DNS approved ribbon cable

[webbydude]

Ok. This topic has been covered oh, like, a zillion times. Guess one more isn't gonna hurt.

This question is more directed towards the actual DNS installers. Not the local retailers. And not towards the fellow RSP'ers out there. As of today, what is Dish's official stand on flat ribbon cables? If they are approved, what company/brand meets said approval?

The RSP I work with is so full of double talk that I can't stand to hear it anymore. One moment they're approved. Next moment, they're not. Another moment they're ONLY approved for use with Legacy LNBs (still don't get THAT one). And then finally, they're not approved at all due to fire hazards created when they burn up (haven't seen that one yet either).

Like stated earlier, it would be nice to get some feedback from so-called "official" DNS installers. Not that it matters too much with my RSP. Their standards are what I have to adhere to. But it's awfully nice to have any ammo I can take with me if the situation arrises.

 

[FantasyChannel]

DNS Approved means NOTHING. That operation is so divided from the rest of EchoStar you'd think it was a different company altogether. I guess it is.

Ribbon cable is fine as long as the customer has about a hundred extra to replace it with when it snaps. Half of DNS would say to use it if it's the last resort to saving an install. The other half says never use it because it will snap and break causing DNS a truck roll to fix it.

It doesn't matter what the official word is from anybody. Ribbon cable is lame and should never be used.

 

[webbydude]

It doesn't matter what the official word is from anybody. Ribbon cable is lame and should never be used.

That may be. But there are some of those rare instances where it's just flat out impossible to make an install happen without it. Landlord restrictions stating no drilling pretty kill the install. And since Dish is more concerned about the all-mighty completion percentage of new connects than troublecalls from existing customers, I wanted to hear what a DNS installer/FSM has been told

 

[SimpleSimon]

The way I hear it (and I downloaded Echostar PDFs about it), flat cable IS allowed and they are even trining on it. Of course, the training materials are full of errors.

Sorry, I don't know what brand(s) have the official blessing, but the one pic I saw looked exactly like the same standard ones I've always seen - right down to the half-@$$ single-side-crimp-on connectors.

 

[Claude Greiner]

When I was at Team Summit, there was only 1 cable that was DNS Approved.

The other issue was that the ribbon cable was $10, where as the ones that everyone uses are $2.

 

[Claude Greiner]

But if your gonna use them, then give the customer extra flat cables because eventually they will wear out and its a hassle to roll a truck.

 

[stevo/65]

Flat cable or ribbon cable is usable if you have no choice
but i would keep a couple of extras with you
they are junk cable in my opinion ..but if you are in a apartment complex
go for it

 

[webbydude]

But if your gonna use them, then give the customer extra flat cables because eventually they will wear out and its a hassle to roll a truck.

LOL! It's funny you mention that. Every f*ing time I do that, I end up getting screwed over by the customer on service-call/chargebacks. I even leave my personal cellphone number to call (which I hardly ever do!!) just because of the flat-ribbon cable issue. I would rather go out for free on a trouble-call than get nuked on a chargeback

 

[chadzx11]

I've gotten to where I won't do anything not listed on the back of the service agreement as being included in the "standard installation" for this very reason. My RSP refused payment to me on a service call that was caused by customer provided equipment. Specifically, he bought some wireless phonejacks at walmart on clearance that did not work. I sent him off to radio shack and waited in his driveway for an hour to take care of him, and they wouldn't take care of me, nor would they let me charge the guy.

I won't even supply so much as a phone splitter now. They cost 15 cents, but I'm not gambling a $40 chargeback on them. If I don't physically hook up a phone line, I hit the #2 on the IVR for the phone bypass, and note the work order that the CUSTOMER needs to purchase a phone splitter to hook up their phone line.

I carry ribbon cables because they keep sending us on DNSC service calls, and those guys use them sometimes. There is one complex and one complex ONLY (because of grounding) where I will use them, and I give the customers my cell #. As far as I am concerned they can call dish and wait for them to send someone, or they can call me, and I will fix it TODAY. I walk away from most apartments because our RSP is uber-chargeback happy, and I just don't want the hassle. I have only drilled one apartment, DNSC had installed it, and only after I made them note the account, pinky swear, and spit shake that I would not be held responsible for that POS install. I did it because the customer requested it (DNSC had run the cable through the door, and it sheared the sheathing on the cable). The reason I wanted nothing to do with the job is that they had put the dish on the rail of a balcony on a second story apartment. The balcony railing was NOT supporting the weight of the dish (a 121 superdish, no less). Anyway, its a chargeback waiting to happen, and it better not happen, because I noted the hell out of that workorder that it was non-repairable.

 

[cleve_dnsc_tech]

I work for the RSP for Ohio and we had to turn them ALL in said that if we were caught with one on our truck after said date we would be terminated on the spot no questions asked. Now we have some really good ones that are a stronger outer coating and has RG6 inside they are real stiff and don't break easily. But heres the kicker the cust MUST pay $15 each for them and if they were to burn out then they must buy the new ones. So if we have a job and the cust doesn't wanna buy them then the job wont go through unless i buy it. and we all know how cust can get if they didn't pay for it in the beginning they they wont pay to replace it. We have the last tech out rolls back to cut down on our repeat trouble call pays. so once again i need to pay $15 to make $20. They look at it hey at least your making something.

 

[webbydude]

And that's EXACTLY my point! It's pretty freaking lame that the only one "approved" by Ohio's RSP is the $15 cable. It's still subject to abuse. Neither one (older style or the current, expensive as all hell) seem to be able cause fires.

And as you stated, the customer has to pay $15. WTF!!! If a customer is going to pay for a "cable" that may break, I'm willing to bet he'll opt for the $2 cable vs. the $15 one

The "last tech out" policy is pretty weak, too. That's just a way to make a tech go out for free on a service call. What Dish *needs* to do is have a customer pay money upfront, prior to ANY technician showing up for a service call. If it's found the problem is NOT customer caused, then the $$ is re-imbursed. That right there should kill some of these bogus charge-backs!

 

[topcats69]

sove the problem you all are paid by hour just like the cable companys. Just my opinon. And prob a pipe dream to have good benifits and wages. I bet there would be less call backs.

 

[chadzx11]

The "last tech out" policy is pretty weak, too. That's just a way to make a tech go out for free on a service call. What Dish *needs* to do is have a customer pay money upfront, prior to ANY technician showing up for a service call. If it's found the problem is NOT customer caused, then the $$ is re-imbursed. That right there should kill some of these bogus charge-backs!

The RSP I was fired from wouldn't even do that for us. We offered to go back on our own jobs for FREE, but they came out with a rule where you could not get the job back. They would just charge you back to pay the other guy.

Then they dropped a memo, 2 days before I got fired, that said if we didn't do a job, and they sent somebody else to do it, we'd be charged $100. That's BS because, in an effort to cut back on service calls and chargebacks, I was refusing to install any systems where the customer didn't have the appropriate number of WORKING TV's on site. I tried helping the customer out. chargeback. Modifying the work order to reflect ONLY the TV's on site. chargeback. So at the end, I just said to hell with it, I ain't touching them.

I'm glad I don't have to install anymore. I got a gig as a QC inspector, so now the only tools on my truck are a Digital Camera, a Gerber (in case I have to open an enclosure), a maglite, and a ladder.

They had threatened to start charging us for not using "dish approved" stuff. Hell, I buy all my stuff from perfect 10, its generally cheaper. Its all "directv approved", not dish, but its the same stuff. Its just a big monkey off my back.

As an added bonus, since a lot of the work is hughesnet, I am working an entirely different demographic. No more locking my truck up like a bank vault when I go out of sight of it. No irate customers. Most people are very receptive of the QC guy, even though I just show up out of the blue. Biggest bonus is getting paid for what you do, no bogus chargebacks.

As part of the gig, I get training materials for all this stuff. After reading D*, there is no way in hell I would ever install one of their systems even for what I was being paid by the e* people. D* guys get less, and based on what I read, are required to do a lot more. Poor bastards. I don't see how they make money!