Question

[bills976]

I purchased my D* system a little less than a month ago... and still don't have it installed due to snow. Now here's the question: Can I activate the system without the boxes being connected to the dish? I know that they 'hit' the smartcards to authorize programming, but I'm looking to avoid those nasty no-activation penalties. So would it be possible to activate before the system is installed? I know I have the line-of-sight since I have dish and can see the 119 and 110 satellites. All that needs to be done is installing the dish and multiswitch. Thanks.

[bryan27]

You could do it, but you will need to have your receivers out so that you can read the numbers to the CSR.

The biggest problem is when you get everything connected and your cards aren't "authorized" for programming. D* sends little authorization update packages about once a week and unless you are getting a satellite signal and have your receivers pluged in you won't get the update. Once when I left for a month and disconnected everything only to come back to a deactivated card it took three calls to get all of my programming back and having to explain to skeptical CSRs why I didn't receive the authorization update.

I would just call and explain the reason why the equiptment hasn't been installed and see if they give you more time.

[papillo-j]

I am sure that arragements can be made, you might want to talk with customer retention as they seem to have more authority than the regulars who answer the phone.

I do not think that you will have any problems especially if you are willing to pay for the service while you are waiting. You might want to see if they have any kind of suspended state for accounts for something cheap (like 5-10 bucks a month) and if you can get on that program until it is safe to put your dish up.

Take care,

-J

[bills976]

It's been resolved... I was able to install a day before the 30 days were up and I'm enjoying my DirecTivo! Thanks for the responses.