DirecTV won't go on my roof to replace bad LNB ... ideas?

[Bob 5150]

I've been with DirecTV since 1999, and moved into my current house in 2005. I've got some large trees in the back yard, so I've always had my dish about 1/2 up my roof. I recently started getting a 771 error, and the guy came out and said that he wasn't allowed to go on the roof anymore, so unless a new dish could be put at another area where there was line of sight, I was out of luck. We spent about 30 mins walking around the house, and there aren't any areas with LOS. A supervisor confirmed this as well.

I do have LOS at the current dish location, but if their techs won't go on the roof to replace the LNB, I'm out of options. I asked the CSR if they would send me a new LNB and I could have a roofer go on the roof, but they said I would have to buy that separately. Not a big fan of paying for something that they should replace, though.

Anyone have any ideas? Or am I stuck going to Comcast??

 

[Patrick Smith]

This doesn't sound right to me. Sounds like the tech and his sup are afraid of heights to me. You could always call a local retailer and see if they will swap it out. You may have to pay for a service call though.

 

[cinsu]

Too many techs fell off the roof and died including one where I work. DIRECTV decided that it was too expensive to have techs dying so they instituted this policy. There is specific procedures for deploying safety equipment in limited circumstances to get on the roof but if a supervisor has been out and said no there is no way around that.

When I run into this situation I explain to customers, if I was here to do a new install I would tell you we could not do it.

You may be able to pay an independent retailer to service the dish or if you are confident it is a bad LNB they can be purchased from solid signal or eBay.

 

[texasbrit]

...and it's probably not a bad LNB, just an alignment issue. But replacement LNBs are really cheap on ebay.

 

[Bob 5150]

Thanks! I assume there is also an alignment issue. I recognize that there is a safety issue (I don't want anyone to get hurt just so that I can watch the NFL ticket) but they need some sort of procedures to deal with this - maybe have a team in each major city that is certified in going on roofs. I've spoken to a number of neighbors that also have dishes on their roofs, and they are all concerned.

I also need to add as SWiM 16 to my system to support another receiver ... and I don't want another genie client ...

 

[cinsu]

Thanks! I assume there is also an alignment issue. I recognize that there is a safety issue (I don't want anyone to get hurt just so that I can watch the NFL ticket) but they need some sort of procedures to deal with this - maybe have a team in each major city that is certified in going on roofs. I've spoken to a number of neighbors that also have dishes on their roofs, and they are all concerned.

I also need to add as SWiM 16 to my system to support another receiver ... and I don't want another genie client ...

They do have a fall protection system but there are a lot of guidelines to it that must be met. Different DMAs have different requirements they add to it as well. In my area we will only use fall protection to remove an old dish once we have relocated the dish to an accessible location.

I would bet your only issue is alignment. Do you have 1 line or 4 coming from your LNB? If you only have 1 rather than doing some rewiring you can get a DSWM LNB for 13 tuners or a DSWM gen 2 for 21 tuners.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[Bob 5150]

They do have a fall protection system but there are a lot of guidelines to it that must be met. Different DMAs have different requirements they add to it as well. In my area we will only use fall protection to remove an old dish once we have relocated the dish to an accessible location.

I would bet your only issue is alignment. Do you have 1 line or 4 coming from your LNB? If you only have 1 rather than doing some rewiring you can get a DSWM LNB for 13 tuners or a DSWM gen 2 for 21 tuners.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

I only have 1 line coming down from the LNB. I always thought it fed a SWiM system, but the last tech said that I just have a 1x8 splitter (I'm not sure how that differs from a SWiM, but that's another issue). The tech told me that if I had a SWiM, I would have 4 lines coming down. Maybe that's only for the SWiM-16?

The DSWM sounds like what I would need ... right now, I have 4 lines going into the house, and two of them are split as well. I've got 2 HDDVRs, 1 Genie, and 1 HD receiver. So I could probably split one of the existing lines in the house and route to another HDR.

 

[texasbrit]

If you only have one line from the dish, that's an SWM LNB system. If you have an SWM16 multiswitch, it's correct you would have four lines, and it looks like that's what you have. The LNB at the dish has been limited to eight tuners until now, but as cinsu posted, one of the DSWMs will now give you 13, or 21 tuners. Given that you already have more than eight tuners, and capacity for more, DirecTv isn't going to give you a DSWM. You can get them on ebay for a reasonable price, but your dish probably needs realigning so you will need to find an installer who will do the work privately.

 

[raoul5788]

I only have 1 line coming down from the LNB. I always thought it fed a SWiM system, but the last tech said that I just have a 1x8 splitter (I'm not sure how that differs from a SWiM, but that's another issue). The tech told me that if I had a SWiM, I would have 4 lines coming down. Maybe that's only for the SWiM-16?

The DSWM sounds like what I would need ... right now, I have 4 lines going into the house, and two of them are split as well. I've got 2 HDDVRs, 1 Genie, and 1 HD receiver. So I could probably split one of the existing lines in the house and route to another HDR.

to Satelliteguys Bob 5150!
That tech shouldn't be a tech. You do have a swm setup already. A swm setup works in one of two ways. Either you have a legacy lnb with four lines going to a swm switch, or a swm lnb with one line from the lnb. There are swm lnbs that handle up to 13 tuners that are available on eBay. If you are willing to get on the roof yourself, swapping the new for the old is easy. That's assuming that you don't also have an alignment issue. It seems like it's worth a try.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DIRECTV-DSW...756466?hash=item1a0575cef2:g:FDEAAOSwPcVVtWxs

 

[raoul5788]

If you only have one line from the dish, that's an SWM LNB system. If you have an SWM16 multiswitch, it's correct you would have four lines, and it looks like that's what you have. The LNB at the dish has been limited to eight tuners until now, but as cinsu posted, one of the DSWMs will now give you 13, or 21 tuners. Given that you already have more than eight tuners, and capacity for more, DirecTv isn't going to give you a DSWM. You can get them on ebay for a reasonable price, but your dish probably needs realigning so you will need to find an installer who will do the work privately.

He said there is only one line from the dish, so he must have a swm lnb.

 

[Jimbo]

He said there is only one line from the dish, so he must have a swm lnb.

I don't think he's mentioned how many recvrs he has ....
He's been with them since 99, if he's still using an old set up, he could have 1 line going right to.the recvr.

 

[cinsu]

And if he has a genie he has SWM.

It's odd that you have those receivers and don't already have a DSWM LNB but not impossible. The standard SWM LNB only supports 8 tuners and if everything is setup properly you have 10 tuners unless the DVRs are set to be single tuner.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[cinsu]

I don't think he's mentioned how many recvrs he has ....
He's been with them since 99, if he's still using an old set up, he could have 1 line going right to.the recvr.

I've got 2 HDDVRs, 1 Genie, and 1 HD receiver. So I could probably split one of the existing lines in the house and route to another HDR.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[Jimbo]

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

My bad, must have missed that ....

 

[texasbrit]

Hence my confusion also. With ten tuners he must already have an SWM16, unless the two DVRs are running single tuner which seems unlikely.

 

[raoul5788]

He also said one line from the dish, which means a swm lnb. The four lines into the house are probably after the splitter.

 

[Bob 5150]

And if he has a genie he has SWM.

It's odd that you have those receivers and don't already have a DSWM LNB but not impossible. The standard SWM LNB only supports 8 tuners and if everything is setup properly you have 10 tuners unless the DVRs are set to be single tuner.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

I agree - about 2 years ago, I got the genie, and they had to disable one of my tuners. So I'm limited to 8 - one of the HDDVRs only uses one tuner.

 

[Bob 5150]

I don't think he's mentioned how many recvrs he has ....
He's been with them since 99, if he's still using an old set up, he could have 1 line going right to.the recvr.

I have a screwy setup - I have several lines going directly to receivers, but I also have some lines split. I've got a pre-SWiM and post-SWiM install, I guess.

 

[Bob 5150]

to Satelliteguys Bob 5150!
That tech shouldn't be a tech. You do have a swm setup already. A swm setup works in one of two ways. Either you have a legacy lnb with four lines going to a swm switch, or a swm lnb with one line from the lnb. There are swm lnbs that handle up to 13 tuners that are available on eBay. If you are willing to get on the roof yourself, swapping the new for the old is easy. That's assuming that you don't also have an alignment issue. It seems like it's worth a try.

Thanks for the welcome!!

I would probably need to get someone with a satellite meter to come out to do the alignment, though.

 

[texasbrit]

I agree - about 2 years ago, I got the genie, and they had to disable one of my tuners. So I'm limited to 8 - one of the HDDVRs only uses one tuner.

That would still be nine - genie is 5, one DVR has two, other has one, receiver has one...
not that it matters any more, but thye should have installed an SWM16 when you got the Genie, disabling tuners is just a lazy way out for an installer