Directv ‘internet backup’ not working.

[Mr Tony]

So checking on this for my parents.
They have Directv satellite. The 5 tuner box and 2 small boxes that use the Wi-Fi instead of a cable.
Anywho they got their roof replaced today and the dish wasn't put back in the correct spot. They have internet on it because my mom says she tunes to a channel, it gives her 721 error (I think) then the internet kicks on and shows the channel.

My stepdad rebooted the main box and now it doesn't use internet as backup and he called Directv. They can't come out until Friday and now it doesn't kick to internet backup.
Are they SOL because he did a red button reboot?

(They've had Directv for about 20 years now and I keep telling him to switch to Directv Stream. They have 1gb internet He just blows me off. I have Directv stream at my apartment)

 

[b4pjoe]

Internet as backup is called SignalSaver. Check the settings and make sure it is set to use SignalSaver. Also are you sure your Genie, the 5 tuner box, is connected to the internet. Check it under Settings>Info.

Also if you have a streaming device like Roku, Fire Stick, Apple TV etc…you can install the app to watch DIRECTV.

 

[Mr Tony]

Internet as backup is called SignalSaver. Check the settings and make sure it is set to use SignalSaver. Also are you sure your Genie, the 5 tuner box, is connected to the internet. Check it under Settings>Info.

I'll have to talk to them tomorrow.
I assume it was set up to internet as it worked until my stepdad did a red button reboot (before he called D*). My mom tuned to stations and got the 721 pop up then it said somethIng about the internet and stations came in. So maybe it got turned to off due to the reboot??

Also if you have a streaming device like Roku, Fire Stick, Apple TV etc…you can install the app to watch DIRECTV.

oh I'm sure my stepdad may do that. They **might** have a streaming device. I'm not 100% sure if they do

 

[Mr Tony]

I text my stepdad this morning and he said it's working with internet. He said it came back 'later last night' after he did a red button reboot. So he's good until they fix it on Friday

 

[Jimbo]

I text my stepdad this morning and he said it's working with internet. He said it came back 'later last night' after he did a red button reboot. So he's good until they fix it on Friday

The RBR really shouldn't have anything to do with it, usually doing that Helps clean up other issues and your Good.

I would suspect the dish is not Pointed correctly ... you can go to Signal setting to confirm that... I can't give you the exact steps from memory anymore.

 

[Mr Tony]

I would suspect the dish is not Pointed correctly ... you can go to Signal setting to confirm that... I can't give you the exact steps from memory anymore.

Oh I know when the roofer put the dish back up it's not aimed properly. I had Directv many moons ago when I had a house with 2 R22s set up and upgraded them to (at the time) a brand new HR34 Had it until about 9 years ago when I moved into an apartment. I've had Directv stream for over a year now where I live (they give us Directv stream with Entertainment package and 500MB fibre internet with rent)

 

[cypherstream]

I had my roof replaced a few years ago and yes, while the roofers put the dish back in the same spot - it doesn't take much to misalign it. I had around 20% signal strength, not enough for most things. D* had to come out and re peak the dish.

If this would happen today, I'd jump out to the app. I have it on our Sony Google TV, Apple TV and my kids have it on their Rokus. Kids though primarily use You tube or their phone/tablet. Selling subscription based TV to the upcoming generation is going to be an uphill battle.

 

[Derek K]

It really depends on how your box is connected to the internet. If you use a decca (Internet Via Coax) The deccas seem to be unreliable at times. I have replaced about a dozen units over the years. if you can get a Gig decca, those seem to be the most reliable

Best solution is Ethernet

 

[Derek K]

I think the issue is that signal saver is for when a storm rolls through and cuts out the signal, you would still have access to the DIRECTV service for a short period of time.

When the signal goes out, I believe the signal saver function uses the last channel tuned to as a reference to start streaming programming.

If you reboot the box, or change the channel, it has no way to know what the last channel was on or if the signal was truly lost, which is a trigger to start signal saver.

If you could just reboot the box, and it started to work off streaming immediately then in theory you could not even bother to hook the Dish up at all. You could take the Genie camping and just connect it to a hot spot, which is not what DIRECTV wants since people would not know they had an issue with their Dish setup if signal saver kicked in every time.

For the heck of it I tested my box a few minutes ago by disconnecting the satellite feed. If I have live TV and disconnect the satellite feed it works fine. If I try to change the channel, it goes to a black screen or a swm error message.

I didn't bother rebooting, I absolutely hate the reboot process on any satellite receiver. I didn't want to reboot for several minutes. The wife was already irritated I disrupted her show to test signal saver.