How often will I lose service? (DirecTV)

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I have lost signal in torrential downpours for a few minutes. The longest I lost it was like 4 hours and that is when we had a freak snowstorm that dumped 17 inches of concrete type snow...But snow built up between the LNB and dish and that might have been why
 
I have had directv since 2006-2008, then 2010-2011 now.

When I first got it, it would go every so often. At first it was annoying. But honestly, every provider will lose signal at times. Like i said in another thread, I have friends who have TWC, and its always going out, freezing, and such. And its always on the HD channels.

Now for me, I Havent lost my signal in a while. I think as long as you do indeed have a clear line of sight, you should be fine.

If you dont mind me asking, are you fed up with the service or prices of Time Warner, or both.

The service on DirecTV is unbelievable. Yes, the customer support is not perfect, but it is far better than TWC and Dish Network.

I like yourself, was skeptical about getting DirecTV. I have always had TWC, till 2006. Of course my main beef has always been with the lack of NFL Programming. No NFL Network.

While I have heard they are working on a deal to get the network on TWC.

Also the biggest beef with them is the fact that the service and quality is crap with them. If u do go thru with it, you should enjoy the service. The Ticket is awesome. Every game, every sunday.

Its funny, Ive been on twc site, and searched NFL Network, and it says about the ticket and network, something like, While we havent come to terms, we already show the majority of games. That would be fine, if they said, because of each market. But they dont say that.

Instead the way i interpret it is that they claim to carry most, now on the ticket, I believe the most games u get are, not including the MNF, SNF and potential Thursday Night games(But only last 8 weeks).

14 games without a Thursday nighter.

On cable, or local channels, u get 3. Your FOX and CBS, either 2 early and 1 late, or 1 early and 2 late, whoever it is structured by the channels and markets.

But, I wouldn't really worry about it, it rarely goes out.
 
I'm in a contract and refuse to pay Direct ETF fee's. I lost direct for a good half hour yesterday while dark storm clouds and minor rain passed.

Well then either fix your stupid dish or give your receiver to Iceberg. Either way we've really heard enough of your bitching.

I invite everyone that thinks my Direct don't go out that often to come on over here and see for themselves it does go out too much. I have neighbors with Direct also and we all loose it at the same time. Offer stands, Come on Down! If you don't take me up on the offer and say different your telling only your side of the story without proof. The door is always open...

I made you an offer too regarding your lies about C band.. You refused. So why should we come over to watch the 771 message caused by your POS homebrewed dish contraption? There's about 19.4 million other customers that say you're lying. The total rain-fade downtime on a properly aligned dish amounts to maybe an hour or two per year (there are 8760 hours in a year, which amounts to 99.98% uptime), which is better than most cable companies can claim.
 
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I would not question your words. Atmospheric conditions are different and this site is a forum where experiences are shared. Something is screwing with your system and that of your neighbors.

A common situation for you and your neighbors could be using the same installation company....If they screwed up one installation they could have done several.
What are your signals like on a clear day? It might just be that you just need to have the dish pointed correctly. Here in MD we have the same round dish my son pointed & tuned...in the dark...when he was twelve. Haven't touched it in ten years & loose signal during storms that pass SW of here; hardly notice it.

How much rain do you get off the Lakes?

Joe
 
A common situation for you and your neighbors could be using the same installation company....If they screwed up one installation they could have done several.

It's not an installation company, he did it himself. But also it's a homemade dish, not a real Directv dish. Obviously thats where the issue lies. So unless he installed his neighbor's dish (hmm, that could explain a lot too), you're looking in the wrong direction.

Back the first time I had D* I installed my own dish, and same as you it would go out for a minute or two about 10 minutes before a thunderstorm hit us from the SW. It's not rocket science to install these things properly.
 
Remembering the history of these small dishes...they were developed to serve customers where cable couldn't go (Primestar). You are where cable is king. Know that both cable and satellite TV heavily use satellite technology to move signals toward the customer. But Directv cannot know your location so they just leave it to the installer to do his best. Everything is possible to the CSR in a trailer full of phones until someone on site says NFW!

Bottom line = you must provide a SW facing spot where you have permission to mount the dish. Folks who cannot do that are cable customers. If you look out your window and see CT you are screwed.

Joe
 
My apartment certainly faces north. I am just confused as to why this is my responsibility, and not DirecTV's. They were adamant that they can do the install, but I shouldn't be surprised that they were just blowing smoke up my butt so they can get a sale.

Guessing by they probably have a central location for dishes in a building such as yours. I wouldnt worry about it until they come and see.
 
Tvro installed the dish himself. He is using a Primestar dish as a "Soggy Pizza Buster". If he would of let the D* Tech install the system with a D* Dish he wouldn't have all of these problems.

LMAO, I did not know this. Thanks for sharing.

I would be shocked if it did work correctly. Tvropro, just let D* install it correctly and most of your problems will most likely disappear. As it is, your complaining about losing service serves no practical purpose when giving advice in matters like this, as you are not correctly installed.
 
I used to make nice money fixing self installs in the days when you could buy a dish & IRDs over the counter. Best quotes = "Why do we have to move my dish...it is pointing into the clear part of the yard?".............."Yes I left those bolts loose so the dish would be able to swing and track the satellite when it goes over."........"I'll do it myself...just leave me plenty of cable and let me borrow your meter until the weekend.".................."Damn, I could have done that!"..............."It says 'SEARCHING FOR SATELLITE SIGNAL' but Daddy done nailed the satellite to the side of the house!"

Also, as you correctly stated...this ain't rocket science and many, many folks got great results just taking the stuff out of the box and following the directions.

Joe
 
My apartment certainly faces north. I am just confused as to why this is my responsibility, and not DirecTV's. They were adamant that they can do the install, but I shouldn't be surprised that they were just blowing smoke up my butt so they can get a sale.

Well if they can't do the install, not only do they NOT get the sale, but they waste the installer rollout. If they knew others in the building already have it, the building is more than likely already registered with them as having a central dish.
 
An occasional bit of rain fade might be considered normal, but not every time a dark cloud passes. I get it at most two or three times a year and then for just a few minutes, but any more than that would be exceptional. Something is defiantly wrong. Certainly a service call would be in order.
 
An occasional bit of rain fade might be considered normal, but not every time a dark cloud passes. I get it at most two or three times a year and then for just a few minutes, but any more than that would be exceptional. Something is defiantly wrong. Certainly a service call would be in order.

Yeah but you're missing the point. He can't call for service because he's using a frankendish that he built and installed himself (undoubtedly wrong). He's not using a real Directv dish. Their techs won't touch it. His problems are his own fault.
 
At my home, I have periodic outages, but that is only due to hellacious storms that we get from time to time. There was a time when I would lose signal due to heavy cloud cover, but D* came out to realign the dish and since then that rarely occurs.
 
To the OP.
I believe referrals need to be made at the time you setup your account and installation date. Not after.
As far as rain fade. If your dish is setup by the tech correctly you should have very minimal fade.
I get it only with very heavy rain and lasts a few minutes at the most.
 
It's been said that you can call the number and have the referral added up until the day of your installation. But once you're installed you're SOL.
 
Thanks for all the feedback guys. I'm feeling pretty good about my purchase and my fear of the weather affecting my service has decreased dramatically.


Hopefully the install goes well though, I took a look around the building and couldn't see any dishes.
 
Tvro installed the dish himself. He is using a Primestar dish as a "Soggy Pizza Buster". If he would of let the D* Tech install the system with a D* Dish he wouldn't have all of these problems.

You guys don't have a clue how this stuff works do you? If you did you wouldn't make statements like that. Just for the record I have a regular direct dish & LNBF setup also hooked to another receiver, it goes out too a lot faster. So unless the Direct installer could change the laws of physics it would make no difference. I suggest you guys that say it isn't so read reports on ku path loss and attenuation caused by moisture, some good reports put out by NASA.. I've been aligning dishes before you guys even knew what satellite was. Directs installers are no magician that can do any better, probably worse. My signal levels are 99 and 100.

You guys keep praising pizza and it's quality, thats what Direct wants. Keep giving them free advertising while they hit your wallet for a c note every month. I will enjoy my HD cable masters for free I 'm watching right now, and no it's not some stupid filler channels. Lets just say Direct pays premium prices for these channels. If you saw the true HD quality I'm seeing you would never want to watch the substandard quality pizza pushes again..and being on C band No rain fade, proven again yesterday during a storm.
 
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You guys don't have a clue how this stuff works do you? If you did you wouldn't make statements like that. Just for the record I have a regular direct dish & LNBF setup also hooked to another receiver, it goes out too a lot faster. So unless the Direct installer could change the laws of physics it would make no difference. I suggest you guys that say it isn't so read reports on ku path loss and attenuation caused by moisture, some good reports put out by NASA.. I've been aligning dishes before you guys even knew what satellite was. Directs installers are no magician that can do any better, probably worse. My signal levels are 99 and 100.

You guys keep praising pizza and it's quality, thats what Direct wants. Keep giving them free advertising while they hit your wallet for a c note every month. I will enjoy my HD cable masters for free I 'm watching right now, and no it's not some stupid filler channels. Lets just say Direct pays premium prices for these channels. If you saw the true HD quality I'm seeing you would never want to watch the substandard quality pizza pushes again..and being on C band No rain fade, proven again yesterday during a storm.

I do have a clue, and it's that you don't like Directv and are stuck with it because you don't want to pay the ETF. Fine, don't pay it, who cares? Not me. I also have a clue how Directv works, as well as how BUDs work. I have them both. No one here was saying that Directv's picture is better than BUDs. I, and several others, are saying that if your service goes out as often as you say it does, then there is something wrong with the way it is set up. I can't be much clearer than that!
 
I do have a clue, and it's that you don't like Directv and are stuck with it because you don't want to pay the ETF. Fine, don't pay it, who cares? Not me. I also have a clue how Directv works, as well as how BUDs work. I have them both. No one here was saying that Directv's picture is better than BUDs. I, and several others, are saying that if your service goes out as often as you say it does, then there is something wrong with the way it is set up. I can't be much clearer than that!

I apologize to those who understand it. But all who don't need to learn and not make stupid blatant statements since thats all they know. Why would a friend of mine who runs a large commercial satellite installation company locally that installs broadcast headends say that here in Chicago rain fade is an issue with all ku even on 15 foot dishes if it wasn't true. He stated commercial installs using 1.2's and larger on Direct also have issues. I don't want to stir the pot up. I'm just posting my experiences and information from other knowledgeable people in the field. There are area's in the country that get hit hard no matter what the nay sayers claim.
 
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