Receiver Question

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tjdjr

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Original poster
Jun 21, 2005
11
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Hello.

If I buy a receiver from e-bay or something like that, how do I go about activating it? Is it as simple as taking the card out of my old receiver and putting it in the new one or does Directv have to activate it?
 
tjdjr said:
Hello.

If I buy a receiver from e-bay or something like that, how do I go about activating it? Is it as simple as taking the card out of my old receiver and putting it in the new one or does Directv have to activate it?

There is never a set rule with directtv but usually you have to pay 20 dollars for a new card that D* will send you.
 
tjdjr said:
So the old card wouldn't work with the new receiver?
Don't take what I said a 100% maybe somebody else could chime in and verify what I am saiding. The old card is usually tie to the old account and D* requires you to puchase a new card(for 20$). If the receiver is one that the box had never been open and the card inside had never been activated then yes you could use that card when you activate it.
P.S. Sorry I misread the question. I thought you was getting card from e-bay with card but the ans is. same as cr0mag stated .
 
The old card won't work. It's married to it's reciever, and it won't work in another one. You're just going to have to get another card D* to make it work, which sucks but it's the only way. :cool:
 
Both of you are wrong. It is very easy to take your old card (as long as its a P4) and have D* activate it with a used/refurbished box. I've done it 3 times already. You just call D* after installing everything and ask to marry the old card to the new receiver.

You will need the old Card #, the new receiver ID#, and the new receiver serial # (taken from the menu, not the back of the box)

If they say they can't, insist and ask to speak to a resolution specialist. They will connect you to the right department. It may take a little longer, but it is possible.
 
billbillw said:
Both of you are wrong. It is very easy to take your old card (as long as its a P5) and have D* activate it with a used/refurbished box. I've done it 3 times already. You just call D* after installing everything and ask to marry the old card to the new receiver.

You will need the old Card #, the new receiver ID#, and the new receiver serial # (taken from the menu, not the back of the box)

If they say they can't, insist and ask to speak to a resolution specialist. They will connect you to the right department. It may take a little longer, but it is possible.
I would say you have been lucky in getting a CSR to activate your old card on a new (to you) receiver. Yes I have seen it posted a few times but I would guess about 80-90% are refused and sold a new card. This seems to be Directv's official stance. :)
 
I was refused by the CSR, but when I asked to be escalated, the person I spoke to shipped me a new card for free telling me that they cannot re-activate the old card. Just passing on my personal experience....
 
DirecTv has told me and it has said in a letter in the mail that their new cards expire in 9 days after it is ordered. Even if it was a brand new card that was shipped and activated in the wrong reciever they say "sorry, we have to ship you out a new one again".
 
If the card in the old receiver is active at the time, there should be no problem moving it to a new (or new to you) receiver - done it several times for customers with NO problems. On the contrary, a couple of times the past month or two, when I have been replacing old receivers with new ones w/new cards, the CSR has even asked me "are you reusing the old card in the new unit", which actually even surprised me.

It is true that if you have an old card & it has been inactive for a month or two, then it becomes no good & can't be reused even on the same receiver it came out of.
 
I too have activated a card that came with the HD receiver I bought from ebay. I am sure they have certain "notes" and "flags" listed by receiver and card number in their system and depending on what they see and what series that card is, they can pass or fail your reactivation. I have also witnessed many card reactivations with friends that purchased second-hand gear. So it is very doable under the right circumstances. It should also be noted that if you don't want the new card because of the $20, DirecTV almost always will waive this fee with minimal fuss.
 
I have installed and activated several used receivers that we took out from the 72.5 upgrade projects.Some have been out as long as 6 months and still no problem.This first mistake most people make is to start asking the CSR questions.Just tell them you either are adding a receiver or are swapping out a receiver,what ever the case is.They will then ask for the card #,receiver ID and serial.It is that easy I have never been told I could not reuse an access card EVER.


dishrich said:
If the card in the old receiver is active at the time, there should be no problem moving it to a new (or new to you) receiver - done it several times for customers with NO problems. On the contrary, a couple of times the past month or two, when I have been replacing old receivers with new ones w/new cards, the CSR has even asked me "are you reusing the old card in the new unit", which actually even surprised me.

It is true that if you have an old card & it has been inactive for a month or two, then it becomes no good & can't be reused even on the same receiver it came out of.
 
same here with me... ive reused p4 cards day after day on service calls. just tell them you are swapping out a receiver and using your old card. ive never had a csr fuss.... if they wanted every receiver to use a new card, they would ship cards with refurbs... but they dont. just dont give them an excuse to hassle you.

Tom Cahill said:
I have installed and activated several used receivers that we took out from the 72.5 upgrade projects.Some have been out as long as 6 months and still no problem.This first mistake most people make is to start asking the CSR questions.Just tell them you either are adding a receiver or are swapping out a receiver,what ever the case is.They will then ask for the card #,receiver ID and serial.It is that easy I have never been told I could not reuse an access card EVER.
 
guys.

as long as the p4 card is registered in the subs name, and was never de-activated. any sbca registered tech can marry it to any ird. you as a sub who is too cheap to pay for a service call , may have a problem. now if the card was shut down, forget it. im a catholic and even christ couldnt raise it from the dead, its done.

new card is 20 and if you are a good sub .....free

sorry to be blunt, but are you all cheapsters or what??

all you do by installing on your own is void the install warranty.and in most cases the eq warranty

....bob
 
any sbca registered tech? try anyone... theres no way dtv verifies that when i call in and say im a tech, that they can check whether or not i am... sure they ask for a tech #, but that just goes in notes. and ill be damned if i need some certification to do this work... please... its not rocket science. unless a contract specifically requires me to have certification, they can shove it :)

sateck01 said:
guys.

as long as the p4 card is registered in the subs name, and was never de-activated. any sbca registered tech can marry it to any ird. you as a sub who is too cheap to pay for a service call , may have a problem. now if the card was shut down, forget it. im a catholic and even christ couldnt raise it from the dead, its done.

new card is 20 and if you are a good sub .....free

sorry to be blunt, but are you all cheapsters or what??

all you do by installing on your own is void the install warranty.and in most cases the eq warranty

....bob
 
foolish,

didnt mean to be rude. all my contracts require me to be sbca certified and insured. and it is checked every quarter.
 
you can activate a replacement rec with your current access card, you just have to call d with the info for your new rec and they can activate it to the access card. i fyou need a new access card they are $20, you have to make sure however that the rec is not active on another persons account.
 
btw, there are no such thing as p5 cards, to clarify you can use the card out of your current rec, you cannot use the card that came with the replacement, also before you consider buying from ebay you may want to ask dtv about erp options. there is no need to ask for a resolution specialist, any tier 1 or 2 agent can do this.
 
DirecTV*Tier2Tech said:
btw, there are no such thing as p5 cards, to clarify you can use the card out of your current rec, you cannot use the card that came with the replacement, also before you consider buying from ebay you may want to ask dtv about erp options. there is no need to ask for a resolution specialist, any tier 1 or 2 agent can do this.

At least 1 time out of 3, I DID have to ask for a rez spec to help marry a card that was active on my account with a replacement receiver. The Tier 1 CSR would not do it and continually said that it couldn't be done. After a few minutes on hold a rez spec connected me with someone who "magically" was able to marry the card w/the replacement receiver.

Since that time, I have used the Installer Hotline. They ask for the SBCA cert number, but you can get around it by pressing the # key. They have never questioned me and it has proven to be a much quicker way to get the job done.
 
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