Dish called - Signal Loss

[ncted]

I got a call from Dish today, or at least I am pretty sure it was them. They said they're reporting suggested I was suffering from signal loss on my Hopper3, and asked if I had had any pixelation issues. I actually had noticed some recent increase in pixelation at time, so I said yes. They attempted to "check my receiver," and asked if it was connected to the Internet. I told them it was, and they said it wasn't responding. Now, aside from the pixelation (and a few audio dropouts from time to time), I haven't noticed any real problems, and things like Netflix and OnDemand seem to be working normally. They offered to send out a free truck roll to check things out, so I agreed. They did not ask for any payment information. It is scheduled for Wednesday. I got an email with legit links in it confirming my appointment shortly after the call.

My question is this. Is this something Dish actually does? (uses data to determine who might have trouble ahead of time?)

Or, is this just an excuse to get a Dish employee in my house to try to sell me something?

 

[JSheridan]

I got a call from Dish today, or at least I am pretty sure it was them. They said they're reporting suggested I was suffering from signal loss on my Hopper3, and asked if I had had any pixelation issues. I actually had noticed some recent increase in pixelation at time, so I said yes. They attempted to "check my receiver," and asked if it was connected to the Internet. I told them it was, and they said it wasn't responding. Now, aside from the pixelation (and a few audio dropouts from time to time), I haven't noticed any real problems, and things like Netflix and OnDemand seem to be working normally. They offered to send out a free truck roll to check things out, so I agreed. They did not ask for any payment information. It is scheduled for Wednesday. I got an email with legit links in it confirming my appointment shortly after the call.

My question is this. Is this something Dish actually does? (uses data to determine who might have trouble ahead of time?)

Or, is this just an excuse to get a Dish employee in my house to try to sell me something?

Yes and Yes.

They do investigate and send techs out for signal problems and they will try to sell you something.

 

[N-Tence]

This is legit. They did the same with me. No cost and they didn’t attempt to sell a single thing.

 

[dare2be]

I got calls from Dish about potential signal issues, but ignored them since I hadn't noticed any problems. About 3 months later I was experiencing bad pixelation problems and dropouts, which turned out to be a tuner going bad in the receiver. So yeah, it's legit.

 

[dvrexpander]

Lol I loved these wasted calls when I was a tech... the system dials back the condition of your equipment/signal and so on at random times.
You could be in the middle of a damn thunderstorm and the sucker does it or snow on the dish etc etc... 9 times out of 10 when I went out there wasn't a thing wrong with anything - it all checked out based on meter checks and hand checks for all connections etc etc.. All I would do then at that point was explain what the deal was and why I was there wasting their time.

Aside from dare2be's issue (3 months later) that isn't something you test with any meter - the receiver either says its bad or isn't on the self diagnostics - if it says its all GREEN and all else checked out then off you went and the customer had to deal with a later issue down the road which was or wasn't related at the time.
One had me sent out because the customer left the receiver on while he was having the roof replaced therefore the dish that was pointing into the ground and laying on the ground was sending back 00000000 signal for days. If it isn't broken and nothing is wrong its really your call if you have the time to take off and wait for someone to come check...otherwise wait till there is an issue and do something.

 

[dare2be]

Still, if ncted is getting calls and he hasn't been messing with things or having lots of bad weather, I'd not ignore it.

 

[dare2be]

Reminds me...I did get a call again over the holidays but I was too busy to do anything about it... looking at my signal levels 72 looks to be low (mid 30s) compared to 61.5 (low 60s). Yes, I will have someone come out before problems arise.

ncted, check your signal levels

 

[ncted]

Still, if ncted is getting calls and he hasn't been messing with things or having lots of bad weather, I'd not ignore it.

The last time they called, we’d been having lots of bad weather. Not much lately though. I guess we’ll see on Wednesday.

 

[ncted]

Reminds me...I did get a call again over the holidays but I was too busy to do anything about it... looking at my signal levels 72 looks to be low (mid 30s) compared to 61.5 (low 60s). Yes, I will have someone come out before problems arise.

ncted, check your signal levels

I will.

 

[Tony S]

Yes, the call from Dish is real. A couple of years ago Dish called me to say I had low signal levels, and they sent someone out the next day to fix the issue. When they called, I did not know that my signal levels were low, but afterwards, when I checked, Dish was right, signal levels were low.

I had the triple LNB dish at the time (61.5, 72.7, 77). The technician could not get reliable signal levels from that dish, so he replaced it with a duel LNB dish (61.5, 72.7). When he was done, my signal levels went up dramatically.

 

[ncted]

OK. Er...what are good numbers for EA? I have 61.5 and 72, and I am in the Raleigh-Durham MSA.

 

[dare2be]

I get 50s-60s on my EA triple lnb, you should be able to get that or higher

 

[ncted]

Transponders for channels I get on 61.5 are in the high 40s to mid 50s. For channels on 72.7, the numbers are in the low to mid 20s.

 

[dare2be]

Yeah, those numbers, especially 72.7, look like trouble waiting to happen. It's probably either a repoint needed or an LNB going bad.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Lol I loved these wasted calls when I was a tech... the system dials back the condition of your equipment/signal and so on at random times.
You could be in the middle of a damn thunderstorm and the sucker does it or snow on the dish etc etc... 9 times out of 10 when I went out there wasn't a thing wrong with anything - it all checked out based on meter checks and hand checks for all connections etc etc.. All I would do then at that point was explain what the deal was and why I was there wasting their time.

Aside from dare2be's issue (3 months later) that isn't something you test with any meter - the receiver either says its bad or isn't on the self diagnostics - if it says its all GREEN and all else checked out then off you went and the customer had to deal with a later issue down the road which was or wasn't related at the time.
One had me sent out because the customer left the receiver on while he was having the roof replaced therefore the dish that was pointing into the ground and laying on the ground was sending back 00000000 signal for days. If it isn't broken and nothing is wrong its really your call if you have the time to take off and wait for someone to come check...otherwise wait till there is an issue and do something.

Yeah a waste of time. But if you go out on 5 of them and actually fix one of them then dish potentially saved a customer who may have otherwise cancelled because their system kept loosing signal.

But if they want to pay you to roll a truck, who cares if you don’t actually have to do anything.

 

[HipKat]

I got a call from Dish today, or at least I am pretty sure it was them. They said they're reporting suggested I was suffering from signal loss on my Hopper3, and asked if I had had any pixelation issues. I actually had noticed some recent increase in pixelation at time, so I said yes. They attempted to "check my receiver," and asked if it was connected to the Internet. I told them it was, and they said it wasn't responding. Now, aside from the pixelation (and a few audio dropouts from time to time), I haven't noticed any real problems, and things like Netflix and OnDemand seem to be working normally. They offered to send out a free truck roll to check things out, so I agreed. They did not ask for any payment information. It is scheduled for Wednesday. I got an email with legit links in it confirming my appointment shortly after the call.

My question is this. Is this something Dish actually does? (uses data to determine who might have trouble ahead of time?)

Or, is this just an excuse to get a Dish employee in my house to try to sell me something?

One of the reasons we connect the Hoppers to the Internet is so things like this can happen. It's called STBH or Set Top Box Health. If you ever watch a tech after he gets it connected, he'll run Send Status, which checks connectivity, signal strength and sends the data to Dish. I wish it was used 100% of the time.

And no, Dish doesn't send techs to your house just to try and sell you things....

 

[HipKat]

Lol I loved these wasted calls when I was a tech... the system dials back the condition of your equipment/signal and so on at random times.
You could be in the middle of a damn thunderstorm and the sucker does it or snow on the dish etc etc... 9 times out of 10 when I went out there wasn't a thing wrong with anything - it all checked out based on meter checks and hand checks for all connections etc etc.. All I would do then at that point was explain what the deal was and why I was there wasting their time.

Aside from dare2be's issue (3 months later) that isn't something you test with any meter - the receiver either says its bad or isn't on the self diagnostics - if it says its all GREEN and all else checked out then off you went and the customer had to deal with a later issue down the road which was or wasn't related at the time.
One had me sent out because the customer left the receiver on while he was having the roof replaced therefore the dish that was pointing into the ground and laying on the ground was sending back 00000000 signal for days. If it isn't broken and nothing is wrong its really your call if you have the time to take off and wait for someone to come check...otherwise wait till there is an issue and do something.

How long ago were you a tech?

 

[HipKat]

Transponders for channels I get on 61.5 are in the high 40s to mid 50s. For channels on 72.7, the numbers are in the low to mid 20s.

Your 72 is way, way low

 

[Jim5506]

If Dish is paying you to sit and wait for an install, they might as well pay you to do trouble calls that the STB asks for.

It only costs them the gas for your round trip and may save a customer.

 

[dvrexpander]

How long ago were you a tech?

A few years now since I left.

Yeah a waste of time. But if you go out on 5 of them and actually fix one of them then dish potentially saved a customer who may have otherwise cancelled because their system kept loosing signal.

But if they want to pay you to roll a truck, who cares if you don’t actually have to do anything.

Truck roll...paid..hmm well paid yes paid even decently no.
I remember getting those calls that made me drive 60miles one way. The total paid out for the job was $25 no matter what I did.
One of the bigger reasons I left it.

As for saving the customer.. ehh they lost em everyday and gained them everyday around this area - I called it the every 2 year jump...back and forth from one company to another just riding the promo wave.
Good thing was if you knew who was going to do that you wouldn't touch the others equipment and slap your own right beside it so all you had to do was replace the boxes and swap cables.