I've also got Dish and it definitely does depend on how good your installer is. I got mine done thru HH Gregg and at the guy who did mine was very well trained. My house has old cable wiring built-in and when he connected the Dish to that wiring we had problems with higher channels. This installer knew immediately how to run the diagnostics and identified the problem in minutes (my cabling was the type that can't handle the full bandwidth used in Dish systems, it was attenuating the signal above a certain frequency. So he had to run a new line straight to the box on my TV instead of relying on the existing cabling.)
There are also two caveats I always warn people about Dish-- 1. It will go out at the exact moment you need it most, during thunderstorm/tornado weather. The satellite signal can't get thru all the electrical interference from a big storm. Make sure you have rabbit ears to pull in the local stations so you can watch the weather reports during tornado season. 2. The DVR feature they offer isn't anywhere near as smart as TiVo. It can't automagically be configured to record your favorite shows, you have to manually set it up to record just like you would a VCR. --- Rex. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:owner-macgroup at erdos.math.louisville.edu] On Behalf Of Jonathan Fletcher Sent: Friday, February 18, 2005 6:20 PM To: macgroup at erdos.math.louisville.edu Subject: Re: MacGroup: dish Marta, w have Dish and love it. The guys who installed it knew exactly what they were doing (it's all they do) and the service is great. They have a promotion for new subscribers that basically gets you the installation free and a $50 service credit (the better part of two months for me). The person who referred you gets a few bucks off their bill for a year, too. ::-) You can get two TVs hooked up for free with two remotes and one set-top box. They have a TiVo-like offering, too, for extra money a month. The remotes are universal remotes so they work your TVs too. It's worked out great for us. Another interesting thing is that they offer ALL the local broadcast channels. I wanted one that wasn't on the main satellite, so they installed a second dish for free. The people who installed it are the area franchisees, a company named HPTS (High Power Technical Services). The only time the service has gotten flaky so far is in a bad ice storm. The rest of the time it's fabulous. I haven't had to call them for anything, so I don't know how responsive they are, other than the fact that they install it fast. I have a couple of the promotional packages. They give them out like candy if you call them. If you want one, send me your address off-list and I'll send you one. Or I can just email you the info off the card and you can call them. Piece of cake! jonathan P.S. I have several if anyone else is interested. ;;-) On Feb 18, 2005, at 5:15 PM, Marta Edie <martaedie at mac.com> wrote: > Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 15:04:12 -0500 > From: Marta Edie <martaedie at mac.com> > Subject: Re: MacGroup: dish > > Thanks so much for your answer,Jeff. The trouble I have is that this > German Channel can only be gotten through the Dish Network, since our > sweet Insight does not want to bother with that channel, since it does > not bring them revenue, I suppose. I have spoken to I don't know how > many local installers. They all promise me the moon when I talk to > them. The dish network itself will install it, too, meaning they will > use a local installer. They told me they use CompUSA, but that was > once upon its time. They are of of the Dish realm totally. The people > of Satellite Dish there on Preston Highway were so nice on the phone. > I talked to a Terry Burnett for a couple of hours one afternoon and he > was knowledeable, but when I finally tried to get them to answer my > phone call to really install the thing, I did hear nothing, I made at > least ten phone calls, no return call ever, I finally sent a letter > telling them I would call the Better Business Bureau for not even > having the courtesy to return a phone call. So they are out for me, > and perhaps for any of you all, too. Right now I am negotiating with a > person from Camelot Satellite. I also spoke with someone at HighPower > Technical Services. I try to pin them down for what they all really > know about anything. And when I press them, I get all these caveats. > I already know too much for them, and I really know nothing. Go > figure that one out. So any input from you all is very much > appreciated. And I am not quite finished with Insight yet, either. > Marta > On Feb 18, 2005, at 14:25, Jeffrey C Smith wrote: > >> Marta, >> >> The local dish network folks leave a lot to be desired. We had it >> set up a year ago by circuit city and the installer had no clue what >> he was doing. We went through three different guys before we finally >> got one that was even willing to try and set ours up. Our roof was >> covered by the tree canopy you see and they couldn't find any other >> way to install it. Meanwhile, the acreage we own around us was too >> much trouble for the first two guys. I finally convinced the third >> guy to install the dish on the fence and I ran the cable to the house >> myself. I kept the network for about three months and they jacked up >> the price so I ditched the system. The dish is still hanging on the >> fence! I was totally disgusted with the service. If someone else has >> a good experience with another system I would also be interested to >> hear about it. >> >> Good luck Marta, Jeff >> -- Jonathan Fletcher jfletch at newmediaconstco.com NewMedia Construction Co. MacTown Softworks | The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will be February | 22. The LCS Web page is <http://www.kymac.org>. | List posting address: <mailto:macgroup at erdos.math.louisville.edu> | List Web page: <http://erdos.math.louisville.edu/macgroup> | The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will | be February 22. The LCS Web page is <http://www.kymac.org>. | List posting address: <mailto:macgroup at erdos.math.louisville.edu> | List Web page: <http://erdos.math.louisville.edu/macgroup>
