# My sad 921 [non] install story..



## crodgers79 (Jul 18, 2004)

Hi! I will try to keep this short but I'd appreciate any and all comments.

Been a Dish sub for about 8+ years. Had Dish Player 7100s, graduated to 508s, then a 721 and recently bought two 921s to use on new HD sets. I recently moved, put in the call for Dish Mover and they contacted the largest sub working out of Philly (Antenna Star - about 45 miles from me). The guy comes out to my two week old modular home and, because it's 20 degress outside, says that he doesn't want to put home-runs from the DP44 to the three receivers and drill through the walls, instead he wants to just mount the DP44 on the SuperDish mast and run the leads into the home's cable TV wiring underneath the house (in a crawlspace). I go on about how I think the house wiring is RG-59 and he counters that it's all RG-6; I counter that he'll cut off my Comcast cable TV subscription if he cuts the cable to use it for Dish and he counters and says "Who needs cable when you have Dish?" (in a broken Russian accent). 

Despite my protests, the guy does what he wants, mounts the DP44 to the mast, taps into the house cable TV wiring and then spends three hours trying to get the 921s and the 721 to pass a rudimentary switch check. After swapping out the DP44 and replacing cable from the wall-jack to the TVs, he finally gets a good switch check and gets two receivers up before leaving.. an hour after he leaves all three receivers get "No signal" errors and all switch checks fail. I call Dish after reading in the SuperDish install guide that you _never_ mix home cable TV wiring and Dish wiring; called Dish Tech Support who ran me through all of the rudimentary testing before claiming that the receiver must be bad, so they RMA it..I read some more and hear how the 921s are especially sensitive to the voltage levels on the cable and another warning about mixing home TV cable with your Dish cable..so I call Dish and they agree to roll another tech within 48 hours, on a Sunday no less! Sunday between 12-5..I wait and wait and wait..at 4:50PM I get a call from the Russian guy saying that he's in Delaware somewhere and can't make it and hey, what's the problem anyway?? When I politely say that everything that I read and the Dish Tech Support says never mix home TV cable with Dish cable, he discounts the whole thing, tells me that he has "been doing it this way for over 5 years," then he says that the Dish folks are "stupid, don't know nothing.." then he says it must be a bad switch, I then remind him that he already thought of that and replaced the DP44 once already..then he back-tracks and says how it is because I did not bring the 921 in the Living Room up first by itself.. (been there, tried that, no cigar) I politely tell him thanks, but no thanks..I call Dish and got a very nice CSR (Dan) in Tech Support, Dan rolls a new ticket for a truck roll and requests that they do not send the Russsian but send a Field Service Manager.. Try calling the sub numerous times today (Antenna Star) whose phone system is rigged to dump every choice, no matter which one you make, into voicemail. Finally on my fourth attempt I got a live CSR; guy was laid back and kept saying "I got it.." tried to assure me that the Field Service Manager would come out on Wednesday, then back-tracks and admits that their Field Servie Managers are just their Senior Techs... now Wednesday I lose another 1/2 day at work when it is a critical time for us and I have zero confidnece that this sub will actually run home-runs from the switch to the TVS because it is slated to be another 20-degree day! So after an intial install on 07 December I still have no satellite service and now my comcast cable has been cut to my three sets..

Lucky me; all this time, money and frustration for a lousy HD DVR..

Comments are welcome!!

Chris R.


Comments anyone? Suggestions on what I tell the CSR when he comes out on Wednesday afternoon..?


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## jergenf (Mar 31, 2005)

You absolutely must have RG6 rated for 2Ghz or better. Also the DPP44 won't work with two lines going to the 921. Only need one line to first input of the DPP44 and use a DP separator at the 921 else it won't pass the switch test.
The original DPP44 is probably good.

Make Dishnetwork aware that you don't want that same installer (and possibly Antenna Star) because he disregards the proper procedures. This will reduced future problems for others as well.


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## crodgers79 (Jul 18, 2004)

jergenf said:


> You absolutely must have RG6 rated for 2Ghz or better. Also the DPP44 won't work with two lines going to the 921. Only need one line to first input of the DPP44 and use a DP separator at the 921 else it won't pass the switch test.
> The original DPP44 is probably good.
> 
> Make Dishnetwork aware that you don't want that same installer (and possibly Antenna Star) because he disregards the proper procedures. This will reduced future problems for others as well.


 Thanks for the reply; yes, my contention was/is that even if my home-builder put in RG-6, it may not be rated for the same frequency that Dish needs; since I bought a modular home, they tend to use the cheapest components, so when he said "No, it's OK, it's RG-6 under there" I was still very skeptical and against him doing it. By the way, he did use a single line and the separator as you suggest, but none of the switch checks now pass on any receiver. I also did request through Dish that they not send the same installer but they have no control over who is sent or which sub gets the job. I then contacted Antenna Star directly and told them that I wanted a Field Service Manager which ther operator noted and when I tried to explain that I didn't want the original installer he cut me short and said "I get it, you don't want that guy again.." so politeness was not in their agenda, but hopefully, they got the message. Bottom line is I am about 8 hours worth of missed work and trouble-shooting into this and have to take another half-day off tomorrow to accommodate this lack-luster effort by Antenna Star.

Thanks again for your reply!

Chris R.


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## ntexasdude (Jan 23, 2005)

That's really sad. Hindsight is 20/20 but you probably should have told the guy to leave and called Dish and said you just weren't comfortable with him.

My experience was completely opposite. I got an installer who was polite, articulate and knew what he was doing. He was a young man in his mid twenties. Within the first 30 minutes I felt like I could trust the guy and went back to work and left him alone in my castle. My installation was superb and he even did some really nice extras for me. He ran some additional lines from the 921 to the back patio so I could set a TV out there. When the install was complete he thouroughly cleaned up the mess and even helped me move my very heavy hdtv and stand into a new room. I tried to tip him $30 but he refused to accept it. As soon as he drove off I called his home office, spoke to the owner and told him what an excellent installer he was. They thanked me for my business and told me they had nothing but good things to say about that particular employee.


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## crodgers79 (Jul 18, 2004)

ntexasdude said:


> That's really sad. Hindsight is 20/20 but you probably should have told the guy to leave and called Dish and said you just weren't comfortable with him.
> 
> My experience was completely opposite. I got an installer who was polite, articulate and knew what he was doing. He was a young man in his mid twenties. Within the first 30 minutes I felt like I could trust the guy and went back to work and left him alone in my castle. My installation was superb and he even did some really nice extras for me. He ran some additional lines from the 921 to the back patio so I could set a TV out there. When the install was complete he thouroughly cleaned up the mess and even helped me move my very heavy hdtv and stand into a new room. I tried to tip him $30 but he refused to accept it. As soon as he drove off I called his home office, spoke to the owner and told him what an excellent installer he was. They thanked me for my business and told me they had nothing but good things to say about that particular employee.


Thanks for sharing... count your blessings.. I'm still down and I've got a $117 Dish Network bill to boot!


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

> I tried to tip him $30 but he refused to accept it.


Guy's not only good, he's CRAZY!

But on behalf of all the other installers out there, thank you!

Tips are getting thin - "FREE, FREE, FREE" means people don't think about it, and when we have to collect activation money now on Club Theft, that kills any remaining chance of a tip.


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## greatwhitenorth (Jul 18, 2005)

ntexasdude said:


> That's really sad. Hindsight is 20/20 but you probably should have told the guy to leave and called Dish and said you just weren't comfortable with him.
> 
> My experience was completely opposite. I got an installer who was polite, articulate and knew what he was doing. He was a young man in his mid twenties. Within the first 30 minutes I felt like I could trust the guy and went back to work and left him alone in my castle. My installation was superb and he even did some really nice extras for me. He ran some additional lines from the 921 to the back patio so I could set a TV out there. When the install was complete he thouroughly cleaned up the mess and even helped me move my very heavy hdtv and stand into a new room. I tried to tip him $30 but he refused to accept it. As soon as he drove off I called his home office, spoke to the owner and told him what an excellent installer he was. They thanked me for my business and told me they had nothing but good things to say about that particular employee.


From another installer thank you as well! Not necessarily for the tip as taking the time to call his boss and say nice things about him behind his back:lol: . These customer calls do get placed in his file, and will be a great help to him as he tries to advance within the company. That will be a bigger help to him in the long run than lunch money. For everyone who has a great install experience, a quick call to the office to tell someone about it is a great way to reward a conscientous installer.


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## mbski (Oct 19, 2004)

jergenf said:


> You absolutely must have RG6 rated for 2Ghz or better. Also the DPP44 won't work with two lines going to the 921. Only need one line to first input of the DPP44 and use a DP separator at the 921 else it won't pass the switch test.
> The original DPP44 is probably good.
> 
> Make Dishnetwork aware that you don't want that same installer (and possibly Antenna Star) because he disregards the proper procedures. This will reduced future problems for others as well.


sorry you are so misinformed I have 2 cables to my 921 and a dpp44 and works fine
you should only quote what you know to be true and correct!


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## greatwhitenorth (Jul 18, 2005)

mbski said:


> sorry you are so misinformed I have 2 cables to my 921 and a dpp44 and works fine
> you should only quote what you know to be true and correct!


E* specs call for only one line with a seperator from a DPP 44 to a dual tuner receiver. Glad yours is working, but It's not "by the book". Jergenf is quoting what is "correct".


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## Nightlife1970 (Aug 10, 2005)

With a DPP44 a 921 should work with either 2 lines direct from the switch or 1 line and a Seperator.

As for the cables.. If it is RG-6 and it is home run from each receiver location to a location in the crawl space, I see no problem with this. I have never seen an RG-6 cable that would not work, even if it was not swept test to 2.2 GHZ. A new modular home, if it is prewired is going to have RG-6 in it. RG-59 costs more than RG-6 these days, so even a cheap modular company uses RG-6. 

So if none of the receivers are getting anything from a switch check, what could be wrong? Is the power inserter installed on the #1 receiver port of the switch? Is the switch bad? Did the dish move so it has lost all signal?


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