VOOM Installations

[skakusha]

Thanks Sean! I wish I would have checked the forum earlier. I will send out the e-mail. As of right now, the installer is over 2 hours late from the appointment he sent, and I have been on the phone with Voom for about 3 hours, and 6 different people in regards to install charges and credits.

I hope the install goes smoother then this process.

Thanks Again!

 

[riffjim4069]

Fire him? This guy is probably an independent contractor who cares nothing about VoOm nor quality control; he just wants a foot in the door so he can bilk the customer.

...and your wonder why Joe Harkins is no longer in the loop. He probably ran screaming after dealing with so many of these situations

 

[jmartinacevedo]

Guys, thanks for the replies- It just confirms my initial (suspect) reaction to the installer's whacky comments.

Walter, thank you for the link. It shows that I should be able to receive the WB, Fox and a couple other DT channels in addition to the 3 major networks. Heck, I'll be satisfied if I can get CBS alone!

Be that as it may, I just got off the phone with VOOM. They actually had already approved the cost of the upgraded antenna ($175), contrary to the installer's claim. While I was on the phone, the Voom field rep got a hold of the installer, and read him the riot act. According to the Voom CSR, I'll be getting a call from the installer within 24 hours to schedule installation.

I continue to remain impressed by Voom's overall customer service. However, all it takes is a "renegade" installer to bring one back to the sad reality of modern customer service in America. I'm telling you, all along I've felt as though this installation company simply doesn't enjoy doing its job very much ....

As a licensed ham radio operator, and electronics lover, I want to think at least I know a little bit about these matters. However, I can only imagine the level of frustration a "regular" customer could experience as a result of dealing with conflicting, often confusing, and sometimes even wrong technical support given to that person by the installer and/or by an untrained CSR.

Anyhow, I cant' wait to get my locals and start enjoying Voom to the fullest!!!

Martin-

 

[txcruiser]

Wall Fishing Charges

My Voom installation company is quoting me a price of $80 for each outlet that will require wall fishing. I'm looking at a 3 room install next week. Of those 3 rooms , 2 of them will require the lines be pulled from an inside wall. If the walls were ajoining then it would only be $100 ($80 + $20) instead of $160 ($80 + $80). Since mine aren't ajoining, then I'm out $160.

I'm just wondering if this sounds like a fair price to be paying for this service.

 

[tscallions]

The company that is coming out tomorrow to install my Voom has quoted me $50.00 per wall. I have a two room setup so it's going to run me $100.00. I have all the cable and tools to do this myself, but I have never done it before. It is something I would like to learn so I will ask if I can get in the attic and watch him. I have a spool of CAT5 and I'm hoping he will drop that along with the coax so I can tie that into the phone line.

 

[DRich2]

New Install - No HDTV

I just ordered Voom and a Sony HDTV today. Does anyone see a problem if my HDTV isn't here before the Voom install? Can I just hook up any TV to make sure the system is up and working properly? Will the OTA channels still come in fine on a non-HDTV?

I guess the real question is if my HDTV isn't here before the Voom install should I reschedule the Voom install?

Thanks for the help,

David

 

[quincy]

When my voom was installed they used the composite cables for everything, when they left i switched to component and "finally" got hdtv so i wouldn't think it would be such a big deal

 

[babyj]

na it doesnt matter. as long as u can see whats coming out of the regular composite outputs on the stb on some kind of display device you should be ok.

just don't accidentally omg i love hdtv..till u see it on ur new tv.

 

[Yadnus]

Installation Question

I just got my Voom installed today (2 receivers at 2 different rooms), I have an existing D*TV satellite connection right now which uses two coax lines going through my house, since I opted to keep my D*TV connection, the installer had to drill a hole thru the attic and from the attic into the hole of my old D*TV coax lines, and the other V* coax went into a wall above my Theatre Room which the installer had to fish out. I have a couple of questions hopefully you guys could help me.

1. The installer charged me a total of $160.00 for the job. $80.00 for going to the attic, and $40.00 each for fishing the coax from the walls. Can I get a refund for this or I don't have any choice in the matter since I decided to keep my old service? Any of you guys who had the same situation, did you have to pay for the job or is it suppose to be free? What about for people who don't have an existing wire-hook up inside the house, does it mean that in order to get the voom service they have to pay extra for the installation job?

2. The installer told me that since I have 2 TVs on seperate rooms the only way I can get locals on both TVs is through the diplexer, is this true? Moreover, even after installing the diplexer, I only get local channels on my bedroom and not on my Theatre Room which is odd, since they are both coming from the same diplexer, any comments on how to solve this problem?

I have a Sony KV-34HS510 on my bedroom and I have a Mitsubishi WS-55413 on my theatre room, both are set-up on 1080i. My Sony is connected thru the DVI cable while my Mitsubishi is connected thru Component because I already have my Samsung HD-931 connected thru DVI on my Mits.

Thanks for all your help and comments, it's greatly appreciated.

 

[Sean Mota]

1. Don't think you will get refunded for this since he did extra work on the wall fishing and the attic drilling.

2. That's not completly true since he could have taken the OTA coax line and use a splitter to split it to both STB. I would check the connections on the receiver that is not getting the local channels and trace the coax line to the diplexer to see how he connected it. It sounds like a bad connection to that second box.

 

[theph0xx]

Last Couple of Installation Questions B4 I order!

Most likely I'll be placing my order for Voom tomorrow just wanted to clarify a couple more things before I do.

I currently have dishnetwork and will be keeping it along with Voom. The satellite will be mounted on the side of my house that is very close to my television. Most likely the installer will only need to drill through one wall and run the coax inside. This should be free correct?

Also, much has been made about rain fade and satellite outage during rain storms. In my area in the winter time we will often have hard rain. Only once has my satellite feed ever been effected by the rain. Do I have any reason to expect that Voom will be different? It wont be raining here anymore for at least 5 months and I dont want to mess with getting a new larger dish installed at that time.

Thx for the answers!

 

[Ferdy]

According to published guidelines for installation, you wouldn't have to pay for a drilled wall hole----just fished wiring.

I had my install done last week, and I had the installer(s) fish a couple of wires, which, when they first arrived, said would be $40 for each fished wire. After the install (which was their last of the day), they were so impressed with the VOOM system that they sat around for an hour or so (on my invitation) and had a couple of cold ones with me watching the great HD stuff. Never mentioned the charge for the fished wires


About rain fade, VOOM seems to be about the same as Directv or Dish (had both of em at one time or another). I live in the South and only during the worst of thunderstorms (which are coming and going off and on as I write) did the system lose signal.

Enjoy your VOOM and don't forget to be nice to your installer----

 

[The Stone Man]

My installation was done on the same day that the TV was installed. The satellite installer carried his own small TV for hookup testing. It was a little 13 inch K-Mart SD TV that looked like it had done service in Afghanistan, so all you need is something that will show a picture.

 

[bbtkd]

The company that is coming out tomorrow to install my Voom has quoted me $50.00 per wall. I have a two room setup so it's going to run me $100.00. I have all the cable and tools to do this myself, but I have never done it before. It is something I would like to learn so I will ask if I can get in the attic and watch him. I have a spool of CAT5 and I'm hoping he will drop that along with the coax so I can tie that into the phone line.

If he is worth his salt as an installer, he will have the experience and tools to run the Cat5 and terminate it for you. But - don't expect that to be a freebie, especially if you help. While you won't usually find a charge listed on their bill for your helping, they typically don't like it and are more likely to be uncooperative and perhaps charge you more. Offer to help, but be prepared to be refused.

 

[jgantert]

Yeah, no charge for drilling thru the wall.

As for rain fade, I'm in MD, and I notice it is slightly worse than DTV. But it still only happens during strong thunderstorms.

-John

 

[300z]

Happy to

say my Voom Install went OK yesterday.

Joe from Installs Inc. did a great job ( Smyrna/GA/30080 ). I am getting almost all of my local channels (except for PAX and one mexican channel that i don't care about).

Installer used a diplexer.
Antenna is like 10' high from ground with lots of trees around. Dish is like 4'.
I was surprised with good results after installation since Joe had his doubts about if i'll be able to receive signal at all.

I checked today morning and Voom Menu was missing some information and clock was still 1 hour behind.

HD programming looks great but SD is not that good. May be i need to tune some stuff. Any Hints ??? I am watching on Hitachi 42HDT50.

Also, Local and all other programming in 4:3 comes in middle of TV with thick black lines to left and right. I have to change the aspect ratio on TV to 16:9 but that makes picture quality degrade. Any suggestions ???


Paul

 

[Sean Mota]

say my Voom Install went OK yesterday.

Joe from Installs Inc. did a great job ( Smyrna/GA/30080 ). I am getting almost all of my local channels (except for PAX and one mexican channel that i don't care about).

Installer used a diplexer.
Antenna is like 10' high from ground with lots of trees around. Dish is like 4'.
I was surprised with good results after installation since Joe had his doubts about if i'll be able to receive signal at all.

I checked today morning and Voom Menu was missing some information and clock was still 1 hour behind.

HD programming looks great but SD is not that good. May be i need to tune some stuff. Any Hints ??? I am watching on Hitachi 42HDT50.

Also, Local and all other programming in 4:3 comes in middle of TV with thick black lines to left and right. I have to change the aspect ratio on TV to 16:9 but that makes picture quality degrade. Any suggestions ???


Paul

Turn off STB before going to sleep. You will get the new software update and that will synchronize the clock. Don't expect much from SD channels. Some have better quality than others but don't expect a whole lot from any provider on this. Yes the black bars (left and right) on the locals is the way is sent by the local programmer. Stretching SD cahnnel deteriorate PQ there's no way around this from the stb point of view.

Something that you might want to experiment with is to run a composite line to your tv and watch all SD material through composite connection. Some people find this more pleasing than the DVI or component for SD channels.

 

[Stalker]

There is a BIG differnce in how you view HD depending on your connections I will tell you that.

You get your best PQ using a DVI connection so if your Sony has that be sure and use it, and if not the next best one is the composite..thats the red, blue, green jacks, and if your TV is fairly new it should have one or both of those.

 

[mini1]

It is NOT composite. You meant Component video. HD does NOT pass on composite video, only analog does.

 

[wasch_24]

There is a BIG differnce in how you view HD depending on your connections I will tell you that.

You get your best PQ using a DVI connection so if your Sony has that be sure and use it, and if not the next best one is the composite..thats the red, blue, green jacks, and if your TV is fairly new it should have one or both of those.

I hope that "composite" was a typo.