Will Dish Tech Install Second Coax Cable For OTA Antenna?

[jasonhutch]

I have an appointment on Sunday for a Dish tech to come to my house to install a new coax jack in the basement. Has anyone ever asked the tech to run a second cable to allow for an OTA antenna in the attic? Did the tech need any "financial encouragement" to install the second cable?

Thanks!

 

[Skibum]

It's not part of a "standard" install. My RSP would charge the stadard CSC rate of $59/hour, minimum one hour charge. But... depends on the tech!

 

[darrencp22]

I personally think that if Dish does not offer HD locals they should figure out some way to install an antenna free of charge. You pay for the antenna but dish comps the installer for install.

 

[Andrewwski]

You could diplex onto that line. Probably cheaper than paying the tech for an OTA line.

Chances are he'll run two, one for backfeed, if feasible, instead of using diplexers, so you wouldn't even have to figure out combining backfeed and OTA on the same line.

 

[vegassatellite]

I personally think that if Dish does not offer HD locals they should figure out some way to install an antenna free of charge. You pay for the antenna but dish comps the installer for install.

Then DISH's operational expenses increase and they up the monthly bill. Either that or you will have to endure a longer contract. Here's an idea, you want someone to perform work for you and you actually pay them.

 

[Van]

Dish already installs antenna's free of charge inhouse, subs though are a diferent story and they can charge, as it is there should be a charge inhouse as well to install an antenna as dish is a satellite television provider not an off the air antenna installer.

 

[darrencp22]

Then DISH's operational expenses increase and they up the monthly bill. Either that or you will have to endure a longer contract. Here's an idea, you want someone to perform work for you and you actually pay them.

Here's an idea... stop losing local HD customers to DirecTV. In my area this is a major reason why Dish has a hard time competing. D has them, E does not. One retailer here even lies about having them within a few weeks when you ask. They've been using that lie for over a year.

I bet the retailers here would love a program that would allow them to better compete... and perhaps not lie.

 

[mike2154]

If they are lying to people they are not a reputable dish retailer and should have their dealership pulled as there is no excuse for lying to customers to attain their business as that is fraud. You can`t judge a company by one bad retailer and if they are indeed lying to customers to get their business then they need to be turned in and reprimanded accordingly. To answer your question yes you will probably need to compensate the technician if you are going to ask them to do extra work as in any business if someone does work for you then you compensate them for the job and OTA is not part of a dish network install or normal service. It is akin to when someone wants to run a 2nd TV off of a tuner for their own benefit and they expect a dish installer to do the extra work for nothing and it is simply not right if they do an extra job the customer should expect to pay them a reasonable fee for the extra work they perform. My installer charges the same as he is paid to do a secondary tuner by our company to run an extra line or run a line for OTA unless it requires a wall fish or extraordinary amount of time/cabling but he tries to be reasonable and make the customer happy, which is not always the case as there are some very unreasonable people out there as we all know.

 

[jasonhutch]

You could diplex onto that line. Probably cheaper than paying the tech for an OTA line.

Chances are he'll run two, one for backfeed, if feasible, instead of using diplexers, so you wouldn't even have to figure out combining backfeed and OTA on the same line.

Sorry for my ignorance on the subject of diplexers, but it looks like my current setup is using diplexers on both ends to handle the backfeed from the 622. (The 622 is moving from it's current location in the family room to the new connection in the basement.)

Is it possible to use diplexers to handle the backfeed as well as an OTA antenna? How would that work? Can I ask the tech to run 2 cables for backfeed purposes and then use my existing diplexers to handle the backfeed and the 2nd cable for the OTA antenna?

Thanks again!

 

[Snake Plissken]

Jason - when i moved into our new house, i asked the tech if he would mind running an extra coax cable outside. he was already running several to the corner of the den to hook up our 622 so he said sure. It was pretty easy so i did not pay him anything. it was just one more cable in addition to what he was already doing.

installing a run all the way to the attic sounds a little more involved. i am sure he would expect some compensation for that.

 

[Jared Twomey]

I personally think that if Dish does not offer HD locals they should figure out some way to install an antenna free of charge. You pay for the antenna but dish comps the installer for install.

i think at&t should give me free land line phone service at my house, cause their cell service sucks there, kind of in a dead spot..... doubt that is going to happen

or maybe, you could call up the tv station and convince them to give you a free antenna installed... i mean that would benefit them, you would be able to watch their programming in HD then

Dish in the business of satellite tv, not ota tv... and in my opinion, yeah, its nice if you have HD locals, but it is also early in the game. Just cause Directv has them doesnt mean dish absolutely has to, and viceversa. If it is really important to you to have our hd locals, go with Directv, or pay a few bucks to have an ota antenna installed.

Personally, i'd rather dish not install ota... thats just more headaches for the installers, and wasted money on dish's part, which would probably end up getting rates increased

 

[PATECO]

Sorry for my ignorance on the subject of diplexers, but it looks like my current setup is using diplexers on both ends to handle the backfeed from the 622. (The 622 is moving from it's current location in the family room to the new connection in the basement.)

Is it possible to use diplexers to handle the backfeed as well as an OTA antenna? How would that work? Can I ask the tech to run 2 cables for backfeed purposes and then use my existing diplexers to handle the backfeed and the 2nd cable for the OTA antenna?

Thanks again!

No you cannot use diplexer for both, you will need a second line for OTA.

I can vouch for the fact that dish subsidizes off air antenna in areas unserved by satellite HD. I serve two DMA's, one gets satellite HD one does not. In the area not served, I can offer an off air antennae under a promotion. The promotion Costs the customer $49.99 and only pays for a basic antenna and install, (usually Chanelmaster Stealth or Weinguard Sensar) Both work fine in my area. If you are going through a local dealer you can ask what he uses. Dish usually uses the Sensar.

If you are in a remote location that needs advanced tech for OTA reception (tower, bigger antenna amps etc,) their would be an extra charge.

 

[vegassatellite]

Here's an idea... stop losing local HD customers to DirecTV. In my area this is a major reason why Dish has a hard time competing. D has them, E does not. One retailer here even lies about having them within a few weeks when you ask. They've been using that lie for over a year.

I bet the retailers here would love a program that would allow them to better compete... and perhaps not lie.

DirecTV doesn't install free OTA systems.

Like I said, either you will pay for it on your monthly bill, along with paying for everyone else's free antennas or you can pay for those services you desire at the time they are rendered. Cheapskate.

 

[darrencp22]

DirecTV doesn't install free OTA systems.

Like I said, either you will pay for it on your monthly bill, along with paying for everyone else's free antennas or you can pay for those services you desire at the time they are rendered. Cheapskate.

Don't appreciate the comment as you know nothing about me. I installed my own antenna. I personally have nothing riding on this.

I'm pointing out that many people dont want to fuss with it. And if given the option between D* with HD locals and E* without it, and if you want OTA you better pay up, many people are just going with D. Now if you dont think thats a problem, fine... but it happens a lot in my service area.

One potential workaround would be for E to pay for part of an OTA install. It's an issue of competing in my book, not just giving away stuff. If D doesn't offer HD locals either, then you wouldnt bother doing this. But if you are in an area where D has and E doesn't, you're at a disadvantage and this MAY help compete.

This seems so outrageous for you to consider... perhaps you work for charlie's promo department.

 

[lgball]

Back on topic.

Isn't it true that if you have a Dish Pro switch, you can get 2 sat and one OTA down one coax? The Dish pro switch sends the two sats down one line with a dish pro splitter at the receiver and then you can diplex the OTA on that?

 

[vegassatellite]

NO. I'm just against the idea of subsidizing another subscriber's OTA install simply because he doesn't have access to LiL HD. Dish doesn't incur these expenses without offsetting them through increased subscriber revenue. That means if their operational costs go up another hundred million, my bill would go up as well. So I end up paying more, but I get no OTA as part of it. Dish has no expected increase in revenue from putting up OTA antennas so that cost isn't recovered from that sub unless they pay via a contract extension or by paying for the installation.

Why do people think businesses have a magical money tree? The money comes out of customer's wallets.

 

[darrencp22]

That reminds me... time to water my magical money tree. Beginning to sag a little bit. But fresh Benjamins should be blooming soon

I'll quietly exit this thread now...

 

[Jared Twomey]

Back on topic.

Isn't it true that if you have a Dish Pro switch, you can get 2 sat and one OTA down one coax? The Dish pro switch sends the two sats down one line with a dish pro splitter at the receiver and then you can diplex the OTA on that?

nope
i think you are talking about dpp equipment, and it just send 2 satellite feeds to dual tuner receivers only.
and the ota part, has nothing to do with the dpp equipment, you can do that on any line with a couple of diplexers

*ok, edit... it can be done with a dish pro splitter, but that is only if you want 1 satellite location, not for most users*

 

[Van]

Here's an idea... stop losing local HD customers to DirecTV. In my area this is a major reason why Dish has a hard time competing. D has them, E does not. One retailer here even lies about having them within a few weeks when you ask. They've been using that lie for over a year.

I bet the retailers here would love a program that would allow them to better compete... and perhaps not lie.

Look, its not possible for both parties to be in both places with the same services at the same time and though it may suck that you dont have your locals in hd as an E customer there wont be any new hd lil markets until new sats are launched, if you really need hd locals that bad then pony up the early cancellation fee and go back to D.

 

[Andrewwski]

Sorry for my ignorance on the subject of diplexers, but it looks like my current setup is using diplexers on both ends to handle the backfeed from the 622. (The 622 is moving from it's current location in the family room to the new connection in the basement.)

Is it possible to use diplexers to handle the backfeed as well as an OTA antenna? How would that work? Can I ask the tech to run 2 cables for backfeed purposes and then use my existing diplexers to handle the backfeed and the 2nd cable for the OTA antenna?

Thanks again!

If the line was already there at that location, the techs often use diplexers so they don't need to run new lines.

He'll probably run a separate one for backfeed if he's going to be running coax anyway though.

You can often get OTA and backfeed on the same line. It's not the best solution, but it can work.

Make sure that the backfeed channel is far from any channel being used for OTA in your area. You can try connecting in this method then.

Because you're not supposed to broadcast (although it's really weak anyway) the TV2 feed over the antenna, you'd have to put a notch filter or one-way device (most preamps are one-way) between the splitter and the antenna.