Post Your Dish Hopper Install Experience: Did You Survive?

[sparc]

Here's a few questions i came up with for people who have finished installation:

1) How many Hopper/Joeys were installed?
2) Were you able to get the best promotional price for the Hopper system?
3) Who did the install/upgrade? Dish Network Tech, Retailer, or Third Party Contractor
4) How long did the install take? hours? days?
5) What was the overall install experience?
6) What problems did you have during the install?
7) After the install: What immediate problems did the tech leave you with that need to be fixed right away by Dish?
8) After the install: What problems will you'll fix on your own or waiting for Dish to push a software fix?
9) Anything else?​

 

[Scherrman]

Here's a few questions i came up with for people who have finished installation:

1) How many Hopper/Joeys were installed?
2 Hoppers and 2 Joeys
2) Were you able to get the best promotional price for the Hopper system?
Not really applicable for me being a retailer
3) Who did the install/upgrade? Dish Network Tech, Retailer, or Third Party Contractor
I did my own install
4) How long did the install take? hours? days?
5 1/2 hours
5) What was the overall install experience?
Was a piece of cake. I just had issues getting Dish to activate it as a retailer upgrade. They were not able to see my work order.
6) What problems did you have during the install?
Zero problems
7) After the install: What immediate problems did the tech leave you with that need to be fixed right away by Dish?
No issues
8) After the install: What problems will you fix on your own or waiting for Dish to push a software fix?
Just waiting for Hopper integration and a few issues with my EHD
9) Anything else?
Either I did everything just right or I got pretty lucky but I didn't have any issues with my system. Love it so far.​

My install was different than most since I did it myself.

 

[Brodieb]

I am still waiting for my installer to show up. Scheduled sometime between 8 and noon and have not heard a peep at 12:35.

 

[doltonjn]

1) How many Hopper/Joeys were installed?
2 Hoppers and 3 Joeys

2) Were you able to get the best promotional price for the Hopper system?

$200.00 for equipment

3) Who did the install/upgrade? Dish Network Tech, Retailer, or Third Party Contractor
Dish Network

4) How long did the install take? hours? days?
4 Hours

5) What was the overall install experience?
It was fine, it was the installers first install, I knew just about as much as he did.

6) What problems did you have during the install?
Little thinks, nothing worth talking about, overall a good job.

7) After the install: What immediate problems did the tech leave you with that need to be fixed right away by Dish?
None

8) After the install: What problems will you'll fix on your own or waiting for Dish to push a software fix?
Blockbuster does not work, it says that I am not connect when I am. Hardwired and both Hoppers.

9) Anything else?
Wish the help screen was better or had a in depth manual.

 

[Benyth]

1. 2H/2J
2. Yes.
3. Third Party Contractor
4. About 3 hours
5. Very good. It was the installer's first Hopper install, but he was a knowledgeable technician.
6. The first Hopper got stuck checking the satellite, but when rebooted it came up. Also he somehow ended up with both Hopper remotes paired with one Hopper (he had to call his support to figure out how to fix -- unpair from the system info screen?) The only other problem was when he called to activate, the CSR didn't know anything and was a real pain.
7. I have had to reboot once, but mostly it is working as advertised.
8. Waiting for the hopper full integration, but all is good for now.
9. It's a sweet system and light years ahead of the DirecTV HRxx boxes.

 

[JM42]

Here's a few questions i came up with for people who have finished installation:

1) How many Hopper/Joeys were installed?
2/2
2) Were you able to get the best promotional price for the Hopper system?
$200 total
3) Who did the install/upgrade? Dish Network Tech, Retailer, or Third Party Contractor
Dish.
4) How long did the install take? hours? days?
3.5 Hours. Tech's first Hopper install. Had him run a new line from Dish so node could go where I wanted. One bedroom line had to be re-run.
5) What was the overall install experience?
Very good
6) What problems did you have during the install?
He had a little trouble getting the first Hopper activated, fussed with it for a half hour or so. Had to use a HIC for internet since Hoppers aren't talking yet. Everything else was very smooth.
7) After the install: What immediate problems did the tech leave you with that need to be fixed right away by Dish?
None.
8) After the install: What problems will you'll fix on your own or waiting for Dish to push a software fix?
None really so far, outside of dual Hopper integration. EHD occasionally does not play the first time I hit play, has always worked the second time.
9) Anything else?
Overall pleased. System very solid for just watching TV. Get integration done and I'm happy long term.​

...

 

[tbradshaw]

1) How many Hopper/Joeys were installed?
1H/2J

2) Were you able to get the best promotional price for the Hopper system?
I think so...$99 total.

3) Who did the install/upgrade? Dish Network Tech, Retailer, or Third Party Contractor
Dish

4) How long did the install take? hours? days?
4.5 hrs. + another trip to get the Joeys working

5) What was the overall install experience?
The tech was fine...seemed well trained but was unable to make the Joeys connect to the Hopper

6) What problems did you have during the install?
Joeys not connecting.

7) After the install: What immediate problems did the tech leave you with that need to be fixed right away by Dish?
Besides the Joeys, Blockbuster and OnDemand are not working despite a good wireless internet connection.

8) After the install: What problems will you'll fix on your own or waiting for Dish to push a software fix?
Not sure just yet.

9) Anything else?
Just the Joeys.

 

[Dirtydan]

1) How many Hopper/Joeys were installed?
2 Hoppers, 2 Joeys ( order was supposed to be only 1 joey)

2) Were you able to get the best promotional price for the Hopper system?

Yes

3) Who did the install/upgrade? Dish Network Tech, Retailer, or Third Party Contractor
Retailer

4) How long did the install take? hours? days?
8 hours Friday, 3 hours Saturday
5) What was the overall install experience?
Not very good, after installers left Friday I had no Joey working and only Sat 129 worked on both Hoppers.

6) What problems did you have during the install?
They tried a 33 switch, then a 44, then back to 33, not able to get all 3 sats working, when they came back next day they got the sats up using 33 switch and changing to single lnbs on the 500 dish for 110 and 119, they got one Joey working, but said they would have to wait til another download overnight to get 2bd Hopper to connect to 2nd Joey. Next morning 2nd Hopper was showing channel icons in guide, which it was not doing the previous day. So today I was going to set up the 2nd Joey, but it seems that the installer took the remote for it when he left Sat. evening.


7) After the install: What immediate problems did the tech leave you with that need to be fixed right away by Dish?
Return with remote for 2nd Joey and program it.

8) After the install: What problems will you'll fix on your own or waiting for Dish to push a software fix?
I was going to program 2nd Joey, but since the Retailer has the remote, I will let the installer do it when he returns with the remote.

9) Anything else?
I think that all of the above is enough.

 

[TroyO]

1) How many Hopper/Joeys were installed?
1H/2J

2) Were you able to get the best promotional price for the Hopper system?
New Customer Free W/AT200

3) Who did the install/upgrade? Dish Network Tech, Retailer, or Third Party Contractor
Dish.

4) How long did the install take? hours? days?
3.5 Hours

5) What was the overall install experience?
Tech was knowledgeable, actually he was the go-to person for the rest of the techs in the area and was constantly on the radio answering questions for other techs, LOL. (My install probably would have been faster but for that.)

6) What problems did you have during the install?
Some minor stuff... vid signal was wacky but TV reboot fixed that, nothing major.

7) After the install: What immediate problems did the tech leave you with that need to be fixed right away by Dish?
Apparently none of my locals were turned on, Dish Chat support fixed in short order. I spent more time looking because "It has to be here" than I did actually gettng it fixed. Once the folks here confirmed I wasn't just looking in the wrong place it was an easy fix.

8) After the install: What problems will you'll fix on your own or waiting for Dish to push a software fix?
I still haven't gotten the Sling to work but I also haven't putzed with it much.

9) Anything else?
N/A​

 

[BearHuntr]

Here's a few questions i came up with for people who have finished installation:

1) How many Hopper/Joeys were installed?
1 Hopper, Zero Joeys
2) Were you able to get the best promotional price for the Hopper system?
Yes, I think so, $100
3) Who did the install/upgrade? Dish Network Tech, Retailer, or Third Party Contractor
I think he was a Third Party Contractor
4) How long did the install take? hours? days?
Just over an hour, but I was rushing him as I wanted him out of my house ASAP!
5) What was the overall install experience?
The installer was terrible! He smelled like he was sweating alcohol, admitted he didn't really know what he was doing, and accidentally cut the wrong cables. Thankfully, everything went smoothly due to the fact that I had heavily researched what was needed. I basically told him what went where and how to connect it and he just added new connectors to my existing cables.
6) What problems did you have during the install?
Nothing other than my concern about the incompetence of the installer. He actually sat right next to me as I filled out the tech survey so I couldn't really be honest. I was honest, however, with the phone survey afterwards.
7) After the install: What immediate problems did the tech leave you with that need to be fixed right away by Dish?
Thankfully, none.
8) After the install: What problems will you'll fix on your own or waiting for Dish to push a software fix?
I have to clean up some sloppy cable work. I would love to see the end of the 96 timer/576 event limits. It is really irritating to keep hitting the event limit over and over especially with brand new hardware.
9) Anything else?​

The most interesting thing was that I didn't need any cables replaced and I knew that they only supported 2.25 Ghz and not 3 Ghz. Maybe because I'm not using any Joeys the cable speed doesn't matter?

Install time and hardware was great, installer not so much.

 

[jayiw]

1) How many Hopper/Joeys were installed?
1 Hopper and 1 Joey

2) Were you able to get the best promotional price for the Hopper system?
It think so... $100 plus 2/yr re-sign

3) Who did the install/upgrade? Dish Network Tech, Retailer, or Third Party Contractor
Dish Tech, his first Hopper install

4) How long did the install take? hours? days?
Around 2.5 hours but that included him fixing my wires from the roof which was unrelated to the Hopper install so it really would have taken him about 2 hours

5) What was the overall install experience?
Very good. The guy who did the install was awesome. He was a young guy but he knew his stuff. He came right out and told me it's his first Hopper install but was trained for a couple of weeks on it. When he told me, in my mind I was like "OH SH**!" but he was assuring me and such. That did little to make me feel better BUT he kept getting calls from other installers asking him how to do things which made me feel way better about the install knowing he's the guy other installers go to.

6) What problems did you have during the install?
Not at all. It went very smoothly actually. The only thing is, the installer told me he wish he had it in his house so that he could have fooled around with it to know more about little things of how to use it and such from a customer perspective. He knew basically everything despite that though.

7) After the install: What immediate problems did the tech leave you with that need to be fixed right away by Dish?
Nothing at all. I thought the search was not working (did not try that why he was here) but it's working today. Just takes some time for the system to load everything I guess.

8) After the install: What problems will you'll fix on your own or waiting for Dish to push a software fix?
Just the screen adustment which I did not even notice until I started really using it. I still do not have the MLB app on my Joey and still no movie/tv art on the DVR Ext HD Icons. Nothing to do with the install though

9) Anything else?
I got lucky getting a really great installer! Good luck and me usually do not go hand and hand but this time it did!

 

[John Kotches]

1) 2 Hoppers, 3 Joeys were installed.

2) $200 + a new 2 year commitment.

3) Dish Network Tech

4) 5 Hours. Two of them "wasted" due to the sat locations not populating properly on the Hoppers. It would have been a 3 hour job without that.

5) This was the installers first install (seems like several were happening Sunday) and mine. The installer, his office and I were all trying to figure out the issue with the software download not running. Allowed me to install the hoppers while he was updating the ugly wiring mess from hell Knowledgable even though it was his first install. The issue we had wasn't the tech and once we got past the software it went quickly.

6) One remote not pairing with a hopper. Software download issues to hoppers.

7) Zip. Nada. None.

8) All software updates. The remote to the 1 hopper isn't a big deal, as it will use IR for control anyway.

9) This wasn't enough???

 

[MGINCHICO]

1. 1 hopper 3. Joeys
2. $100.00 + new two year contract
3. Dish Network Tech
4. about three hours
5. very nice, efficient
6. trouble with remotes but worked it out. Had to reboot hopper because you could hear show but no picture
7. none
8. I had to adjust screen so the left side of the channel icons were visible
9. From ordering on Thursday to installation on Monday, it was a breeze. I am looking forward to playing with it this evening

 

[athek]

1) How many Hopper/Joeys were installed?
1 Hopper and 1 Joey

2) Were you able to get the best promotional price for the Hopper system?
It think so... $100 plus 2/yr re-sign

3) Who did the install/upgrade? Dish Network Tech, Retailer, or Third Party Contractor
Dish Tech, his first Hopper install

4) How long did the install take? hours? days?
about 1 hour

5) What was the overall install experience?
The installer did a great job on his first install. I even printed off the install sheets that Scott posted yesterday. I think have patience is huge on this, just waiting for everything to download and not getting into a hurry. I have a wing dish and he thought there may be an issue with that but everything worked great with the existing cables.

6) What problems did you have during the install?
None, WIFI and EHD worked perfectly.


7) After the install: What immediate problems did the tech leave you with that need to be fixed right away by Dish?
Nothing, however I had the App screen stuck and had to unplug the hopper. That seemed to fix it.

8) After the install: What problems will you'll fix on your own or waiting for Dish to push a software fix?
Nothing, however I had the App screen stuck and had to unplug the hopper. That seemed to fix it.

9) Anything else?

Need to be able to transfer favorite lists between the hopper and Joey.
Enable the Esata port
have a wireless Keyboard.
More events and timers

 

[Brodieb]

Here's a few questions i came up with for people who have finished installation:

1) How many Hopper/Joeys were installed?
1 hopper and 1 joey
2) Were you able to get the best promotional price for the Hopper system?
Yep, $99 and new 2 yr contract
3) Who did the install/upgrade? Dish Network Tech, Retailer, or Third Party Contractor
dish network tech
4) How long did the install take? hours? days?
Approx 2 hours
5) What was the overall install experience?
verygood
6) What problems did you have during the install?
joey does not see hoppers enternet connection I may need to run a separate cable to get it online, all else was smooth
7) After the install: What immediate problems did the tech leave you with that need to be fixed right away by Dish?
joey net connects issue above, said his boss would call me when they had a solution (I am not holding my breath)
8) After the install: What problems will you'll fix on your own or waiting for Dish to push a software fix?
Will likely run a cable to Joey to get it connected
9) Anything else?
pit was the tech's first Hopper install, I knew more tha n he did but he was a great guy. Very positive experience overall.​

Took awhile for them to get to me but overall very happy with process.

 

[Brodieb]

I had the App screen stuck and had to unplug the hopper. That seemed to fix it.

I had the same thing, we reset the hopper and it went away. The tech urged me to avoid that screen for a few days to be safe.

 

[banzai472]

Tech spent 8 hours attempting to setup one hopper and one joey. Never got past step three on the hopper to download the software. Tried three different hoppers. Replaced all the wiring from hopper to outside dish and replaced dish. Still unable to get software downloaded. they are coming back tomorrow.

 

[isaacmorseMI]

Tech spent 8 hours attempting to setup one hopper and one joey. Never got past step three on the hopper to download the software. Tried three different hoppers. Replaced all the wiring from hopper to outside dish and replaced dish. Still unable to get software downloaded. they are coming back tomorrow.

Did they do a factory reset?

 

[Scherrman]

Yes, did they follow the appropriate steps for the install?

 

[banzai472]

Many times. I just did one a few minutes ago. It never gets past the download