How I Became A Dish Network Evangelist
It all started about 20 years ago when I bought my second home. Don't ask me why (because I don't know!) but as I got older I started to become a more demanding consumer. Maybe I was just getting started on the road to becoming a grumpy old man, or maybe I was finally waking up to the fact that a lot of the goods and services I was spending my money on were not what they were promised to be.
I had watched cable TV for years. I remember when my parents first got it around 1980 and I was still living with them. I had it when I moved out and rented an apartment and also when I bought my first house.
When I bought my second home I became aware of the fact that the quality of the picture that I was receiving from my cable TV service was not that great. In fact, when I thought about it, I had never seen a really great picture on any cable-connected TV I had ever seen anywhere. Their commercials always promised "crystal clear" reception, but I surely wasn't getting it at my house.
Being a bit of a tech geek, I checked all the connections and wiring in my house to see if there were any obvious problems with it. There weren't.
I then decided to call the cable company to see if there was anything they could do to improve the situation. They sent a guy out to check things out and he reported that there was no problem and there was really nothing that could be done.
I called to complain a few more times before I finally gave up. They always told me there was no problem with the service.
The other thing that always bothered me about cable TV was that they raised the price of the service quite frequently. It seemed like I was getting a notice every few months to let me know that the price was going up another couple of dollars. This was true for both cable companies I had dealt with since living on my own.
Sure, every service raises prices from time to time, but with cable it was too frequent and I sure didn't see any improvement in the service that would justify these increases.
The new satellite TV service with the smaller dishes had not been around too long at the time and I badly wanted to give one of them a try after my years of frustration with cable. Unfortunately, I had a thick grove of pine trees very close to the rear of my house (which faced south where the satellites are) and at time time, I was convinced the trees would not allow a good satellite signal to be received.
Since then,I have seen many homes with dishes pointed in the direction of trees, but to be honest, I don't know how the service works for those people.
Since we had plans to move in a few years anyway, I just decided to wait until I moved to try satellite TV and just suffer with cable's inadequacies until then.
Sure enough, a few years later we moved and our new home could not have been more perfect for satellite TV! Our house has a completely unobstructed view of the southwest sky where the dish would be pointed.
I was so anxious to have satellite TV installed that I ordered the system in time to have it delivered on the day we moved in! In fact, as we were arriving at our new house from the closing, the UPS driver was just leaving our driveway after depositing the box containing the satellite system at our door! That had to be a good sign!
As anxious as I was to get the system installed, we had more important things to do, like unpack and move all our stuff in our new home. So it was a few days before I was able to install the system.
As a radio hobbyist for many years, I was quite comfortable messing with stuff like antennas and coaxial cable. I was actually looking forward to installing the Dish Network system myself.
As I recall, you could opt for "professional installation" back then, but I've always believed that nobody is going to do as good a job and care as much about how something comes out more than you do, so I did it myself. Besides, like I said, I was looking forward to it as a fun project!
After the installation was complete (yes, it was fun!) I came down off the roof and into the house to look at satellite TV for the first time. My wife has stayed in the house so she could report the signal strength to me via walkie-talkie while as I aligned the dish antenna.
I can only describe it as "love at first sight." never in my life had I seen such a beautiful television picture. There was not a hint of interference of any kind. Certainly not the little lines and other "noise" I had been suffering with when viewing cable TV.
At that point, I knew I would probably never go back to watching cable TV again.
I had watched cable TV for years. I remember when my parents first got it around 1980 and I was still living with them. I had it when I moved out and rented an apartment and also when I bought my first house.
When I bought my second home I became aware of the fact that the quality of the picture that I was receiving from my cable TV service was not that great. In fact, when I thought about it, I had never seen a really great picture on any cable-connected TV I had ever seen anywhere. Their commercials always promised "crystal clear" reception, but I surely wasn't getting it at my house.
Being a bit of a tech geek, I checked all the connections and wiring in my house to see if there were any obvious problems with it. There weren't.
I then decided to call the cable company to see if there was anything they could do to improve the situation. They sent a guy out to check things out and he reported that there was no problem and there was really nothing that could be done.
I called to complain a few more times before I finally gave up. They always told me there was no problem with the service.
The other thing that always bothered me about cable TV was that they raised the price of the service quite frequently. It seemed like I was getting a notice every few months to let me know that the price was going up another couple of dollars. This was true for both cable companies I had dealt with since living on my own.
Sure, every service raises prices from time to time, but with cable it was too frequent and I sure didn't see any improvement in the service that would justify these increases.
The new satellite TV service with the smaller dishes had not been around too long at the time and I badly wanted to give one of them a try after my years of frustration with cable. Unfortunately, I had a thick grove of pine trees very close to the rear of my house (which faced south where the satellites are) and at time time, I was convinced the trees would not allow a good satellite signal to be received.
Since then,I have seen many homes with dishes pointed in the direction of trees, but to be honest, I don't know how the service works for those people.
Since we had plans to move in a few years anyway, I just decided to wait until I moved to try satellite TV and just suffer with cable's inadequacies until then.
Sure enough, a few years later we moved and our new home could not have been more perfect for satellite TV! Our house has a completely unobstructed view of the southwest sky where the dish would be pointed.
I was so anxious to have satellite TV installed that I ordered the system in time to have it delivered on the day we moved in! In fact, as we were arriving at our new house from the closing, the UPS driver was just leaving our driveway after depositing the box containing the satellite system at our door! That had to be a good sign!
As anxious as I was to get the system installed, we had more important things to do, like unpack and move all our stuff in our new home. So it was a few days before I was able to install the system.
As a radio hobbyist for many years, I was quite comfortable messing with stuff like antennas and coaxial cable. I was actually looking forward to installing the Dish Network system myself.
As I recall, you could opt for "professional installation" back then, but I've always believed that nobody is going to do as good a job and care as much about how something comes out more than you do, so I did it myself. Besides, like I said, I was looking forward to it as a fun project!
After the installation was complete (yes, it was fun!) I came down off the roof and into the house to look at satellite TV for the first time. My wife has stayed in the house so she could report the signal strength to me via walkie-talkie while as I aligned the dish antenna.
I can only describe it as "love at first sight." never in my life had I seen such a beautiful television picture. There was not a hint of interference of any kind. Certainly not the little lines and other "noise" I had been suffering with when viewing cable TV.
At that point, I knew I would probably never go back to watching cable TV again.
Why I Love Dish Network
Hassle-Free TV
In the almost 10 years I have had Dish Network service in my home, I have had very few problems with it. Once I installed the system, I can only recall a single time that I re-aligned the dish and that wasn't because of bad reception or anything. I just wanted to check it out and make sure it was still lined up for the best signal strength. It has just worked great ever since I first installed it.
In fact, about a year ago I finally upgraded my Dish Network system and when I went up onto the roof to check out the dish antenna, the bolts were so rusted that they could not be loosened.
When the installer came to put in the new system, he had to throw away the mount for the old dish since it was easier to just install a new one rather than try to deal with bolts that had not been touched for years.
Now I admit I am a bit of a tech geek and because of that, I think it's just cool that I get my television programming directly from a satellite that's orbiting 22,000 or so miles above the Earth.
There's no wires or anything else between me and my TV programming. I get my programming right off the satellite, just like the cable companies do. Yes, despite their bad-mouthing about satellite TV, most of the programming the cable companies provide to their customers comes directly from satellites. Kind of ironic, huh?
In fact, about a year ago I finally upgraded my Dish Network system and when I went up onto the roof to check out the dish antenna, the bolts were so rusted that they could not be loosened.
When the installer came to put in the new system, he had to throw away the mount for the old dish since it was easier to just install a new one rather than try to deal with bolts that had not been touched for years.
Now I admit I am a bit of a tech geek and because of that, I think it's just cool that I get my television programming directly from a satellite that's orbiting 22,000 or so miles above the Earth.
There's no wires or anything else between me and my TV programming. I get my programming right off the satellite, just like the cable companies do. Yes, despite their bad-mouthing about satellite TV, most of the programming the cable companies provide to their customers comes directly from satellites. Kind of ironic, huh?
Is Satellite TV Really That Bad?
The Cable Industry's Exaggerated Claims
There's competition in every industry, after all, that's how capitalism works. The television entertainment industry is certainly no different.
Currently, the two most popular options for consumers are cable television and satellite television. Telephone companies like Verizon are starting to roll out new fiber optic-based services like FiOS, but those kinds of services are not widely available and will probably very slow in coming to most areas.
As you might expect, the cable and satellite television companies don't have a whole lot of good thing to say about one another. Although, I can honestly say I have seen a lot more dirt thrown by the cable companies than the satellite companies.
There are a few things that cable companies like to say about satellite that are greatly exaggerated. Their favorite one is that satellite TV is frequently interrupted by the weather.
As someone who has had Dish Network service for nearly 10 years, I know that claim is greatly exaggerated. Weather-related interruptions are rare. I have only experienced them during very heavy rain or thunderstorms.
On average, I would say that we have experienced a weather-related outage perhaps five times in the years we have had it. And yes, this is a home where the TV is on at least 6 hours every day. Sure, there may have been times that the service was interrupted when we were not watching, but that would have been during the day when most people are working or doing other things anyway.
In a bit of coincidence, we had our worst weather-related outage only about two weeks prior to this writing.
I was watching the movie "The 40-year-old Virgin" while we were in the midst of a rather unusual winter storm. There were bands of very heavy rain crossing the area and the satellite service was knocked out numerous times during the movie. So much so that I eventually gave up on it.
Usually the outages we have had would last for about 30 minutes at the most and then that would be it. This time it would come back and then go out again. It happened at least five times before I gave up.
That was by far the worst, weather-related outage I have seen during the years we have had Dish Network and expect it will be a long time before we see one like that again.
The cable industry, meanwhile, acts as if the are no outages to worry about with cable service. That's certainly not true since I experienced my share of outages when I had cable and the outages were a lot longer than the typical weather-related outage I have seen on Dish Network.
The outages I experienced with cable TV usually had something to do with the lines being knocked down. Either by a tree or a traffic accident, and as you might expect, it always took a lot longer than 30 minutes to get them repaired.
I can recall a bad ice storm we had when we lived in our previous home and both the cable TV service and electric power were our for days. I think it was two days or so for the power and three for the cable. That's a much longer outage than all of the weather-related outages I have experienced with Dish Network combined.
There are other points of failure for cable TV systems that the cable companies don't talk about. Beyond the potential problems with the lines that carry the signal to your home, there are also amplifiers that are required to boost the signal level all along the lines. These often look like boxes that are mounted on the telephone poles down below the wires and will sometimes have a small light on them. In my area they are painted light green.
As you might suspect, when an amplifier fails, a certain number of customers lose their service. Or at least have their service reduced to a snowy unwatchable mess.
Something else the cable companies seem to be talking about lately is "wind fade." Now I must admit, I don't know what they are talking about with this one. I suppose of a dish is not installed properly the wind could move it enough to interrupt the signal, but that has never happened here.
And since we live at an elevation of about 1100 feet and have more than our share of wind here, I would think that I would have seen this by now if it was a real problem.
To be blunt about it, I'd have to say that most of the mud that is thrown by the cable companies at the satellite companies is without merit. After nearly 10 years with Dish Network, I should know.
Are there weather-related outages with satellite TV? Yes. Are there weather-related outages with cable TV? Yes. Frankly, I don't think it's worth worrying about weather-related outages for either service because they are pretty rare.
Currently, the two most popular options for consumers are cable television and satellite television. Telephone companies like Verizon are starting to roll out new fiber optic-based services like FiOS, but those kinds of services are not widely available and will probably very slow in coming to most areas.
As you might expect, the cable and satellite television companies don't have a whole lot of good thing to say about one another. Although, I can honestly say I have seen a lot more dirt thrown by the cable companies than the satellite companies.
There are a few things that cable companies like to say about satellite that are greatly exaggerated. Their favorite one is that satellite TV is frequently interrupted by the weather.
As someone who has had Dish Network service for nearly 10 years, I know that claim is greatly exaggerated. Weather-related interruptions are rare. I have only experienced them during very heavy rain or thunderstorms.
On average, I would say that we have experienced a weather-related outage perhaps five times in the years we have had it. And yes, this is a home where the TV is on at least 6 hours every day. Sure, there may have been times that the service was interrupted when we were not watching, but that would have been during the day when most people are working or doing other things anyway.
In a bit of coincidence, we had our worst weather-related outage only about two weeks prior to this writing.
I was watching the movie "The 40-year-old Virgin" while we were in the midst of a rather unusual winter storm. There were bands of very heavy rain crossing the area and the satellite service was knocked out numerous times during the movie. So much so that I eventually gave up on it.
Usually the outages we have had would last for about 30 minutes at the most and then that would be it. This time it would come back and then go out again. It happened at least five times before I gave up.
That was by far the worst, weather-related outage I have seen during the years we have had Dish Network and expect it will be a long time before we see one like that again.
The cable industry, meanwhile, acts as if the are no outages to worry about with cable service. That's certainly not true since I experienced my share of outages when I had cable and the outages were a lot longer than the typical weather-related outage I have seen on Dish Network.
The outages I experienced with cable TV usually had something to do with the lines being knocked down. Either by a tree or a traffic accident, and as you might expect, it always took a lot longer than 30 minutes to get them repaired.
I can recall a bad ice storm we had when we lived in our previous home and both the cable TV service and electric power were our for days. I think it was two days or so for the power and three for the cable. That's a much longer outage than all of the weather-related outages I have experienced with Dish Network combined.
There are other points of failure for cable TV systems that the cable companies don't talk about. Beyond the potential problems with the lines that carry the signal to your home, there are also amplifiers that are required to boost the signal level all along the lines. These often look like boxes that are mounted on the telephone poles down below the wires and will sometimes have a small light on them. In my area they are painted light green.
As you might suspect, when an amplifier fails, a certain number of customers lose their service. Or at least have their service reduced to a snowy unwatchable mess.
Something else the cable companies seem to be talking about lately is "wind fade." Now I must admit, I don't know what they are talking about with this one. I suppose of a dish is not installed properly the wind could move it enough to interrupt the signal, but that has never happened here.
And since we live at an elevation of about 1100 feet and have more than our share of wind here, I would think that I would have seen this by now if it was a real problem.
To be blunt about it, I'd have to say that most of the mud that is thrown by the cable companies at the satellite companies is without merit. After nearly 10 years with Dish Network, I should know.
Are there weather-related outages with satellite TV? Yes. Are there weather-related outages with cable TV? Yes. Frankly, I don't think it's worth worrying about weather-related outages for either service because they are pretty rare.
Dish Network Deals
Where To Find The Best Dish Network Deals
The Internet is the "go to" place these days for anyone who is looking for information on just about anything you can image. This is true for people seeking good deals on Dish Network.
Anyone who has decided to sign up for Dish Network wants the best dish network deals they can find and many people are willing to put in a lot of time looking around at various offers before making a decision.
When I got my system years ago I was able to buy it from a retailer and then contact Dish Network to have it activated and it all worked out just fine.
These days you can get a Dish Network system without having to buy it. Some people think of this as getting Dish Network for "free," but that's not really the case.
It's true that you don't have to shell out a big chunk of change to get your system but you do still have to pay Dish Network every month just like you would with cable TV or even your telephone bill.
I think the lease option is great and that is the plan I am now using since upgrading my service about a year ago and sending my old Dish Network equipment back to them for a credit.
I really don't want to own the equipment since it would really not be of any use to me if I decided to cancel by Dish Network service.
Personally, I don't think there is a better option for television programming than Dish Network. It's not often I can say something like that since I have had my share of bad experiences with one company or another, and even though I am a pretty demanding consumer, I've been very satisfied with Dish Network and recommend it whenever I get the chance.
Anyone who has decided to sign up for Dish Network wants the best dish network deals they can find and many people are willing to put in a lot of time looking around at various offers before making a decision.
When I got my system years ago I was able to buy it from a retailer and then contact Dish Network to have it activated and it all worked out just fine.
These days you can get a Dish Network system without having to buy it. Some people think of this as getting Dish Network for "free," but that's not really the case.
It's true that you don't have to shell out a big chunk of change to get your system but you do still have to pay Dish Network every month just like you would with cable TV or even your telephone bill.
I think the lease option is great and that is the plan I am now using since upgrading my service about a year ago and sending my old Dish Network equipment back to them for a credit.
I really don't want to own the equipment since it would really not be of any use to me if I decided to cancel by Dish Network service.
Personally, I don't think there is a better option for television programming than Dish Network. It's not often I can say something like that since I have had my share of bad experiences with one company or another, and even though I am a pretty demanding consumer, I've been very satisfied with Dish Network and recommend it whenever I get the chance.
Finally! The Upgrade!
TV For The 21st Century
I had been drooling over HDTV sets in the catalogs for a couple of years. Not being ready for the upgrade, I purposely avoided the electronics section of stores because I did not want to see how good HDTV looked in person. I did not want to know what I was missing!
Finally, about a year ago the time was right. I happened on a very nice deal for a 51-inch HDTV and bought it.
My trusty old Dish Network system served me well for many years but was not HD-capable, so it was time to upgrade that as well.
In retrospect, I am glad I avoided seeing HDTV in action before I bought one myself because there sure is a big difference!
Getting HDTV was almost like discovering TV for the first time. Yes, the difference is that significant. At least it is for me. It's just gorgeous and I now find it painful to watch a non-HD program.
Beyond the HD-capability of my new Dish Network system, I am also very impressed with my new DVR, or digital video recorder. Think of it as a VCR on steroids.
If you know anything about Tivo, my new DVR is a lot like that. It makes it easy to record all the programming you could ever want.
The program guide is kind of like a "TV Guide" that appears on my TV screen and shows me all the programming that's coming for the next week or so. I can select any program I want and instruct the DVR to record one episode, all episodes or just new episodes with the press of a few buttons and I know I will never miss that program. It will be waiting for me on my DVR when I am ready to watch it.
Another very cool feature of the DVR is one that was included on my old model 5000 receiver as well. When you plug a telephone line into the back of it, you will then receive caller ID information right on the TV screen when there's an incoming call. It's a great "lazy man's" feature since we can always tell who is calling without even getting out of our chairs! Very convenient!
Finally, about a year ago the time was right. I happened on a very nice deal for a 51-inch HDTV and bought it.
My trusty old Dish Network system served me well for many years but was not HD-capable, so it was time to upgrade that as well.
In retrospect, I am glad I avoided seeing HDTV in action before I bought one myself because there sure is a big difference!
Getting HDTV was almost like discovering TV for the first time. Yes, the difference is that significant. At least it is for me. It's just gorgeous and I now find it painful to watch a non-HD program.
Beyond the HD-capability of my new Dish Network system, I am also very impressed with my new DVR, or digital video recorder. Think of it as a VCR on steroids.
If you know anything about Tivo, my new DVR is a lot like that. It makes it easy to record all the programming you could ever want.
The program guide is kind of like a "TV Guide" that appears on my TV screen and shows me all the programming that's coming for the next week or so. I can select any program I want and instruct the DVR to record one episode, all episodes or just new episodes with the press of a few buttons and I know I will never miss that program. It will be waiting for me on my DVR when I am ready to watch it.
Another very cool feature of the DVR is one that was included on my old model 5000 receiver as well. When you plug a telephone line into the back of it, you will then receive caller ID information right on the TV screen when there's an incoming call. It's a great "lazy man's" feature since we can always tell who is calling without even getting out of our chairs! Very convenient!
Getting Dish Network Installed
Make Sure The Job Is Done Right!
With all this wonderful talk about Dish Network, it's only fair that I talk about the negative experiences I have had with it as well. There have not been many, but in the interest of full disclosure, here's a little problem I had with the installation of my upgraded system.
About a year ago I finally made the leap from 20th-Century TV entertainment to 21st-Century TV entertainment. I got myself a 51-inch HDTV and upgraded my old Dish Network system to HD service.
I should add that my old Dish 5000 and Dish 3000 receivers (the 3000 was for the kids) were still working as good as new and I sent them back to Dish Network for a credit.
I had wanted to install my new HD-capable Dish Network system myself but apparently they don't offer that any longer. I suspect there are just too many customer problems when people try to install the new series of dish systems that allow reception from two separate satellites with one dish.
I reluctantly scheduled a service "technician" to come to my home and install the new system.
He seemed like a decent guy and I more-or-less helped him a bit with the installation, not because he needed it, but because I had already installed all the new wiring I would need for the new system. I did not want some guy crawling around up in my attic drilling holes in the walls.
I had it set up so all he had to do was mount the new dish antennas and plug in the cables I had already pushed outside and put connectors on. It was a nice easy job for him and I was happy to know that the wiring was brand now and the connectors were put on properly.
We made sure the signal levels were good before he left and all was right with the world. I was loving my new HD-capable Dish Network service.
About three days after the new system was installed, I noticed that there were a whole bunch of channels I could not receive. It has been quite windy that day and I got suspicious.
Sure enough, when I went outside and looked up on the roof, I saw that one of the dish antennas had fallen to the side and was resting in the roof.
I dragged out the ladder and climbed up on the roof to re-align the dish. The "technician" had not tightened the bolts properly and the wind blew the dish to the side.
I re-aligned the dish (yes, even though it is one that receives two satellites simultaneously! Gasp!) with very little trouble and tightened the bolts properly and it has been fine ever since.
I always tell anyone getting Dish Network that they should do their best to keep an eye on the installer and make sure they do quality work. Especially to make sure the signal strength levels are satisfactory before the installer leaves. You don't want the hassle of calling them back to schedule an appointment to fix something that was not done right.
Before you start to think that all Dish Network installers are dolts, let me share a little story about when my parents had cable installed at their house.
The two guys that they sent to my parents' house apparently had other things on their mind. During the course of their work, they mentioned that they were planning a trip in the near future. My parents did not think much of it at the time, and only later realized that they were leaving a lot sooner than they had indicated.
The installation was actually done nicely and there were no real problems. At least there were no problems from a customer perspective. The cable company would surely have a different opinion.
After the installers left, my dad realized that they had left a few of their tools behind. Not only that, the installers apparently quit their jobs after they completed the installation at my parents' house and the company never heard from them again! In fact, they never turned in the paperwork for the installation and the cable company was not even aware that it was installed at my parents' house!
Apparently, the installers were quite anxious to take that trip and decided the time was right after the installation at my parents' house was complete.
Both cable companies and satellite companies must rely on their employees to get things done and as well all know, there are some employees who just don't care or are not very good at their job.
Getting the system installed properly is extremely important if you want trouble-free service from Dish Network or any other satellite or cable service. A proper installation should give you years of trouble-free service like it has for me.
About a year ago I finally made the leap from 20th-Century TV entertainment to 21st-Century TV entertainment. I got myself a 51-inch HDTV and upgraded my old Dish Network system to HD service.
I should add that my old Dish 5000 and Dish 3000 receivers (the 3000 was for the kids) were still working as good as new and I sent them back to Dish Network for a credit.
I had wanted to install my new HD-capable Dish Network system myself but apparently they don't offer that any longer. I suspect there are just too many customer problems when people try to install the new series of dish systems that allow reception from two separate satellites with one dish.
I reluctantly scheduled a service "technician" to come to my home and install the new system.
He seemed like a decent guy and I more-or-less helped him a bit with the installation, not because he needed it, but because I had already installed all the new wiring I would need for the new system. I did not want some guy crawling around up in my attic drilling holes in the walls.
I had it set up so all he had to do was mount the new dish antennas and plug in the cables I had already pushed outside and put connectors on. It was a nice easy job for him and I was happy to know that the wiring was brand now and the connectors were put on properly.
We made sure the signal levels were good before he left and all was right with the world. I was loving my new HD-capable Dish Network service.
About three days after the new system was installed, I noticed that there were a whole bunch of channels I could not receive. It has been quite windy that day and I got suspicious.
Sure enough, when I went outside and looked up on the roof, I saw that one of the dish antennas had fallen to the side and was resting in the roof.
I dragged out the ladder and climbed up on the roof to re-align the dish. The "technician" had not tightened the bolts properly and the wind blew the dish to the side.
I re-aligned the dish (yes, even though it is one that receives two satellites simultaneously! Gasp!) with very little trouble and tightened the bolts properly and it has been fine ever since.
I always tell anyone getting Dish Network that they should do their best to keep an eye on the installer and make sure they do quality work. Especially to make sure the signal strength levels are satisfactory before the installer leaves. You don't want the hassle of calling them back to schedule an appointment to fix something that was not done right.
Before you start to think that all Dish Network installers are dolts, let me share a little story about when my parents had cable installed at their house.
The two guys that they sent to my parents' house apparently had other things on their mind. During the course of their work, they mentioned that they were planning a trip in the near future. My parents did not think much of it at the time, and only later realized that they were leaving a lot sooner than they had indicated.
The installation was actually done nicely and there were no real problems. At least there were no problems from a customer perspective. The cable company would surely have a different opinion.
After the installers left, my dad realized that they had left a few of their tools behind. Not only that, the installers apparently quit their jobs after they completed the installation at my parents' house and the company never heard from them again! In fact, they never turned in the paperwork for the installation and the cable company was not even aware that it was installed at my parents' house!
Apparently, the installers were quite anxious to take that trip and decided the time was right after the installation at my parents' house was complete.
Both cable companies and satellite companies must rely on their employees to get things done and as well all know, there are some employees who just don't care or are not very good at their job.
Getting the system installed properly is extremely important if you want trouble-free service from Dish Network or any other satellite or cable service. A proper installation should give you years of trouble-free service like it has for me.
Dish Network Tips
Dealing With Problems
Just about any product or service you can think of is going to have problems sooner or later and this is true for Dish Network as well.
As a customer for many years, I have discovered various ways of dealing with problems that have come up once in a while and wanted to share them and perhaps help other Dish Network customers avoid calling the company and dealing with all the hassle that usually goes along with calling just about any company these days. You know what I mean.
Two or three times since I have had my Dish Network VIP-622 DVR, it has failed to send a signal to my TV when I turned it on. The lights on the front of the DVR are lit but the TV shows a blank screen.
I call this "Microsoft Syndrome." Think of the DVR like a small computer, because they do share a lot of common technology, including the computer hard drive that is used in DVR's to record programming.
If you own a PC, you may be familiar with that first line of defense against any problems you encounter with your PC. Reboot!
Just "reboot" your DVR by unplugging the power cord from the wall socket for a few seconds and then plug it back in and let the DVR re-start.
You can watch the progression of the re-start on the TV screen as the DVR re-acquires the satellite signals. Just like a PC, the DVR will take a few minutes to complete a "reboot."
That little trick has brought my DVR back to life during the few times it has not worked properly.
If you do not have any luck using the "re-boot" method to bring your DVR or receiver back to life, it is also possible that a cable connection has come loose between your TV and your DVR or receiver.
Check the back of the TV and DVR or receiver to make sure all cables are connected securely. Most connections and cables are color-coded these days, so it should not be too difficult to figure out where the cables should be connected.
If you end up with a problem like I had with my new Dish Network installation about a year ago, you may want to know a little bit about re-aligning a dish that has been pushed aside or pushed over by the wind because the installer did not tighten the bolts properly.
Before you do anything with your dish antenna, make sure you can reach it SAFELY. If it involves something you are not comfortable with, like climbing up on your roof, by all means, call to have a technician come out and fix it. It is not worth risking your life or health over!
If you can reach your dish safely, you can probably re-align it yourself but in most cases, you really will need a second person to watch the TV while you actually re-align the dish.
A pair of walkie-talkies or a cell phone will be a big help but even if you can open a window and communicate with the person watching the TV by shouting back and forth, it should work out fine.
The dish antenna can move basically in two directions. Back and forth and side to side. There are two sets of bolts that hold the dish in place and chances are that it is only one set that has come loose. That was the case for my dish.
The bolts I am talking about are the bolts that are very near to the dish itself. If it is the bolts or screws that attach the mounting hardware to your house that have come loose, it may be a more complex procedure to align the dish and this section may not be much help.
Even so, I would just try to tighten the bolts holding the mounting hardware to the house back to their original position and if you are lucky, it will re-align the dish. If not, you can call to have a technician come take care of it for you.
There may be markings on your dish near the bolts that indicate what they are for. On my dish, the bolts that allow back and forth movement are marked "Elevation" and those are for moving the dish to point further up or down in the sky.
The bolts that allow the side-to-side movement may be marked "Skew" as they are on mine. This allow for side to side movement or rotating the dish like the movement of the hands on a clock.
Check to see which set of bolts has come loose by trying to move the dish up and down or side-to-side.
Once you know which bolts are loose, you know what you need to do in order to re-align the dish. Loosen up that set of bolts a bit more so you can move it more freely.
With the other person watching a channel on the TV that you have lost due to the movement of the dish, slowly move the dish up and down or side-to-side and I do mean slowly since the receiver may need a few seconds to lock onto the signal when you have moved it into the right position.
When the person watching the TV tells you they are starting to see a TV picture appear, STOP moving the dish because you know you are getting close. You may want to tighten the bolts a bit in this position so that it is a bit harder to move the dish and it does not flop over if you let go of it.
Have the person watching access the receiver's menu and select the function that shows the signal strength meter. This will allow you to fine-tune the position of the dish for maximum signal strength.
The menu function will differ a bit from one receiver model to the next so it is not possible for me to provide detailed instructions for that, so familiarize yourself with that function and then you will be able to instruct the person you have enlisted to watch the TV while you perform the alignment.
Once the dish has been positioned for maximum signal strength, tighten the bolts up nicely to make sure they do not come loose again and you should be all set.
While you are there, check to see that all the other bolts on the dish are nice and tight as well.
This is by no means a comprehensive guide, but it may provide enough information for you to deal with some simple problems you might encounter.
As a customer for many years, I have discovered various ways of dealing with problems that have come up once in a while and wanted to share them and perhaps help other Dish Network customers avoid calling the company and dealing with all the hassle that usually goes along with calling just about any company these days. You know what I mean.
Two or three times since I have had my Dish Network VIP-622 DVR, it has failed to send a signal to my TV when I turned it on. The lights on the front of the DVR are lit but the TV shows a blank screen.
I call this "Microsoft Syndrome." Think of the DVR like a small computer, because they do share a lot of common technology, including the computer hard drive that is used in DVR's to record programming.
If you own a PC, you may be familiar with that first line of defense against any problems you encounter with your PC. Reboot!
Just "reboot" your DVR by unplugging the power cord from the wall socket for a few seconds and then plug it back in and let the DVR re-start.
You can watch the progression of the re-start on the TV screen as the DVR re-acquires the satellite signals. Just like a PC, the DVR will take a few minutes to complete a "reboot."
That little trick has brought my DVR back to life during the few times it has not worked properly.
If you do not have any luck using the "re-boot" method to bring your DVR or receiver back to life, it is also possible that a cable connection has come loose between your TV and your DVR or receiver.
Check the back of the TV and DVR or receiver to make sure all cables are connected securely. Most connections and cables are color-coded these days, so it should not be too difficult to figure out where the cables should be connected.
If you end up with a problem like I had with my new Dish Network installation about a year ago, you may want to know a little bit about re-aligning a dish that has been pushed aside or pushed over by the wind because the installer did not tighten the bolts properly.
Before you do anything with your dish antenna, make sure you can reach it SAFELY. If it involves something you are not comfortable with, like climbing up on your roof, by all means, call to have a technician come out and fix it. It is not worth risking your life or health over!
If you can reach your dish safely, you can probably re-align it yourself but in most cases, you really will need a second person to watch the TV while you actually re-align the dish.
A pair of walkie-talkies or a cell phone will be a big help but even if you can open a window and communicate with the person watching the TV by shouting back and forth, it should work out fine.
The dish antenna can move basically in two directions. Back and forth and side to side. There are two sets of bolts that hold the dish in place and chances are that it is only one set that has come loose. That was the case for my dish.
The bolts I am talking about are the bolts that are very near to the dish itself. If it is the bolts or screws that attach the mounting hardware to your house that have come loose, it may be a more complex procedure to align the dish and this section may not be much help.
Even so, I would just try to tighten the bolts holding the mounting hardware to the house back to their original position and if you are lucky, it will re-align the dish. If not, you can call to have a technician come take care of it for you.
There may be markings on your dish near the bolts that indicate what they are for. On my dish, the bolts that allow back and forth movement are marked "Elevation" and those are for moving the dish to point further up or down in the sky.
The bolts that allow the side-to-side movement may be marked "Skew" as they are on mine. This allow for side to side movement or rotating the dish like the movement of the hands on a clock.
Check to see which set of bolts has come loose by trying to move the dish up and down or side-to-side.
Once you know which bolts are loose, you know what you need to do in order to re-align the dish. Loosen up that set of bolts a bit more so you can move it more freely.
With the other person watching a channel on the TV that you have lost due to the movement of the dish, slowly move the dish up and down or side-to-side and I do mean slowly since the receiver may need a few seconds to lock onto the signal when you have moved it into the right position.
When the person watching the TV tells you they are starting to see a TV picture appear, STOP moving the dish because you know you are getting close. You may want to tighten the bolts a bit in this position so that it is a bit harder to move the dish and it does not flop over if you let go of it.
Have the person watching access the receiver's menu and select the function that shows the signal strength meter. This will allow you to fine-tune the position of the dish for maximum signal strength.
The menu function will differ a bit from one receiver model to the next so it is not possible for me to provide detailed instructions for that, so familiarize yourself with that function and then you will be able to instruct the person you have enlisted to watch the TV while you perform the alignment.
Once the dish has been positioned for maximum signal strength, tighten the bolts up nicely to make sure they do not come loose again and you should be all set.
While you are there, check to see that all the other bolts on the dish are nice and tight as well.
This is by no means a comprehensive guide, but it may provide enough information for you to deal with some simple problems you might encounter.
DISH Network Increases On Demand Offerings
Compares Better To On Demand Offerings From Cable
It's been a while since DISH Network announced that they enabled functionality on DVRs that allows them to connect to the internet. Since I did not have a cable long enough to stretch from my DVR to my home network switch and no open ports on the switch to add any other devices.
About a week ago I finally ordered up a new 8-port switch and 50 feet of CAT6 cable and connected my DVR to my home network. Running the cable was the hard part. Navigating the DVR menu and activating the network was a snap. My DISH Network DVR was now online and I could check out the new capabilities that this offered.
Basically, what the network connection allows DVR users to do is to access the large library of on demand movies and television programs that DISH Network makes available for viewing. Some of them are free and others have to be purchased.
Until recently, cable was the undisputed king of on demand programming since there was no real way for DISH Network to service the potential millions of on demand requests from customers through their satellites.
There does seem to be an impressive collection of on demand programming to choose from, but so far HD content seems to be lacking with only a few programs being offered in HD. Although they are offering one program in actual 1080p HD called "Beast," but since I have no interest in the program and do not yet have a 1080p-capable HDTV, I don't know how nice it looks.
Overall, the new on demand functionality seems to work pretty well, but the downloads do take a while. I'm not sure how the download speed compares to cable for on demand programming, but since I have my broadband internet service through Comcast (my only choice in this area), maybe it is similar.
I am a bit surprised that downloading a few programs -- even one in HD -- did not eat up as much bandwidth as I had expected. Since my network router monitors all bandwidth use, it is easy for me to see how much has been used. It was nice to see that downloading the on demand programming from DISH Network did not skyrocket my usage.
I'm sure DISH Network will add more on demand programming and improve the service as time goes on. They do seem to stay a step ahead of the cable companies and the other big satellite provider when it comes to technology.
About a week ago I finally ordered up a new 8-port switch and 50 feet of CAT6 cable and connected my DVR to my home network. Running the cable was the hard part. Navigating the DVR menu and activating the network was a snap. My DISH Network DVR was now online and I could check out the new capabilities that this offered.
Basically, what the network connection allows DVR users to do is to access the large library of on demand movies and television programs that DISH Network makes available for viewing. Some of them are free and others have to be purchased.
Until recently, cable was the undisputed king of on demand programming since there was no real way for DISH Network to service the potential millions of on demand requests from customers through their satellites.
There does seem to be an impressive collection of on demand programming to choose from, but so far HD content seems to be lacking with only a few programs being offered in HD. Although they are offering one program in actual 1080p HD called "Beast," but since I have no interest in the program and do not yet have a 1080p-capable HDTV, I don't know how nice it looks.
Overall, the new on demand functionality seems to work pretty well, but the downloads do take a while. I'm not sure how the download speed compares to cable for on demand programming, but since I have my broadband internet service through Comcast (my only choice in this area), maybe it is similar.
I am a bit surprised that downloading a few programs -- even one in HD -- did not eat up as much bandwidth as I had expected. Since my network router monitors all bandwidth use, it is easy for me to see how much has been used. It was nice to see that downloading the on demand programming from DISH Network did not skyrocket my usage.
I'm sure DISH Network will add more on demand programming and improve the service as time goes on. They do seem to stay a step ahead of the cable companies and the other big satellite provider when it comes to technology.
by DishGuy
What can I say? I'm a huge Dish Network fan and have been for years. I'm a bit of a tech geek and I installed my own system back when that was allowed... (more)
