Thinking about Dish Network...

[Xiteer]

So the wife and I have cut the cord for about two years now but we are thinking of going back to the Pay TV people. We've been really happy with Netflix and other streaming options but sometimes you just want to channel surf for a while and the newest Dish offer might have swayed us.

In the past we've had:

• Time Warner Cable
• DirecTV (Still have a big ole DirecTV dish hanging off my roof)

Our setup is:

• Living Room HD - Convenient to cable drop that is wired to the DirecTV distribution system in the attic.
• Bed Room HD - Current room configuration is not near the cable drop that is wired to the DirecTV distribution system in the attic.
• Guest Room HD - Its not super important that this room is connected to Dish Network, it has an OTA antenna wired to the TV that gets all the locals plus a roku stick that gets Netflix which keeps guests entertained. Would be a bonus but probably not worth extra $7 mo ($168 for term of agreement).

Requirements:

• No cables are to be ran around the outside of the house, this is not negotiable. Everything must come into the attic with a dish on the roof; this one would be a deal breaker.
• Need to connect system to the internet to get the full deal; office has the router and only one cable drop that is wired to the cable company for cable internet so we will likely be in a wireless internet situation for the Dish system.
• Have a bonus in the guest room (previously the office) because I had two cable drops installed there; one is hooked to the cable system for Cable Internet, the other is wired to the DirecTV distribution system in the attic; this was to support the DirecTV "Media adapter" that hooked the DirecTV system to the internet; paid extra to installer to fish the new drop through the walls in there but with the current room's use and configuration its probably not worth using again unless absolutely required.

My questions:

• Will the Dish Network installer pull off the DirecTV dish and replace it with a Dish Network model? Should I have any concerns about roof leaks during this process? Its attached directly to the shingles on my roof.
• Will the Dish Network installer loath me for telling him we aren't going to go for the "run the cables around the house and drill some holes" install method.
• Will the Dish Network installer be able to utilize the existing DirecTV infrastructure in the house to make the install not horrible?
• I'm thinking my equipment purchase would be:
  • Hopper w/ Sling - Connected to Internet with wireless bridge.
  • Joey (Wireless/Super/Normal??) for other room. Wireless Joey seems nice for bedroom because we won't have to reconfigure the room to have the tv near the cable drop.. what do I lose with wireless Joey? What do I gain with Super Joey?

Sorry for all the info; hopefully this is enough to help you understand my situation.

If anyone has a few minutes to answer my questions and passes me your referral code I'd be happy to use it when / if I activate service.

 

[darrengs]

So the wife and I have cut the cord for about two years now but we are thinking of going back to the Pay TV people. We've been really happy with Netflix and other streaming options but sometimes you just want to channel surf for a while and the newest Dish offer might have swayed us.

In the past we've had:

• Time Warner Cable
• DirecTV (Still have a big ole DirecTV dish hanging off my roof)

Our setup is:

• Living Room HD - Convenient to cable drop that is wired to the DirecTV distribution system in the attic.
• Bed Room HD - Current room configuration is not near the cable drop that is wired to the DirecTV distribution system in the attic.
• Guest Room HD - Its not super important that this room is connected to Dish Network, it has an OTA antenna wired to the TV that gets all the locals plus a roku stick that gets Netflix which keeps guests entertained. Would be a bonus but probably not worth extra $7 mo ($168 for term of agreement).

Requirements:

• No cables are to be ran around the outside of the house, this is not negotiable. Everything must come into the attic with a dish on the roof; this one would be a deal breaker.
• Need to connect system to the internet to get the full deal; office has the router and only one cable drop that is wired to the cable company for cable internet so we will likely be in a wireless internet situation for the Dish system.
• Have a bonus in the guest room (previously the office) because I had two cable drops installed there; one is hooked to the cable system for Cable Internet, the other is wired to the DirecTV distribution system in the attic; this was to support the DirecTV "Media adapter" that hooked the DirecTV system to the internet; paid extra to installer to fish the new drop through the walls in there but with the current room's use and configuration its probably not worth using again unless absolutely required.

My questions:

• Will the Dish Network installer pull off the DirecTV dish and replace it with a Dish Network model? Should I have any concerns about roof leaks during this process? Its attached directly to the shingles on my roof.
• Will the Dish Network installer loath me for telling him we aren't going to go for the "run the cables around the house and drill some holes" install method.
• Will the Dish Network installer be able to utilize the existing DirecTV infrastructure in the house to make the install not horrible?
• I'm thinking my equipment purchase would be:
  • Hopper w/ Sling - Connected to Internet with wireless bridge.
  • Joey (Wireless/Super/Normal??) for other room. Wireless Joey seems nice for bedroom because we won't have to reconfigure the room to have the tv near the cable drop.. what do I lose with wireless Joey? What do I gain with Super Joey?

Sorry for all the info; hopefully this is enough to help you understand my situation.

If anyone has a few minutes to answer my questions and passes me your referral code I'd be happy to use it when / if I activate service.

The installer will leave the mounting plate if they remove the dish, this way it will not leak. If you want to use the existing mount there are adapters out there, you would need to have it prior to the install.

What type/rated cable do you currently have in the house?

How many cables from your existing dish are there? Are you willing to wire yourself prior to the install?

For your equipment choices:
Hopper with sling is already wireless, and can be placed in bridging mode so your Joeys have access as well.
If you go Super Joey you will gain 2 more tuners, as you stated if you go wireless Joey you won't need to run a cable.

 

[Xiteer]

House has RG6 cable in the walls. I'm unsure how many cables are from the dish to the attic. If I remember correctly 2 or 3. I'm not willing to do any cabling myself but I am willing to pay extra to have it done the way I want it.


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[darrengs]

If your RG6 is rated for 3000mhz you will be fine. And if you are willing to pay for the installation the way you want, I don't see any issues.

PS: I sent a referral code if you decide to sign up.

 

[ChadT41]

House has RG6 cable in the walls. I'm unsure how many cables are from the dish to the attic. If I remember correctly 2 or 3. I'm not willing to do any cabling myself but I am willing to pay extra to have it done the way I want it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I sent you a private message, let me know if that helps out. As far as cabling goes, the tech is going to do it your way if he wants to get paid, as long as it fits in the standard installation. Everything you have mentioned sounds as if it falls squarely under standard installation. If he does not want to do it your way, do not sign the paperwork and call in and reschedule the appointment for a different tech. Leaves the ball in his court.

 

[Xiteer]

Thanks for all the help! I've scheduled an install for tomorrow using darrengs's code (first to the punch) but I really appreciate the help from everyone.

 

[ChadT41]

LOL Get it DARRENG... we are all friends here. Glad you are getting what you want and do not be hesitant to come ask questions if you have any, or comment on your feels about a specific topic here. We may give eachother crap, but for the most part, we are pretty good at helping. By the way... To SATELLITE GUYS

 

[JM42]

Thanks for all the help! I've scheduled an install for tomorrow using darrengs's code (first to the punch) but I really appreciate the help from everyone.

As others have stated you should be fine with the install. Techs will usually want to use existing cable if they can.

We talk about CSR roulette on the board, and Techs can be the same to some degree. I recently had a tech call (other than moving, my first in 15 years) to relocate the dish because of growing trees, the first tech originally said trees had to be trimmed. When I suggested switching from Western Arc to Eastern Arc, he checked and said there were other trees in the way (not surprised, but wasn't sure), when I finally said "how about a pole mount HERE" (where I knew it would work) he was visibly frustrated, but agreed. He called in a work order to mark the lines in the yard and left. The first tech was professional and polite, but wanted to get by with as little as he could and leave. The Tech that came out next to actually do the pole mount was the polar opposite, did a full survey of the yard, suggested some other possibilities we finally agreed were probably not any better than the pole mount. He wasn't trying to get away from the pole mount to make the job easier (one of the locations would have been more work) he was trying to avoid a mount in the front yard for cosmetic reasons. He cared about what he was doing. That second tech got a very nice tip.

It will likely all be fine from the get-go but if your tech is more like the first tech I had, be polite but insistent on what you want/need. Assume what you want should be standard and let them tell you otherwise.

 

[Xiteer]

It will likely all be fine from the get-go but if your tech is more like the first tech I had, be polite but insistent on what you want/need. Assume what you want should be standard and let them tell you otherwise.

Thanks for the tips! I'll report back this afternoon with how everything went in case anyone is curious.

 

[Xiteer]

Just wanted to report back. Successful install yesterday and I've been having a lot of fun playing with the hopper and my wireless joey. Tech was in and out in about 2 hours; did the install exactly the way I wanted it at no extra charge.

I found it odd that he didn't ask me to sign anything, after he left I was emailed my contract with a space for my signature, but without a signature -- is that normal?

Also -- The DishAnywhere deal doesn't seem to work. My app tells me "Invalid Finder ID" and the web version loads then just spins and spins (never shows any content, guide ETC). How long should it take for all of that stuff to work?

 

[ChadT41]

That is normal. Give it 72 hours to work, and should in theory be fine. If after 72 hours it is not fine, then PM a dirt member, and they will submit a problem report with your account and box info to get the Invalid Finder ID fixed.

 

[KAB]

To add to Chad's comment, and as said many times before, "Patience, Grasshopper".

 

[Xiteer]

Wow you guys are fast! Thanks for the quick response. I'll give it a few more days before I contact DIRT. Is it bad that I'm already thinking that maybe I should add a Super Joey to get more tuners? I think perhaps we should let our usage stabilize a little bit before we overbuy

 

[ChadT41]

I would recommend the SJ honestly. 3 tuners for a household of even 2 people is not very much to work with.

 

[Bobby]

I might agree with Chad here. I've had a Hopper and 2 Joeys, for 2 of us, for 4 years and there are times that I could use those extra 2 tuners....

 

[ChadT41]

The only reason I wouldn't suggest two hoppers for a 2 TV setup, is for folks that are not like us and power users... They still get full integration with the SJ. I would never get one hopper SJ, but like many here, I have a particular setup for a particular reason. The average consumer I would recommend to just get the SJ until a single greater tuner hopper comes out.

 

[darrengs]

If you do decide SJ touch base with DiRT see what they can do for you. Happy to hear the install went well, I know that was your main concern.

 

[KAB]

Just two of us and we rarely ever have recording conflicts, mostly thanks to PTAT. And if we, do it can usually be resolved by just recording a cable show at a later time. That's a trick many forget about.

 

[jcanavera]

Some contractor techs are lazy and may not check if your Rg6 is 3000 MHz rated. This is absolutely required for the connections between the Dish and your Hopper. The contractor who did my Hopper installation didn't do this and used my existing RG 6. I ended up having to call Dish due to excessive pixilation. A Dish company installer came back and quickly determined that the cabling wasn't up to specs and pulled a new properly rated cable to the Hopper. No problems since then. The company folks aren't really happy with the job that some contractors are doing. I get a new Hopper Saturday along with 2 wireless Joey's. Note that the wireless Joey's require a Dish installed wireless router that will talk to the Joey's via the 5 MHz frequency


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[niembre]

The Super Joey is the way to go