Well I give up...moving back" home"

[Mr Tony]

Well after 3 months of issues and not being able to do anything with my setup I gave up and moving my service "home".

As some of you know in December I moved into an apartment that has Directv through a 3rd party company. I hadn't moved my service because there was already access to a line and it worked and it was cheaper to keep it as is then to move it over. Well we had issues with needing reboots every 4 or 5 days. Then it worked fine for about 3 weeks. But last week it started crapping out. Losing SWM channels and couldn't record more than 3 things (would give me errors). Reboots wouldn't fix it and I even changed barrel connectors and even tried a new line in the garage (which made it worse....must have been wrong line...one that already had 4 or 5 channels used)

So I found out that we have a rep who handles our building now so I called her (no need for customer service now) and set up the move
They can move the Genie (yay!) and when all said and done its just $20 a month. We get Choice package free with rent (I was on Entertainment) and all I have to pay is DVR & HD fee. I lost my "free HD" in December and they wouldnt give it back to me and my credits were done with other things so the bill jumped up big time. Contract stays the same.

I have the install set for Friday. Its gonna be weird to actually have the right service address as I have had it for maybe 3 months out of the last 3 years
The reason of this post? More of a "lets post how well the install goes"......and I am DYING to see what is hiding behind those locked cabinets downstairs. I'm going to see if I can take pics of what is in there when the installer comes

The only thing I'm confused on is they said there is a specific box that they put on the line to make the Genie work properly.....figured they would just find a line that had 5 channels available and use that

 

[Tampa8]

Pics would be great. Interesting that they said there is a special (specific) box needed.

 

[Mr Tony]

yeah its weird but we'll see what happens when he shows up Friday
I can't find anything about a special box for apartment setups. Its nothing special. Just a bunch of splitters and SWM32's

 

[ejb1980]

We had one of those rooms in my old apartment. They had a terrible Dish Network contract that gave us 23 SD (with mono sound) channels, including a few of the locals. I begged to be allowed to see it but I was not allowed. We were not allowed to get Directv, real Dish, or Comcast. Good luck! I want to see the room!!

 

[Mr Tony]

I spoke with someone else in the complex and she made it sound like the bill comes from Directv directly....just with the credit for programming and not the 3rd party

She says her bill is like $13 which is for 3 SD receivers.

I hope this is right as then I could keep the couple referrals I have left

 

[Mr Tony]

They had a terrible Dish Network contract that gave us 23 SD (with mono sound) channels, including a few of the locals. I begged to be allowed to see it but I was not allowed. We were not allowed to get Directv, real Dish, or Comcast. Good luck! I want to see the room!!

This is real Directv. We get Choice package free (well included in rent)

Its not even a room. There are these metal boxes on the walls in the underground garage that are locked. There's a bunch of cables that come out of them

 

[Hall]

You're moving back home from an apartment .... over TV ?

 

[Mr Tony]

no....There are threads here of my "adventures"

I live in an apartment now (moved in December from a house I owned for 10 years) but for the 3 years I've had Diretcv I was a "mover" pretty much the whole time. Only moving home (to my legit address ) to upgrade.
When I moved into the apartment I kept my "moved" status (due to the 3rd party that the building is through) but I started having issues with the shoddy wiring here (as noted above)...and the fact I'm using a Genie doesn't help (with its 5 tuners) when they dont know I have it here.

So I am moving (without the quotes) home..... making my physical and billing address the same

The original thread when I moved in here
http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/299254-Yay!-I-get-to-keep-my-HR34

and the thread on the issues of having to reboot it every 4 days
http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/301202-Why-do-I-have-to-reboot-my-HR34-every-4-to-5-days

Those threads give more info of my situation

 

[kattheaunt]

In my building we were forced to get Directv several years ago. We had (have) a middleman company. I had over a year of terrible service, or none at all. Kept calling them back to fix it. They started threatening to charge me to fix problems that were never in my apartment. The problems were always in those mystery closets. It was a nightmare, but I loved D when it was working: PQ, channels, the DVR. Direct finally took the billing part away from the middleman but they still handle service. Finally seem to have my problem sorted out. Now I'm trying to get a replacement DVR. I ordered from D as I don't want to deal with the middleman.

Anyway, in our building there's a closet on each floor where my problem always seemed to be. I see it open sometimes. I'll try to get a photo next time.

 

[vln12]

I wonder if there is a "system" in there like hotels have?

Where they have one turner per channel and when you change the channel, it changes to that tuner. I'm guessing it could be possible!

 

[Teehar]

Pics!That should be interesting.

 

[jcrandall]

Nice savings and it'll be easier for you in most ways. Can you pickup any alternate markets OTA or going with just the LiL now that it's HD?

 

[Mr Tony]

I wonder if there is a "system" in there like hotels have?

Where they have one turner per channel and when you change the channel, it changes to that tuner. I'm guessing it could be possible!

no it isnt like that. We have receivers in the apartments. Its just a giant SWM setup

 

[Mr Tony]

Nice savings and it'll be easier for you in most ways.

exactly. And having one dedicated rep helps too because customer service with them is like any company. When I called to see about possibly moving (I had already moved) I was told the following from different rep
-had to cancel the D* account and go through them (that guy was a dick.....I asked if he was going to pay my ETF and he says "its not my fault you moved into a place that has a different company"...seriously???)
-yes they could move the service
-no they couldn't
-they could move it but didnt support the Genie
-they can move and they do support it
-it was $50 to move
-it was $500 to move the Genie
-it was $200 to move the Genie (which is the right answer)

Can you pickup any alternate markets OTA or going with just the LiL now that it's HD?

no. I'm in the Minneapolis market which is huge. The nearest market is Mankato (72 miles away) which is just CBS & Fox subchannel. At the house I got them just fine with the antenna but I had "moved" to North Mankato which gets Minneapolis locals AND the CBS & Fox from Mankato as Sig Viewed. So really all I'm losing is the 2nd CBS (which I did like..they had a polka music program on there) and the secondary Fox which is in SD

D* has all our locals in HD except for an Independent station (KSTC45) but I have the AM21 set up already

 

[Mr Tony]

well I got a automated message confirming my install tomorrow. I love when it says "make sure you are home during the installation window time so the technician can get in"

Well I'm holding up my end of the bargain...he better hold up his and be here between 8 and noon

 

[Mr Tony]

well the tech called...said he'd be here in about an hour

thats fine but if I knew that earlier I would have slept in

 

[Teehar]

Just be glad it's not charter or att doing an install.

 

[Neutron]

How'd it go?

 

[Mr Tony]

fine but I a sad panda

11:40 there is a knock on the door. The guy from AM3 is here to "install your receiver". I told him its already hooked up but I've been having issues with losing SWM channels and 771 errors. I turned on the TV and on the screen is error 775 something about the switch. He says the other guy is down in the basement putting in the switch. Less than 2 minutes later there is another knock on the door and its the other tech. He was all done
checked signals (which I do on occasion) and that was it

They were here maybe 5 minutes. The work order says
"you will need a SWM for this install" and with the 775 error obviously they installed something. I assume it is a SWM8 cascading off the SWM32's we have. But I didnt get to see the locked boxes

As long as they put my line on a new SWM8 (which would be AWESOME) thats all I care. I just dont want to get 771 errors and dropped SWM channels due to tuner issues

 

[jcrandall]

Well, you didn't get to see in the swm32 boxes, but you most likely have a dedicated SWM8 for your apartment.

Have you tried recording 5 things to see if there is no problem using 5 tuners? I would hope they stuck around a bit longer than 5 minutes to check that?