will I be able to setup service?

[aaaruss]

I live in an apartment that is on top floor and has windows and balcony facing south west. (in ny) My lease says i cannot put a dish outside. I cannot have D* send anyone here to do install, since I cannot legally put a dish. So, I bought H20 receiver and 3 LBN dish on Eaby and will do it myself ... shhhh dont tell the landlord. Question is: Will D* activate a new account for me without having one of their people come out? The receiver has a "sealed" (unused) card in it, so there should be no prob with that. Has anyone ever done that?
Thanks,
arek

 

[harshness]

Question is: Will D* activate a new account for me without having one of their people come out?

That's a definite maybe. You had better hope they will because chances are pretty good that if you don't activate it within a rather short time period, you may have to pay a stiff penalty.

I would guess that they will ask you some basic questions to confirm that everything is functional before they turn anything on.

Of course all this assumes that you don't get kicked out of your home for violating the lease...

 

[aaaruss]

Not sure what kind of penalty you are talking about. Can you elaborate? Thanks,
arek

 

[randyk47]

I've self-installed a couple of D* setups without any questions, at least not from D*. After watching a D* subcontractor put in my first setup I went on to buy and install two more setups for family members. This was 4-5 years ago and really pretty simple. Once I got them installed and working I called D* and got them both activated. No questions, no problems. Neither setup had a time limit (i.e., some kind of special or discount base on initiating service with X number of days) so that wasn't an issue. Your lease situation is a whole different problem.

 

[boba]

Not sure what kind of penalty you are talking about. Can you elaborate? Thanks,
arek

You should have been provided with a lease agreement by your dealer."Consequences of your failure to activate programming or satisfy your programming commitment. If you fail to activate all of your DIRECTV equipment in accordance with this Equipment Lease Addendum, you agree that DIRECTV or an authorized DIRECTV Retailer may charge you a fee, as liquidated damages, of $150 for each receiver that is not activated. If you fail to maintain your minimum programming commitment, you agree that DIRECTV may charge you a prorated fee of up to $150 for standard receivers and up to $300 for advanced products/receivers (e,g,, DVR, HD, HD DVR,etc.)."
H20 is a $300 product. Without an AU9 dish you can't receive most of the HD channels no MPEG4 on a phase 3 dish if you don't have a signal from 103 they may not activate the system.

 

[aaaruss]

That is interesting. But I do have a receipt for my purchase (from 3 days ago), so how can I be responsible since I do want to setup service? Of course if they wont let me, I will pass the equipment on. Also, does not the 3 LNB antenna receive HD? ... at least the ones that are available now, and not promised for the future? The 5 LNB antennas are only beginning to be installed ... Right?

 

[Andrewwski]

Only the 12 or 13 old HD channels. Most of the "promised for the future" ones are already broadcasting.

 

[boba]

That is interesting. But I do have a receipt for my purchase (from 3 days ago), so how can I be responsible since I do want to setup service? Of course if they wont let me, I will pass the equipment on. Also, does not the 3 LNB antenna receive HD? ... at least the ones that are available now, and not promised for the future? The 5 LNB antennas are only beginning to be installed ... Right?

5 LNB has been installed for about 2 years now and there are over 40 Mpeg 4 feeds in HDTV. Having a receipt dosen't mean much more than a fool and his money have parted.

 

[Jimbo]

I live in an apartment that is on top floor and has windows and balcony facing south west. (in ny) My lease says i cannot put a dish outside. I cannot have D* send anyone here to do install, since I cannot legally put a dish. So, I bought H20 receiver and 3 LBN dish on Eaby and will do it myself ... shhhh dont tell the landlord. Question is: Will D* activate a new account for me without having one of their people come out? The receiver has a "sealed" (unused) card in it, so there should be no prob with that. Has anyone ever done that?
Thanks,
arek

That's a definite maybe. You had better hope they will because chances are pretty good that if you don't activate it within a rather short time period, you may have to pay a stiff penalty.

I would guess that they will ask you some basic questions to confirm that everything is functional before they turn anything on.

Of course all this assumes that you don't get kicked out of your home for violating the lease...

aaaruss,
You should have NO problem activating with D*.
As long as you have a good signal, tell them that you have a picture on channel 100 and they should be able to activate for you.

as mentioned, you should have went with the 5 LNB set up seing 90 % of the HD is on the 103(b) at this time... you will be able to get the older 8-12 channels that have come in on the 101,110 and 119 for years, at least till the move them to mpeg 4.
As for setting up the dish in the apt, seeing the land lord won't allow them, if you set up in a bedroom looking out the window... I HAVE done this before., it can be done.
Are you sure that you cannot have dishes or you cannot mount them
Do you have a balcony ?, use a concrete bucket and support, keep it out of sight If possible.

Jimbo

 

[aaaruss]

aaaruss,
You should have NO problem activating with D*.
As long as you have a good signal, tell them that you have a picture on channel 100 and they should be able to activate for you.

as mentioned, you should have went with the 5 LNB set up seing 90 % of the HD is on the 103(b) at this time... you will be able to get the older 8-12 channels that have come in on the 101,110 and 119 for years, at least till the move them to mpeg 4.
As for setting up the dish in the apt, seeing the land lord won't allow them, if you set up in a bedroom looking out the window... I HAVE done this before., it can be done.
Are you sure that you cannot have dishes or you cannot mount them
Do you have a balcony ?, use a concrete bucket and support, keep it out of sight If possible.

Jimbo

Thanks for your response, positive and helpful. Some people can be so negative.

I will get the 5 LNB, which should work with the H20 receiver. Is this right? H20 will pick up MPEG 4 signal? What’s a B band converter? The unit comes with it.

Also, I just went through the lease agreement on my apt, and - you are right - it only mentions mounting to the walls or windows, which means I can put up the dish, as long as its not damaging their property. I will mount it to the top of my AC unit since summer is over. And if there is a problem, I will point outside the window.

By the way, I only bought the hardware because I don’t want the D* service to come out. I paid 10 dollars for each, dish and receiver on eBay. That is not a lot in my opinion. No need to throw out names. And a receipt usually goes a long way in the eyes of the law.

Arek

 

[LonghornXP]

Thanks for your response, positive and helpful. Some people can be so negative.

I will get the 5 LNB, which should work with the H20 receiver. Is this right? H20 will pick up MPEG 4 signal? What’s a B band converter? The unit comes with it.

Also, I just went through the lease agreement on my apt, and - you are right - it only mentions mounting to the walls or windows, which means I can put up the dish, as long as its not damaging their property. I will mount it to the top of my AC unit since summer is over. And if there is a problem, I will point outside the window.

By the way, I only bought the hardware because I don’t want the D* service to come out. I paid 10 dollars for each, dish and receiver on eBay. That is not a lot in my opinion. No need to throw out names. And a receipt usually goes a long way in the eyes of the law.

Arek

Don't install it on the AC as this "could" be a fire hazard. I would just get a cement bucket with a mounting pole and install the dish that way. If your on the top floor where nobody can access it this is your safest and best bet. If you have high winds you can always tie the bucket down as well. Just think twice about using the AC unit okay.

 

[HDhysteria]

read this
The FCC issues new satellite dish and antenna regulations

 

[harshness]

But I do have a receipt for my purchase (from 3 days ago), so how can I be responsible since I do want to setup service?

If, for any reason, you don't get the system set up in 30 days, you may feel the benefit of the penalties mentioned above.

Of course if they wont let me, I will pass the equipment on.

Know that anyone with enough credit to establish service can get all of that equipment for free along with a free install.

Also, does not the 3 LNB antenna receive HD?

It receives some HD, but not for long. It doesn't have a view of the four satellites that are planned/located around 99W and 103W (and cannot be converted). The theory holds that by this time next year, most, if not all, of the DIRECTV HD channels will be invisible to the 3 LNB dish.

... at least the ones that are available now, and not promised for the future?

The 30 or so channels that have been turned up in the last month are available to the H20, but require a behemoth 5LNB dish.

 

[aaaruss]

Know that anyone with enough credit to establish service can get all of that equipment for free along with a free install.

Thanks for response. I think I get the idea of how this works. I lease the equipment, and paid for something that is free. I knew this when purchasing the equipment on eBay, but I did not want D* guys come in and try installation. When I described the situation to some dealers locally and over the phone, they told be they will not do it inside an apt and for sure not the way I want to do it. Since I can do it myself, I bought this stuff on line for 20 dollars, and will attempt to install - this is the only way to go around installation by D*. By the way, why don’t dealers give you the equipment if you request to install yourself? They refused to let me do it by myself.

 

[harshness]

By the way, why don’t dealers give you the equipment if you request to install yourself? They refused to let me do it by myself.

Dealers don't get their kickbacks without doing the "professional installation". As I understand it, dealers pay wholesale prices for the receiver and they get a rebate when they do a "successful" lease install. It is also my understanding that dealers are not authorized to retail DIRECTV receivers.

 

[aaaruss]

I got the dish installed and service activated!! The "professional" installers (2 dudes) came in and said inside install cannot be done, even though I put in plexi glass in place of regular glass. They claimed the metal frame would not let the signal pass, plexi would adsorb, ect. (they also wanted to sell me a non-penetrating roof mount for $150, where I explicitly said no roof mounting) I could not convince him. So, after they left I installed the dish I bought on EBay and the receiver, and activated the service. I got $49.99 for 4 months for NFL Pass (it was on sale since 1/4 of season in over) and all channels (250 plus HBO, etc.) WOW what a deal. I get little over 90 percent signal on the satellites through 1/4 inch plexi and metal framing of the window. I think the "professional" installers missed the concept entirely, that a satellite is a point source, and the cone of waves converges from the dish - so that metal frame has nothing to do with signal capture of the dish, as long as is not in the path of the signal. Anyway, goes to show that, as usual, if you don’t do it yourself …. Thanks for your encouragement.
A.