Reception in Snow and rain???

[Hannahsdad]

Hi everybody,
I have been lurking on these forums for a week or so. I am trying to convince my wife to switch to dish network from cable(charter). I want to be prepared for any argument against swithcing. I was talking to coworker of mine and she has Directv, she is unhappy with the reception in rain and snow. Is this a significant problem with satellite tv or is does is depend on the company or subcontactor that installed your system.

 

[KE4EST]

First of all to SatelliteGuys!!

Yes if the dish is installed wrong or future tree growth becomes a problem, then you will have issues. However if it is installed properly you will not have a lot of problems. Well at least on the core Sats.

 

[kstuart]

Hannahsdad - where are you located ?

 

[Hannahsdad]

Thanks for the info. I thought that might be the case. I'm sure there are satellite installers that take pride in their work, however every profession has people who don't know what they are doing. Another question, does it make a difference if I sign up for Dish from a private company or directly from Dish network??? Just wondering.

 

[EricBskiVT]

Thanks for the info. I thought that might be the case. I'm sure there are satellite installers that take pride in their work, however every profession has people who don't know what they are doing. Another question, does it make a difference if I sign up for Dish from a private company or directly from Dish network??? Just wondering.

You probably get the best money deal by going thru Dish, but, in retrospect, I wish I had gone local as both the original installation and the HD upgrade took 3 tries to get the tech on site. My Wildblue internet satellite was done by the local the first try and a subsequent service call was done promptly. I will alway go with the local installer in the future. Once the service is installed by a Dish contractor, any changes are required to be done by the same contractor even if you are not happy with them.
As far as weather problems: I've only lost reception for short periods during the absolutely most extreme weather and I live in Vermont.

 

[goaliebob99]

Hi and welcome! I have had my dish installed for well over 4 years. It is installed in a spot where there is no trees and has a clear line of site to the satellites. Over the 4 years, I have lost my signal once. That was during a "hurricane" in chicago. It only lasted for about 20 min untill the storms passed. Honestly, I should have been in the basment at the time IF you love sports like NFL, NHL, MLB. Go with Direct. IF you love movies and hd go with dish

 

[cparker]

regarding snow.... I live north of Buffalo, NY and just a bit east of Niagara Falls. We get snow. I've had Dish for.... I think about 7 years... probably more... and I have never had to clean snow off my dish. I've seen some of that wet snow that blows sideways and sticks to everything get stuck on the dish itself.... but still never had to clean it off. I did my own install way back then. Subsequent upgrades have been done by a Dish subcontractor and I would not let them take me in that direction again. There's a local satellite and antenna guy I would MUCH prefer , but unfortunately.... I'm stuck with the subcontractor unless I either cancel and start over, or move.

My experience over the years, as far as "rain fade" or "snow fade" has been this:
If the dish is peaked properly, neither of these fade scenarios is significant. I've had my satellite service interrupted by storms a couple of times over the years. Usually VERY briefly (seconds) to a few minutes (maybe 10 minutes) during the passage of some REALLY big storms. Mind you.... when the satellite goes out because of an impending storm.... we take that as a cue to go out and batten down the hatches because it has to be really bad for the service to go out. Once or twice a year would be my estimate of storm outages. I can't honestly remember the last time it happened so it has been a while.

My cable used to go out FAR more often and would be out for hours and hours and several times... days before it was fixed.

As with many things, your mileage may vary. But I see those cable ads on TV talking about how often satellite goes out and they make me laugh.

 

[dave4100]

I have a ground mounted setup with no trees blocking my site lines but everytime it storms, I loose my reception until the storm passes or dies down. Other than that, great reception.

 

[FitzAusTex]

It depends on where you live. I have not seen many E* folks on here with stronger transponder signals than I get, but my service goes out very often with the storms we get in Texas. It was out this morning for over 90 minutes, but to be fair, my property was literally under water at the time.

This morning aside, pretty much EVERY storm I get causes my service to go out. Normally for 10 mins on avg. Sometimes 5 minutes, sometimes 20 mins...

I think it is a problem enough that I've considered going back to Time Warner.

Just wanted to add my 2c, so you'd get an alternate point of view.

For those interested I can post my key transponder strengths (once it stops raining), cause the signal strengths i currently have documented are using the old meter.

 

[EricBskiVT]

Interesting as I hardly ever loose my signal over the past 7 years with lots of snow. But when I lived in VA, it seemed as though cable went out a lot and for long periods of time. Combined with the constant price increases, I vowed never to use cable again.

 

[Fiveft20in]

It is very rare that I lose signal due to rain. In 2-1/2 years, it has probably happened fewer than 10 times and has usually been for a short period of time.

Once in the winter, we had an exceptionally wet snow that stuck to the dish very heavily. I had to tape a broom to a long pole to brush the snow away. That was the only time snow has been a problem but, at the time, it sure made me wish I'd gone with a ground mount instead of high on the side of the house.

My personal feeling - and my wife actually agrees - is that the limited problems with rain/snow fade are far outweighed by the superior picture quality of DISH as compared to cable, not to mention the two-room DVR and the Big Ten Network.

 

[stilllearning]

We live in mid Michigan. We've had Dish for about 2 years now. We have only lost the signal 6 or 7 times, and that was during very heavy rains. We have never lost a signal due to snow. We came from Charter. There is no comparison. The Dish picture is always very clear and except for the very few times that we lost signal we haven't had any problems. I highly recommend that you dump Charter. They are a total joke.

 

[Charise]

Hi, I probably live fairly near you, and I can attest to what the others are saying. My satellite tv reception goes out far less frequently than my cable connection (back when I had cable) and for 5-10 minutes. Cable used to go out and stay out for hours.

Good luck! I know you'll really enjoy satellite tv!

 

[huskerpat]

I lose signal in really, really heavy rain storms. I'd say it's happened 4 or 5 times this summer.

 

[MartyB]

Here in Indiana, during our first year with Dish, we never lost signal at all. This summer has been a bit different though - we had a lot of heavy storms roll through and we lost signal 4 or 5 times for about 5 minutes each time. As for snow? Had only 1 problem with snow. None of these issues would convince me to go back to cable, though. Dish is less expensive, more channels to choose from, and the picture quality outweighs everything else. Like others had mentioned, our cable used to go out WAY more than our Dish ever has.

 

[charlesrshell]

I just switched to Dish from Charter last week. Haven't had to experience any storms yet. But, if you are use to Charter's MOXI or their Motorola 3416s be prepared for a difference. I was very surprised how the VIP722 lacks several neat features that we were use too with the Charter's DVRs. I have had a little experience with a relatives Direct TV TIVO and it was more superior to the 722 too. The MOXI is really awesome. But, I have made the switch so I will have to get use to the lacking of the 722. The main reason I switched was Charter's MOXIs were getting old and they were not getting in more units. So they switched to the 3416 DVR. It kept breaking down or not working correctly. I had heard that the 622/722 were pretty good in performance area and so far my two 722s are working good. Just wished they had some of the neater features that the MOXI has.

 

[hrxtreme]

tale of who you talk to. I have a 1000.2 dish and have since they first came out. Re-Installed it myself. Signal only ever drops when a giant thundercloud forms over the mountains to the southwest and block 129 from coming in. 110 and 119 never give me problem. Dish is in a bucket I had my original dish on which I proceeded to bury when I moved. During our blizzards last year, never really lost signal.

My parents, had their Dish 1000 installed professionally. They lose signal on all sats during bad thunderstorms regularly but fare well thru snow. Their dish is on the back of their house.

My wife folks lose signal all the time in snow but not rain. Their dish is on their roof.

 

[DVDDAD]

I just switched to Dish from Charter last week. Haven't had to experience any storms yet. But, if you are use to Charter's MOXI or their Motorola 3416s be prepared for a difference. I was very surprised how the VIP722 lacks several neat features that we were use too with the Charter's DVRs. I have had a little experience with a relatives Direct TV TIVO and it was more superior to the 722 too. The MOXI is really awesome. But, I have made the switch so I will have to get use to the lacking of the 722. The main reason I switched was Charter's MOXIs were getting old and they were not getting in more units. So they switched to the 3416 DVR. It kept breaking down or not working correctly. I had heard that the 622/722 were pretty good in performance area and so far my two 722s are working good. Just wished they had some of the neater features that the MOXI has.

What are those features that the MOXI has that you wished the 622/722 had? Just curious.

 

[charlesrshell]

I will do a new thread in couple of weeks. I had a reatailer install my dish 1000+ and he will be coming back soon to install another dish 500 for 61.5. I will double check with him that maybe it is me not knowing the 722 yet. After I talk to him I will do a thread for the features that the 722 lacks.

 

[misbehaving]

I live in central Arkansas and I have had my Dish installed for three weeks now. In that time I have lost my signal 3-4 times for approximately 15 minutes each time due to a thunderstorm. My in-laws have had Dish for much longer and they tell us that they lose their signal as well during thunderstorms.

This is the south and thunderstorms are a way of life down here. I am still glad I switched from cable to Dish for the high definition, but that doesn't mean that all of the outages sit well with me.