Dish site survey?

[mike1973]

So I recently moved and it is in a very wooded area. I'd like to go with Dish since Time Warner makes my soul cry on several different levels! I called to see if they would come out and do a site survey but they said that they can't do it unless I sign up for service?! I don't want to sign up till I know it'll work(I don't want to deal with the whole cancel process if they can't get line of sight).
Anyone have suggestions for getting someone out there. Thinking about trying the dishpointer app for the iPhone but thats $10 and I'm not sure I want to drop that.
I'm in upstate NY, what satellites do the dishes hit these days?


Thanks!

 

[Hall]

You're not a customer until your receiver(s) are activated. Without line-of-sight, your receivers won't get activated.

 

[Scherrman]

You can get signed up and have them come out to see if they can install it. If it does not work due to line of site then they just let the work order go. After 30 days the work order gets canceled and you don't have to worry about anything. You are not under a contract until the equipment is installed, activated, and you have the paperwork signed.

 

[KAB]

Use DishPointer at top of page. That will give you a pretty good idea, if not obvious, one way or the other.

 

[Ghpr13]

You can get signed up and have them come out to see if they can install it. If it does not work due to line of site then they just let the work order go. After 30 days the work order gets canceled and you don't have to worry about anything. You are not under a contract until the equipment is installed, activated, and you have the paperwork signed.

This is what happened to me where I used to live. The townhouse didn't have LOS for either E* or D*. They both came out but both drop the orders after seeing that I couldn't get a LOS. No papers signed, no billings, no problems. The only pain was not being able to get satellite and having to stay with Insight Cable.

That's one reason I moved!
Ghpr13

 

[FogNoggin]

Do some primitive surveying. Go to DishPointer.com to get the coordinates of the Eastern Arc satellites for your area. (61.5, 72 and 77) I taped a protractor to the side of a short level and then taped a chopstick to represent the proper elevation. (41.5 degrees?) I got out my compass and went to work. I was happy see blue sky just where I needed it.

For what it's worth, the data on DishPointer confirmed exactly what I found with my cheapo siting rig.

 

[mike1973]

It might just work, thanks for the insight guys. It's been a while since I had dish, I know I have little chance at 110 and 119 but with the eastern arc, I might just get lucky. Dishpointer makes it look promising!

 

[dishcomm]

Contact a local retailer.