Realigning the dish to receive new HD channels ?

[bbd24]

Anybody had to have there dish realigned to receive the new HD channels ? I'm currently getting a reading of 50 for my signal strength on satellite 103 b. Some of the new HD channels come in, but they kinda freeze up or have that breakup feel every now and then. Some, like Animal Planet HD and NESN don't come in at all ( Searching for signal error ).

I called D* and they want to charge me 79.00 to send a service tech out.

Anybody have this same problem ? My other channels come in fine and have come in fine since the dish was installed. Readings of 88 and above on the other satellites ( 110 for example ).

Anybody have any tips on realigning the dish by myself ? Right now, I've tried to realign it, and 67 is my high. I can't get past it for some reason. There is nothing blocking the satellite whatsoever. Nothing there but open space to the skies.

 

[GeorgeLV]

Call them back up again. The CSR should not charge you for realignment if the issue is the new HD channels.

 

[HD#1]

I had my dish realigned two weeks ago, they did not charge me but I do have the protection plan. Do you have the protection plan? my signal were also in the 50s but after it went up to mid 80s. So call D* back they should take care of that for you

 

[Jimbo]

Order the Protection plan and then call them back (7.99 pm)

 

[ONUOsFan]

I called for the same thing and he started to say he was going to charge me the $70, and tried to sell me the protection plan... I didn't say anything and within 10 seconds he said, "well, I can waive the fee for this service call whether you get the protection plan or not."

Of course, I pretty much say "cancel service" every time I call now just because I've had so much better luck with the retention reps.

 

[bbd24]

Well, I called back, got a different rep, and she handled it differently. She looked on the account, I had no protection plan but I told her that when my dish was originally installed that the installer just put the dish up as quickly as possible and I really didn't have that strong of signals overall ( even on 110 ). Which was the truth. So she said, hold on.... When she came back, she said she'd waive the fee and we setup a schedule. Its 2 days from now.

Now that is good. Guess it just depends on the rep you get over there. Or what you tell them.

Truth be told, I questioned the installer when he left my house originally back in April. The signal strength was only in the 80's on some satellite transponders (110, etc. ). He told me, " yeah, there ok right there. You'll be fine. "

Yeah, I'll be fine unless they send out another satellite out.

 

[GeorgeLV]

Order the Protection plan and then call them back (7.99 pm)

That's unnecessary. The installer didn't perform the job in the first place and DirecTV knows that. There was no satellite in the sky to verify 103b alignment. The CSRs will waive the service call fee on this issue every time.

 

[Begemotik]

Definitely call for a re-alignment. My HD signals were in the 40s, and after re-alignment all are in the high 80s and low 90s. All of my other sat signals improved, too. I subscribed to the service plan and then called the next day. No charge was made against my account. :up

Regards,
Jim