Dish says I have low signal strength...

Sean Jones

Active SatelliteGuys Member
Original poster
Dec 21, 2011
20
7
Minnesota, United States
Hi all-

I walked in the door today and just when I was taking my shoes off I received a call from Dish technical support. The lady told me that I am having issues with my dish and they need to send someone out to take a look at it. I said that was strange, I haven't had any issues with anything lately (except one funky DVR). I asked what the issue was and a couple seconds later she said I have low signal strength and that they can be here tomorrow. I said well I don't think there are any issues but if you want to come, then ok. So anyways they are coming next Monday to take a look at things. After the call, I checked the diagnostics screen on my 722k only and everything came back good (as far as I know- I don't know EXACTLY what the numbers mean).

So the question is why do they need to come out if everything seems to be ok? Is it normal for them to call you and say signal is low?

Thanks!
 
Hi all-

I walked in the door today and just when I was taking my shoes off I received a call from Dish technical support. The lady told me that I am having issues with my dish and they need to send someone out to take a look at it. I said that was strange, I haven't had any issues with anything lately (except one funky DVR). I asked what the issue was and a couple seconds later she said I have low signal strength and that they can be here tomorrow. I said well I don't think there are any issues but if you want to come, then ok. So anyways they are coming next Monday to take a look at things. After the call, I checked the diagnostics screen on my 722k only and everything came back good (as far as I know- I don't know EXACTLY what the numbers mean).

So the question is why do they need to come out if everything seems to be ok? Is it normal for them to call you and say signal is low?

Thanks!

If I remember correctly, it's a free visit, so I would let them come out to make sure everything checks out OK. Since your receiver is connected to phone or internet, it sends us updates, and I'm guessing one of the updates shows that signal is a bit low. If you want, you can compare your signal strengths to the list in the link below to make sure they are up to par.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-forum/256056-list-minimum-average-thresholds.html
 
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I don't recall Dish contacting the customer too much in the past, you may want to run your situation by a DIRT member here.

As MattG said, on receivers that are connected to broadband or phone they will periodically report in with signal strength numbers and LNB drift info. Dish actually does monitor that and will call you to schedule an appointment if necessary.
 
OK so these are the numbers that I have:

110: 14-75, 15-74, 16-78, 21-77

119: 14-70, 15-75, 16-79, 21-80

129: 14-75, 15-71, 16-77, 21-73

They all look above normal to me...

These are the numbers that are avg/minimum according to the chart:

110: 14-60, 15-62, 16-62, 21-63

119: 14-57, 15-68, 16-67, 21-70

129: 14-44, 15-42, 16-44, 21-42
 
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MattG@ DISH NETWORK said:
Those are all around the averages for the area (using Minneapolis/St Paul DMA). Will you send me a PM with your phone number or account number please?

I want t know if failed stbh reports are alway free for us to roll out to fix... That and for how long 90days?

Sent from my fingers.
 
I want t know if failed stbh reports are alway free for us to roll out to fix... That and for how long 90days?

Sent from my fingers.

If you receive an outbound call from us, I believe there is no cost. Regular charges apply otherwise, and a tech visit/replacement warranty period is 60 days
 
Sean Jones said:
Hi all-

I walked in the door today and just when I was taking my shoes off I received a call from Dish technical support. The lady told me that I am having issues with my dish and they need to send someone out to take a look at it. I said that was strange, I haven't had any issues with anything lately (except one funky DVR). I asked what the issue was and a couple seconds later she said I have low signal strength and that they can be here tomorrow. I said well I don't think there are any issues but if you want to come, then ok. So anyways they are coming next Monday to take a look at things. After the call, I checked the diagnostics screen on my 722k only and everything came back good (as far as I know- I don't know EXACTLY what the numbers mean).

So the question is why do they need to come out if everything seems to be ok? Is it normal for them to call you and say signal is low?

Thanks!

If you're hooked up to phone or broadband dish will receive your stb signal periodically. If the signal goes below 15, the call you to set up an appointment. The signals you posted look very much normal. I'm a dish tech and that actually seems pretty good signal wise.
 
Ok, so I checked out another receiver's numbers. These are from the 612 in my bedroom...

Tuner 0 numbers look ok.

Tuner 1 numbers:

110: 14-73, 15-75, 16-80, 21-77

119: 14-70, 15-73, 16-78, 21-74

129: 14-77, 15-0, 16-71, 21-70

So it looks like tuner 1 has issues on my 612. I was under the impression that the numbers would be similar on each receiver. Guess I was wrong. I checked out a couple of channels coming off of 129 and I am receiving them. What exactly does the 14, 15, 16, and 21 numbers signify?
 
Sean Jones said:
Ok, so I checked out another receiver's numbers. These are from the 612 in my bedroom...

Tuner 0 numbers look ok.

Tuner 1 numbers:

110: 14-73, 15-75, 16-80, 21-77

119: 14-70, 15-73, 16-78, 21-74

129: 14-77, 15-0, 16-71, 21-70

So it looks like tuner 1 has issues on my 612. I was under the impression that the numbers would be similar on each receiver. Guess I was wrong. I checked out a couple of channels coming off of 129 and I am receiving them. What exactly does the 14, 15, 16, and 21 numbers signify?

The fact that one transponder showing zero could indicate any connection or cable or even the reciever is failing between your lnb and 612. Possibly even the port on the lnb failing as well. Better to be safe and have someone show up than experience an issue while watching tv.
 
MattG@ DISH NETWORK said:
If you receive an outbound call from us, I believe there is no cost. Regular charges apply otherwise, and a tech visit/replacement warranty period is 60 days

So any time no matter if the cust has the service plan or not... It is a free repair if there'S a set top box health report showing a failure sent to dish?

Sent from my fingers.
 
So any time no matter if the cust has the service plan or not... It is a free repair if there'S a set top box health report showing a failure sent to dish?

Sent from my fingers.

We do not do outbound calls for all STBHealt failures, but when we do it is a free tech visit. Only these outbound calls are free, otherwise normal rules apply.

If we show that there is a problem on the STBH report, and you contact us, normal costs still apply
 
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