Existing DirectTv customer trying to upgrade...

[illazilla]

I need help/advice on trying to work an upgrade package with DirectTv. Here is my situation:
I am a long standing DirectTv customer in AZ that is out of the 2 year agreement and I wish to upgrade a couple of my receivers. Currently I have:

HR20
H10
R10
D10 (2)
AU9 dish with 4 lines to the house

I want to upgrade the H10 to a H22 and the R10 to a HR22(or whatever the newest equivelant is for these receivers). The other requirement is that I want a SWM installed so that I can use the dual tuner in the HR22 in the bedroom. It currently only has 1 line installed when the house was built and I do not want another line run on the outside of my house. This is an upstairs bedroom with no attic. The only way to get another line is from the outside.

So Direct tells me that I can't request a SWM and the system will not allow them to request it. They say it comes up on the order if it is required by the equipment they put on the order form. They also told me some other bad information in regards to the SWM that I now know is false and probably part of their "story" they give existing customers who inquire about it.

If I was a NEW customer, I would probably get the SWM without even asking, so I feel as an existing customer out of the 2 year contract, I should at least be able to get the same. I could not get them to budge and actually ended up setting up a disconnect date and told the Customer Retention Specialist they were forcing me to move services simply because they could not provide the SWM installation.

Am I wrong? I don't really want to move services, but I feel I should be able to take advantage of the technology that they can provide instead of running more cable. Has anyone had luck in a similar situation? What's the secret to success?

Thanks in advance and I apologize for the lengthy post.
Ron

 

[JAG72]

The main problem that I see is that you already have a dish that is compatible with everything. Since you already have a multiswitch in the house they would most likely just use it instead of adding new equipment. You could always go out and buy one if it is a must.

 

[Zynergi]

You would have to replace the D10's with the upgrade to D12's or have a second dish installed by a retailer for the SWM..

 

[JAG72]

You would have to replace the D10's with the upgrade to D12's or have a second dish installed by a retailer for the SWM..

or just buy a SWM-8 switch and he would be all set. No need to replace the dish if he does not want to.

 

[illazilla]

I probably should have mentioned that I actually have 2 Au9 dishes. I installed the 2nd one on the otherside of the house to get the second line into the livingroom and to the HR20. So I am using all 4 lines off the 1st dish and 2 off the 2nd(1 to the H10 in the office and 1 to the HR20).

The real issue is getting another line to where the R10 is...upstairs without running a cable on the outside of the house. With a SWM, I could lose the 2nd dish altogether.

 

[boba]

SWM is not available as an upgrade to existing customers. And as already posted you have receivers that are not compatible with SWM technology. Running a second line for a R22 SD DVR is cheaper than buying a SWM

 

[illazilla]

You would have to replace the D10's with the upgrade to D12's or have a second dish installed by a retailer for the SWM..

Couldn't I run the D10's off the Legacy ports on the SWM-8? I don't need HD locals at these receivers, but do need SD locals.

 

[illazilla]

SWM is not available as an upgrade to existing customers. And as already posted you have receivers that are not compatible with SWM technology. Running a second line for a R22 SD DVR is cheaper than buying a SWM

I realize running a 2nd line is cheaper, but would look like hell on my house where it would need to go. I would have done that a long time ago if I didn't mind the look. That is the point of wanting to go with a SWM, so I don't have to run a line.

 

[peterl1365]

Couldn't I run the D10's off the Legacy ports on the SWM-8? I don't need HD locals at these receivers, but do need SD locals.

I'm in the same boat as you where I've been trying to get D* to commit to an SWM install. I don't think D* installs the SWM-8 on any installs, new or otherwise. I'm pretty sure that they simply install the SWM-LNB, which does not have legacy ports.

I suppose if you were a new subscriber and requested (and paid for) 5 DVR's or 9 receivers, they might do the SWM-8. For everything else the SWM-LNB dish handles at a lower cost.

 

[rad]

From everything I've seen residential customers DO NOT get a SWM8 installed, period. If they have more then 8 tuners then you get a WB616 or two WB68's but no SWM8. If you just must have a SWM8 you need to buy one on your own and do the install.

 

[illazilla]

Thanks all for the replies.

So if I purchase myself a SWM-8 and a SWS-4(1x4) splitter I should be covered?

I could feed the dish with the SWM installed to 4 receivers(2 HD DVR & 2 SD) that are connected with the in wall cable and the 2nd dish could feed the H22 in the office.

Then I could drop trying to get the SWM install from DirectTv and just do the receiver upgrades.

One last question....is there any reason to upgrade a D10 to a D12 if I don't have to? I'm not sure what the D12 does for me if I can hook up the D10's via the legacy ports. These are on regular SD tv's.

Thank you again. Love the site.
Ron

 

[Zynergi]

If your going to get a SWM8 then no you do not need to upgrade the D10's or the R10

 

[msajeff]

Related question... Is SWM standard on Mover's Connection installs? My current setup is a HR20/R15/whatever standard receiver they were installing in August of 07. Will be adding another HD-DVR with the move and with some issues I've been having with the HR20 (I have the protection plan), may be upgrading that as well.

 

[Zynergi]

The R15 and your Standard Box needs to be a D12, will prevent your account from getting flagged for SWM

 

[boba]

Thanks all for the replies.

So if I purchase myself a SWM-8 and a SWS-4(1x4) splitter I should be covered?

I could feed the dish with the SWM installed to 4 receivers(2 HD DVR & 2 SD) that are connected with the in wall cable and the 2nd dish could feed the H22 in the office.

Then I could drop trying to get the SWM install from DirectTv and just do the receiver upgrades.

One last question....is there any reason to upgrade a D10 to a D12 if I don't have to? I'm not sure what the D12 does for me if I can hook up the D10's via the legacy ports. These are on regular SD tv's.

Thank you again. Love the site.
Ron

You are confusing two different SWM products. The SWM LNB replaces the existing AU9 LNB with a single wire LNB that runs to either a 4way or an 8way splitter. This has no Legacy connections and is cheaper than a SWM8.

The SWM8 is a commercial SWM module that uses the 4 LNB connections of a standard AU9 LNB. This runs a single wire to an 8way splitter with 3 Legacy outputs and I believe runs in the $200 range. The SWM LNBs use a 21 volt power supply and the SWM8 uses a 29 volt power supply

 

[msajeff]

The R15 and your Standard Box needs to be a D12, will prevent your account from getting flagged for SWM

Since I am out of contract do you think that's something I could negotiate with them about? If not, I suppose I could just cancel and then sign up again at our new house...but at that point they'd be having to in a sense replace our HR20 as well.

 

[JAG72]

This runs a single wire to an 8way splitter with 3 Legacy outputs and I believe runs in the $200 range.

$150 from weaKnees right now. They are also going for about $110 on ebay.