NPS call! Get a Second Opinion (long post)

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esteveW

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Dec 10, 2008
166
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Western WA
Who do you call to find out if you 4DTV (GI 905, 920 & 922) is good or just a "Door-Stop". Just call their customer support and give them the Unit ID from your System Status screen.

I mentioned in another post that I had purchase a GI 920 on ebay and the seller provided, in his listing, the Unit ID from the status screen. At the time the bidding was closing I couldn't get any confirmation that the status number matched that on the back label. As it turns out, the 920 doesn't have external label to compare with. I wasn't aware that I could call NPS "just" to verify that the number was valid. At the urging of some forum members, I call NPS last Thurs (while the receiver was still in transit) I called NPS with the Unit ID number, from the eBay ad.
They did verify that the number was invalide. I was disappointed but since the purchase had a "7 day return" assurance. Too Bad, So Sad!!:eek:

Well, as long as I had them on the phone, I ask them to check the Unit ID numbers for my GI 905 sidecar and another GI 920 that No-Doubt had given to me. The told me that the 920 was invalid, as Guy had already told me (just checking). What surprised me was that the gal insisted that the number I gave her for the 905 couldn't be correct because it had 16 digits, no letters. I insisted that it was what was on the Status screen and she told me to call Motorola Tech Support and gave me the 800 number.

Tech support told me that the 905 numbers differed from the 920 and 922 the 905 suffered the same fate if the battery goes out. And that the 16 digit number could be valid if NPS would run it or it could be bad. He had no way to verify this.

I called NPS back and insisted that they verify for number for me and that 16 digits should be corrrect for this model, per my conversation with Motorola. The NPS person put me on hold and eventually came back with the "BAD" news that the number was invalid and should have some Alpha characters in it, etc....:mad:

This morning, I realized that I hadn't looke for the Unit ID number on the back of the 905, only on the two 920s. Sure enough, Happy Days!!:D The label was there and matched the Status Screen numbers.

Still being a bit anoid at the miss information that I got from NPS, I called them this afternoon and talked to a fellow that had been helpful previously. Told him what had happened and that I had been given Bad Info on the 905 and was about to junk 905 since it would even work for a 'dish mover'. He took the numbers and couldn't understand why there were 16 characters so he had me repete them again. The put me on hold for a while. Eventually he came back to confirm that this unit ID was valid and had been in recent service to the fellow I got it from last March. :)

This has been a long post but I recomend that if you get similar bad news from NPS -- GET A SECOND OPION!

BTW-- While I had a sincerely help for NPS person on the phone, I had him run the numbers on the two 920s. Yep! still invalid:mad:. I have now notified the eBay seller of the latest 920 and told him to call NPS (as he should have before listing it as a "good working 4DTV receiver".

Sorry for the :rant:

Steve
 
wow well persistance pays off , i thought i would ask cause i don't know and nobody has ever mentioned it here . since you have a bad id on the 920 and its a dish mover can it still get maps or is that out when it goes bad.
 
Good question gabshere.. I have been playing with it today and there are a lot of other analog receivers that are easier to use to move the dish around. Right now I have about 6 good analog and the three GI 9xx receivers to test out and only one dish to hook them to. Each time I have to set the actuator limits (sure putting a lot of miles on the actuator).

What do they say, "you never have enough receivers" or it that "never to many BUDs" ??

Steve
 
wow well persistance pays off , i thought i would ask cause i don't know and nobody has ever mentioned it here . since you have a bad id on the 920 and its a dish mover can it still get maps or is that out when it goes bad.


This is just a guess, but I am following the line of the initial installation. The first thing we do is power up the receiver and go to a satellite that has the maps.

After we get the maps we are directed to call a provider and give them our digicipher number for programming authorization.

So, my thinking is that the maps should still download. It seems to me that the id number is only for programming.

Again it is only a guess.
 
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