Yes HD will go out before SD channels do, but I really only had a problem when we had bad storms.

[p_rushing]

Re: Direct Tv or Cable

maybe. it doesnt really bother me when i lose signal. its maybe 10 minutes tops. or until the clouds go by.
my signal strength is good though. if i recall, they were 93-100 in the 101 and then for the hd channels in the 99c and 103, they were ranging from 72-100. mostly around 80.

probably could be adjusted to get those better, but how much would that cost??

70s is low, everything should be at least 90. Depending on what DTV says, it should be free to get it adjusted. Just tell them you are having a lot of issues with the signal going out.

If for some reason they wanted to make you pay, it should be around $49.

You can also do it yourself with the help of another person looking while making adjustments. You can find videos on how to do it. You should only need to adjust it slightly.

[bigbob]

Re: Direct Tv or Cable

70 is enough to get you a signal, but it's the bare minimum that it should be.

That means everything will knock the signal out because it's not aligned properly.

If you have two people living side by side, one has a 90 signal and the other has a 70, the one with 90 will be sitting there unaffected by a light storm while the one with 70 is going to give you SFSS.

[Splitter77]

Re: Direct Tv or Cable

70 is enough to get you a signal, but it's the bare minimum that it should be.

That means everything will knock the signal out because it's not aligned properly.

If you have two people living side by side, one has a 90 signal and the other has a 70, the one with 90 will be sitting there unaffected by a light storm while the one with 70 is going to give you SFSS.

yeah- its been at that range since i got it 5 years ago.
there are alot of trees in my area, so I think that was the best the tech could do when he alligned it.

ill give a call and see if they can send a tech out here for free

[bigbob]

Re: Direct Tv or Cable

yeah- its been at that range since i got it 5 years ago.
there are alot of trees in my area, so I think that was the best the tech could do when he alligned it.

ill give a call and see if they can send a tech out here for free

The tech should have never left it like that. If it's not at least 95%, they aren't suppose to leave.

[p_rushing]

Re: Direct Tv or Cable

The tech should have never left it like that. If it's not at least 95%, they aren't suppose to leave.

5 years ago that was only a "rule", now they have to run a test and if the test doesn't pass, they cannot leave.

[bigbob]

Re: Direct Tv or Cable

5 years ago that was only a "rule", now they have to run a test and if the test doesn't pass, they cannot leave.

Nothing has changed since then.

They use the same exact equipment that they used then.

There's no "special tool" that they use now that they didn't use then. It's the exact same thing.

[8]

Re: Direct Tv or Cable

Get this.... When we moved into our house we had a guy come install our DirecTV. I guess in certain areas they contract people out to do this. Guy was nice and all, got everything done quickly. Fast forward about a year and a half we had constantly been losing signal. If a bird flew by the signal was gone. We had about 4 guys come out and finally on the 5th who was an actual DirecTV employee we figured out the problem. The guy looked up at the dish and said and I quote,"HUH". The original guy gave us an international dish which was the size of a boat sail. That's why the signal went out all the time SMH...

[Splitter77]

Re: Direct Tv or Cable

The tech should have never left it like that. If it's not at least 95%, they aren't suppose to leave.

i hear ya.
most of them are 95 and up. All the sd channels are i know that.
hd channels range from 70-100. most are in the 80-85 range.

We had snow then ice today. my hd channels have been out since 2pm.
checked the signal strength and sd channels are averaging 55
while all my hd signals are at 0.
ha.
Im gonna definitely give them a call while im at work tomorrow to reallign the dish.

[p_rushing]

Re: Direct Tv or Cable

Nothing has changed since then.

They use the same exact equipment that they used then.

There's no "special tool" that they use now that they didn't use then. It's the exact same thing.

Its the software on the DTV box, if the signal is not above 95 on all sats, they cannot proceed with the activation of the box. DTV did it because too many installers got it close enough, but didn't care if the signal may go out down the line. They got too many free service calls to go back and realign the dish within 90 days.

[Bullit]

Re: Direct Tv or Cable

Well since I am the one who started this thread and took the advice of a lot of you and switched to Direct Tv, I thought I would update with my thoguhts. We switched to Direct Tv in December and everything went well with the installation, the Tech was nice, polite and seemed very competent. For about two week everything was great, no problems with the signal and all seemed to be golden.

Now it seems every day we loose the signal for no apparent reason. Like today, we had some snow last night( not even half an inch) and we lost the signal last night Fine its weather I get it. Now this morning we were watching the news an the signal just drops. Nothing on the dish not a cloud in the sky and had to reboot the box 3 times in the course of 2 hours to get a signal. Just really becoming a headache as every day something needs to be done and we find ourselves watching Netflix more than Direct Tv. Also about half of my DVR'd shows are either missing minutes or just don't record at all because of loss of signal.

So far at about a month in, I am really beginning to think we made a mistake,savings or not.

[roadman]

Re: Direct Tv or Cable

Well since I am the one who started this thread and took the advice of a lot of you and switched to Direct Tv, I thought I would update with my thoguhts. We switched to Direct Tv in December and everything went well with the installation, the Tech was nice, polite and seemed very competent. For about two week everything was great, no problems with the signal and all seemed to be golden.

Now it seems every day we loose the signal for no apparent reason. Like today, we had some snow last night( not even half an inch) and we lost the signal last night Fine its weather I get it. Now this morning we were watching the news an the signal just drops. Nothing on the dish not a cloud in the sky and had to reboot the box 3 times in the course of 2 hours to get a signal. Just really becoming a headache as every day something needs to be done and we find ourselves watching Netflix more than Direct Tv. Also about half of my DVR'd shows are either missing minutes or just don't record at all because of loss of signal.

So far at about a month in, I am really beginning to think we made a mistake,savings or not.

Bullit:

I'd call directv and tell them the same exact same thing as you told us. Tell them for switching services, you are a very dissatisfied customer at this point.

You are still in the warranty period and I'd ask them to send out a tech and get this working right!

My 2 cents.

This is our second week of service of HD, and a few times the HD became scrambled, but the picture returned immediately.

[Bullit]

Re: Direct Tv or Cable

Bullit:

I'd call directv and tell them the same exact same thing as you told us. Tell them for switching services, you are a very dissatisfied customer at this point.

You are still in the warranty period and I'd ask them to send out a tech and get this working right!

My 2 cents.

This is our second week of service of HD, and a few times the HD became scrambled, but the picture returned immediately.

Well we took your advice and a Technician actually came out on a Sunday and 2 hour early. He was very helpful and informative and hopefully fixed the issues. The install guy apparently rushed the job. All of the connections outside were loose, he wired the inside backwards and did not properly secure the Dish. Apparently as he did not properly program our remotes, which now work with our entire entertainment center.

Everything seems good, so we will keep out fingers crossed. But all said we are really happy with the customer service and the prompt service call, especially on a Sunday.

[roadman]

Re: Direct Tv or Cable

Glad they took care of you.

Seems like the first person that came out was sloppy.

If the dish isn't secure and the dish moves ever so slightly, that could cause the signal going on and off.