Eastern Arc Install Gone Sour (Smart Card?)

[Race]

I'm in the Atlanta market. I lost line of sight to 110 and 119. Dish agreed to do an Eastern Arc install (I already have a 722 and 622). I mentioned that I believed I would need the new 3G smart cards for this to work. From several departments to the local service center here, everyone said I would not need the 3G cards.

The techs came out and put up the 1000.4 dish and 1000.4 LNBs on the roof and ran two cables (a dual cable) down inside the house. They said I don't need a switch with this setup, so they connected them to a grounding block and connected to one of the exiting lines to each receiver. There they connected with a separator on each receiver.

Guess what? It didn't work. The locals on 61.5 come in, but nothing else does. It successfully does a check switch. It downloads the programming information. It shows the updated guide. When you switch to a non-local channel, it shows the channel banner/info and will even show the proper info with episode, etc., but NO video or sound - just a black screen. On the music channels, it will show the song currently playing floating around on the screensaver banner, but no sound.

Dish is stymied. The techs had to leave for another call (they were very professional and first rate, by the way), but it seemed to be out of their hands.

Last night, I spent nearly FOUR hours on the phone with Dish tech support, with them making various changes in their account configuration (orbital locations, "Eastern Arc", 1000.4 dish, etc.), but nothing worked. I did more check-switching and receiver resetting than I've ever done. When it was over, the "Tier 2" support gal said, "it must be signal issues". Both receivers get 50+ on the signal meters - more than I was getting on 110 and 119 before I completely lost line-of-sight. All she could say was, "it's different depending on where you are". Uh, yeah...

Everyone I spoke to on the phone assured me this is not a 3G smart card issue (my receivers don't have new firmware, I've had them for nearly a year).

I'm at my wits end. They scheduled a tech to come out again, but I'm afraid I'll still have no TV after he leaves. It seems I'm cornered and Dish doesn't even know what to do.

I think it's a smart card issue. Am I off-base?

Thanks for any help. I'm desperate!

 

[maxmoto]

Scott has many times that smart cards are required for EA.

 

[MikeD-C05]

NO you are correct. I tried to use my new 1000.4 sat dish with my two 722s and one 622. I got all the channels from 61.5 sat just fine. The only channels I got from 72.7 was the 101 DISH information channel. Everything else was blacked out. The reason why? NO NEW smart cards yet. So until you get the new smart cards you will see black screens or you switch back to the 110/119 sats with the 61.5 side sat dish. WHY doesn't someone at DISH send you the new smart cards so you can easily see your channels? Try writing a detailed email to the following email address and see if you can get some resolution to your problem.

ceo@echostar.com

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Eastern Arc requires the new 3G Smartcards.

There is no ifs, ands or butts about it.

 

[dodge]

Time and Time again Dish does not properly inform their support people.

 

[rcdallas]

Geez... inform support people, how about the two that installed it.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

The G3 requirement is on all Dish training material.

It helps if people actually read the training material.

 

[Race]

Thanks to all for the info!

I have read on this forum about the new smart card requirement, that's why I asked each person I've spoken to in this whole process, which has been going on for months. From the very beginning, EVERY single person I've spoken to at Dish has been insistent that it's not required. I tried to convince each person that the card is required - TO NO AVAIL. It's been maddening!

A Tier 2 support gal LATE last night finally said, "well it might be an authentication issue", only after I spent 10 minutes detailing everything about this ordeal. She had to get approval from a supervisor and said the supervisor said, "it's not a smart card issue, it's a lack of signal". I was ready to throw every piece of Dish equipment in the street at that point. I was furious. After transferring to the cancellation/retention department, they spoke to an "Executive Response Department" and said they would mail two cards out to me, but would not overnight them. So, we're left with no TV until they get here.

No less than FIFTEEN employees of Dish have stated quite confidently that "the 3G cards have nothing to do with authenticating for EA reception and you don't need them". This includes managers, tier-2, regular tech support and all of their "supervisors". Well, they're obviously wrong. This is critical piece to the puzzle that they are all ignorant of. As a decade long customer, I've had to manage Dish for technical issues like no other service provider I've ever dealt with. It's astounding.

I use to think there was no greater calamity than trying to get the phone company to correct something on your account. I now think Dish takes the cake.

Maybe we'll have TV in a week or so. Thanks for all the info. It makes me confident that I wasn't crazy and it should work in a week or so.

 

[Race]

By the way, thanks for the suggestion on the ceo@dishnetwork.com, but I tried that months ago for a persistant service problem that had been unresolved and it took them nearly TWO weeks to respond to my email. They did take care of the problem, but it took WAY too long for the email to even be acknowledged.

Something else that really chaps me is their unwillingness to overnight the cards to me. They caused the problem, but they'll only stick them in regular US Mail? They'll send out a tech, but they can't overnight the actual solution to the problem.

 

[garys]

The one thing you will learn the longer you deal with Dish Network is: their csr's are usually the LAST people to know what is going on with Dish Network. You can ask several hundred csr's at Dish and not get the right answer and very rarely get a similar answer until the info is released by the public relations dept. and in which case people like Scott G. right here at Sat Guys will let us know before Dish's csr's are informed.

 

[Dah-Henny]

Eastern Arc requires the new 3G Smartcards.

There is no ifs, ands or butts about it.

Scott, shouldn't the OP at least get all of the programming on 61.5 without the new card?

 

[Race]

Scott, shouldn't the OP at least get all of the programming on 61.5 without the new card?

I DO get programming on 61.5 (locals only). WGN does not come in, though (the
channel info says it's on 61.5).

I'm hopeful the resolution is coming in the mail sometime.

 

[Dah-Henny]

Race, I assume then that you don't sub to HD?

Seems like if you do sub to HD, that the HD channels on 61.5 would show up for you, not just your locals? Obviously without the new card, nothing would show on 72 & 77.

 

[nsafreak]

They have internal web pages with information for their CSRs, I'm quite surprised that this information isn't/wasn't up there and/or none of the people that the op spoke with saw this information if it was up there.

 

[Liquidforce88]

setup a service call. Have all your receivers replaced, they should have the new tech in them and work just fine.

 

[bpiddle]

When I had Eastern Arc installed, one of my receivers did not receive the programming from 72.7. It did not have the new smart card. Ultimately (after having talked to numerous people at Dish who told me the new smart card was not required), I found someone at ceo@echostar.com who understood the problem and arranged for an exchange of the receiver for another one. I was told that they had to exchange the receiver since they could not send out replacement 3G smart cards. In any event, the receiver with the new smart card worked.

By the way, I think you can check whether you have the new smart card by doing the following:

Press menu on the remote.
System setup (6)
Installation (1)
System Info (3)
Next
Next


If the DNASP is 241, you have the new smart card. If it is lower than that (206), you do not.

 

[Race]

When I had Eastern Arc installed, one of my receivers did not receive the programming from 72.7. It did not have the new smart card. Ultimately (after having talked to numerous people at Dish who told me the new smart card was not required), I found someone at ceo@echostar.com who understood the problem and arranged for an exchange of the receiver for another one. I was told that they had to exchange the receiver since they could not send out replacement 3G smart cards. In any event, the receiver with the new smart card worked.

By the way, I think you can check whether you have the new smart card by doing the following:

Press menu on the remote.
System setup (6)
Installation (1)
System Info (3)
Next
Next


If the DNASP is 241, you have the new smart card. If it is lower than that (206), you do not.

My DNASP numbers are lower than 241 - I don't remember what they are off-hand, but I rememeber checking that after reading some info on this forum (what a great forum). I don't subscribe to HD programming at the moment. Is WGN HD only or something?

As for replacing the receivers, we have a ton of recorded shows and I would hate to just lose all of that. I suppose I could back them all up, but I think that costs $40 to have that enabled? Then the cost of buying two external HDs. Maybe I should do that, anyway, for when the receivers die at some point.

Thanks again.

 

[Race]

An interesting note. It would be humorous if I wasn't so put out by all of this nonsense. Dish told me someone would call me yesterday to confirm that a tech was coming today (Mon). No one called and I wanted to make sure I wasn't wasting ANOTHER day taken off from work to wait on them...

I called the local service office and she confirmed that someone was coming out, but asked what it was for - that it wasn't a troubleshooting ticket. I said the Dish said they needed to come out because of "signal issues" (see above notes). I said I don't believe it's a signal issue, but they can come and check it, anyway. I said I'm waiting on smart cards to arrive by mail to resolve the issue. She was very polite and understanding and asked me to hold while she called someone. A few minutes later, she said she called a field service manager. She said that he said, "He doesn't need a smart card, it's built into the receiver. They just need to authenticate it."

This would be a good place for an "Audience Laugh" sign to be held up, but it just gave me a headache. I said that I wasn't calling to ask someone to bring me a smart card, I was just calling to make sure that there was a service visit scheduled. She said there was.

What's broken in Dish's process is this - The EA installs are only planned for the new installs, so they are expecting that it will only involve new MPEG4 receivers at the time of install (with newer DNASP versions). When the situation is outside of this scenario, no one at Dish has the appropriate info to resolve the problem. They have not implemented the plan far enough to include a receiver that may be several months old.

That's the problem. It's a disconnect internally of the complete picture for everyone involved in facilitating an installation. In the process, now they have a customer that has been with them for over a DECADE that now advises friends and family to get DirecTV when they ask about satellite. I used to recommend Dish, but 6 months ago, started advising against it. (By the way, the reason I didn't switch to Direct a long time ago, is because I was advised that their satellites are lower in the sky and I had even less of a chance for LOS with them.)

Don't get me wrong - I'm not just being negative on Dish. I am genuinely frustrated by their customer service.

I am hopeful, though, that after the cards arrive, I won't have to be stressed about this for a long time. Thanks again for all the info and help - it's what made me hopeful!

 

[RayG]

FWIW, I have service from 61.5 and 72 on a 722 with no smart card. The DNASP is 241 (what does that mean anyway?). I own my equipment so maybe that makes a difference. Dish told me that eventually I would need a card but that it would be sent automatically to me well in advance. I also had a glitch at first with the authentication. Something about how often it gets sent. Since DIsh is in control of their signals, it makes sense that they could authorize a receiver w/o a smart card. As far as I can tell, a requirement for a smart card is just another level of security than can be turned on/off as Dish sees fit. I am no technical expert, so please don't yell at me if you have a different understanding.

 

[hendrix04]

FWIW, I have service from 61.5 and 72 on a 722 with no smart card. The DNASP is 241 (what does that mean anyway?). I own my equipment so maybe that makes a difference. Dish told me that eventually I would need a card but that it would be sent automatically to me well in advance. I also had a glitch at first with the authentication. Something about how often it gets sent. Since DIsh is in control of their signals, it makes sense that they could authorize a receiver w/o a smart card. As far as I can tell, a requirement for a smart card is just another level of security than can be turned on/off as Dish sees fit. I am no technical expert, so please don't yell at me if you have a different understanding.

Sure dish can turn the new security off and on as they see fit, but that would turn it off an on for everyone and they don't want to do that. How long have you had your equipment? It is very possible that you have equipment that has the new smart card already built in.