# I'm just about done with DISH



## coldmiser (Mar 10, 2007)

Last night, on a clear night with no wind, we lost our signal for almost two hours. My wife was pissed since that meant she lost Survivor. 

In the short time I've had DISH I've had more outages than I did in 11 years with DTV! And when I call CSR I get, "I've very sorry sir, but that is the nature of satilite tv." That's BS! 

I swear if it wasn't for the stupid fee I would have to pay for leaving early I'd cancel today!


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## scout12 (Mar 26, 2007)

coldmiser said:


> Last night, on a clear night with no wind, we lost our signal for almost two hours. My wife was pissed since that meant she lost Survivor.
> 
> In the short time I've had DISH I've had more outages than I did in 11 years with DTV! And when I call CSR I get, "I've very sorry sir, but that is the nature of satilite tv." That's BS!
> 
> I swear if it wasn't for the stupid fee I would have to pay for leaving early I'd cancel today!


I'm assuming you are talking about HD locals. What local market do you receive? I recently had to point a separate dish at 129 to get Denver locals coming in strong. Got my signal to around 35-40 on the transponder for my locals. Since that time we have had 2+ inches of rain and 40+ mph wind and I have not seen a break up on any channel yet.


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## space86 (May 4, 2007)

You should have an Off Air Antenna so you can watch and DVR 
Survivor on your local CBS HD Station. 
The Off Air Signal does not go out when it rains.


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## archer75 (Oct 13, 2006)

It's all how your dish is pointed. I had dish in another place we lived, less than a mile away and the reception sucked. I then moved and had dish installed in the new place and it rocked. Best reception ever.

For a short time I had direct tv installed in our old home and had amazing reception but in our new home it sucked. 

So it all depends on how it's aligned.


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## rictorg (Feb 2, 2007)

space86 said:


> You should have an Off Air Antenna so you can watch and DVR
> Survivor on your local CBS HD Station.
> The Off Air Signal does not go out when it rains.


He shouldn't have to have an off air antenna... just because that works for you and your circumstances, doesn't mean it is the answer for the OP and his circumstances.

Outages should not be considered "standard" or "routine". If a provider fails to meet basic quality of service standards, they should take an opportunity to resolve the issues, or provide an opportunity to discontinue the relationship.

Granted, one two hour outage isn't routine, but I am assuming the OP has had frequent issues and this is a "back breaking straw" type of issue.

(And for those concerned, I have had no discernible outages, and only a couple of occasions where a recording suggested missed content or other issues.)


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

I agree rictorg.. Outages should not be the norm and if you are getting them you should be looking at your installation and trying to narrow down what the problem is.... 

Lets see if we can help with the narrowing... 

1) Where in Cal are You... I am in Socal Myself. Watch Survivor and last night I did not have any outage for CBS.

2) I assume we are talking HD local? If so, use the EKB channel chart and check your transponder strengths.

3) How frequent are you getting losses (10 times a night?, once a month?). 2 hour loss is way out of the norm and would be a strong indication of either tree blockage, equipment failure, or could be a number of other things. I would check the AVSForums for your area and see if anyone else reported an issue. 

4) Do you have more than one receiver. If so, did they all have the issue?

Well that should get things started to try and narrow down your issue. Like rictorg said, it should not be the norm.


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## coldmiser (Mar 10, 2007)

space86 said:


> You should have an Off Air Antenna so you can watch and DVR
> Survivor on your local CBS HD Station.
> The Off Air Signal does not go out when it rains.


No, I shouldn't have an OTA. I'm paying for DISH to provide me with a signal.

And, no, this is not the first time. Hell, we have issues with our picture on just about every show we watch. Local or not.


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## tomcrown1 (Jan 16, 2006)

rictorg said:


> He shouldn't have to have an off air antenna... just because that works for you and your circumstances, doesn't mean it is the answer for the OP and his circumstances.
> 
> Outages should not be considered "standard" or "routine". If a provider fails to meet basic quality of service standards, they should take an opportunity to resolve the issues, or provide an opportunity to discontinue the relationship.
> 
> ...


I agree in what you stated. Dish should have sent out a Techie who can re-aim the Dish or place it elsewere for better reception.

Also Everyone should use an OTA as this will give you three turners to record from. The OTA picture is way better then Dish for local HD


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## texaswolf (Oct 18, 2007)

tomcrown1 said:


> I agree in what you stated. Dish should have sent out a Techie who can re-aim the Dish or place it elsewere for better reception.
> 
> Also Everyone should use an OTA as this will give you three turners to record from. The OTA picture is way better then Dish for local HD


we lose signal often in light rain...they sent a tech out...everything was in the green...tech said there was nothing else he could do...and I got the same response from dish...the nature of satellite tv....again...great customer service....thinking about buying an ota...but isn't that what i pay extra to them for?:nono:


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## Taco Lover (Jan 8, 2007)

coldmiser, I recorded and watched Survivor last night, but I recorded it off of OTA. Sorry, if I had it recorded on the sat feed, I could tell you if it happened to me as well.

I, too, get signal drops, but mine is the weak signal on Sat 129 Tp 6 (TBS, NHL Network). I have had signal drops on Sat 129 Tp 27 before (UniversalHD, TNT), and those were fixed - I don't know how, but the folks at [email protected] helped. No dish tweaking needed.


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## coldmiser (Mar 10, 2007)

Taco Lover said:


> coldmiser, I recorded and watched Survivor last night, but I recorded it off of OTA. Sorry, if I had it recorded on the sat feed, I could tell you if it happened to me as well.
> 
> I, too, get signal drops, but mine is the weak signal on Sat 129 Tp 6 (TBS, NHL Network). I have had signal drops on Sat 129 Tp 27 before (UniversalHD, TNT), and those were fixed - I don't know how, but the folks at [email protected] helped. No dish tweaking needed.


We called a friend of ours in Modesto who has DISH and they were fine.


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## Taco Lover (Jan 8, 2007)

coldmiser said:


> We called a friend of ours in Modesto who has DISH and they were fine.


Now that's strange. What were the indications that you lost signal? Did you get the error screen? Black screen? Nothing? Maybe give us more detail about it, and I'm sure someone will have some insight. I'll bet bad receiver.


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## SMosher (Jan 16, 2006)

coldmiser said:


> We called a friend of ours in Modesto who has DISH and they were fine.


woo hoo Modesto!


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## gintzj (Jan 4, 2007)

space86 said:


> You should have an Off Air Antenna so you can watch and DVR
> Survivor on your local CBS HD Station.
> The Off Air Signal does not go out when it rains.


my ota goes out when system trying to reboot during rain ans wind


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## coldmiser (Mar 10, 2007)

Taco Lover said:


> Now that's strange. What were the indications that you lost signal? Did you get the error screen? Black screen? Nothing? Maybe give us more detail about it, and I'm sure someone will have some insight. I'll bet bad receiver.


A big message on the screen telling us that it had lost the connection to the satellite.

On a side note...I emailed "CEO" today and got a reply telling me they would like to send a tech out. Now as nice as this seems, it actually really pissed me off as I've called several time and had CSR's tell me that they couldn't do that!


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