Why is Dish telling me I need new equipment?

[textmex]

I got a call from a VERY uneducated Dish rep the other night. She told me I need to schedule an appointment to "get new equipment". She couldn't tell me what or why. She just told me to do a check switch and look for 61.5, which I did and found. Then she just asked me to schedule an appointment for new equipment with no further explanation (I declined).

I had tech service chat today with Dish to inquire about it and he said they actually need to check the signal strength on 118.7. They said this impacts everyone in the country not just me. What is going at Dish?

 

[lparsons21]

Good question. 118.7 isn't seen by most subscribers at all. It isn't on the EA or WA, I think it is for some of the international packages.

 

[KAB]

Where are you and what equipment and and programming (international?) do you have. There is probably is a good reason.

 

[hayesjd]

I got the same call about a week ago.... I pick up 61.5, 72.7, 110 and 119. I was told that I needed a repoint to get 129 because my HD on 61.5 was going away. When I told her that I didn't have line of sight for 129, she continued to insist that I needed a repoint and would lose my HD if I didn't. I declined.

 

[textmex]

My house and the equipment is in Rochester, but I "moved" to Pittsburgh so I have Pittsburgh local channels.

Are they getting rid of 61.5 or something?

 

[BobMurdoch]

My house and the equipment is in Rochester, but I "moved" to Pittsburgh so I have Pittsburgh local channels.

Are they getting rid of 61.5 or something?

They told me that they were going to migrate some HD channels off of 110/119 to the arc birds. I have a 510 connected to a SD set in my daughter's room. My other three HD receivers look at Eastern Arc birds . I declined as I said that the 110/119 dish is only feeding SD channels anyway.

 

[textmex]

OK. Just got off the chat with a more helpful rep. I think he basically said what BobMurdoch is saying...I need to get new equipment pointed at the eastern arc satellites (77,118.7,129) or I can't get all my local HD. They aren't carried on 61.5 anymore.

So it doesn't sound like I have a choice. And since I already lost HD FOX and NBC as of tonight, I'm guess I should get on with it.

 

[Tony S]

That Rep gave you the wrong information. The eastern arc satellites are 61.5, 72.7, and 77 (1000.4 Dish). Western arc satellites are 110, 119, and 129 (1000.2 Dish). A second dish can be added to point at an additional satellite if you need it for international or local programming.

 

[TheKrell]

nd since I already lost HD FOX and NBC as of tonight, I'm guess I should get on with it.

Tony corrected the sat locations for Eastern Arc, but losing your HD locals "this evening" doesn't make sense to me at all. Aren't Pittsburgh locals on 3 different satellites? Note too that your dish antenna upgrade is probably going to take place in Pittsburgh, not where you actually are.

 

[3HaloODST]

Basically all that matters is that your HD receivers are picking up one of these three configs:

Western Arc 110 119 129
Eastern Arc 61.5 72.7 77
Hybrid Arcs 110 119 61.5 72.7

Hybrid arcs with those four sats works okay unless you need international/spanish programming, and some locals are on 77 or 129. Whether or not you want EA or WA would also depend on your locals.

The fourth configuration, is what they are trying to phase out, because it can't get all HD:

Hybrid Arcs 61.5 110 119

 

[textmex]

Tony corrected the sat locations for Eastern Arc, but losing your HD locals "this evening" doesn't make sense to me at all. Aren't Pittsburgh locals on 3 different satellites? Note too that your dish antenna upgrade is probably going to take place in Pittsburgh, not where you actually are.

I will call and change my service address a day or so before I schedule the appt. That's worked fine in the past. And I didn't lose all my HDs, just NBC and FOX. ABC and CBS are still working.

But that brings up a question...would my Eastern arc problem apply in Rochester as well? The guy told me it effected everyone, so I assume if it effects Rochester, right? If it doesn't I need to come up with a reason to have the service guy re-point my dish...

 

[textmex]

I just checked and Rochester HD locals are all on 61.5. How do I explain to the Dish service guy why I need my dish re-pointed at the Eastern Arc birds? Can I just tell them I was having trouble with signal strength on 61.5 and customer service told me get the Dish repointed? Does the service guy really care once he's at my house?

 

[dwarren2]

I just checked and Rochester HD locals are all on 61.5. How do I explain to the Dish service guy why I need my dish re-pointed at the Eastern Arc birds? Can I just tell them I was having trouble with signal strength on 61.5 and customer service told me get the Dish repointed? Does the service guy really care once he's at my house?

They can't just repoint the dish. For the EARC you need a new dish. I had mine changed about a month ago. I complained that I wasn't getting all the HD I was paying for with the old set up. They wanted to charge me $95 for the service call. But after complaining and then being transferred to a "loyalty" csr, I got it for free, You need VIP receivers for the EARC. I have both a 722 and a 211 so I get the locals OTA and from Dish. I'm in Wayne County on top of a drumlin. So with a rotor and an amp I also receive Syracuse locals OTA. I sometimes can pull in Buffalo too.

 

[textmex]

They can't just repoint the dish. For the EARC you need a new dish. I had mine changed about a month ago. I complained that I wasn't getting all the HD I was paying for with the old set up. They wanted to charge me $95 for the service call. But after complaining and then being transferred to a "loyalty" csr, I got it for free, You need VIP receivers for the EARC. I have both a 722 and a 211 so I get the locals OTA and from Dish. I'm in Wayne County on top of a drumlin. So with a rotor and an amp I also receive Syracuse locals OTA. I sometimes can pull in Buffalo too.

Sounds like your pretty close to me. Do you have any examples of channels you were supposed to be getting but weren't with the old set-up? I might piggy back off that excuse. Thanks.

 

[dwarren2]

Sounds like your pretty close to me. Do you have any examples of channels you were supposed to be getting but weren't with the old set-up? I might piggy back off that excuse. Thanks.

I'm in Marion in Wayne County. Where are you? Can't remember the channels, but AMC was one. Go to the Dish web site and compare the channel list to what your receiving. See what channels are in HD. They said they had to replace your equipment. That may mean that they want to change you to the EARC and that requires VIP receivers since the arc is mpeg4 only.

 

[tinydoughboy]

Had a friend call the other day and because he doesn't visit here and didn't realize he wasn't getting espnnews in hd....they told him they had to swap out his 211 receiver because it was old and upgraded him for free...oddly enough they came out the next day which is unlike them but he got free upgrade to hd receivers for his single tvs and it didn't cost him anything.....weird!

 

[dwarren2]

Had a friend call the other day and because he doesn't visit here and didn't realize he wasn't getting espnnews in hd....they told him they had to swap out his 211 receiver because it was old and upgraded him for free

Hmmm. I have a VIP 211 and a VIP 722 and both are HD receivers. They work just fine with the EARC.

 

[TheKrell]

OK. Just got off the chat with a more helpful rep. I think he basically said what BobMurdoch is saying...I need to get new equipment pointed at the eastern arc satellites (77,118.7,129) or I can't get all my local HD. They aren't carried on 61.5 anymore.

I just cracked the code. What the CSR was trying to say was that Pittsburgh HD locals are on 3 different satellites: 77, 118.7, and 129. Just FYI Pittsburgh SD locals are on 77 and 110. I discovered these assignments with reference to TheList!. The only trouble is that digiblur's uplink report code, whcih automatically updates TheList!, has been offline for weeks. So, if you just lost some of your HD locals, TheList! won't tell us anything. Which of those satellites do you get right now?

I think it would be safe to get an Eastern Arc upgrade, assuming you already have only mpeg-4 (HD) receivers. It's a single-dish solution, SD and HD locals for Pittsburgh are on 77, and Rochester locals are on 61.5 so this works for the installers as well.

 

[dwarren2]

I think it would be safe to get an Eastern Arc upgrade, assuming you already have only mpeg-4 (HD) receivers. It's a single-dish solution, SD and HD locals for Pittsburgh are on 77, and Rochester locals are on 61.5 so this works for the installers as well.

When you upgrade to the EARC in the Rochester area, you only get the HD feeds of the local stations.

 

[Jimmerinwi]

Had a friend call the other day and because he doesn't visit here and didn't realize he wasn't getting espnnews in hd....they told him they had to swap out his 211 receiver because it was old and upgraded him for free...oddly enough they came out the next day which is unlike them but he got free upgrade to hd receivers for his single tvs and it didn't cost him anything.....weird!

ESPN News hasn't been in HD for quite a while now. The receiver he had has nothing to do with it.