narcolept
10-14-07, 08:50 PM
Well, with the plethora of install horror stories, I figured I'd toss out a good one in case any of the other visitors in NEPA are feeling apprehensive. I am located in Pittston, PA (18640).
I had my install scheduled for 8-12 yesterday (Saturday, Oct 13th) morning. At 8:45, Darien (spelling?) from Hallsted Communications, showed up in my driveway. This company is based out of New York, but has local offices and my installer was from Scranton. He immediately unpacked the Slimline dish and stacked my HR20 and D11 inside my door, then walked around the back of the house, helped my select a location on the low roof for the dish, then surveyed the basement.
Once we selected a good spot, he grabbed his tools, went into the basement, drilled a hole in the baseboard under the deck, fished the wire through, and went to work installing the dish. At this point, I climbed under the deck and fished the wire up for him to the low roof to save him some time. He was very agreeable about wire locations, as I'm currently having siding installed he agreed it was best to go where the wiring could be buried under the new siding. At this point, he grabbed his meter and aligned the dish, which took him about 4 minutes to have solid tones on each alignment point.
He then hooked up the cable to the dish, using compression (of course) for each end, and slapping boots on each connection. At this point, after he routed the wiring between the roof and the gutter so it was totally out of sight, he was done on the roof, so it was back to the basement.
From there, he finished the wiring up into the living room wall for the HR20, and snaked the single cable for D11 in the bedroom out under the new siding, and with a barrel connector and boot into the existing RG6 running up to the bedroom.
After that, he unpacked the HR20 and D11, put them in their respective places, hooking up the D11 first since it was just RG6 and cables to the TV. We then discussed my cabling options for the HR20-100, which he cut the tape on the box for in front of me, just like the D11. After it was all hooked up, he got to checking signal and activation, then forced an update on the HR20. He then took this time to explain everything to me and go over the paperwork. After the software update was complete and the HR20 rebooted, he asked me to sign off on the install and was on his way. I had offered him a drink during this, and he declined, saying he had a cooler in the truck so he'd be good for the day. My wife was even cooking breakfast and I offered him food while he was wrapping up, but he let me know he stops at Dunkin' Donuts every morning so he's not distracted.
All in all, a very professional and courteous installer who went out of his way to make sure everything was OK, while working quickly and effectively. He left shortly before 11am, and I dropped off my HD DVR at Comcast shortly after 11am. Just under 2 hours of total working time, and everything was 100% complete.
Yes, he did get a nice tip, and yes, I will be forwarding a version of my positive story to D* and Halsted themselves. I figured this was a good post to make, as too often we only see the bad stories, and I hadn't seen anything regarding Halsted, although if this installer is any indication of their people in this area, they are A-OK in my book.
I've been chugging along the last two days without any issues, although I should note that my 103(b) signal strength seems to fluctuate between 58 and 75%, so I may have to look into either adjusting it a little bit myself or just having the dish re-aligned. That's minor though, and at this point not service affecting, plus with all the posts about 103(b) it looks like lots of installers are having issues with it, so I can deal with it being a little low and working for now.
Thanks for reading my POSITIVE rant. :D
I had my install scheduled for 8-12 yesterday (Saturday, Oct 13th) morning. At 8:45, Darien (spelling?) from Hallsted Communications, showed up in my driveway. This company is based out of New York, but has local offices and my installer was from Scranton. He immediately unpacked the Slimline dish and stacked my HR20 and D11 inside my door, then walked around the back of the house, helped my select a location on the low roof for the dish, then surveyed the basement.
Once we selected a good spot, he grabbed his tools, went into the basement, drilled a hole in the baseboard under the deck, fished the wire through, and went to work installing the dish. At this point, I climbed under the deck and fished the wire up for him to the low roof to save him some time. He was very agreeable about wire locations, as I'm currently having siding installed he agreed it was best to go where the wiring could be buried under the new siding. At this point, he grabbed his meter and aligned the dish, which took him about 4 minutes to have solid tones on each alignment point.
He then hooked up the cable to the dish, using compression (of course) for each end, and slapping boots on each connection. At this point, after he routed the wiring between the roof and the gutter so it was totally out of sight, he was done on the roof, so it was back to the basement.
From there, he finished the wiring up into the living room wall for the HR20, and snaked the single cable for D11 in the bedroom out under the new siding, and with a barrel connector and boot into the existing RG6 running up to the bedroom.
After that, he unpacked the HR20 and D11, put them in their respective places, hooking up the D11 first since it was just RG6 and cables to the TV. We then discussed my cabling options for the HR20-100, which he cut the tape on the box for in front of me, just like the D11. After it was all hooked up, he got to checking signal and activation, then forced an update on the HR20. He then took this time to explain everything to me and go over the paperwork. After the software update was complete and the HR20 rebooted, he asked me to sign off on the install and was on his way. I had offered him a drink during this, and he declined, saying he had a cooler in the truck so he'd be good for the day. My wife was even cooking breakfast and I offered him food while he was wrapping up, but he let me know he stops at Dunkin' Donuts every morning so he's not distracted.
All in all, a very professional and courteous installer who went out of his way to make sure everything was OK, while working quickly and effectively. He left shortly before 11am, and I dropped off my HD DVR at Comcast shortly after 11am. Just under 2 hours of total working time, and everything was 100% complete.
Yes, he did get a nice tip, and yes, I will be forwarding a version of my positive story to D* and Halsted themselves. I figured this was a good post to make, as too often we only see the bad stories, and I hadn't seen anything regarding Halsted, although if this installer is any indication of their people in this area, they are A-OK in my book.
I've been chugging along the last two days without any issues, although I should note that my 103(b) signal strength seems to fluctuate between 58 and 75%, so I may have to look into either adjusting it a little bit myself or just having the dish re-aligned. That's minor though, and at this point not service affecting, plus with all the posts about 103(b) it looks like lots of installers are having issues with it, so I can deal with it being a little low and working for now.
Thanks for reading my POSITIVE rant. :D