New Dish Subscriber Needs Advice

[WillyV]

I just signed on to the Dish Smart Pack and am scheduled for equipment installation next week. Although I don't remember discussing locations for my dish etc., my preference is to mount it on a pole or post in my yard. That said, the weather at my mountain location will be fridgid and laying a wire from the dish to my basement wall might be difficult.

Can anyone out there tell me how these installation scenarios go? Do Dish installers usually bring metal posts along for installs.? Are they accustomed to digging / breaking thru frozen ground? I didn't want to cancel the installation but want to know what to expect. I'd appreciate any comments. Thanks

 

[TheKrell]

I didn't think they did trenching at any time of the year!

 

[stardust3]

Unfortunately it's a crap shoot as far as what some installers will or won't do. You could say right upfront there would be a decent tip to get installed the way you want. Then if all else fails you could contact a local retailer, that would be a better option for anything custom or out of the ordinary.

It is a standard practice for many to have get utilities located before digging. I personally think that's bs, I've done as many installs as most & not once ever called. I've had mishaps, but nothing major. Good luck & let us know how it goes.

 

[TimberWolf]

pole mounts and trenching in frozen ground generally don't happen and are supposed to have the utilities marked anyway
you can have a non-pen mount with the cable above ground until thaw

pole mounts are also now considered a last resort for in-house techs

 

[Claude Greiner]

They will not pole mount for free if it can go on the house.

If a pole is needed, they may install a non pen mount and come back when things warm up to finish the job.

 

[WillyV]

Claude / Timberwolf,

Thanks for getting back to me! Your responces have given me an idea of what to expect. I'll cross my fingers and hope they'll install the dish on my house in the location that I chose. Thanks again.

 

[SomeDishGuy]

Claude / Timberwolf,

Thanks for getting back to me! Your responces have given me an idea of what to expect. I'll cross my fingers and hope they'll install the dish on my house in the location that I chose. Thanks again.

Talk to the technician. Discuss it with him. The techs aren't robots, they have to find a good signal, but they'll talk about why they can or can not put it a certain place. Don't just wish and hope, tell the tech.

 

[Dishman1978]

Definitely tell them your preference before he starts to work. Nothing worse than having a dish built and prepped, cable ready a mount chosen and ladder set up and ready to go when you hear "are you really going to put that there?" Usually comes from.the nieghbor who has nothing better to do that worry about the fact they have to now see a dish on the nieghbors house.

 

[mikethedishguy]

Best way to get it pole mounted is to buy the pole (arround $13 Home depot) and a bag of cement ( $6) Then try to dig a hole if you cant dont expect the tech to. Give the pole and cement to the tech and show him where you would like to place it if it works great if not take his suggestions. If he is in house he will insist mount ing on a nonpen mnt. In this case you will need to call when it gets warmer out. Dish at this point will try to give the job to a sub, who will try to find any excuse not to do the job because he is not compensated at anything which is close to min wage.

 

[Bobby]

and if you get the pole and cement and do it yourself, make absolutely certain that the set pole is absolutely plumb....

 

[WillyV]

Dish People,

Thanks again for all the advice! I'll cross my fingers and hope that the install will go well and where I want it. It won't happen until next week since heavy snow and bitter cold is predicted tomorrow. This is a great forum!

 

[dvrexpander]

Installer here, yep I would say your best bet is to just plant the pole yourself and trench a little line to bury the cable for the guy to lay down. If you do this after the snow melts (if temps get high enough) then go ahead and do it before the guy arrives. However make sure you know where the sats are located and the line of sight is open for it if you don't know then wait till he gets there and you dig the hole and plant the pole while the tech drops the cable and builds the dish along with other things. Helping out goes along way for installs like this even if you don't tip - that means more to me than a tip in most cases. If you feel the need to tip then do it with $5 and buy a bottle of screen cleaner off him cause they are all required to try to sell this stuff and it helps out on the back end.

 

[WillyV]

Hello Dvrexpander,

Your info is very helpful since I've never dealt with sat tv. That said, I assume that the DISH bird is some where in the southern sky, right? I ask because my house is on a ledge up in a mountain valley with a pretty good exposure to the south east all the way over to the south west. I'm hopefully that the installer will agree and mount the dish on some horizontal 2x12s that support the bottom of my covered porch. The covered porch is actually on the walk out side of my basement (the basement on the other side of the house is deep and not exposed) that faces the southern sky. My concern is that my hunch about my "good" view of the sky isn't accurate and he'll need to position the dish else where. What I reallyl don't want is for the dish to go on my roof, especially this time of year when shingles are very brittle!

In so far as helping the installer, heck, I certainly wouldn't mind pitching in. It's just my nature and the weather over the next 10 days is fridgid with snow.... Heck, I was planning on an install next week but may need to cancel again due to weather...

I'm still a little fuzzy on tipping though. What is considered to be an appropriate tip?

Finally, are the initial installers usually "Dish" people or are they subcontractors? Thanks again, much appreciated and have a good day.

 

[thomasjk]

Go to www.dishpointer.com and input your address to see your LOS to the sats.

 

[david_jr]

Go to www.dishpointer.com and input your address to see your LOS to the sats.

Since you said you're new to this stuff, on the Dish pointer web page, click on the "Multi-LNB Setups", click the down arrow and click on "Dish 1000.4 (61.5, 72.7, 77). Then put your address in the address field at the top and click go. This will give you the azimuth or compass direction that your dish will need to point.

 

[navychop]

I give $20-$40.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[dvrexpander]

I'm still a little fuzzy on tipping though. What is considered to be an appropriate tip?

Finally, are the initial installers usually "Dish" people or are they subcontractors? Thanks again, much appreciated and have a good day.

Be sure to cancel if you do a good few days before not the morning of cause you will dent the completion record of that tech the job is setup for that morning at no fault of his own. Also for tipping, just think of what you tip a pizza guy to just bring pizza to your door and knock. People just don't think that its a service like any other and we do way more than any pizza guy! Most installers are from a regional service provider or sub contractors or even work for local retailers and depending on which they work for are either hardly getting by what they are getting paid (very little) or just plain ole getting by (getting paid decent but not enough for the work).

 

[navychop]

I give the pizza guy 4 or 5 dollars and he always seems happy, especially if it's in cash. I think they get stiffed a lot. The installers were happy for the cash. I'll bet if I only gave them $4 or $5 they wouldn't be as happy.

But we're shifting more to store bought frozen, so pizza tips are moot.

 

[agentc13]

The installers were happy for the cash. I'll bet if I only gave them $4 or $5 they wouldn't be as happy.

Better $5 than nothing (like most people do). But more is always better .

 

[stardust3]

$20 is a week's worth of coffee & lotto tickets.