Issues Surrounding CUI Update

Weather conditions can affect the OTA signal. We have had a lot of heavy storms that have affected my OTA channels.
Spare me please. When the loss of signal occurs I can with the push of a button direct the OTA signal directly to the TV tuner where the picture is perfect. Push the button again and direct the OTA signal through the Hopper, and that "loss of signal" remains. All this under a completely clear sky.
I suspect the U236 but at this time, that is only a guess.
 
$250 isn't terrible but it's also 5 months of PS Vue which I can use today with no additional hardware costs.

I can't help but think there was perhaps some planned obsolescence here.

I work in Telecom & IT integration. If one of our manufacturers released a mandatory software update with these adverse effects, dealers around the globe would be expressing their concerns until it was patched or the customer was given the option to revert back. I've actually seen similar situations where significant software build upgrades run subpar on older "supported" hardware although it technically still works. Working and working well are two different things.

First, new, significant mandatory upgrades on older hardware are garbage. Period. Second, you should have the ability to revert when problems arise. Not in this case...

I've had nothing but positive things to say about Dish for 3 years, and I'm generally very laid back. Changing my tune a bit here recently regarding this upgrade. They'll likely lose my business soon over this.

Vue just added CBS to my market so I can get all of my watched channels, including locals, excluding the History Channel for ~$35 a month cheaper. That's also Vue over 5 screens versus the HWS + Dish Anywhere (use a PC + DA instead of a 2nd receiver) I currently pay for.

I was trying to find excuses to stay with Dish & pay the extra for "premium" TV , but instead they're giving me a reason to leave.
 
$250 isn't terrible but it's also 5 months of PS Vue which I can use today with no additional hardware costs.

I can't help but think there was perhaps some planned obsolescence here.

I work in Telecom & IT integration. If one of our manufacturers released a mandatory software update with these adverse effects, dealers around the globe would be expressing their concerns until it was patched or the customer was given the option to revert back. I've actually seen similar situations where significant software build upgrades run subpar on older "supported" hardware although it technically still works. Working and working well are two different things.

First, new, significant mandatory upgrades on older hardware are garbage. Period. Second, you should have the ability to revert when problems arise. Not in this case...

I've had nothing but positive things to say about Dish for 3 years, and I'm generally very laid back. Changing my tune a bit here recently regarding this upgrade. They'll likely lose my business soon over this.

Vue just added CBS to my market so I can get all of my watched channels, including locals, excluding the History Channel for ~$35 a month cheaper. That's also Vue over 5 screens versus the HWS + Dish Anywhere (use a PC + DA instead of a 2nd receiver) I currently pay for.

I was trying to find excuses to stay with Dish & pay the extra for "premium" TV , but instead they're giving me a reason to leave.

I also work in IT for my company and I would have to agree. I still have some older machines running Win7 Pro. If MS forced us to upgrade to Win10, it would render those machines obsolete.

The installer who set up the dish for my H3 told me that Dish isn't really gaining any new installs anymore. Techs are either repairing broken installs or doing upgrades.

So... sounds like Dish is taking a page from Apple's playbook and doing a forced obselesence thing. I get it; it's good for them, bad for us. Just is what it is.
 
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...The installer who set up the dish for my H3 told me that Dish isn't really gaining any new installs anymore. Techs are either repairing broken installs or doing upgrades. ...

I've personally done at least 5 installs for new customers in the last couple of weeks and that's just our little company here. So as always I would take anything and everything that the 'techs' say with a grain of salt. :)
 
I've personally done at least 5 installs for new customers in the last couple of weeks and that's just our little company here. So as always I would take anything and everything that the 'techs' say with a grain of salt. :)
I agree that Dish is certainly doing new installs, but they obviously don't even come close to offsetting subscriber losses.
 
It's the nature of things period in technology right now. I was designing and bringing in multiple on premise phone systems each month. Now that business is actually going up but it's all shifted to cloud/VOIP/hosted. The over the top TV or IPTV consumer shift is very similar to cloud based PBX shift in the business world. Lots of parallels there.

Folks crack me who say they're "cord cutting" and are signing up for Vue, Direct TV Now, Sling, etc. Really? It's just a different type of delivery for similar services.

Same in the telephony world. Businesses are "getting rid of their phone system" and lines. Nope... you're getting SIP trunks and your VOIP "system" is hosted by a CLEC.

We do more than just VOIP. I'd say the only premise markets growing right now are LAN server virtualization & surveillance/access control. Satellite TV is not an anomaly. It's a shrinking market with many other technology verticals.

Satellite TV will always have a place as long as there as rural markets without cable or Internet though. Also for folks looking for a premium service.

Back on topic... I was fine paying more for a premier products... until the GUI upgrade hit me hard & changed my user experience. Gave me an excuse to follow the wave towards IPTV/streaming.
 
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It's the nature of things period in technology right now. I was designing and bringing in multiple on premise phone systems each month. Now that business is actually going up but it's all shifted to cloud/VOIP/hosted. The over the top TV or IPTV consumer shift is very similar to cloud based PBX shift in the business world. Lots of parallels there.

Folks crack me who say they're "cord cutting" and are signing up for Vue, Direct TV Now, Sling, etc. Really? It's just a different type of delivery for similar services.

Same in the telephony world. Businesses are "getting rid of their phone system" and lines. Nope... you're getting SIP trunks and your VOIP "system" is hosted by a CLEC.

We do more than just VOIP. I'd say the only premise markets growing right now are LAN server virtualization & surveillance/access control. Satellite TV is not an anomaly. It's a shrinking market with many other technology verticals.

Satellite TV will always have a place as long as there as rural markets without cable or Internet though. Also for folks looking for a premium service.

Back on topic... I was fine paying more for a premier products... until the GUI upgrade hit me hard & changed my user experience. Gave me an excuse to follow the wave towards IPTV/streaming.

I can thoroughly understand your disenchantment with Dish after the CUI update bogged down your receiver. If you're able to set that aside and find a pathway to the H3, I bet you'd really enjoy it.
 
Only 5 in a couple of weeks ? That can't possibly be considered good, is it ?
We also do DirecTV, Exede, Hughesnet, Surveillance systems, and a lot more including upgrades and repairs on all of that. So yes 5 new Dish customers is pretty good in less than 2 weeks. Most small dealers are considered good if they do 4 a month. I've got another Dish new customer scheduled for tomorrow and at least 2 more this week. That's considered pretty darn good and our distributor loves us. :)
 
Does Dish send new customer install work to you ? Around here, in fact all of Ohio, I believe, is handled by "Digital Dish" - all they do is Dish work (new installs, upgrades, etc). Oh yeah, they repair Samsung washing machines too apparently.... I know that technically there are some Dish "retailers" around but I'm not sure how they get business (unless Dish sends it to them).
 
Does Dish send new customer install work to you ? Around here, in fact all of Ohio, I believe, is handled by "Digital Dish" - all they do is Dish work (new installs, upgrades, etc). Oh yeah, they repair Samsung washing machines too apparently.... I know that technically there are some Dish "retailers" around but I'm not sure how they get business (unless Dish sends it to them).

No, Dish does not send any work to retailers except what comes from the retailer look up tool. Our business comes from ads we run, word of mouth and many other ways we promote our business. Dish uses sub contractors like Digital Dish and Intertech where they don't have company people. They specialize in fixing Samsung washers, replacing phone screens and selling screen cleaner, sound bars and expensive HDMI wires. :)
 
Wasn't sure how the whole thing worked. I do see ads in coupon books from "local" Dish retailers but they're actually national outfits once you look closer.

I do have to say, my experiences with Digital Dish folks have always been good. They've given me HDMI cables (that I throw in a drawer as a back-up) and one time did ask about hooking up some audio equipment. He did say first that he can see I know how to hook my stuff up and mentioned how neat the wiring was but said "I have to ask/offer". I laughed and told him I understand and it's no problem. I presume they get "checked" afterwards and Dish will sometimes ask "did your technician offer to perform add'l installation services that Dish now offers?" and I could honestly answer "yes" for him. :p
 
Free HDMI wires come with all the latest Dish receivers but the Dish people and subs still try to sell you one. Local retailers don't pester you to buy anything you don't need and usually don't charge shipping or activation fees like the national retailers do. We can usually do it cheaper and give all kinds of good service. :)
 
So... sounds like Dish is taking a page from Apple's playbook and doing a forced obselesence thing. I get it; it's good for them, bad for us. Just is what it is.
Wait .. how exactly is forced obsolescence "good" for them?
Cost for the box, cost for the installer .. sure they get to pull the whole 2 year commitment garb, but even that isn't worth all that much .. you stem the tide of some losses only to have people (myself included) badmouthing dish at every turn because they've effectively destroyed my ability to watch TV ... and new shows from PTAT are starting in the next few weeks..

of course now I'm starting to get more pissy about it and getting ready to start heading on the demands for something to be done .. but the damage dish has done in my case is already there.. I'm not about the money of it (one of my friends says get freebies and stuff) .. I'm just to the point I want working service which we pretty much had BEFORE this crap update.. I mean there were some issues .. but not to the level of not being able to watch PTAT at all or even highly unreliably ... I'm calling for some lawyerly types to step up.. make this a class action .. you (dish) advertize this "whole home" concept then destroy it? you don't offer reasonable options for users to revert, you demand they pay an additional premium, just to get the shows and service that were already what I had?

Misrepresentation, and base fraud.

And for me, the hopes that the punitive damages would royally knock dish back a century or two for them to LEARN from their mistakes.. not keep repeating them day after day, etc..
 
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Wait .. how exactly is forced obsolescence "good" for them?
Cost for the box, cost for the installer .. sure they get to pull the whole 2 year commitment garb, but even that isn't worth all that much .. you stem the tide of some losses only to have people (myself included) badmouthing dish at every turn because they've effectively destroyed my ability to watch TV ... and new shows from PTAT are starting in the next few weeks..

of course now I'm starting to get more pissy about it and getting ready to start heading on the demands for something to be done .. but the damage dish has done in my case is already there.. I'm not about the money of it (one of my friends says get freebies and stuff) .. I'm just to the point I want working service which we pretty much had BEFORE this crap update.. I mean there were some issues .. but not to the level of not being able to watch PTAT at all or even highly unreliably ... I'm calling for some lawyerly types to step up.. make this a class action .. you (dish) advertize this "whole home" concept then destroy it? you don't offer reasonable options for users to revert, you demand they pay an additional premium, just to get the shows and service that were already what I had?

Misrepresentation, and base fraud.

And for me, the hopes that the punitive damages would royally knock dish back a century or two for them to LEARN from their mistakes.. not keep repeating them day after day, etc..

They get the upgrade fees, $100-$150
 
Free HDMI wires come with all the latest Dish receivers but the Dish people and subs still try to sell you one. Local retailers don't pester you to buy anything you don't need and usually don't charge shipping or activation fees like the national retailers do. We can usually do it cheaper and give all kinds of good service. :)
I remember when I got my first ViP211 in 2006. The installer did not let me keep the HDMI cable that came with it because I did not have an HDTV yet. (I got the ViP211 to get grandfathered for the national feed of CBS HD, since the ViP211 can down-convert HD channels to watch them on analog TV's. The grandfathering became a moot point later that year when Dish lost the ability to offer distant networks. If I had known that I would lose CBS HD that quickly, I probably wouldn't have bothered to upgrade my receiver at that time.) I have gotten more than enough free HDMI cables from Dish since then, to make up for them not letting me keep the first one, though. :)
 

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