I've had Dish for coming up on 10 years. A happy customer, and have not had any problems in several years. But I just had a 2-part service call completed, and it left me somewhat scratching my head wondering.
I have a 722 DVR. Occasional pixelation and lost signal started several months ago, and got progressively worse. I noticed it was happening often, not just during storms. So I took a look at the signal strength screen, and noticed the levels were really low, like 18 on locals and 30's on national channels.
I called Dish and spoke with Tech Support. The national Dish Tech support people were extremely pleasant and professional on the phone, by the way. They walked me thru a confirmation of the problem, then set up an appointment, and on the day of the appointment I got emails and phone calls updating me on the time to expect the service Tech to arrive. I was very pleased with all that.
When the Tech arrived, he took a look at the dish, mounted on the roof where Dish Network people installed it years ago, and said he was not supposed to go on a roof. I wasn't sure what he wanted me to do with that information. I didn't know what to say, so I didn't say anything.
Then he said his boss told him to take down the 1K.4 dish that was up there and install a 1K.2 dish. I said "okay, that's fine." He installed the new dish. He had not yet come into the house or checked anything at the receiver prior to doing that.
Then he checks the signal on the TV "Aim Dish" screen, and still low. Now he does some checks with his meter, and sees that the signal going into the 722 measures 48, but the 722 sees a very low signal. So he wanted to swap the receiver. (I left out a lot of details about how he didn't know how to make the receiver recognize the 1K.2 dish at first.) By this time, after many phone calls for help it was 7:30 PM.
Now I asked for time to transfer my recordings onto my external hard drive before he swapped it. (A reasonable request?)
So we set up a follow-up time for him to bring a replacement DVR. At this point I asked him to make a note that I use the OTA capability, so in case they don't have a 722, but bring a 722K instead, I would request the OTA module with it. He made a note of that.
Part 2 of the service call was tonight. A different guy brings in a box, and it is a 722K. I ask about the OTA module, and he said I would need to order that for $50. I tell him that I use OTA and the first guy made a note of it. So he walks back to his truck, saying, "I was doing a favor". He comes back with a regular 722, and sets it up. He seemed angry.
That did fix the problem. The signal strength on the TV "Point Dish" meter about matches what the first guy's meter said it was at the cable end.
But the strength on the national channel he checked is only 47. The first Tech mentioned in the first visit they are supposed to peak the dish to get a minimum of 50. I didn't want to complain about that. I felt this guy was having a bad enough day already. And if there is anything to do, I'll take it up another day.
So, what do you all think? Did these guys do a decent job or not?
Thanks for reading the long post.
Norm
I have a 722 DVR. Occasional pixelation and lost signal started several months ago, and got progressively worse. I noticed it was happening often, not just during storms. So I took a look at the signal strength screen, and noticed the levels were really low, like 18 on locals and 30's on national channels.
I called Dish and spoke with Tech Support. The national Dish Tech support people were extremely pleasant and professional on the phone, by the way. They walked me thru a confirmation of the problem, then set up an appointment, and on the day of the appointment I got emails and phone calls updating me on the time to expect the service Tech to arrive. I was very pleased with all that.
When the Tech arrived, he took a look at the dish, mounted on the roof where Dish Network people installed it years ago, and said he was not supposed to go on a roof. I wasn't sure what he wanted me to do with that information. I didn't know what to say, so I didn't say anything.
Then he said his boss told him to take down the 1K.4 dish that was up there and install a 1K.2 dish. I said "okay, that's fine." He installed the new dish. He had not yet come into the house or checked anything at the receiver prior to doing that.
Then he checks the signal on the TV "Aim Dish" screen, and still low. Now he does some checks with his meter, and sees that the signal going into the 722 measures 48, but the 722 sees a very low signal. So he wanted to swap the receiver. (I left out a lot of details about how he didn't know how to make the receiver recognize the 1K.2 dish at first.) By this time, after many phone calls for help it was 7:30 PM.
Now I asked for time to transfer my recordings onto my external hard drive before he swapped it. (A reasonable request?)
So we set up a follow-up time for him to bring a replacement DVR. At this point I asked him to make a note that I use the OTA capability, so in case they don't have a 722, but bring a 722K instead, I would request the OTA module with it. He made a note of that.
Part 2 of the service call was tonight. A different guy brings in a box, and it is a 722K. I ask about the OTA module, and he said I would need to order that for $50. I tell him that I use OTA and the first guy made a note of it. So he walks back to his truck, saying, "I was doing a favor". He comes back with a regular 722, and sets it up. He seemed angry.
That did fix the problem. The signal strength on the TV "Point Dish" meter about matches what the first guy's meter said it was at the cable end.
But the strength on the national channel he checked is only 47. The first Tech mentioned in the first visit they are supposed to peak the dish to get a minimum of 50. I didn't want to complain about that. I felt this guy was having a bad enough day already. And if there is anything to do, I'll take it up another day.
So, what do you all think? Did these guys do a decent job or not?
Thanks for reading the long post.
Norm