Post your VOOM Activation Stories here

[BobMurdoch]

Monday, called to get my receivers reactivated (I was out of town and couldn't verify my receivers so they zapped them -- all weren't hooked up to phone lines, my 921 is.....). When I got that issue straightened out, I asked her to transfer me to the add programming CSRs. I get right through on Monday around 1pm and add the channels.

Me: "I want to add the 10 Voom channels"

Her: "(silence)"

Me: "You just made them available, dozens of people on DBSTalk/US Satellite Guys are already watching them."

Her: "You need a second dish"

Me: "I already have one"

Her: "OH, OK. (pause).... It will cost an extra $5 a month."

Me: "OK. Add them."

Her: "Your new monthly bill will be....... (she states the number)"

Me: "They aren't up yet. Some people saw them instantly....."

Her: "It may take 5 minutes"

Me: "OK thanks"

Her: "Is there anything else I can help you with? (me: "no") Thank you for choosing Dish Network. (click)"

After 20 minutes they are still red, but I give up and go back to work. I get home and they are active. Va Va Va Voom!

 

[chicagofilms]

Bleh! I knew this wouldn't be easy for me.

I currently have one dish at 110 and one at 119. I never got the Dish500 (I'm an old school subscriber ). So I call Dish and tell them I want Voom, and want to replace one of my dishes with a Dish500 and point the other one I have at 61.5. They said they couldn't do two things at once because they can't issue two work orders at once & I'd have to get teh Dish500 installed, then call again to have 61.5 installed.

Anyway, the guy is coming Friday to install the Dish500. I'm hoping when he gets here I can "persuade" him to just point onf of my existing dishes at 61.5 for me.

What is the going rate for greasing an installer's palms these days?

 

[motorcycle_rider]

It went pretty good for me. After I installed the 61.5 today I called Dish up.
Me. Could you please add the Voom channels.
Him You need to have a dish pointed at 61.5
Me. I have a dish at 61.5 and i see the channels in red.
Him Ok. If the system lets me.
Me. Having issues with adding the channels?
Him In some cases yes but u are all set 10-15 minutes
Me Thank You
Him Can i help you with anything else
Me I took care of other changes i wanted.


I waited about 30 minutes and finally decided to reboot and they where there after reboot. (811).

 

[buckwild]

i recently bought a house and am currently waiting until the 10th, when the installer is coming to move my dish under the DishMover program. i will be paying the full $99 to avoid having to sign up for autopay and renew my contract. my question is will i be able to just cancel that work order, and order the additional dish for 61.5 for $99 and have them (or even pay the installer under the table to) hook up the old dish, the new dish, and do a complete new install in this house? any advice is appreciated.

 

[Telecom1]

Dish Horror!

What is going on with these? What channels do you see them on? Dish CSR's need to learn a thing about customer service. I have been ready to jump ship 4 times now!

 

[yaesumofo]

On Saturday I called and asked about adding 61.5 (voom HD). It turned out to be a difficult and expensive. I said no thanks.
A few hours later the same CSR I spoke with called me back to tell me of the $100.00 deal and that it would be available on Sunday.
I called on Sunday afternoon they confirmed the $100.00 install of whatever it takes to add 61.5 dish deal.
The next available install was Monday morning. I took it.
The only snags were that the installer wanted to push until the afternoon. That was OK. The other snag was that this installer had never installed the "new technology" DishProPlus 44 switch system.
He replaced all the lnb's with dishPro lnb's took out the sw64 replaced it with DPP44.
He had never done an install like this before so it took a while for him to figure out how to make it all work. It now works perfectly on my 811 and my 921.
The exVoom channels look great.
Only problem is that after a couple of days you will have seen many programs several times over and over.
It seems to me that the biggest problem with HD material is that there isn't much of it and from what I understand (from friends in the TV distribution business) that these HD broadcasters pay a very small premium for HD material.
Much of what you see on discovery HD theater is up Converted material shot in 16:9 format but not necessarily shot HD.
A sad state of affairs. Lets hope for more better and programming.
Yaesumofo

 

[Alto101]

My experience was virtually pain-free. The installer removed my old Voom dish since I am setup with Dish Pro+ equipment. He then mounted a Dish 500 using the Voom mast which made it go very quickly. He then ran a coax from the 61.5 Dish to my main dish and had me go inside and do a check switch. No good. He realized that he had used a legacy LNB and swapped it out with the Pro+. I did another check switch and everything was great, over 110 signal strength.

After he left I called E*. The CSR was quite familiar with the Voom channels and verified that I had a 61.5 dish. She noted that I just had it installed as a must carry and I think she realized the true reason for having it installed - but she didn't give me any grief. She activated the channels and within ten minutes I was Vooming again

I just missed watching Voltran on Animania which was one of my favorites shows to watch when we had Voom. With the 942, I won't have to miss it again

 

[txwildcat]

Finally All Back up and Running (Vooming Again)

I decided to do the deal with Dish Network. Once you have experience Voom, you can't live without the channels you like (HDTV Baby!). The dish tech was knowlegdable and used all my cabling and chimney supports. It just took two visits, several hours, and numerous phone call to Dish to get everything up and running. All is okay now. PQ seems very similar to Voom. I will now turn off my TW Cable which I was unable to do while I was Vooming since I never new when they were going to go down for the count!

Can't wait till they add the other HD channels!

 

[PONCH]

Bought used 811 ($125.00), hooked it up to existing Voom dish (no modifications), ran check switch, hooked up separate coax for OTA (I wish E* had them integrated for use with a diplexer), scanned for OTA, called E*, reactivated my old account (they waived the $25.00 for reactivation), asked for the two HD packs and AT60. Our conversation was over in less than 4 minutes and the guy was super nice.

 

[gwg03]

Hi, called Dish and asked for the VOOM package. She told me about the need for the 61.5 dish (which I already have). But she couldn't "add" it to my HD package. Ended up cancelling the HD package and ordering the combo package (HD + VOOM). Went pretty well considering.......

 

[sonnyboy11]

Ok, my story so far-

Existing E* customer. Called 1-888-DISHTV1 and asked about getting Voom content. Told I had to call the other number because I had service already.

Called again to other number, asked about getting the Voom channels. Nice guy but he seemed a little uncertain about the service. I filled him in. Put on hold for 3 minutes. He came back and asked if I had a second Dish on the roof. I told him "no" but at the time of my install a few months back, I was told I qualified for an extra Dish to be installed free. I asked him if I could still get that. He said "yes" but that deal would only give me the other channels in my initial package. I asked if there was any reason that second Dish could not be pointed at the Voom sat (61.5). Put on hold for another 5 minutes. He came back and said "yes" but that pointing it at the Voom sat would cost $100. After some more wrangling, I finally just told him to set up the install for the free Dish and I would just take the 3 channels from my initial contract.

My plan- ask the install guy if he wouldn't mind pointing second Dish at 61.5. If he says there is a fee or he just won't do it, then fine. I will go up on the roof myself and point it at 61.5 myself.

 

[VPTech]

Big THANKS to SatelliteGuys for Smooth Upgrade

About 3 months ago, I started reading the Dish & Voom forums here at SatelliteGuys as I decided to add HD programming to my system. Today, I just finished getting the 10 Voom channels added to my Dish sub and it went OK, mainly because I was well prepared

Here's a brief history -

1) I have been a Dish subscriber for several years. So first, I was trying to decide whether to switch entirely to Voom (for the better HD programming) or just get Dish's paltry offering and see what they do.

2) Early this spring it became apparent from reading here that Voom wasn't going to survive. So, I ordered a Dish 811 and the HD Pak and decided to wait it out.

3) Later I read here that Dish has acquired the Voom programming. YES! Good decision to stick with Dish and ride it out!

4) Uh-oh bad news, I find out reading here that the Voom programming is at 61.5 and my old Dish 500 is pointed at 100 and 119. Need a second dish installed at $100 <grumble>

5) But wait! A little while later I read here that I can get the second dish installed for free!! Just call up Dish and tell them I want the extra local channels I am eligible for that require the second dish (with free installation). Excellent!

6) While the installer is on my roof putting up the second dish, I call Dish customer service to get the Voom channels added. I get an English-speaker, but she says "what's a voom?"... <doh!>

7) OK, I explain about the Voom deal and she gets it. But she says I can't have it because I need a second dish pointed at 61.5 and my records show I only have one. I convince her that Santa Claus is on the roof right now bringing me one

8) She says "OK, you're all set. You should see them in your guide now". Sure enough, there they are! I select "Monsters" and get an error box. It says "The Pay-per-View program you have selected is no longer available". Huh? She can't help. "Is it blue?" she asks. "Yes, it's blue" I reply.

9) Hold on I'll transfer you to "Advanced Tech Support". A few seconds later, I get a tech on the line. She asks, "Is it blue?" <sigh> "Yes," I reply "it's blue".

10) The tech says "Turn it off and back on again". Voila! I be Voomin' now!

Cheers!

 

[sonnyboy11]

Hey VPTech, was the second Dish you got installed already going to be pointed at 61.5? Just curious if you had to ask the tech doing the installation to point it to something other than what was on his work order. I am doing the exact same thing you are doing but I am pretty sure my install this Sunday for the second dish is going to be pointed at 148.

 

[2extreme]

Up and vooming today at 5pm! Check out my thread @ http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=67300
for details! Interesting story!

 

[Lucky]

I am up and Vooming, too. I had my install today and everything went perfectly. They gave me two 811's and two 311's free with two dishes also free, because some of my locals are on the 61.5. I notice the PQ is excellent.

 

[dogpoobob]

Just got E* connected today. I have the HD package free for 6 months. All VOOM channels were shown in red. I called CS and after a 9 minute hold time,got a CSR from India and told him that I wanted VOOM. He told me that I needed another dish. I told him I had it, he said it would cost $5.00 per month. I said OK. He said you should have them shortly. I said, I have them now, thank you very much. Total time less than 15 minutes.

 

[FIREBIRD81]

GOt my sw21 today and hooked my VOOM dish to my E* dish and called 'em up. Tech Support was taking far too long, so I called back and went to a regular csr. (yup India). I told her that I had all dishes hooked up and wanted my pack. She told me $5 a month, then putme on hold. She comes back and tells me that I cannot use my VOOM dish, I have to buy one from them. I said plenty of people are usingtheir voom dishes no problem. She says I need to buy their dish. I say," I am sitting here viewing programming from the 61.5 satellite, my signal is 95, I have been a DISH NEtwo kcustomer for 6 years and you are telling me that I have to buy a new dish from you? Is that what you're telling me??? She say, ok let me hook it up for you. I say thank you, we both laugh at our stubbornness and now I am VOOMIN' again!

 

[gws]

Went with the special that the Dishstore was advertising on the Voom forum. The installation was today, and everything went well. The appointment was for 8 to noon, and the installer showed up at about 9. He was here about 1.5 hours.

He installed the Dish 500 right next to the existing Voom dish and was able to use the existing cable into the house. The only problem was that the Voom channels did not show as subscribed, but he made a call and they came on.

Picture quality varies. Some SD channels are worse than with Voom, and some are better. Of course, none are as good as the big dish system that we had been using before Voom. The only channels that are so bad that they are unwatchable are the locals from satellite.

 

[DWS44]

Had my 61.5 Dish installed today, and as promised when I ordered Sunday, once the 811 was fired back up, I had Voom!

PQ is awesome!

 

[prellinger]

new dish?

does anyone know if i can us my voom dish for the second,
or do i have to pay the 100.00 fee