"free installation"
Dec. 18th, 2006 06:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
javasaurusWe did it. After years of no cable (or similar), we decided to get DirectTV satellite service.
Installation was supposed to be yesterday.
One reason that I was particularly happy with the timing is that SciFi is having a marathon of Battlestar Galactica season 3 (first 8 eps) tomorrow, meaning I could record it and watch later this week, catching up with the more civilized geeks.
Sigh.
The tech arrived, stuck the dish on the side of the house, then decided that it was faulty, and he didn't have a spare, so he'd have to return another day.
Also, "free installation in up to four rooms" is a come-on. With DirectTV, the signal hits the dish, enters the house via coaxial cable and goes to a receiver. After it hits the receiver, you can split the signal to multiple TVs, but they's all be slaved to the one receiver, so they's all be watching the same channel. Or, you can get multiple receivers (extra $5 per month per extra receiver), and each TV can watch a different channel. We wanted to get two receivers and have a third room slaved to one of the other receivers. However, the free installation is only for the rooms that get a receiver.
Also, you have to be able to reach the location through external walls, or from the attic. If you want the wire to come out of a non-external wall, that can be $75 or $100 each. And apparently cosmetic masking of the cable on the outside of the house is extra as well.
The installer that came yesterday had a lot of problems, including the broken dish (why wasn't it checked before he brought it?), no spare, no ladder to get into the attic (for running the cable interally instead of across the front of the house), and said we'd be called back to reschedule (he never called, and the dispatcher had trouble finding him). So not only will this free installation potentially cost more than $100, but is costing me half-a-day of leave. I hope a different person comes tomorrow morning.
I really like DirectTV's prices and package options. DishTV seems similar price-wise, options-wise, but the DirectTV channel line-up is better for us. Also, the DirectTV customer service has generally been exceptional, except for the installer.
Something a little amusing: we were able to borrow a ladder to get into the attic. There's a really nice aerial up there! I had no idea. Maybe we could just cancel the whole DirectTV thing and use the aerial.
Installation was supposed to be yesterday.
One reason that I was particularly happy with the timing is that SciFi is having a marathon of Battlestar Galactica season 3 (first 8 eps) tomorrow, meaning I could record it and watch later this week, catching up with the more civilized geeks.
Sigh.
The tech arrived, stuck the dish on the side of the house, then decided that it was faulty, and he didn't have a spare, so he'd have to return another day.
Also, "free installation in up to four rooms" is a come-on. With DirectTV, the signal hits the dish, enters the house via coaxial cable and goes to a receiver. After it hits the receiver, you can split the signal to multiple TVs, but they's all be slaved to the one receiver, so they's all be watching the same channel. Or, you can get multiple receivers (extra $5 per month per extra receiver), and each TV can watch a different channel. We wanted to get two receivers and have a third room slaved to one of the other receivers. However, the free installation is only for the rooms that get a receiver.
Also, you have to be able to reach the location through external walls, or from the attic. If you want the wire to come out of a non-external wall, that can be $75 or $100 each. And apparently cosmetic masking of the cable on the outside of the house is extra as well.
The installer that came yesterday had a lot of problems, including the broken dish (why wasn't it checked before he brought it?), no spare, no ladder to get into the attic (for running the cable interally instead of across the front of the house), and said we'd be called back to reschedule (he never called, and the dispatcher had trouble finding him). So not only will this free installation potentially cost more than $100, but is costing me half-a-day of leave. I hope a different person comes tomorrow morning.
I really like DirectTV's prices and package options. DishTV seems similar price-wise, options-wise, but the DirectTV channel line-up is better for us. Also, the DirectTV customer service has generally been exceptional, except for the installer.
Something a little amusing: we were able to borrow a ladder to get into the attic. There's a really nice aerial up there! I had no idea. Maybe we could just cancel the whole DirectTV thing and use the aerial.
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no subject
Date: 2006-12-18 10:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-19 03:51 am (UTC)The tech was wrong. We have a basic, round dish with a single LNB (satellite receptor?). Years ago, this meant we could only have one receiver set up, and could slave more receivers if we chose. Now, this means we can split our signal (using a splitter that is apparently expensive and can be purchased at places such as Best Buy, but I haven't looked yet) and have as many receivers set up as we want. We currently have two independent receivers; the actual setup was done for free by two techs, so I need to trace the wires to figure out how they split the signal. (We want to set up a third receiver.)
To be an utter geek, I <3 my DirecTV. :)