Having to cancel Dish, I'm not happy

[ITK]

I avoid roof installs whenever possible - not a good idea in snow country. The dish needs to be where it can be brushed clean.

Nice side-effect - all I have to carry is a 12' folding ladder. Fits INSIDE my 30MPG micro-van.

Oh - and as for redneck yards, how about my neighbor's place?
Or the growths coming out of my walls?

That Dway pointed to G4r?

 

[OoTLink]

My wife and I play a game while driving. We call it look at the stupid install with a dish on the roof. 90 % could have been installed in a better place. Lots of them are right in front or even in the middle. Very tacky!

I don't know what looks so bad about dishes, as long as you don't have a bunch of them or the wiring's out of sight, it's cool.

In our case, you can see them but since they're on the side of the house you don't see any of the wiring, they're just sitting up there and facing that side of the house too (not the front) -- so you don't see the logos either (personally if I could I'd paint the dishes stealth black, it'd look kinda neat!)

What I find stupid looking are the ones mounted on the front of the house facing the back of the house lol. THEN I'm all for putting the dish on the back of the house, since I think the dish should be near the edge of the roof (preferably low so you can clean em off easy)

Three advantages to roof mounts:
1. Nobody can stand in front of them to annoy you
2. The trees don't grow in the way as easily
3. Less chance of vandalism / Less chance of kids screwing around and moving them to piss you off

There's also a little less chance of *cough* dish theft, though I really doubt that'd happen. If you REALLY don't want those dishes visible,.. you can get these:

http://www.ddelec.com/digiglobe.htm

[But you need one for each position and they're "legacy" equipment]..

It'd actually be funny to line a yard with a few of these in strategic positions on a path and have like 5 different satellites tuned that way

 

[SimpleSimon]

That Dway pointed to G4r?

Nope. That's at 99, I'm pointed at 95, I guess G3C. I don't pay attention to satellite names. The only things that're important is slot and transponder.

What I find stupid looking are the ones mounted on the front of the house facing the back of the house lol.

That's typically done to gain some obstacle clearance distance. For example, my 110/119 elevation is 43 degrees, azimuth is 186. I have 50' trees 30' from the south side of the 60' long single-story house. Do the math to see why the dish is where it is - at the north end.

 

[OoTLink]

double post

 

[OoTLink]

*nod* Makes sense Simon, but you have to agree they look funny

Unlike some people *cough* though, one of my favorite looking dishes is the direcway one (mostly because of the badass LNBf + arm!)- unfortunately satellite internet is kinda expesive, a bit laggy for my important stuff (VoIP!), and has bandwidth limits. If they got 2 of those 3 down I'd have one on my house

 

[ITK]

Nope. That's at 99, I'm pointed at 95, I guess G3C. I don't pay attention to satellite names. The only things that're important is slot and transponder. That's typically done to gain some obstacle clearance distance. For example, my 110/119 elevation is 43 degrees, azimuth is 186. I have 50' trees 30' from the south side of the 60' long single-story house. Do the math to see why the dish is where it is - at the north end.

well i was close. just guessing from its look angle vs the dish500. its just a game i play...what bird is that pointing at. its obviously more chalenging with FTA/VSAT than D* or E*.any way.....

 

[Van]

I'd rather do pole mounts every job if I had the time, problem is and most except for simple can atest to the work load that installers get does not allow for us to put in more than 3 pole mounts a day if we are doing super dish installs and or 3 + tv installs. On the posters house I could do fascia mounts, trim mount that devides the first and second floors, last option would be a roof mount, and a pole mount. Even though he has a basement and he is north of atlanta its still going to be common practice for builders to put the cable junction in his attic as its a regional thing and because of the other issues I stated in a previous post. Really its about the best location to have a junction at as it has the slimmest chance of getting submerged in a flood and the same goes for really most any moisture. Biggest drawbacks would be a 3 story house and the heat both of wich cause problems such as this.

 

[sA :: Shaggy]

we have a roof mount. on the back of the house hidden from the street. then its on the other side of our air conditioner= cant see it from the porch. I love it now i just need to get a good ground

 

[Claude Greiner]

I do alot of commercial work and on several occasions we have cable runs that where 500-800 Feet without any issues. Its a matter of getting the right amplifiers and commercial grade parts to make it happen!

This house is not very difficult to install, however depending on how its wired it does not fall under a "FREE" install.

I think the most difficult part here is figuring out how to get 2 lines up to the attic where its not going to look like crap!

The biggest issue here is that as a retailer all I hear every day from customers is "FREE, FREE, FREE" and its gotten to the point where you got to make a decision of where Free ends and where the customer needs to be charged.

Over the years I have managed to blow off a few jobs here and there, not because I didn't want to do them but because for the time and labor involved it was not worth what I was going to get paid.

A typical customers mindset is that they will not pay a dime extra for their "FREE" install, charge them $20 extra and they will cancel the entire installation. So at this point the installer needs to either decide how bad they need the work, or if they should try to get it from the customer and risk them cancelling the entire Job.

Not for anything, but I have been known to walk off of a Job just for customers using the threat that they are going to cancel to try to get something for FREE.

Solution, find a good local retailer and be prepaired to pay for a good quality install.

 

[OoTLink]

*nod* nothing wrong with paying for things to be done as long as it's reasonable I think Dish+DirecTV need to tone down their "FREE!!!one!!!!eleventybillion!!!" approach though..

What's wrong are the "Well the job would be easier if I did diplexers and I have some here *gets out $2 diplexers* but they're $20 a pair!" -- hehe.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Well, for us, diplexers ARE part of a "free" install - when it's the "right" thing to use.

Yesterday, I could've used diplexers to save drilling an extra hole, but then I would've used six extra connectors, too. Instead, I pulled the cable back from the dish (TV2 location originally had a receiver), and stuffed it to the new receiver location in the extra hole. End result, saved some supplies, cost a little time for the extra hole.

 

[Van]

Claude's hit it, FREE, the mindset of FREE is killing the industry as a whole and its this way all because of one commercial that cable put out 4 years ago that was over exagerated as to what a customer would have to spend. To be totally honest I would prefer to have it the way it was 5 years ago and a slower growth of the industry because people would have to purchase equipment.

 

[Danny Boy]

As a consumer, I think the free equipment is a good deal. Back when a friend of mine purchased the dish and receivers I thought he was crazy spending well over $500. In my eyes why spend that much when you can spend nothing to get cable boxes. Just pay the month leasing same as you pay with dish.

 

[OoTLink]

The problem is that the only way that you can actually "sell" paying big bucks for equipment and an install is to have cheaper service (no commissions or installers to pay)..

OTOH I don't think customers would "buy" paying $90/hour for a dish jockey to install the equipment they had to pay for too (What, $700 for a 942?)..

The cable companies don't generally charge for installing because it doesn't really cost them much (they just send someone out to activate the line at the curb). They charge to do anything besides dropping off the box and plugging it into the TV (out here anyways), but the receivers are "free" no matter what -- $5/month for TV and $10/month for DVR/HDTV...

Right now I'm pretty cool with the way they do things, but what I do see are installers whining and moaning (you know I wanted to say the B word there) about how they don't get paid $90/hour and people demand this and that.

If you're so pissed off with your job GET ANOTHER ONE.

 

[Anole]

fed up

Geez, this run-on thread wasn't getting tired enough...
... and off topic...
Now we're in for flame wars!

 

[webbydude]

I think what perturbs a lot of installers is the idea of running a phone line. When they signed on as an installer, I'm sure that wasn't part of the deal.

The phone company charges upwards to $140 to run a phone jack. So perhaps $60 for a phone jack isn't asking too much. I know I don't like to work for free.

 

[philssatellite]

My old house had the dish installed on the back bottom corner of the roof. You couldn't see it at all from the street. I like it on the roof only when it can be put on the backside out of sight.
Not trying to pick a fight, but I think pole installs, especially in the front yard, look really redneck.

Anyway, install is rescheduled for the 15th, so I've got some time to think about it.

if you need or want me to I can come out sometime this week and look and see if I can help you. I am about 10 minutes from cumming. I am a local retailer for the area and I can come by 1 day this week and look at it.I will be straight with you and not try do tell you a bunch of BS. Pm me or email me. thanks

 

[bestsatellites]

I can't understand why even one person would complain about the service if they didnt call the LOCAL GUY... You would have made a big mistake by calling someone that farms out the install... To get the service before, during and after, you should contact your LOCAL GUY... They will take care of you... Also WHY does sending the money possible to stay in your area to go to a corporation that does not care about you in the least, except for your money from the install... Take a look at in a place that can help you find a retailer near you or even open the phone book...

 

[Van]

I can't understand why even one person would complain about the service if they didnt call the LOCAL GUY... You would have made a big mistake by calling someone that farms out the install... To get the service before, during and after, you should contact your LOCAL GUY... They will take care of you... Also WHY does sending the money possible to stay in your area to go to a corporation that does not care about you in the least, except for your money from the install... Take a look at in a place that can help you find a retailer near you or even open the phone book...

No offense but I fix "the local guys" stuff alot more than I do for farmed work and work done by fellow dish techs.

 

[Texanmutt]

The problem is that the only way that you can actually "sell" paying big bucks for equipment and an install is to have cheaper service (no commissions or installers to pay)..

OTOH I don't think customers would "buy" paying $90/hour for a dish jockey to install the equipment they had to pay for too (What, $700 for a 942?)..

The cable companies don't generally charge for installing because it doesn't really cost them much (they just send someone out to activate the line at the curb). They charge to do anything besides dropping off the box and plugging it into the TV (out here anyways), but the receivers are "free" no matter what -- $5/month for TV and $10/month for DVR/HDTV...

Right now I'm pretty cool with the way they do things, but what I do see are installers whining and moaning (you know I wanted to say the B word there) about how they don't get paid $90/hour and people demand this and that.

If you're so pissed off with your job GET ANOTHER ONE.

Cable companies do charge for installation but dont pay the techs very much, so it's not a big expense for them. A 4 outlet install for cable might pay $30-$45, but a 4 receiver dish job pays $130. You will spend the same amount of time on either but make 3 times as much w/ dish. Not bad. Been there done that.
Also cable companies recycle the equipment without refurbishing the boxes from one customer to another. It's not uncommon for cable installers to have 3 or more bad boxes in a day doing installs. Another way cable saves on expenses. With dish you might have 1 bad box a week. DBS equipment is in far better shape the cables equipment.
Either way cable sucks. I would never do cable installs ever again.