dishnetwork, ipad, sling adpater, 722k and wow, what a horrible support experience- dirt, please he

[uponthemountain]

Dish Support :

Please help with removing (or at least improving ) the very deceptive wording on the dishonline.com website, that tells the user to purchase the SlingPlayer App.

( please also see two questions at the bottom )

to see ...
got to dishonline.com from the ipad's browser
login
click on the live tv button
you should see:
"Want to watch your TV on your iPAD? Click here to get SlingPlayer!"

This wording, lead me to purchase the 30$ app . It does not work for my 722k + sling adapter setup,.

Anyways ...

I'm unable to get live tv to work on my dishremote app on my ipad ( io6 ).
So, i contacted support chat for help ... and it devolved quickly.

in breif:
722k with sling adapter
ipad with:
dish remote app
( and now sling player app too ... since the dishonline website said i needed to buy it in order to watch live tv )

worked for a while a few weeks back, then stopped ... maybe when io6 came out, not sure if was coincidence or not.
after trying many soft and hard resets, and broadband resets on the 722k ...

The app shows the 722k online, but never gets past 60% or so on the progress bar when requesting live tv.

On recommendation by an online chat operator, i went to the dishonline website
it also showed the 722k online and showed content was available on the 722k.

but, when i went to the live tv button, it told me to purchase the sling player.

I did ... and of course it turned out to be useless ... so i'm out 30$ .... and re-contacted online tech support.

wow, they took me from frustrated and wanting to get the darn thing to work ... to pretty close to angry with the way they handled my questions and concerns. After going from level 1 to level 2 ... it devolved in to "... Since you have mentioned legal action, I will be required to transfer you to an account specialist. Have a great rest of your day ..." legal action? when in the world did i mention legal action? The only thing i said is that he sounded like a lawyer the way he kept repeating a carefully worded phrase.

To be fair, I wasn't 100% polite ... but I feel like it was the chat operator's fault for consistently and completely ignoring what I was saying, and just repeating himself as if it made his simple phrase that dish doesn't make that app somehow made it the over-riding reality. Sort of like saying "dish didn't make that gun, so its not our fault we shot you"

So, on comes the "specialist" ... do they actually have to have a department of "specialist"s to help customers realize that they should have NOT done what their website tells them to do?

Anyways, the specialist did address the 30$ concern with a 5 per month for 6 month credit, which was fair enough and reasonable. And said they would ask for a "review" of the perhaps much more important concern of the website prompting the user to spend the money to begin with.

I kept the transcript ... but didn't want to post it due to it making Dish look pretty darn bad on this topic.


Finally ... i guess i should consider my sling adapter as pretty much useless?

At one point the technical side of not seeing live tv was addressed, and they said that my 2.8 speed was just too slow, that 4mbs was required. ( even though it used to work, at least for a while )

Does/Would the hopper work?

p.s. i'm trying to do this on my home lan, so its all local.

 

[Scherrman]

It's good that they offered you some credits to offset the $30 app since that seemed pretty shady. As for the sling not working, it sounds like you have everything you need. All you need is the 722k connected to the internet, the sling adapter connected to the 722k and the remote access app on the ipad. It sounds like everything is connected properly since it shows in online on the app. If it's not actually loading the video though it may be an issue with your internet connection. You need to have a good connection at your home and where you are with the ipad.

 

[ZachS@DISH]

I just tested this here on my iPhone and I was directed to the page where it is trying to install the SlingPlayer plugin, which is need to view live tv from a computer. I clicked on the SlingPlayer app and was directed to the app store and the SlingPlayer App. I have escalated this issue. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. As far as you Sling Apater not working are you trying to stream over WiFi or 3G? You would need a minimum of 1.5 Mbps bandwidth.

 

[uponthemountain]

Thank you for escalating it and for your "on topic" response. That is very much appreciated!

I'm trying to use it on my local lan.

So roughly this:

iPad (3 and io6) <-> Wifi (only) <-> [ internet = 3mbs verizon dsl ] <-> ether-cabled <-> 722k

 

[Scherrman]

I would think it would work. I know that when I would try using my iPhone to watch my old 922 receiver it wouldn't always work. I t depended on where I was with my phone. It would work in a 3G area but was always buffering.

 

[ZachS@DISH]

If you'd like I can try testing it here. I would just need you to send me a PM with your login information.

 

[uponthemountain]

thanks for the help .. i'm contacting you now ...

 

[uponthemountain]

thanks for the help ... i've sent a pm.

 

[uponthemountain]

For any that may be interested.

ZachS of Dish Customer Support has been ( and is still being ), extremely helpful.

Give the guy a raise DishNetwork ! ... he is what support should be!

 

[uponthemountain]

I would think it would work. I know that when I would try using my iPhone to watch my old 922 receiver it wouldn't always work. I t depended on where I was with my phone. It would work in a 3G area but was always buffering.

Scherrman, thanks for the replies and feedback.

It was working semi well for a week or three just a couple of weeks ago. Up until then, i had rarely used it, but when i had used it , it had worked fine ... then all of the sudden it just stopped working, And coincidentally, I got io6 on my ipads at the same time, which confused things more than it should have.

For any that may find this thread ...

Anyways. It turns out that it looks like it may be a bad sling adapter. I had a small piece of black electrical tape over the annoying red light ... so never realized that it was no longer red. Zach got me to check it, and after re-plugging it in in the back and on the front a couple of times ... it still did not light up.

So, if you covered your light on your sling adapter, and are now having problems ... don't be like me and forget to check!