Contract question

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mini1

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Jan 2, 2004
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If I sign up for D* under the 24th month agreement and take all the promos to get
1 HD DVR and 1 HD receiver
whole house DVR
HD access free for life
choice extra package

can I change my programming package or drop one receiver and turn off whole house DVR during the 24 months and not get fined? Or must I maintain the same account for all 24 months?

Also, how does D* standard free installation handle condo balcony-only installations? Must I supply the tripod or mount for the slimline? Must I supply the thin coax line to get through the sliding glass door? Is the SWM dish standard now? Must I have HSI installed prior to getting D* installed?

I already checked dishpointer and I can see all D* satellites.

Sorry I've been away from the satellite world for a long time and a lot has changed!!
 
you should be able to change your package at any time during the 24 month period w/o a problem. check w/ DTV to be sure but i dont think you should have much of a problem.

if you are using hd you must have a slimline dish which cannot be mounted to a tripod or any other temporary mount. trust me, even if it wasnt out of spec it would be more trouble than its worth. do you own this condo? and if so, do you have permission to permanently mount the dish? if not, DTV wil usually let you out of the 24 month commitment w/o penalty.

the installer should have an approved flat cable on his truck for your sliding glass door if the installation actually gets that far.

SWM is used in all new HD installs at this point but only partially on mover's connects. SWM would probably work best in your situation and you would need to contact DTV to make sure it is on the work order. that should save the installer the headache of having the work order modified on-site.

your area will dictate the DTV satellites you will use so make sure you have line-of-sight for all of them. 99.101,103,110,119

hope this is helpful

eric
 
What can I mount the slimline on? It needs to stay within the confines of a balcony. It cannot go beyond the railing or be attached to the railing.

Also, I'm planning on ordering ATT DSL 6.0. Can I bundle with D* after I order both services? I did search and see that people are saying it could be done about a year ago.

Will the receivers require an internet connection to be installed?
 
If I sign up for D* under the 24th month agreement and take all the promos to get
1 HD DVR and 1 HD receiver
whole house DVR
HD access free for life
choice extra package

can I change my programming package or drop one receiver and turn off whole house DVR during the 24 months and not get fined? Or must I maintain the same account for all 24 months?
you need one receiver and at least Choice to get the credits. Now the 2nd year discount might require Choice Xtra but you can change packages around and add/remove receivers. If you drop to one receiver obviously you cant get MRV

Also, how does D* standard free installation handle condo balcony-only installations? Must I supply the tripod or mount for the slimline? Must I supply the thin coax line to get through the sliding glass door? Is the SWM dish standard now? Must I have HSI installed prior to getting D* installed?
the SWM in most cases is standard (unless your SD locals are on 119 then they might install the older 4 output LNB)...actually as I think of it, SWM might be requried for MRV.
If the balcony is your exclusive area then you dont need anyone's permission
 
SWM is required for MRV. Otherwise it will not function. You do not need an active internet connection in order to have it installed. The MRV function will actually work w/o the internet connection since it essentially a home network that works thru the SWM equipment in order to communicate from one room to the other. And yes you can bundle w/ AT&T. The bundling option tends to make things a bit more difficult if the DTV equipment cannot be installed and you need to cancel that part of the package. Reason being, that once you bundle your services all calls made to DTV concerning installation are usually transferred to a department at AT&T who can at times be totally useless in dealing with your problems.

As far as mounting w/o attaching to the building or balcony railing, you do not have any other mounting options that are within spec. IF, you can get the tech to agree you can have it mounted on a pole in a 5 gal. bucket full of concrete. You will need to secure it to the railing w/o permanently attaching it. The tech will have to get creative here and may decide that it's not worth the headache or the chance of failing the QC. Just remember that the Slimline can catch up to 60 ft lbs. of wind pressure in high winds resulting in frequent signal loss. Just be prepared...

Eric
 
Thanks for all your help so far. I did some searching and it looks like a non-penetrating roof mount weighted down with cinder blocks would be the best solution to mount the dish. I see several that say that they will support a slimline. I assume I would have to provide that.

How would I go about getting an installer out to do a preliminary site survey without scheduling an installation?
 
SWM is required for MRV. Otherwise it will not function. You do not need an active internet connection in order to have it installed. The MRV function will actually work w/o the internet connection since it essentially a home network that works thru the SWM equipment in order to communicate from one room to the other. And yes you can bundle w/ AT&T. The bundling option tends to make things a bit more difficult if the DTV equipment cannot be installed and you need to cancel that part of the package. Reason being, that once you bundle your services all calls made to DTV concerning installation are usually transferred to a department at AT&T who can at times be totally useless in dealing with your problems.

As far as mounting w/o attaching to the building or balcony railing, you do not have any other mounting options that are within spec. IF, you can get the tech to agree you can have it mounted on a pole in a 5 gal. bucket full of concrete. You will need to secure it to the railing w/o permanently attaching it. The tech will have to get creative here and may decide that it's not worth the headache or the chance of failing the QC. Just remember that the Slimline can catch up to 60 ft lbs. of wind pressure in high winds resulting in frequent signal loss. Just be prepared...

Eric

There are plenty of other options for mounting on a balcony and a tripod would work as well, wouldn't be my first choice, but it would work, bolt it down if possible.

There are a variety of options if you search online to see whats available.

Also, you STILL Deal with the D* techs when service is needed.
 
Thanks for all your help so far. I did some searching and it looks like a non-penetrating roof mount weighted down with cinder blocks would be the best solution to mount the dish. I see several that say that they will support a slimline. I assume I would have to provide that.

How would I go about getting an installer out to do a preliminary site survey without scheduling an installation?

That mount should work fine.

You could contact a local installer and have them come out to do a site survey ...
 
That mount should work fine.

You could contact a local installer and have them come out to do a site survey ...

It would have to be an independent local installer. Directv doesn't do site surveys until there is an install scheduled.
 
How would I find a local independent installer? I just moved into the area and don't know of any. When I type in DirecTV on google I just get "call 800-directv" type stuff.
 
Try checking for local satellite dealers or antenna installers.
 
Do you think Best Buy would do it? I can't find any indy's around here. I don't have the Yellow Pages. I haven't used that in 10 years.
 
Do you think Best Buy would do it? I can't find any indy's around here. I don't have the Yellow Pages. I haven't used that in 10 years.

I wouldn't trust Best Buy to do ANYTHING with your D* set up .... personally, I would not let them touch my entertainment center either.
 
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