What the hell is wrong with this provider!?!?

[Supercrosser]

I have had Voom for a little over 2 weeks now. I have never seen such poor customer service, poor quality sat service, poor reliability, and just plain "stupid things happening that shouldn't" from a sat (or any broadcast) service provider!!!

Listen up Voom people.... I PAY FOR YOUR SERVICE!!!!

Do you not understand that????

Apparently your so called Customer Service Reps....DO NOT!

I switched from Time-Warner Digital Cable with a very reliable HD-DVR to what I thought would bring us great JOY with all the HD only channels but all I really got was a big fat shaft up my ass from you and your company!

You will never make it in the world of satellite service providers with this type of quality.

I studied electronics for years and have gone top to bottom looking for any possible way my installation could be the cause of my difficulties. I then read most of the latest posts here on this BBS and conclude that it is poor firmware and poor programming on your end that gives me the hourly or so "lock-up" headaches.

I will be contacting your Customer UN-service department one more time on Wednesday and within 2 mins of that conversation, will be contacting my AMEX to have any further charges from your sad-sad excuse for a company, denied.

Good-Luck to the rest of you who will try to suffer through VOOMs growing pains but lets be honest, if they knew what they were doing, you wouldn't be resetting that receiver even once a week, much less daily!!!!

 

[jtomshd]

What frimware do you have? You might have the old software and you need to have the updated software uploaded. Leave your STB in standby mode tonight. I have not had a lock up in a couple months.

 

[Supercrosser]

one day it was 7. something. today its 6.2. the 7 something had the following...

no audio when switching channels intermittantly
random receiver lockups
random loss of guide
not storing local channels correctly

the 6.2(current what i have) has the following...

no audio when switching channels intermittantly
random receiver lockups
random loss of guide
not storing local channels correctly

and yes, i always turn it off when we don't watch it. It is plugged into a phone line. All the connectors are tight. The sat signal is a solid 97 and we have no blockage. We don't pour water in it or attach it to a welder just for fun.

You see what i'm getting at? Its only been 2 weeks!! If my computer acted like this for 2 weeks, it would receive a John Deere chainsaw adjustment.......

 

[patrickpiteo]

My last reboot was 3 weeks ago. I had time warner I also have D* and they also need reboots from time to time. Right now unfortunately they are doing a lot for the next release and the DVR..

 

[andrzej]

Supercrosser, my last reboot was a few months ago (don't even remember when). My stb is rock solid and I have none of the problems that you listed. Might be that yours need to be replaced. It is also possible that you are not compatible with Voom. Good luck with other providers.

 

[scottie_h]

Since my installation in mid-June, I've had a grand total of 3 lockups on 2 boxes. All 3 were solved by a simple reboot.

 

[1080iBeVuMin]

I hardly ever have to reboot. Well, maybe more often if I flipped channels fast, but I know (from experience) what actions to avoid. So, a reboot... hold a button in for 6 seconds, then wait a minute or so for the box to come back online. Big deal. Small price to pay for all the HD and non-commercial programming I am getting, even it I had to reboot daily.

It's a "glass half-empty or half-full" kind of thing.

 

[jagouar]

I havent rebooted my box at all in general use... just when i leave it on and a software update comes down.... box has been as stable as any sat box ive ever use and I have had all 3 providers at one time.

 

[jimmykce1]

If you have gotten firmware 6.2, than you should be good. there was some bugs with 7.0 and Voom had sent a hit out to get poeple back to 6.2 firmware. Since I have had 6.2 firmware I had no problems.

 

[stockymd]

I've had V for about three weeks now and can completely understand your position. My installation experience was horrible. However, I realize they don't have the best equipment in the world. I have never had to reboot ( with the exception of having a bad diplexor) nor have I had lock-ups at all with the 6.2. It takes a while to work out the kinks, but I think it's worth in in the long run. My personal time limit is one month for them to get everything straight.

Good luck to you!

 

[DarrellP]

Try unplugging your unit and let it reboot using the new firmware from scratch. My 2 stb's have been very solid, one I leave on 24/7, the other is turned of nightly and rarely require a reboot.

They have had program guide issues lately and that is totally inexcuseable for that to happen.

 

[kfried001]

I have five receivers and I don't remember the last time I had to reboot any of them. Four receivers all ROCK SOLID. Ocassionaly I will have t switch channels twice because the picture doesn't come in, but that is rare. No other problems here.

My neigbor has four receivers and he never had to reset any of his either.

Another neighbor has 2 receivers and they work fine as well.

So on my street there are a total of 11 receivers that are al working just fine.

 

[DarrellP]

I have five receivers and I don't remember the last time I had to reboot any of them. Four receivers all ROCK SOLID.

If it makes you guys feel any better, it's not just VOOM, I've had 3 different Dish receivers (still have the 6000) and they all had to be rebooted ocassionally. My 6000 every now and then will spontaneously combust, I mean, reboot all by itself then it takes forever to reacquire the sat signal. I am very happy with the performance of my Voom box now.

 

[Ti-maniac]

...
Another neighbor has 2 receivers and they work fine as well.
...

I stopped talking to my neighbors about V* with all the billing problems, one who has it is blaming me for turning him on to it.

If you want to keep your friends, do not borrow or lend money to them, hire them in your business, or tell them about VOOM.

 

[branchbouncer]

My last reboot was 3 weeks ago. I had time warner I also have D* and they also need reboots from time to time. Right now unfortunately they are doing a lot for the next release and the DVR..

We have had D* for over 8 years and the only time our equipement reboots is a power-failure.I think that once mabye twice we had to do a manual reboot when one of the stb's started to fail.We also had D* when they were 2 seperate enites,USSB-forgot the other,and never-never had the growing pains that VOOM has,they are like childern gone awire and the parents(customers)keep making excuses for them and saying that they will get better when they know all along they will grow up to be felons

 

[wase4711]

well, this is life on the bleeding edge, isnt it!!

my advice, and I am sure most others here feel the same way, is that if it bothers you THAT much, then simply change providers...

Even though I am not thrilled with every aspect of my Voom service, I must say I have had almost 6 months of relatively trouble free service; yeah, I had to reboot my box a few times in the last 6 months, but how many times have you rebooted that wonderful COMPUTER in your house the last 6 months????

C'mon, its only a piece of electrical equipment; not a "perfect being"....

 

[branchbouncer]

5 computers on 24/7,3 running game servers on 12/7 childerns computers only need reboots because of Disney sites or Nick. Mine was zeroed Jan 1 2004 along with wifes and will be zeroed Jan 1 2005.During the interm they don't need reboots

 

[branchbouncer]

And as far as changing providers form VOOM to someone else,I have had D*for eight years with out the growing pains that VOOM can't seem to shake,and I don't need to drop VOOM because VOOM-INSTALLS.IDIOTS-DATALINK-AV WIRING-SKY SATELLITE can't seem to get thier 3 brains cells together enough to do an install(just found out one brain cell is on vacation and the other two are fighting)as I E-mailed VOOM they need self installs,a dead monkey could do what these"pro installers do".I am not going to miss another day of work and wait for someone that probably isn't as smart as the squirrels buring acorns in the back yard.I did that before and I am not going to piss away three times what they make in a day for a half day wait for someone to show up that has the office number+the house+the cell and won't take time time to call.If you think that VOOM,with this unreliable quality service is going to be around in 18 months your dreaming

 

[wase4711]

5 computers on 24/7,3 running game servers on 12/7 childerns computers only need reboots because of Disney sites or Nick. Mine was zeroed Jan 1 2004 along with wifes and will be zeroed Jan 1 2005.During the interm they don't need reboots

Well, In my 20+ years of computing/pcmanagement, I have yet to see ANY system go a year without a reboot; if you are that lucky, then the gods of silicon must smile up on you...

And, if you don't think that in 18 months from now, there won't be a Vooom, or some variation of what it is now, you are in denial. Either VOOm, or their succesors will no doubt want bragging rights to the most HD channels available, and considering how many more folks will have HD sets, there is NO WAY VOOM, or whatever they "become" wont still be here.

To me, it wont matter who I send my monthly payment to; I just want the most HD/pseudo-HD channels available...

 

[qwacker2]

I've had VOOm for about 6 months and have frequent lockup/reboot problems. My main problem with lockups is surfing channels (mainly fast channel up/down). I think there are 2 possible scenarios why some people get alot of lockups and others rarely see them. First is surfers lockup/ non-surfers don't. The other explanation is some STBs are good, some aren't.

The surf problem was worse a few firmware versions ago. They basically put in a delay to mask the problem, but it still hasn't been fixed. Even though I know it is a problem, but I like to surf too much to change my method of switching channels.

I have had a few other lockups too - the other day, I couldn't get the menu to display until I rebooted. Just one of the things you get used to.