Well, the day finally arrived. After ordering the ViP 622 on 2/1/06 and getting it from UPS on Valentine's Day, my 2/21 install date came. My installer, Scott from DNS, called to see if he could come earlier than my 12-5 install time! That was a shock, but I work 1 hour away and told him I wouldn't be home early enough.
Scott arrives, and starts to work. He is very experienced and was done in a flash, the only problem being that he installed a new Dish 500 with Dish Pro Plus (I had old Legacy equipment). I inquired about the D1000, and he said the work order did not show a D1000 was to be installed. A CSR had told me this past Friday when I tried to activate my receiver that a D1000 is on the work order.
After we got the 622 activated (Scott said I took the fun out of the install because I already had it running but Dish wouldn't allow it to be activated until today), Scott called Dish to have a work order placed for the D1000. The CSR told him it would be a $59 upgrade if I committed for 12 months (?, I'm already commited for 18 with the 622!), or $199 with no commitment. He agrued on my behalf, but the CSR was stubborn and would not budge. He hung up and called again, this time getting a CSR to add the D1000 for free with no issues whatsoever. I thought it was rather funny how Scott was telling me that sometimes you have to play CSR roulette, as this scenerio seems so familiar to many of us on these forums! My install date is this Saturday morning.
Some interesting things were told to me as we killed time. I told Scott that when I tried activating the 622 before today that my 2/21 install would be cancelled and the next date quoted was 3/28. He said that was odd, because new customers get an install the very next day after signing up. So it seems to me that plenty of slots are there for new installs, but only a few are available for upgrades. That would mean it is possible to get a better install date if you talk to the right people. Those of you with far out install dates, see if you can bring them in earlier. I tried many times to no avail, but maybe if you were given the number to the installer you might have better luck.
Also, all new HD subs in the Atlanta area up to South Carolina will be getting D1000's. I was suppose to get one too as an HD sub, but somehow it was messed up on the order. Of course, Dish may not have known what their plans were for Atlanta when I placed my order on 2/1 since we are close to the edge of the 129 satellite footprint. Scott said that 129 is very low on the horizon, and that the location my original D500 was pointed would not work. The D1000 will be mounted on my chimney very high in the air, so it will work well for me now.
I haven't had a chance to play with the 622 much yet, and since this is my first Dual Tuner DVR (I still have a Dishplayer 7100 sitting around somewhere) it will take me a little while to learn all the new features. I did connect my OTA, but unlike others on the forum have experienced, my 622 is exactly the same as my 811. They both pick up Atlanta digital channel 10 with 64% and everything else is 0%. I had hoped it would be better as others have said, but I guess it doesn't help my situation.
Scott arrives, and starts to work. He is very experienced and was done in a flash, the only problem being that he installed a new Dish 500 with Dish Pro Plus (I had old Legacy equipment). I inquired about the D1000, and he said the work order did not show a D1000 was to be installed. A CSR had told me this past Friday when I tried to activate my receiver that a D1000 is on the work order.
After we got the 622 activated (Scott said I took the fun out of the install because I already had it running but Dish wouldn't allow it to be activated until today), Scott called Dish to have a work order placed for the D1000. The CSR told him it would be a $59 upgrade if I committed for 12 months (?, I'm already commited for 18 with the 622!), or $199 with no commitment. He agrued on my behalf, but the CSR was stubborn and would not budge. He hung up and called again, this time getting a CSR to add the D1000 for free with no issues whatsoever. I thought it was rather funny how Scott was telling me that sometimes you have to play CSR roulette, as this scenerio seems so familiar to many of us on these forums! My install date is this Saturday morning.
Some interesting things were told to me as we killed time. I told Scott that when I tried activating the 622 before today that my 2/21 install would be cancelled and the next date quoted was 3/28. He said that was odd, because new customers get an install the very next day after signing up. So it seems to me that plenty of slots are there for new installs, but only a few are available for upgrades. That would mean it is possible to get a better install date if you talk to the right people. Those of you with far out install dates, see if you can bring them in earlier. I tried many times to no avail, but maybe if you were given the number to the installer you might have better luck.
Also, all new HD subs in the Atlanta area up to South Carolina will be getting D1000's. I was suppose to get one too as an HD sub, but somehow it was messed up on the order. Of course, Dish may not have known what their plans were for Atlanta when I placed my order on 2/1 since we are close to the edge of the 129 satellite footprint. Scott said that 129 is very low on the horizon, and that the location my original D500 was pointed would not work. The D1000 will be mounted on my chimney very high in the air, so it will work well for me now.
I haven't had a chance to play with the 622 much yet, and since this is my first Dual Tuner DVR (I still have a Dishplayer 7100 sitting around somewhere) it will take me a little while to learn all the new features. I did connect my OTA, but unlike others on the forum have experienced, my 622 is exactly the same as my 811. They both pick up Atlanta digital channel 10 with 64% and everything else is 0%. I had hoped it would be better as others have said, but I guess it doesn't help my situation.
