Stuck in the Middle With Dish

[HanoverPretzel]

Well, the Dish has been down for a few hours. It waffles between what it calls complete and partial signal loss -- neither of which get me a picture.

It's kind of a bummer -- not so much because it's down, but because Dish's policies prevent me from getting it fixed promptly. I just have to hope it's because it's a cloudy day or it otherwise goes away on it's own.

Why? Because I don't have any cash to spend to get it fixed right now, and Dish doesn't do these things as part of it's service without a fee, even though cable would. It'll probably be a couple of weeks before I can raise the money to get it fixed (Assuming it doesn't fix itself).

It's one of those catches that get you and run up the total cost of being a Dish subscriber. The rates seem cheaper than cable -- but than I gotta figure in that they charged me for installation, that it looks like I'll have to *pay* for at least one service call, the couple weeks of television that I paid for and won't get, losing the signal when it rains for a few minutes several times a week, and so on and so forth. Lots of catches and provisos.

If not for the EFT that I can't afford, I think I'd call them up and cancel right now. Anyone knows of any helpful hints that would allow me to cancel and avoid paying an EFT (other than time traveling and preventing myself from signing up for Dish in the first place)?

I guess there are reasons why I've never met a happy Dish Network customer in real life.

 

[Mr Tony]

so what have you done to try and fix it?
Also what receiver model?

Did you try a soft reboot (press and hold the power button down on the unit til it reboots) or a hard reboot (unplug from outlet for 30 seconds then plug in)?
What are your signal readings (menu 6-1-1)?
Unless the clouds are very dark to the south the signal wouldnt cut out like that
How many receivers and I assume its on all of them?

 

[whatchel1]

How long have you had E*? Has it always been this way? Have you contacted one of the DIRT members?

 

[HanoverPretzel]

so what have you done to try and fix it?

Unplugged the receiver for a couple minutes and plugged it back in. Also did a quick check of the wiring in my apartment (Will take a more extended look momentarily). I also looked outside at the dish itself (Which is way too high to reach) and verified that it's still up there. The angle looks a little weird to me, but it may always have been at that angle -- it's up the apartment building a bit and I only see it if I am standing across the street and looking up right at it, so I don't see it every day or anything and don't really know if it's positioning has changed at all.

Also what receiver model?

Dish 500.

Did you try a soft reboot (press and hold the power button down on the unit til it reboots) or a hard reboot (unplug from outlet for 30 seconds then plug in)?

The latter.

What are your signal readings (menu 6-1-1)?

It says Signal Strength 21. Occasionally goes down to 20 and than back to 21.

Should I try entering my zip code and hitting the check switch button? Thus far, I've left that part alone so I don't mess anything up that's not already messed up.

How many receivers and I assume its on all of them?

I only have one receiver.

 

[HanoverPretzel]

How long have you had E*? Has it always been this way? Have you contacted one of the DIRT members?

Started in January. It always would go out for a few minutes at a time in bad weather, but this is the first extended outage.

Honestly, in the past when Dirt team members have asked me to PM them about things, they've always had bad news (Not their fault), so that's not the first thing I want to do. Generally I'll say something in a thread mentioning off-hand mentioning something like I didn't like having to pay an install fee and not being able to get free HD for Life unless I was willing to pay for more equipment and then they'll reply to the thread and ask me to PM them saying they might be able to get me the HD for Life without an equipment fee, and then I PM them and give them an account number, and then they say I'd have to pay an equipment fee (Like, great, I already knew that). Alright, I only went through that once with a DIRT team person and then the other times they asked me to PM them, I declined, but honestly how many times am I supposed to do it? I always get that reply sort of implying that they can help if I PM them, even though I've already verified that they can't (At least on that issue).

I am sure they are great at their jobs, but the policies suck and they can't change the policies, so what good does it really do?

 

[Mr Tony]

I meant what receiver model? 311? 211? 625?

Signal strength is way low. Do a check on a few transponders. IN the screen (6-1-1) select 119 satellite and a few transponders like 11, 12, 18, 19, 20. Then go to satellite 110 and do the same thing. If they are all that low then the dish has been moved slightly out of alignment

 

[HanoverPretzel]

I meant what receiver model? 311? 211? 625?

I'm not sure off-hand. Is there some way I can check on that?

Signal strength is way low. Do a check on a few transponders. IN the screen (6-1-1) select 119 satellite and a few transponders like 11, 12, 18, 19, 20. Then go to satellite 110 and do the same thing. If they are all that low then the dish has been moved slightly out of alignment

Flicked it to 119 and then checked those transponder numbers and they came up 0. I didn't hit check switch, though. Should I do that for all of them? Or does just changing through the menu perform the check?

 

[Mr Tony]

right on the receiver it says the model number

if those transponders came up 0 then the dish is probably out of alignment unless you have really dark clouds to the south (and approaching storms)

 

[HanoverPretzel]

right on the receiver it says the model number

322.

Thanks for trying to help.

 

[Mr Tony]

yeah if the signal is that low then there are issues. Signal should be around 55-70 or so

 

[stardust3]

Your screen name always make me think of Hanover PA & the Snyder's pretzel factory. Probably just a coincidence I suppose. Back on topic, I hope you can get your system fixed without a bunch of aggravation. Usually it is something simple, is it possible that you can have the aid of an assistant & re tune the dish yourself? All the help in the world is just a few key strokes away if you run into a snafu while trying to tune.

 

[TG2]

Back when I had the 500 ... what I would do is use two of my cordless phones (they can page each other) ... I'd connect them, leave one by the TV on the signal screen ... and then take the other outside, lightly pull/push/angle the dish until I'd get a better sound over the phone to phone intercom.

things I learned.. like from the movie Contact ... "small changes ellie, small moves" ... slight changes and hold for 10 to 30 seconds, and if you have a loose dish, regardless of type (ground/pole/roof/wall/etc) start by trying to guesstimate where it was before, and you might get lucky ... like if it seems to be leaning, try to straighten.

If on a pole or side mount, maybe check it with a level first, see if it shows level from front and side .. etc.

 

[HanoverPretzel]

Back on topic, I hope you can get your system fixed without a bunch of aggravation. Usually it is something simple, is it possible that you can have the aid of an assistant & re tune the dish yourself?

Unfortunately, the thing is too far up in the air to get at. It's literally scaled like two stories above me on someone else's apartment. I can't physically get at it.

 

[Juan]

If u have a decent internet provider..I would recommend that you invest in a Roku.. You can watch a "podcast version of MSNBC and live versions of BBC news, Aljazeera and several russian,Iranian and chinese stations with a point of view similar to MSNBC

 

[HanoverPretzel]

Update is that I called them and they are sending a tech out tomorrow. I asked about price and the guy said it's free, so I'll take it. Hopefully there are no hidden charges or anything like that.

 

[HanoverPretzel]

If u have a decent internet provider..I would recommend that you invest in a Roku.. You can watch a "podcast version of MSNBC and live versions of BBC news, Aljazeera and several russian,Iranian and chinese stations with a point of view similar to MSNBC

I may look into that. Thanks. It'd be kind of hard to raise the money for a Roku, but it probably wouldn't be impossible. Just went from an Internet that couldn't support it to one that could, but then I may have to drop down my package when the Internet promotional thing runs out, so I don't know if it'll be fast enough to handle streaming video long term -- so I'll have to try to take that into consideration also.

 

[HanoverPretzel]

.

 

[Juan]

I may look into that. Thanks. It'd be kind of hard to raise the money for a Roku, but it probably wouldn't be impossible. Just went from an Internet that couldn't support it to one that could, but then I may have to drop down my package when the Internet promotional thing runs out, so I don't know if it'll be fast enough to handle streaming video long term -- so I'll have to try to take that into consideration also.

$50-$100 (news)service is free tho Roku Streaming Player | Watch Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, Crackle and More on Roku Player

 

[Mr Tony]

Update is that I called them and they are sending a tech out tomorrow. I asked about price and the guy said it's free, so I'll take it. Hopefully there are no hidden charges or anything like that.

I wouold check with a DIRT member just to verify. If you used the chat you would have the whole conversation to copy/paste

 

[RT-Cat]

Unfortunately, the thing is too far up in the air to get at. It's literally scaled like two stories above me on someone else's apartment. I can't physically get at it.

Sounds like a wild installation. Did they put it up that high to get over another building next to you?
Keep us posted on what the tech found.
Hope he fixes it for you.

RT.