Direct tv......

[5.7 hemi]

What a F'N joke!! We ave had their service for 1 1/2 years and every friggin' time I want to watch a game or a show I get the "771 searching for signal" crap. Long story short, kinda like my fuse at this point, service tech installs all new dish, cables, mount, and a new box. All is good in tv land until about an hour ago and the crap starts again.

Call customer service, and while doing the automated thing, the tv starts working, sweet!!

Fifteen minutes later, f'n 771 code comes back, now I'm hotter than Georgia asphalt in June, get on the horn, live person this time, and he said a tech guy will call in the morning.

This is B.S.!!! So they have one sat shot to get their sh!t straight, or I'm done and will go back to Comcast, although NFL Sunday ticket will be missed, that's the price I'm willing to pay.

 

[5.7 hemi]

Friggin' tv is working again. Wonder if the clear cold sky is screwing with the signal?

 

[modernistsouth]

I hate it for ya, brother. I've been with Directv for years and I've never had those issues. Word of advice: call them every 6 months to a year to get your packages discounted. They will do it every time. Call them when each promotion runs out. I've never paid full price of my HBO package. They give discounts to keep you just like they do to get you.

 

[Sonny Black]

Sonny had Direct tv ...it was junk. If my next door neighbor took a piss it would go OUT!
any moisture and then freeze or rain, snow, fog, ......:angry7:

I suffered thru 2 of 3 years of pain..

 

[70rr-brian]

I'm going to not bash them. I have had them for 12 years now. Their signal strength is sooooooooo much better than any of the competition for HD channels its not even funny. The wife and I were early adopters of HD and did a lot of testing way back when with cable and dish and there just simply was no comparison. I am actually very happy with DirectTV.

Yes, the heavy storms and snow accumulation on this dish is problematic at times. But I would say on average I only have about 10 hours per year of lost TV time. To me that's worth it for what you get versus the competition.

 

[Cranky]

CONcast, Dumbcast, Idiotcast...I'm sick of them from their junk equipment to interrupted signals. I've been thinking about just getting a good TV antenna and going that route. I'm getting where I don't watch that much TV anymore....but I did get a good deal on Concast after complaining the last time.

 

[Lowhound]

I had zero probs with my Direct TV till last winter. Some how my dish collected moisture inside if it then the moisture froze over. Tech came & repaired it . Been with them about 9 years now. Cable is not available where I live. However the Hughes internet by satellite SUCKS big time. It s the only thing in my area also. Would probably be better off with a carrier pigion than Hughes net.

 

[super-bee_ski]

Holy Cow!
5.7...I feel for ya!
There should be "NO REASON" why your system is shutting off.
Rain does cause a "Black-out", snow and a Thunderstorm.
Now technical problems would be the "hardware" BUT, you had it all replaced.

I say: It's a computer "switch" at a console somewhere back at DirecTV regional control center.

Anyway, gee, of all times to fail, during the game!

Yeah, no reason for that to happen.
WE PAY LOTS OF MONEY TO THESE COMPANIES!

 

[70rr-brian]

I had zero probs with my Direct TV till last winter. Some how my dish collected moisture inside if it then the moisture froze over. Tech came & repaired it . Been with them about 9 years now. Cable is not available where I live. However the Hughes internet by satellite SUCKS big time. It s the only thing in my area also. Would probably be better off with a carrier pigion than Hughes net.

Hughes has made considerable improvements over the years.... BUT their problem will ALWAYS be latency. You have to send IP packets from your computer to the modem thru the dish to 26k miles into the sky then back down 26k miles to a fiber station to get the packet where it needs to go.

My wife and I have been considering a move to the country. My wife works at home using a VPN to her company's network. We did a test with Hughes just to see if it was viable. We had the Hughes folks come out and hook up their gear and pre-paid for a 30 day trial. Before I even hooked the wife up to it I knew she was screwed. If you just do a ping test on cable or dsl to yahoo.com or wherever accepts ICMP packets you will find that even the crappiest dsl or cable will get you are 90-120 millisecond response. In most cases you are getting closer to 50-60ms. The first thing I did when I hooked up my test machine to Hughes was a ping test. 650ms was the BEST I got. Average was around 720ms. That is why Hughes sucks. If they can figure out how to transmit light/laser pulses that pierce clouds to the satellites effectively then MAYBE someday it will be viable. Until then, its only marginally better than dial-up.

 

[ODZKing]

Newchannels(then) and now Time/Warner here was the absolute worst. I could tell stories. But the point is we had Direct since 1998 with very few issues. A nasty thunderstorm would take it out for a while but other than that, great.
The only reason I changed is we now have Verizon Fios and it's a bundle with phone/cell and internet. It is awesome.
If you EVER have the oportunity, I highly recommend.
But the Direct issue has got to be an bad LNB, misalligned dish or bad switch in the house as mentioned. Installation problem for sure.

 

[super-bee_ski]

QUOTE: But the Direct issue has got to be an bad LNB, misalligned dish or bad switch in the house as mentioned. Installation problem for sure.

Well, I think 5.7 said all the "Hardware" was replaced ODZKing

 

[5.7 hemi]

All the hardware was replaced and it did work for awhile last night and this morning, nada!! The kids can't watch cartoons before school and I'm pissed.

How far do ya think I can chuck their crap down the street? We will see if I get a return call this morning like the phone tech said I would. What a cluster!!

 

[ODZKing]

Yes, he did. Specifically the dish on the roof (or where ever). Did they replace the entire dish, just LNB or not? How about cables, all new?
Then is he near somewhere that has a microwave link? That will throw thigs off as well.

QUOTE: But the Direct issue has got to be an bad LNB, misalligned dish or bad switch in the house as mentioned. Installation problem for sure.

Well, I think 5.7 said all the "Hardware" was replaced ODZKing

 

[super-bee_ski]

Yeah,
I believe DirecTV will correct it but the "Buzz-kill" is:
He missed the game.

Keep us posted 5.7....

 

[5.7 hemi]

Everything is new, dish, 3 little doohickey's that point to the dish, cables, connectors, roof brace, cables in the house, and the dvr.

- - - Updated - - -

Funny thing is, the other tv in the bedroom NEVER has had a problem. But the wife and kids were watching tv in there and I got glimpses of the game during commercials.

 

[super-bee_ski]

Hmmm
That is strange.

1.All receivers "share" same antenna.
-So, it is NOT antenna.

2. Different RG6 line from each receiver
-Could be the line into the receiver (?)

3. Each receiver has a "SIM" card, account info and acts like an ECU for your receiver. It "hand-shakes" with data-control center computer.
-Again sounds like a software issue with at their end.

I do know one thing...sometimes if telephone line to receiver has been un-plugged for long peeriods of time, this can happen.
-Receiver can NOT hand-shale with "Mother D-TV" and you may experience drop-outs. But NOT this case.

I bet it was at their end...

 

[moparsteve636]

Sounds like the main receiver! If the other sets work when it doesn't! At least that's the way mine work! Lose the signal on the main,the others work.

 

[5.7 hemi]

Tech guy is here now, so we will see what the problem is.

 

[5.7 hemi]

Turned out to be a bad cable, so we fished/ran a new cable and BINGO, line 1 and 2 are now getting the full signal. Why hey didn't do his a year and a half ago beats me.

So for now, I have tv, woohoo!

 

[ODZKing]

Excellent, glad it is resolved.