F
Fred Mercado
Guest
Original poster
Reprinted from satelliteguys.us forum:
This is pretty lengthy, but I wanted to share details of my experience with=
=20
everyone on this forum. I was able to find out a lot of things about Voom p=
rior=20
to my decision, based on what I read on this forum. So I figure if there is=
=20
anyone else on the fence, like I was, that this information could be helpfu=
l=20
I finally decided to get Voom on December 2nd after seeing their $1 offer. =
I=20
called the Toll Free number and went through the order process and then=20
requested a December 9th installation date. The lady told me the earliest d=
ate=20
available was Dec. 14th. I told her that I had to be out of town starting o=
n the=20
14th. She told me she would book the 14th and would expedite the=20
equipment and put a "Rush" on the Installation for the 9th and she would ca=
ll=20
me back to confirm. I agreed and just waited to hear back.=20
On December 6th I decided it was time to call back since I had not heard fr=
om=20
anyone. I was transferred to the "Installation Department" where a gentlema=
n=20
looked into seeing if they could accommodate me on the 9th as requested.=20
(They had no information that I had requested the 9th). He looked and told =
me=20
that he could fit me in on the afternoon of the 9th. So I said "Great!!" a=
nd he=20
put me down for that date. He told me someone would call the evening before=
=20
to confirm.
The evening of the 8th I did get a call to confirm the installation, and th=
at they=20
would be showing up between Noon and 5:00pm. The morning of the 9th, at=20
about 11:00 am they called my house to let me know they could come early,=20
but I was not home to take the call. At 12:20pm the installer showed up at =
my=20
house for the installation. He went to have an early lunch and stop by Home=
=20
Depot to buy a tool belt, since Voom did not provide them with one and he=20
was used to have a handy belt to get his job done more efficiently. He did =
tell=20
me that he did not work for Installs Inc,. and that he actually worked for =
Voom.=20
He said that south Florida had literally exploded with Voom installs and th=
at=20
they are starting to take more and more installs In-House. He was a veteran=
in=20
the Satellite install business since he also did installs for D* and E* for=
a few=20
years already.
Apparently Cablevision has transferred a lot of their Cable TV installers t=
o=20
become Voom installers, and he was constantly on his NexTel phone=20
answering questions and helping these other installers with problems at oth=
er=20
sites. This guy really knew what he was talking about and what he was doing=
..
My installation would be simple since I had already mounted a 24" dish=20
pointing to the 61.5 bird. I had a MicroRoyal 8-port multi-switch that I ha=
d from=20
the D* days. I had OTA antennas in my attic and I had run a coax into the=20
Terrestrial port into the MultiSwitch. And all lines were run to the three =
spots I=20
would be putting the Voom boxes in. I had High Grade Diplexers in two of th=
e=20
locations (Centronics Model STV-1782B). I also had all the AV connections=20
ready to go.
He went out back to make sure the antenna was aligned while I set up the=20
boxes where they were supposed to go. While out back he re-terminated the=20
connectors with new compression connectors and re-ran a new ground wire=20
since the old one looked a little weak (It is 5 years old by the way).
The Voom receivers were refurbished units, and came in shrink-wrap with the=
=20
accessories also in shrink-wrap. All the accessories looked very good and i=
t=20
included all the wires (DVI, Phones cords, remote, batteries, etc=85) All t=
he=20
receivers powered up and went to the Installation Wizard screen. After I ha=
d=20
gone through the first steps in the Wizard (Check Sat signal strength, OTA=
=20
signal strength, and scanned the OTA channels), he disconnected the Sat=20
antenna lines from the multi switch outside and then re-connected them. The=
=20
receivers all locked up and would not come back after a few soft and hard=20
reboots. He went out to his van and brought in 3 brand new receivers. We=20
quickly changed them out and went through the wizard again.
On the screen where you have to put in the order number and account=20
number and such, is a new method for them to activate the boxes using the=20
phone line, this way they do not have to call it in (A very good idea for t=
he=20
phone line use). This did not work on any of the receivers. He called his l=
ocal=20
dispatch office who took the information to call in the activations. One of=
the=20
receivers apparently did not show up on Voom's list of valid receivers. Thi=
s=20
took a while but apparently they were able to sort this out, since channel =
100=20
finally came in on the receiver after al while. The other 2 receivers start=
ed=20
getting channel 100 pretty quickly.
The installer told me that it would take a while before the information sta=
rted=20
showing up on the Program Guide. He went through the operation of the unit=
=20
and verified everything was working. He took me out back to show me what=20
he had done with the Sat antenna, the Multi switch, and the Grounding wire.=
=20
He also left me with the dish he was supposed to install (a 24" dish by the=
=20
way) and the Winegard antenna for OTA. This guy was a super tech, and he=20
had to leave to go help another ex-Cablevision tech with an install the guy=
=20
had been at since the morning.
What took the longest time for my installation was troubleshooting and then=
=20
swapping out the boxes and then waiting for them to become activated. This=
=20
definitely needs to be improved by Voom, since they could probably get more=
=20
installs done in a day if this time was not wasted.
OK=85. Now I was Vooming!!! I was able to get 30 OTA stations and the=20
program guide was coming in on the first TV. I was looking through the HD=20
channels to admire them on my Toshiba 65" RPTV, but when I got to channel=20
124 it locked up . I had to reboot the receiver, and this lost all the Prog=
ram=20
Guide information. This happened with the other 2 receivers as well. I went=
=20
through this several times to see if it was a fluke or if it would happen o=
n other=20
channels=85. It did!!! I got fed-up and left Well Enough alone and went out=
to=20
dinner with the family. When we came back we the same thing happened=20
again with channel 124.=20
After rebooting (again!)we looked through some of the SD channels. My=20
biggest complaint here is CNN and Headline News (plus a few others). It=20
looks like to me that wherever they are getting these channels from they ar=
e=20
using C-band or Ku-band Dishes at the TelePort. The sparkles on the screen=
=20
(especially where there are graphics) there is a lot of "Terrestrial Noise"=
on=20
the signal. When I had an old C-Band Dish (before the DBS days) this was=20
common on the analog signals where a poor LNB or a Dish with junk in it=20
would cause this (as well as rain or other atmospheric issues). If Voom is=
=20
using something like this to relay these channels, then they should all be=
=20
shot!! Its 2005 almost, and they should definitely have the cleanest HD and=
=20
SD channels of all the DBS providers. By the way=85 the HD News channel=20
looks very good but I really need more the 7 minutes of news before they st=
art=20
repeating it over again. I will stick with CNN Headline News for now, thank=
=20
you very much=85
OK, now on the morning of the 10th I checked out to see if the receivers di=
d=20
any downloads over-night as the technician told me they might. One of them=
=20
would not turn on with the remote power button or the power button on the=20
front of the receiver . I did a soft reboot and a screen came up that it w=
as=20
going to download an update. The progress bar then started showing it was=20
downloading the update. I went to the other 2 receivers. They turned on=20
normally, but to my surprise they both had "No Info" on all the channels in=
the=20
Program Guide. I was a little miffed to say the least. I did a soft reboot =
on both=20
of them to see if they would start any type of download, but they did not.=
=20
(Maybe they did it over-night and I just did not see it, which would explai=
n the=20
blank Program Guide. I will give them the benefit of doubt on this one). I =
did=20
not notice any change on the software versions from the previous day on any=
=20
of the receivers.
After the first receiver downloaded its information it rebooted itself. The=
=20
Program Guide showed "No Info" on all the channels. It also then only=20
showed a handful of the OTA stations that the other receivers got fine. I=20
rescanned the locals using the Wizard, but still no luck. I then remembered=
=20
that this was the only receiver where I used the Voom diplexer. This diplex=
er=20
is a "Snap on" device that looks pretty cool, but apparently is not very go=
od. I=20
went to the garage and dug up another one of my diplexers and installed it =
on=20
the box. The OTA channels then came in right away and very strong.
I later stopped by the house during lunchtime to see how things were going.=
=20
Two of the receivers had the full Program Guide (did not check to see how f=
ar=20
out they went) and they did not lock up on any of the channels I tested. I=
=20
rebooted the last receiver and later when I got home that night I had the f=
ull=20
program guide. So far, so good. I was already getting a little tired of thi=
s=20
rebooting stuff, as it is annoying and makes you start from scratch every t=
ime.=20
It's been almost 2 days since I did the last reboot=85 Keeping my fingers=20
crossed=85
The Motorola Voom receivers leave much to be desired. The software is=20
obviously filled with bugs, and it takes too long to get them up to full=20
functionality to be used in a reasonable amount of time. I guess I am used =
to=20
the D* and E* receivers that update very quickly, and they just worked!!!=20
It would be a shame if Voom Corporate did not take advantage of the type of=
=20
feedback posted in this forum to improve upon their products and service.=20
They definitely have a huge opportunity to build their business quickly and=
=20
take on their competition; if they listen to their customers and take corre=
ctive=20
action right away. First thing to do is put Motorola on notice and start lo=
oking=20
for another STB supplier (Hughes, LG, Phillips, etc=85). Second is re-vampi=
ng=20
their back-room operations and get some integrity and pride inside that par=
t of=20
the business. Taking installations in-house is a great start, but also star=
t=20
overseeing the sub-contractors representing them. These are the folks that=
=20
are front-line with their customers, and this should work to leave customer=
s=20
with a good feeling about their purchase decisions (Business and Marketing=
=20
101). Voom Corp can't forget that they really are not the only game in town=
,=20
and it will only be a matter of time before their competition starts gettin=
g more=20
HD content with better receivers and support staff. The advantage Voom=20
enjoys today could be gone tomorrow if they do not take care of their=20
customers issues now.=20
Three things for Voom to consider:=20
People =96 Get the best people they can afford to interface with the custom=
er=20
and to keep the customer happy. Keep these employees content, motivated,=20
and trained.
Quality =96 Make sure the STB's work like they are expected to by the custo=
mer.=20
Make sure the programming content is contemporary, varied, and complete.=20
Make sure picture quality and reliability are outstanding.
Profit =96 Voom will build their business based on the above two items, and=
=20
then they will be very very successful.
Thought of the day for Voom Corp=85 Keep the customers happily watching=20
HDTV and they will not think about leaving=85.
I am renting the equipment with a 6 month contract, which is very little ri=
sk to=20
me if I decide to go another route later. This is obviously bad for Voom if=
more=20
and more customers would leave due to dissatisfaction after 6 months.=20
I am fairly happy with Voom right now (2.5 days of Vooming), and only hope =
I=20
do not have to go through some of the horror stories I have read about=20
elsewhere in this forum. I will update as things progress, just in case it =
could=20
be useful to someone.
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->=20
$4.98 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/Q7_YsB/neXJAA/yQLSAA/EyMolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->=20
=20
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VOOM/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
VOOM-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
=20
This is pretty lengthy, but I wanted to share details of my experience with=
=20
everyone on this forum. I was able to find out a lot of things about Voom p=
rior=20
to my decision, based on what I read on this forum. So I figure if there is=
=20
anyone else on the fence, like I was, that this information could be helpfu=
l=20
I finally decided to get Voom on December 2nd after seeing their $1 offer. =
I=20
called the Toll Free number and went through the order process and then=20
requested a December 9th installation date. The lady told me the earliest d=
ate=20
available was Dec. 14th. I told her that I had to be out of town starting o=
n the=20
14th. She told me she would book the 14th and would expedite the=20
equipment and put a "Rush" on the Installation for the 9th and she would ca=
ll=20
me back to confirm. I agreed and just waited to hear back.=20
On December 6th I decided it was time to call back since I had not heard fr=
om=20
anyone. I was transferred to the "Installation Department" where a gentlema=
n=20
looked into seeing if they could accommodate me on the 9th as requested.=20
(They had no information that I had requested the 9th). He looked and told =
me=20
that he could fit me in on the afternoon of the 9th. So I said "Great!!" a=
nd he=20
put me down for that date. He told me someone would call the evening before=
=20
to confirm.
The evening of the 8th I did get a call to confirm the installation, and th=
at they=20
would be showing up between Noon and 5:00pm. The morning of the 9th, at=20
about 11:00 am they called my house to let me know they could come early,=20
but I was not home to take the call. At 12:20pm the installer showed up at =
my=20
house for the installation. He went to have an early lunch and stop by Home=
=20
Depot to buy a tool belt, since Voom did not provide them with one and he=20
was used to have a handy belt to get his job done more efficiently. He did =
tell=20
me that he did not work for Installs Inc,. and that he actually worked for =
Voom.=20
He said that south Florida had literally exploded with Voom installs and th=
at=20
they are starting to take more and more installs In-House. He was a veteran=
in=20
the Satellite install business since he also did installs for D* and E* for=
a few=20
years already.
Apparently Cablevision has transferred a lot of their Cable TV installers t=
o=20
become Voom installers, and he was constantly on his NexTel phone=20
answering questions and helping these other installers with problems at oth=
er=20
sites. This guy really knew what he was talking about and what he was doing=
..
My installation would be simple since I had already mounted a 24" dish=20
pointing to the 61.5 bird. I had a MicroRoyal 8-port multi-switch that I ha=
d from=20
the D* days. I had OTA antennas in my attic and I had run a coax into the=20
Terrestrial port into the MultiSwitch. And all lines were run to the three =
spots I=20
would be putting the Voom boxes in. I had High Grade Diplexers in two of th=
e=20
locations (Centronics Model STV-1782B). I also had all the AV connections=20
ready to go.
He went out back to make sure the antenna was aligned while I set up the=20
boxes where they were supposed to go. While out back he re-terminated the=20
connectors with new compression connectors and re-ran a new ground wire=20
since the old one looked a little weak (It is 5 years old by the way).
The Voom receivers were refurbished units, and came in shrink-wrap with the=
=20
accessories also in shrink-wrap. All the accessories looked very good and i=
t=20
included all the wires (DVI, Phones cords, remote, batteries, etc=85) All t=
he=20
receivers powered up and went to the Installation Wizard screen. After I ha=
d=20
gone through the first steps in the Wizard (Check Sat signal strength, OTA=
=20
signal strength, and scanned the OTA channels), he disconnected the Sat=20
antenna lines from the multi switch outside and then re-connected them. The=
=20
receivers all locked up and would not come back after a few soft and hard=20
reboots. He went out to his van and brought in 3 brand new receivers. We=20
quickly changed them out and went through the wizard again.
On the screen where you have to put in the order number and account=20
number and such, is a new method for them to activate the boxes using the=20
phone line, this way they do not have to call it in (A very good idea for t=
he=20
phone line use). This did not work on any of the receivers. He called his l=
ocal=20
dispatch office who took the information to call in the activations. One of=
the=20
receivers apparently did not show up on Voom's list of valid receivers. Thi=
s=20
took a while but apparently they were able to sort this out, since channel =
100=20
finally came in on the receiver after al while. The other 2 receivers start=
ed=20
getting channel 100 pretty quickly.
The installer told me that it would take a while before the information sta=
rted=20
showing up on the Program Guide. He went through the operation of the unit=
=20
and verified everything was working. He took me out back to show me what=20
he had done with the Sat antenna, the Multi switch, and the Grounding wire.=
=20
He also left me with the dish he was supposed to install (a 24" dish by the=
=20
way) and the Winegard antenna for OTA. This guy was a super tech, and he=20
had to leave to go help another ex-Cablevision tech with an install the guy=
=20
had been at since the morning.
What took the longest time for my installation was troubleshooting and then=
=20
swapping out the boxes and then waiting for them to become activated. This=
=20
definitely needs to be improved by Voom, since they could probably get more=
=20
installs done in a day if this time was not wasted.
OK=85. Now I was Vooming!!! I was able to get 30 OTA stations and the=20
program guide was coming in on the first TV. I was looking through the HD=20
channels to admire them on my Toshiba 65" RPTV, but when I got to channel=20
124 it locked up . I had to reboot the receiver, and this lost all the Prog=
ram=20
Guide information. This happened with the other 2 receivers as well. I went=
=20
through this several times to see if it was a fluke or if it would happen o=
n other=20
channels=85. It did!!! I got fed-up and left Well Enough alone and went out=
to=20
dinner with the family. When we came back we the same thing happened=20
again with channel 124.=20
After rebooting (again!)we looked through some of the SD channels. My=20
biggest complaint here is CNN and Headline News (plus a few others). It=20
looks like to me that wherever they are getting these channels from they ar=
e=20
using C-band or Ku-band Dishes at the TelePort. The sparkles on the screen=
=20
(especially where there are graphics) there is a lot of "Terrestrial Noise"=
on=20
the signal. When I had an old C-Band Dish (before the DBS days) this was=20
common on the analog signals where a poor LNB or a Dish with junk in it=20
would cause this (as well as rain or other atmospheric issues). If Voom is=
=20
using something like this to relay these channels, then they should all be=
=20
shot!! Its 2005 almost, and they should definitely have the cleanest HD and=
=20
SD channels of all the DBS providers. By the way=85 the HD News channel=20
looks very good but I really need more the 7 minutes of news before they st=
art=20
repeating it over again. I will stick with CNN Headline News for now, thank=
=20
you very much=85
OK, now on the morning of the 10th I checked out to see if the receivers di=
d=20
any downloads over-night as the technician told me they might. One of them=
=20
would not turn on with the remote power button or the power button on the=20
front of the receiver . I did a soft reboot and a screen came up that it w=
as=20
going to download an update. The progress bar then started showing it was=20
downloading the update. I went to the other 2 receivers. They turned on=20
normally, but to my surprise they both had "No Info" on all the channels in=
the=20
Program Guide. I was a little miffed to say the least. I did a soft reboot =
on both=20
of them to see if they would start any type of download, but they did not.=
=20
(Maybe they did it over-night and I just did not see it, which would explai=
n the=20
blank Program Guide. I will give them the benefit of doubt on this one). I =
did=20
not notice any change on the software versions from the previous day on any=
=20
of the receivers.
After the first receiver downloaded its information it rebooted itself. The=
=20
Program Guide showed "No Info" on all the channels. It also then only=20
showed a handful of the OTA stations that the other receivers got fine. I=20
rescanned the locals using the Wizard, but still no luck. I then remembered=
=20
that this was the only receiver where I used the Voom diplexer. This diplex=
er=20
is a "Snap on" device that looks pretty cool, but apparently is not very go=
od. I=20
went to the garage and dug up another one of my diplexers and installed it =
on=20
the box. The OTA channels then came in right away and very strong.
I later stopped by the house during lunchtime to see how things were going.=
=20
Two of the receivers had the full Program Guide (did not check to see how f=
ar=20
out they went) and they did not lock up on any of the channels I tested. I=
=20
rebooted the last receiver and later when I got home that night I had the f=
ull=20
program guide. So far, so good. I was already getting a little tired of thi=
s=20
rebooting stuff, as it is annoying and makes you start from scratch every t=
ime.=20
It's been almost 2 days since I did the last reboot=85 Keeping my fingers=20
crossed=85
The Motorola Voom receivers leave much to be desired. The software is=20
obviously filled with bugs, and it takes too long to get them up to full=20
functionality to be used in a reasonable amount of time. I guess I am used =
to=20
the D* and E* receivers that update very quickly, and they just worked!!!=20
It would be a shame if Voom Corporate did not take advantage of the type of=
=20
feedback posted in this forum to improve upon their products and service.=20
They definitely have a huge opportunity to build their business quickly and=
=20
take on their competition; if they listen to their customers and take corre=
ctive=20
action right away. First thing to do is put Motorola on notice and start lo=
oking=20
for another STB supplier (Hughes, LG, Phillips, etc=85). Second is re-vampi=
ng=20
their back-room operations and get some integrity and pride inside that par=
t of=20
the business. Taking installations in-house is a great start, but also star=
t=20
overseeing the sub-contractors representing them. These are the folks that=
=20
are front-line with their customers, and this should work to leave customer=
s=20
with a good feeling about their purchase decisions (Business and Marketing=
=20
101). Voom Corp can't forget that they really are not the only game in town=
,=20
and it will only be a matter of time before their competition starts gettin=
g more=20
HD content with better receivers and support staff. The advantage Voom=20
enjoys today could be gone tomorrow if they do not take care of their=20
customers issues now.=20
Three things for Voom to consider:=20
People =96 Get the best people they can afford to interface with the custom=
er=20
and to keep the customer happy. Keep these employees content, motivated,=20
and trained.
Quality =96 Make sure the STB's work like they are expected to by the custo=
mer.=20
Make sure the programming content is contemporary, varied, and complete.=20
Make sure picture quality and reliability are outstanding.
Profit =96 Voom will build their business based on the above two items, and=
=20
then they will be very very successful.
Thought of the day for Voom Corp=85 Keep the customers happily watching=20
HDTV and they will not think about leaving=85.
I am renting the equipment with a 6 month contract, which is very little ri=
sk to=20
me if I decide to go another route later. This is obviously bad for Voom if=
more=20
and more customers would leave due to dissatisfaction after 6 months.=20
I am fairly happy with Voom right now (2.5 days of Vooming), and only hope =
I=20
do not have to go through some of the horror stories I have read about=20
elsewhere in this forum. I will update as things progress, just in case it =
could=20
be useful to someone.
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->=20
$4.98 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/Q7_YsB/neXJAA/yQLSAA/EyMolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->=20
=20
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VOOM/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
VOOM-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
=20
