View Full Version : Question for Floridians
Hey guys am new to the forums, but not new to DirecTV. I had DirecTV Service in New York for over 7 year, but now I moved to Florida (Boynton Beach) about 1 month ago. I just want to know how bad is the service interruption in Florida since its always rainy and cloudy? Because in New York when it rains it and gets cloudy I would get service interruption for few mins. So please let me know, because I do not want to go with comcast. Thanks in advance.
Hey guys am new to the forums, but not new to DirecTV. I had DirecTV Service in New York for over 7 year, but now I moved to Florida (Boynton Beach) about 1 month ago. I just want to know how bad is the service interruption in Florida since its always rainy and cloudy? Because in New York when it rains it and gets cloudy I would get service interruption for few mins. So please let me know, because I do not want to go with comcast. Thanks in advance.
It goes out for a few minutes during the nasty afternoon storms that roll through. Nothing horrid, but you will get some streaks of it happening every day during the rainy season.
Make sure your dish is installed properly and braced correctly as every so often it becomes a bit "breezy" down here (Some folks call them hurricanes).
RarefiedAir24
07-09-08, 02:42 PM
Hey guys am new to the forums, but not new to DirecTV. I had DirecTV Service in New York for over 7 year, but now I moved to Florida (Boynton Beach) about 1 month ago. I just want to know how bad is the service interruption in Florida since its always rainy and cloudy? Because in New York when it rains it and gets cloudy I would get service interruption for few mins. So please let me know, because I do not want to go with comcast. Thanks in advance.
It all really depends which way the storm is coming from.. I'm down in Plantation (which is south of you)
When the clouds come rolling in from the Everglades (out west) the signal will go out, regardless if it's raining or not.. I've come to find out it's not so much the rain as it is the clouds filled with the water vapor that the signal can't penetrate..
Other times it can be downpouring with the cloud relatively directly over the house and the signal is fine..
fl panthers
07-09-08, 03:11 PM
Hey guys am new to the forums, but not new to DirecTV. I had DirecTV Service in New York for over 7 year, but now I moved to Florida (Boynton Beach) about 1 month ago. I just want to know how bad is the service interruption in Florida since its always rainy and cloudy? Because in New York when it rains it and gets cloudy I would get service interruption for few mins. So please let me know, because I do not want to go with comcast. Thanks in advance.
welcome to dbs talk
i live just north of hypoluxo off military.the last month has been thunderstorms coming in from the west and southwest.they are so tall that many times lately i have lost signal 5 to 10 min before it even starts raining.once the storm is overhead and finishing out west signal returns.it's just that time of year won't be so bad out of rainy season or if the weather pattern is from east to west
MIAMI1683
07-09-08, 03:16 PM
I never thought it was "bad". The afternoon storms "used" to pass through before I got home. So it never really affected me, but on weekend maybe 5 minutes or so.
dharrismco
07-09-08, 03:20 PM
I live near Orlando and while in really heavy downpours it will go out, it is pretty infrequent.. The MPEG4 HD goes out a little more frequently than the SD.. But I'd still place it at a couple of days on average between issues.. and usually only 2-3 minutes.. depending on the storm of course :)
Hey guys am new to the forums, but not new to DirecTV. I had DirecTV Service in New York for over 7 year, but now I moved to Florida (Boynton Beach) about 1 month ago. I just want to know how bad is the service interruption in Florida since its always rainy and cloudy? Because in New York when it rains it and gets cloudy I would get service interruption for few mins. So please let me know, because I do not want to go with comcast. Thanks in advance.
Sounds like your dish in NY needed to have its signal tuned. It shouldn't go out when it just rains and gets cloudy. It goes out when it's really raining cats and dogs, and not necessarily raining on you, but raining really hard to the southwest where your dish is pointing. I use it as an early warning system. Time to put down the umbrella, roll up the car windows, bring in the dog. I'm not in Flordia much lately, but we get some pretty big boomers here too.
RunnerFL
07-09-08, 04:33 PM
I'm just North of you in Lake Worthless... It's not bad at all. Like Ken said it does tend to go out during the usual afternoon thunderstorms in the Summer but usually not for very long. As long as your dish is well aimed you shouldn't be without signal for more than 5~10 minutes unless we're in the middle of a hurricane.
RD in Fla
07-09-08, 06:56 PM
I'm on the West Coast in SW Fla. and rarely lose my signal - only when the storms come from the southwest which is rare. We do have occasional power outages (typically no more than a few seconds at a time) so I have each of my DVRs on a UPS.
saleen351
07-09-08, 09:00 PM
Here in lauderdale, it's not bad at all. Get the DVR and it won't matter, set all your shows to record late, nothing during the afternoon, and you are fine. No issues during football season. It's really a non issue. My dish is bolted to my balcony railing plus a leg bolted into the floor of my balcony, she's solid like a rock, been thru 6 hurricanes.
sacalait
07-10-08, 06:20 AM
Since everyone else from S. Florida already answered the question...
I would just like to say: :welcome_s to DBS and S. Florida.
HarleyD
07-10-08, 06:36 AM
When the tallest, heaviest thunderheads are to your southwest you may experience service interruption but it normally doesn't last long. I'd say over the 365 days in a year I experience less than a total of 24 hours of service disruption.
During the rainy season (June - Sept) when the Gulf breeze and the Atlantic breeze collide over land and cause rain I may or may not lose my signal once a week for about 10 minutes on an average. Your mileage may vary on the coastline. I'm what they call in an "inland area" (Polk County). We actually get more of the afternoon showers inland because no matter which way the prevailing winds drive the front it usually passes across me.
I've actually had my signal go out when the storms were to my southwest and I was in sunshine and not experiencing rain and by the time the rain was directly overhead I got my signal back. It depends on the location and movement of the front and how tall the storms are.
Based on our summer rain patterns (late afternoon nearly every day all summer here in Winter Haven) unless you are retired/unemployed and have a HUGE attachment to the Judge shows that are on all afternoon you won't have any intolerable problems.
I rarely notice it.
SledDog
07-10-08, 06:46 AM
Welcome to South Florida..... Boy, I'm I glad I live in Central Florida...
Anyway.... The longest service outage I've had is 20 minutes. That was last week when we had extreme storms in my area. I didn't get much rain, but the area south of me was covered by a very slow moving storm. Other than that, no problems...
Enjoy your new home! I hope your Hurricane insurance is not too high, if you can find someone to insure you... Be careful on I-95, the drivers on that road would rather run you down, then slow down. It isn't much better on Congress or Jog... I hope you are looking forward to the crush of snowbirds and tourists from October to Easter.....
Yep... I'm looking forward to retiring and leaving Florida! But, to each his own...
:welcome_s
There's one other thing to remember in Florida. There are a LOT of lightning strikes here. A LOT! (It's worst in the center of the state). So...make sure and use a quality UPS and ground your dish.
sngalla
07-10-08, 07:31 AM
There's one other thing to remember in Florida. There are a LOT of lightning strikes here. A LOT! (It's worst in the center of the state). So...make sure and use a quality UPS and ground your dish.
I second that motion. Spend the money on an APC battery backup and you'll be golden. FPL says they're ready for hurricanes but the power goes out on normal days, so whatever.
As everyone here said, as long as your dish is aligned properly, you shouldn't have too many issues with fade. It's the tall thunderclouds that block the signal to the south, not necessarily the rain. Our first dish, installed in 1998, was installed during a tropical storm and the signal was fine.
JeffBowser
07-10-08, 07:38 AM
Every day ? As a 10 yr Boca Raton satellite subscriber, I can most definately state that I have never experienced a daily disruption.
I do agree that most of the outtages rarely exceed a few minutes, though.
It goes out for a few minutes during the nasty afternoon storms that roll through. Nothing horrid, but you will get some streaks of it happening every day during the rainy season.
Make sure your dish is installed properly and braced correctly as every so often it becomes a bit "breezy" down here (Some folks call them hurricanes).
mystic7
07-10-08, 07:46 AM
Your biggest mistake was leaving NY for Florida. See you in North Carolina real soon.
JeffBowser
07-10-08, 08:04 AM
This thread is for rain-fade questions pertaining to our area of Florida, not a place for short-term carpetbaggers to express their frustrations.
Your biggest mistake was leaving NY for Florida. See you in North Carolina real soon.
RunnerFL
07-10-08, 11:00 AM
There's one other thing to remember in Florida. There are a LOT of lightning strikes here. A LOT! (It's worst in the center of the state). So...make sure and use a quality UPS and ground your dish.
Up until a year or so ago Palm Beach County was the "Lightning Capital Of The World" with more strikes than anywhere else in the world.
Every day ? As a 10 yr Boca Raton satellite subscriber, I can most definately state that I have never experienced a daily disruption.
I do agree that most of the outtages rarely exceed a few minutes, though.
Yes, as I stated there have been streaks where there has been a short outage everyday for several days. The last time was about a month back when not surprisingly we had a short bad thunderstorm roll in from the Southwest everyday during that period. Perhaps you've never seen that either during your 10 years in Boca Raton?
The reason we notice it here is because we work from home and that's the time we record a show for our son. If you didn't have your TV on, weren't home, weren't recording a show at that time. etc....you wouldn't notice.
I'm relieved that at least some part of my post meets with your approval though.
Up until a year or so ago Palm Beach County was the "Lightning Capital Of The World" with more strikes than anywhere else in the world.
While not satellite related...another little reminder for new folks here. If you're at a public park/golf course, etc and you hear strange alarms going off they may be the incoming lightning warnings...it's a good idea to get to a safe place quickly.
JeffBowser
07-10-08, 11:34 AM
:confused: Have I offended you somehow ?
Yes, as I stated there have been streaks where there has been a short outage everyday for several days. The last time was about a month back when not surprisingly we had a short bad thunderstorm roll in from the Southwest everyday during that period. Perhaps you've never seen that either during your 10 years in Boca Raton?
The reason we notice it here is because we work from home and that's the time we record a show for our son. If you didn't have your TV on, weren't home, weren't recording a show at that time. etc....you wouldn't notice.
I'm relieved that at least some part of my post meets with your approval though.
armophob
07-10-08, 11:45 AM
The only thing I have to add is that the HD channels can be affected in a small storm where the SD's would not. But it takes a real good storm to affect it for any period of time.
dragonbait
07-10-08, 11:58 AM
Yes, as I stated there have been streaks where there has been a short outage everyday for several days. The last time was about a month back when not surprisingly we had a short bad thunderstorm roll in from the Southwest everyday during that period.
The reason we notice it here is because we work from home and that's the time we record a show for our son. If you didn't have your TV on, weren't home, weren't recording a show at that time. etc....you wouldn't notice.
I had the same experience during that time as I work from home as well.
iceturkee
07-10-08, 12:00 PM
i'm in daytona and my service will go out, maybe, 10 minutes max. but i notice that more with my h20 than with my hr20's. and my dish may be in need of a tweak too.
ralphfurley
07-10-08, 01:57 PM
I am in Plantation as well... I have 2 HR20s hooked up to sidecar dish; rarely an issue in heavy rains. it has to be a real gullywasher to interrupt signal. The rest of my receivers are on the old 3LNB dish. that tends to have more rain fade issues. it is pole mounted and i think the wind is the real culprit most of the time. All in all, a little rain fade is better than dealing with COMCRAP
Wow!! Didn't expect so much replys. Thanks a lot guys you made my choice much easier. Thank god I don't have to go with comcast, am getting my dish set up on Monday. and Again thanks and great forum by the way.
Yeah, don't go with Comcast... I had Comcast here in Boca, and the best thing I did was switch EVERYTHING over to D* in the house.
Rain fade is a small issue, but the amount of time that cable went out was significantly higher than the rain fade that I get with D*.
When you do install, make sure that the dish is properly aligned and peaked. That will minimize the rain fade issues that occur.
:welcome_s
Scott in FL
07-11-08, 06:45 AM
I just want to know how bad is the service interruption in Florida since its always rainy and cloudy?
Our weather's not THAT bad!
There's not much I can add to everything that's been said so far, except to agree. One thing I might add is it's really nice to have an OTA antenna as back up. If you're watching a local tv station when a thunderstorm rolls in, you can switch to the tv antenna.
And a battery backup is really a wise idea with all the short power failures. My receiver resets every time the power goes out, sometimes messing up the DVR. I finally bit the bullet and ordered a 1300 kva APC for my receiver, tv and stereo.
justlgi
07-11-08, 07:10 AM
The afternoon thunderstorms don't suck near as bad as Comcast. At least with a thunderstorm you'll have a reason for your service to be out for a few minutes. My parents have Comcast and frequently have outages for days sometimes that have nothing to do with weather. This includes their home phone and internet. I don't know why they put up with it.
/Actually I do, they were duped in with the "triple play" wham bam thank you ma ‘am special. :nono2:
Hey guys am new to the forums, but not new to DirecTV. I had DirecTV Service in New York for over 7 year, but now I moved to Florida (Boynton Beach) about 1 month ago. I just want to know how bad is the service interruption in Florida since its always rainy and cloudy? Because in New York when it rains it and gets cloudy I would get service interruption for few mins. So please let me know, because I do not want to go with comcast. Thanks in advance.
Mr. P,
Umm...I didn't notice the "always" when I first read your post. While for a few months a year you may get a nasty thunderstorm that lasts 20 minutes...you will find that rainy/cloudy ain't really the case in SE Florida. Bring lots of sunscreen..and forget about the weather reports...you won't need them as you can expect everyday to be sunny and warm.
Milkman
07-11-08, 07:59 AM
I can tell you that if your dish is tuned properly, it will have to be a pretty bad downpour/storm for your satellite to go out. During normal Florida rain storms I normally watch my TV without incident, only during the heaviest downpour does it actually go out.
petergaryr
07-11-08, 08:14 AM
I'm in North Florida (Jacksoville area), and a number of the things mentioned apply here as well. I rarely lose the signal due to rain fade. What affects me more and brief power outages (and I do mean brief---like 30 seconds or so).
I have a UPS on virtually everything. It is especially important on the two DVRs. It avoids the 5-10 minute "reset" each time there is an uninterruption.
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