What do I need to do for a Dish upgrade?

[HiDefGuy]

Hello, long time browser, first time poster.

I'm here in VA (east coast I have had a problem with SAT and OTA reception from day one. I was able to improve the signal by aiming the antenna myself, but it just ain't cutting it. I'm 12 mi away and all the towers are in the same direction. And my SAT reception, well, it just has to be an overcast day and I get studders. Any type of rain and the feed is toast. The signal drops into the 60's, I need about a 72 to get a picture back.

(BTW, Last time I called in a request for an OTA upgrade, the date was scheduled 3 days later. They never showed up. A week later I call to reshedule and I got a date of July 10th. Geez.)

I got the OTA upgrade approved, but the CSR really didn't know anything about a dish upgrade.

I had to practically convince the CSR I talked to on the phone that they can do dish upgrades and that it would help my situation. She said she put that "customer may need dish upgrade" on the work order for when they come out and do the OTA upgrade. Is there something else I need to do?? I am having rain and cloud fade and I'm here on the east coast. My reception needs to improve in order to justify the service. Any suggestions would help!

Maybe I need Wilt?

 

[Ilya]

Welcome aboard!
It looks like the dish upgrade is only done in select areas or to select customers as an experiment. The upcoming upgrade to a new type of dish in September will envolve everyone.

 

[The Stone Man]

Welcome aboard!
It looks like the dish upgrade is only done in select areas or to select customers as an experiment. The upcoming upgrade to a new type of dish in September will envolve everyone.

I think that's the first time I've seen anyone mention September. Usually, it's either October of "Fall". With recent events regarding software release, I was surprised that a specific month was mentioned. I know the post was at 2:15 AM, but is this right, Ilya?

 

[HiDefGuy]

Welcome aboard!
It looks like the dish upgrade is only done in select areas or to select customers as an experiment. The upcoming upgrade to a new type of dish in September will envolve everyone.

Thanks for the reply.

I know that if there is a Thunderstorm I probably won't have service, I can deal with that. But when its just an overcast day and I have to put up with studders and dropouts, I just don't think something is right there. And ANY kind of rain...I really need something done about this or I have to drop the service. I don't want to, but when I can't watch anything...Seems like they would do what they can to make sure I have a fairly reliable service, esp when paying for the full package?

Not that I want this as an option, but if it came down to it, can I pick up any bigger dish and set it up myself to help things?

 

[bbtkd]

Hello, long time browser, first time poster.

I'm here in VA (east coast I have had a problem with SAT and OTA reception from day one. I was able to improve the signal by aiming the antenna myself, but it just ain't cutting it. I'm 12 mi away and all the towers are in the same direction. And my SAT reception, well, it just has to be an overcast day and I get studders. Any type of rain and the feed is toast. The signal drops into the 60's, I need about a 72 to get a picture back.

(BTW, Last time I called in a request for an OTA upgrade, the date was scheduled 3 days later. They never showed up. A week later I call to reshedule and I got a date of July 10th. Geez.)

I got the OTA upgrade approved, but the CSR really didn't know anything about a dish upgrade.

I had to practically convince the CSR I talked to on the phone that they can do dish upgrades and that it would help my situation. She said she put that "customer may need dish upgrade" on the work order for when they come out and do the OTA upgrade. Is there something else I need to do?? I am having rain and cloud fade and I'm here on the east coast. My reception needs to improve in order to justify the service. Any suggestions would help!

Maybe I need Wilt?

If you complain to Voom they may upgrade you to a 28" dish - depends on the CSR. If they won't do it then contact Installers Inc. You may also benefit from repeaking done properly. One of the big problems is that installers peak the dish by using a signal strength meter at the dish. This may work well with Directv, but the Voom satellite is close to the Dish satellite and I suspect that in about half the cases, the dish is actually peaked on the Dish satellite rather than the Voom satellite. If your 18" fades easily, then I suspect your dish is not peaked properly.

The proper way to peak the dish is to get a friend or wife (!) to sit by the receiver and tell you what the signal strength is (yelling or using radios), while you make minor adjustments to the dish. You could also take a small TV up to the dish with you, hooked to a long cable. Nearly everyone experienceing poor signal strength has had good success tweaking their dish. An 18" dish really should work well except during heavy rain.

You may also be experienceing signal loss from a diplexor - the device that combine the OTA and Voom signal onto one cable. Run another cable and get rid of the diplexor. This should improve your OTA signal as well. If you are 12 miles from the OTA towers they should work just fine.

 

[vurbano]

Complain too voom. And Wilt.

 

[Smoky]

Just got off the phone with a Voom CSR. He told me at first that they only have a 18" dish. I told him that was not true, then he said that the larger dish was for test markets. When I ordered Voom I requested a larger dish because of the weather here in mountains,got a 18". Also my OTA stations included Knoxville on the Voom website,but are not mapped on my receiver. He told me that the FCC would not let him map my receiver with these OTA channels because I'm in the Greenville,SC broadcast area. I asked for a list of installers in in my area,which he would not give me. The new software update I hope has a scan for OTA.
As of now my huge 190 mile antenna (that I bought)with a rotor on top of my roof receives nothing(I took Voom's little POS antenna down). The company that installed,is from another state. He called last week that he can not do service calls on my system. I agree,he's 3 hours away! I told him I would try to find some installers in Western NC ,but Voom's CSR will not give me a list. BTW they have shipped him 2 receivers with my name on them, why I do not know,neither does he. Why can't Voom ship to the address of service? Sorry for the rant,I was on this thread when I called Voom.

 

[Ilya]

I think that's the first time I've seen anyone mention September. Usually, it's either October of "Fall". With recent events regarding software release, I was surprised that a specific month was mentioned. I know the post was at 2:15 AM, but is this right, Ilya?

No, I don't have any new information on this. I am just guessing that if they are planning to go live with the new bird in October, they probably need to start replacing dishes in September. It's going to take some time to upgrade all existing subscribers. It very well could be October or even later...

 

[frankacon]

started to watch a movie saturday afternoon and half way through the black skys came and then the rain and of course no picture again so i called voom got right through i explained the troubles about rain fade asked for bigger dish voom said okay and set up my big dish install for this tuesday i got great service but maybe cause i have vavavoom and rent 2 receivers

 

[barth2k]

Has Voom SAID they plan to go live with the new bird in Oct? Unfortunately, it may be "on" but that doesn't mean we'll be able to receive any actual programming from it. If they really plan to really be delivering actual service in Oct., I would think they need to start swapping like, oh, yesterday. I'm sure they're giving #1 priority to new installs, but if people have to wait for weeks to get a new install, 4 months won't be enough to swap out the current (growing) base.

I don't mean to sound negative all the time, b/c I really really want Voom to come through. It's just that all indications say otherwise.

 

[Eric_C]

New Dish this Friday - Credit questions

I called for rain fade 2 weeks ago, they scheduled me 3 weeks up and its finally coming this Friday.

We're in Michigan, which if you noticed the Midwest has gotten tons of rain. Its been decent the past 2 weeks but I had a solid 3 weeks of inconvienced watching, usually during the shows we watch at night.

Voom told me to wait for the new dish, if it fixed the problem, call back and they would credit for my missed time.

Now my personal view is, one show missed to me, is the same as an entire day missed. I pay for the premium channels and more than once during the Soprano's was viewing stopped.

For the 2.5 months of trouble I've had, and its been that long since there were so many problems getting ahold of someone at Voom. I plan on asking for a total of 3 week credit.

Sounds fair to me, 7 calls to Voom, twice I get to talk to someone, first rep was incompetent and kept telling me to press the red button while water streaked down my skylights

Even my last call I had to hit the new subscriber button instead of Tech Support and actually the girl that helped me was very helpful, she scheduled the dish install and gave me zero trouble, even called it Rain Fade herself.

We shall see Friday, which is good because its supposed to rain here all weekend.

 

[HiDefGuy]

Complain too voom. And Wilt.

Where do I get contact info for Wilt?

the last CSR I talked to said she put that I might need a dish upgrade on the work order, but I don't know what exactly thats going to do for me (probably nothing). Do I just try to contact Wilt about this first?

 

[HiDefGuy]

If you complain to Voom they may upgrade you to a 28" dish - depends on the CSR. If they won't do it then contact Installers Inc. You may also benefit from repeaking done properly. One of the big problems is that installers peak the dish by using a signal strength meter at the dish. This may work well with Directv, but the Voom satellite is close to the Dish satellite and I suspect that in about half the cases, the dish is actually peaked on the Dish satellite rather than the Voom satellite. If your 18" fades easily, then I suspect your dish is not peaked properly.

The proper way to peak the dish is to get a friend or wife (!) to sit by the receiver and tell you what the signal strength is (yelling or using radios), while you make minor adjustments to the dish. You could also take a small TV up to the dish with you, hooked to a long cable. Nearly everyone experienceing poor signal strength has had good success tweaking their dish. An 18" dish really should work well except during heavy rain.

You may also be experienceing signal loss from a diplexor - the device that combine the OTA and Voom signal onto one cable. Run another cable and get rid of the diplexor. This should improve your OTA signal as well. If you are 12 miles from the OTA towers they should work just fine.

I have no idea how he peaked the dish. I do know I talked on the cell phone to someone inside while I adjusted the dish up and down a few degrees, and ended up leaving it at 45 deg. which was pretty much were it was to begin with. Are you suggesting left to right adjusting?

I'm hoping the antenna upgrade will help me, my dish and antenna are on a pole in the yard due to tall houses and many trees.

 

[riffjim4069]

I'm here in VA (east coast I have had a problem with SAT and OTA reception from day one. I was able to improve the signal by aiming the antenna myself, but it just ain't cutting it. I'm 12 mi away and all the towers are in the same direction. And my SAT reception, well, it just has to be an overcast day and I get studders. Any type of rain and the feed is toast. The signal drops into the 60's, I need about a 72 to get a picture back.

Maybe I need Wilt?

Yep, you need Wilt. I'm am also from Virginia and have the 18" dish. Signal quality is usally 97 under clear skies and drops down to 86-92 under heavy couds and/or light rain. The signal only cuts out during thunderstorms and very heavy rainfall. Although the elevation angle from my zipcode is 43 degrees, the dish appears to be pointing at about 30 degrees. Rain fade has been so infrequent that I am inclined to wait for the new dish later this fall.

FYI...<EOT>

 

[kawdog]

I agree that peaking the signal at the dish with a meter does not work. After my initial install nightmare, a guy came out to mount the OTA antenna. I asked him if he would mind peaking the dish since the first installer left the signal in the low 80's and said that was good enough, but I have had cloud and rain fade about every day since. Anyway, he agreed he would peak it for me and used a meter. Well, after he did I went and checked the signal, it was now peaked in the mid 70's? I questioned this and he said even though it may show lower now that it was actually stronger due to his peaking and I would not have as many problems (huh?). It was worse after he left despite what he said. A couple of days later the first guy came back to check on me and I asked him to peak it. He used a meter and afterwards the signal was in the 40's!! I kid you not. Then he said we could actually use the meter in the STB, well we did that and he got it back in the low 80's. My signal still drops in and out daily and I have a clear LOS, next clear day we have I am going to peak it myself.

kaw

 

[jimmykce1]

I am in Va and I received a 30-inch dish. I had to contact someone from Installer Inc, like Wilt and they took care of me. Voom CSR just told me it was experiemental. Also I posted pictures on this site if you would like to see it. As mentioned before on this site, sometime this fall everyone is going to reeive another ellipitcal dish.

 

[The Stone Man]

Contact information for Mr. Wilt Hildenbrand, Voom VP of Engineering.
wilth@optonline.net.

 

[bbtkd]

I am in Va and I received a 30-inch dish. I had to contact someone from Installer Inc, like Wilt and they took care of me. Voom CSR just told me it was experiemental. Also I posted pictures on this site if you would like to see it. As mentioned before on this site, sometime this fall everyone is going to reeive another ellipitcal dish.

There is nothing experimental about installing a 30" dish, Voom has a lot of them out there. If you had gotten the new eliptical, that would have been experimental, at least for Voom.

 

[ChetK]

started to watch a movie saturday afternoon and half way through the black skys came and then the rain and of course no picture again so i called voom got right through i explained the troubles about rain fade asked for bigger dish voom said okay and set up my big dish install for this tuesday i got great service but maybe cause i have vavavoom and rent 2 receivers

Gosh, I wish it was that easy. I probably called around the same time you did (yesterday/Sun.) since the signal went out for around 30 min. I explained to the CSR that I was getting much more rain fade than I did when I had Dish Network and he told me that my request would have to be "approved". He said that I would receive a phone call within 72 hours to tell me whether or not I was approved for the larger dish. I certainly hope so. I don't want to wait another quarter of a year just to get less rain fade. Either reduce my bill for lack of service or get me more reliable service.

The entire year that I had Dish Network, I may have had rain fade twice. In the month and a half that I've had Voom, I'd say it's gone out more than three times that amount.

 

[bbtkd]

Gosh, I wish it was that easy. I probably called around the same time you did (yesterday/Sun.) since the signal went out for around 30 min. I explained to the CSR that I was getting much more rain fade than I did when I had Dish Network and he told me that my request would have to be "approved". He said that I would receive a phone call within 72 hours to tell me whether or not I was approved for the larger dish...

You could probably have pushed it a bit - tell them either upgrade it or just come and deinstall. I doubt they would allow a deinstall to happen when they can retain you by upgrading the dish...