really how often does your service go out?

[vdubbed81]

This question is directed more towards anyone in the northeast, but anyone can contribute. I'm currently getting bent over by Comcast, and plan on switching soon, but my biggest concern is still losing my signal. For example, in inclement weather, when I'm stuck in the house, I want to be able to watch t.v. so how often does the service go out due to weather of any sort?

[PeggyD]

I'm in the northwest & we in western Washington have our fair share of inclement weather. Only with really heavy rain have we lost the satellite signal & that was only once in 8 years. Also, we've only lost the signal once due to snow build up on the dish (easy to brush it off). In our almost-rural area, we usually lose power once or twice (or more) times a year for quite a few hours, rarely several days. We connect a satellite receiver & a television to the generator & we've got TV. The cable internet is usually still out for a couple of days after the power finally comes back on.

[Stewart Vernon]

There have been a couple of nice dark-cloud thunderstorms this summer in my area that took me out of service for maybe 15-25 minutes. I don't get much rain fade, but those dark clouds if they get right in the direct path will knock me off a bit. Other than that, the worst that happens is an occassional minute or two glitch when a non-heavy storm creeps through.

For the record, during any event that I've been aware of with a temporary Dish outage during a storm... cable usually goes out here too... and usually I get my Dish signal back before the cable clears up... so all-in-all satellite has been the better choice for me.

Oh... and a few years back we had an ice storm that took out power in some areas of my city for a week or more. My power came back on in a couple of days and I had my satellite immediately! Other people in my area with cable didn't have cable service back until power had been restored along the entire Time Warner chain between them and Time Warner even after they got power back in the home... so satellite has been more reliable in that kind of situation for me too.

[scooper]

I live not too far from HDme, and can echo his comments. Usually DBS goes out only for severe thunderstorms. If you're really concerned about getting news and information during inclement weather, get a working OTA setup as a backup for DBS (sounds like it might be a pretty good idea for cable too :) ) I cut the cable completely when the Raleigh locals became available on Dish and I haven't looked back since.

[psnarula]

as an nc state graduate, i wish i lived not too far from Raleigh. but alas, i'm stuck in terp country outside of baltimore. i can, however, reiterate what has been said previously -- the dish only goes out when the cloud cover is too thick for the signal to get through. it's really not an issue for us. even in heavy rain storms it only goes out for 20-40 minutes and then once the heaviest cloud cover passes we get the dish back. comcast used to go out a couple times a month and you never knew why it wasn't working and then you had to put in a call to customer service who always seemed to be working the issue. at least dish is somewhat predictable and you know that when the worst of the storm passes that it'll come back. we've always got plenty of stuff queued up on the DVR to watch for situations like that. we also have some cheapo rabbit ears for watching local news if we get a hurricane or something.

[paulman182]

I am in Kentucky and just switched to D* from E* (but rain fade was not the reason!) Here, I would have to say we had rain fade often, but not for very long periods at a time.

On our Dish 500 I would estimate rain fade occurrences of about 15 per year, but probably only averaging 5 minutes. I would say we only had one or two of thirty minutes or longer in the last year.

Of course, that only applies to the 18 hours a day that someone was watching TV!

[johnr475]

I see you are from Massachusetts. So am I. (southeastern Ma) I have had E for about 9 yrs. As far as rainfade, It has to be a pretty severe T-storm to lose signal, and it is usually for just a few minutes. You will not lose it during any other rain events. Comcast will lead you to believe that it goes out everytime a cloud goes by. In the winter snow accumulation on the dish will affect it. If snow is not accumulating on the dish I have never lost signal during a snow storm. If you can put the dish someplace where you can knock the snow off it would be good. For me, these are very minor issues compared to cable. I left cable years ago and I will never,never, go back.

[BaldEagle]

Had dish for 5 years in S. Oregon and never lost the signal because of rain. The dish was on the roof so the only signal loss occured on the rare times that snow was on the Dish. If the dish would have been more accessable like the one I have now Installed close to the ground) I would have just brushed off the snow.

One time a signal problem occured because of the position of the sun in relation to the dish. Had snowy picture for about 5 minutes, and no picture for 10 minutes. This happened only once (at least once when the TV was on).

[tsmacro]

I've had Dish for 2 1/2 years now and live where we get all four seasons, so i've had it through snow & ice storms and of course thunderstorms. I've never had any problem with winter weather of any kind, never had problem with snow building up on the dish either, but I hear some people will spray either PAM cooking spray or Rain-X on their dishes to keep snow from sticking in areas where that happens and that helps keep the Dish snow free. My experience with thunderstorms is that it does have to be an especially heavy one to have any effect and when it does it's only for a few minutes. The cable in my area is notoriously unreliable, it goes out for no apparent reason for anywhere from 4 to 24 hours at a time at least once every couple of months so switching to Dish was a big improvement in reliability for me, not mention picture quality. At least with the Dish I have some idea when I might lose signal and I know it'll be back pretty quickly when I do.

[Jimmy the Dish]

If your dish is aligned properly expect 6-10 hours annually. If you have a yellow or red cell showing on your local doplar radar southwest , you'll temporarily lose service till it passes. I would also recommend spraying your dish with slick 50 twice a year, in the summer it'll not allow big droplets to form on your dish and in the winter you won't get that once a year thick slushy snow to stick from the south.

Best of Luck!

[hankmack]

Using E* in Northern California signal loss was less than 6 hours all year--usually caused by wet snow accumulating on the dish. The dish is high on the roof because of tall trees to the south. If I could easily clean off the snow there would be virtually no interruption

[Larry Caldwell]

I would rate my Dish service as very reliable. I will lose signal during heavy thunderstorms, which are infrequent in my area. I also lose signal when raccoons decide to play on the LNBs, which is about as frequent as thunderstorms. Then of course there is the 10 minute equinox afternoon outage twice a year, when the sun lines up with the satellite. Of course, it doesn't line up with every satellite, so just change channels. Recently they had a whopper of a thunder storm over the uplink center, and I lost several channels for about half an hour.

Call it an hour or two total outage a year, out of 8766 hours of service. It happens, just not often.

[Stewart Vernon]

Also worth mentioning... A lot of people are not aware that cable companies also receive programming via satellite that they then transmit to you over the cable/fiber optics... so the same kind of storm that might knock your Dish reception out for a bit would likely also knock out the cable company's satellite as well... so you'd be in the same boat that way too.

[wkomorow]

I have had Dish for over 6 years now. I can lose my signal a few times a year because of weather. Typically, the signal loss will last 5 minutes or so and it has to be a very significant rain storm for us to lose the reception. BTW, I have never lost it during a snow storm, even during (Northeasters) blizzards we have been able to watch TV. Cable providers will have you believe that if there is a sprinkle, your TV will go out - it is just not true. What is important is to get a really good installer who makes sure the install is done right or you will have problems.

[lacruz]

I live in Coastal Forida and we get quite a lot of rain/thunderstorms here, so I loose the signal maybe twice a month for a few minutes...it's enough to irratate you if you are watching TV or recording something. I also have digital cable (Comcast) as a backup and because they have some stations that Dish does not carry. I have had Comcast for many more years than Dish. It is slightly more reliable as far as reception goes, but the HD receivers have more problems than my Dish receivers ( I have had to replace 3 Comcast receivers since April). I think if you are concerned about loss of signal with either system, then it is best to have both, along with a set of rabbit ears as another backup.

[paulman182]

Most cable companies receive their signals off C-Band, which requires a big dish, and is not nearly as susceptible to rain fade as our Ku-band dishes. I had a big dish at home for about five years and never encountered rain fade with it.

However, cable has other problems. My current satellite only goes off for a few minutes at a time. Cable in this area sometimes goes down for several hours or a whole weekend at a time!

[aaronp]

I live between Baltimore and Philly, and we hardly ever lose DISH service, and when we do, it's usually only a few minutes.
The dish points mostly southwest and I think most storms come from the southwest. I've noticed that when I'm watching TV and I lose service, it's time to go out and round up all the trash cans, and make sure everything is secured, because the storm will be coming in a few minutes.
By the time I get back inside, the signal is back, and it's just starting to rain.

It's usually a HEAVY storm, not a light sprinkle that does it.

[jldhawk]

I am in the midwest, I have lost signal a couple times this year for a few minutes each. My receiver see's the 129,119 and 110 sats.
In a storm, 129 is the first to go, and that is were my locals are along with HDTV, so I can't see my local weather man telling me to take cover, that does bug me. I do have an off-air antenna on my roof, but my 411 receiver looses signal and I am done. It won't let me change the station to an off-air station, while it is "Aquiring satelite"
That does bother me.
I have three other TV's in the house that don't loose signal right away (As fast as my big screen does) but those other TV's are not hooked to my off-air antenna, and my locals from DISH come on the 129 satelite.
See my delema?

[JM Anthony]

Rumor has it that from time to time, we get a bit of rainy weather in the Seattle area. It takes a torential downpour to knock E* offline in our household.

John

[DishSubLA]

In Los Angeles area looking at 110, 119, and 148. Service almost NEVER goes out. The rare really super bad thunder cloud and storm that we get once a year, sometimes once every other year, can cause service interruption. But even then, only for a few minutes, and not all satellites or transponders. I can still receive some channels while I wait for the cloud to pass.

[Geronimo]

I live outside DC. My cable would frequently go out in bad weather and stay out for hours. My cable company's policy was that I had to report that outage to geta credit. The lines were alwys busy during these outages though.

After 7 years of DISH I can safely say that it soes out far less often and when it does it is momentary. Cable companies love to tell you that satekllite goes out but it is not my experience.

[bear paws]

I am in N East Ct just SE of SPFLD MA. This year so far we have lost sig from rain for more than 30 sec about 6 times. some as long as 1/2 hr. Worst year so far but if you know the area we have had some hellatous storms. I live just east of the CT river ridge or leeward side of that mountain on another ridge.
The weather hits that moutain, goes over the top and dumps everything on us. Snow, rain, sleet , hail, swords, knives, cannon balls and brimstone :D

Rain on the dish is not the culpert but rather the rain drop density [ it scatters the signal, like chaff from a fighter plane does to radar] in the line of sight of the sat. Last week I rain fadded for 20 min. on 110* & 119*sats and I was in bright sun but I could see a big ass dark cell about 30 miles to the SW high over Hartford. 61.5* sat was fine to the west.

WET snow is more of a problem and I have lost sig for 4-8 hour on 110 & 119 but I can"t get to it like I can my 61.5 dish with a hose or snow balls or a long peice of 3/4" PVC pipe..


A little inconvienant at times but untill fiber comes my way [come on FIOS] I wound not go back to cable. Ugg/blah!!:p :p When I had cable, 15 yr ago, when it went out it was out for days. Every thing is above ground out here and if a pole went down in the chain 3 towns over it fizzwaped the cable and cable is last in the priority list for the repair crews. Now at least if I have power { I have back up} I can watch the space ships attacking us in high def.:lol:

Bear!

[Cyclone]

I watched Dish Network during the peak of Hurricane Isabell hitting Maryland a few years back. I never lost the signal, but my cable modem (and all the Comcast cable customers on my street) was out for two days.

I only lose signal during the move severe Afternoon thunderstorms. The signal does not go out until its really bad. I usually am able to watch through most of them no problem. Even when the signal does go out, I've got the DVR to watch programming on.

So in other words, signal loss has been a non-issue for me.

[Nick456]

The service is more reliable than the hardware. I had maybe five minutes of signal loss due to the weather, but up to ten days of lost service in five months due to 3 failed 622 DVR's, but they do seem to be improving.

[Cocoatreat]

i live in miami....one of the flattest places in the us.....however in hurricane season (june-oct) it tends to rain nearly every day! i got my first dish (big one!) in 1987 from e* with a houston tracker reciever for 5yrs.....its true, the larger dishes rarely went out.....that was in nashville.....i have since moved to miami & have been with e* this time for over nine years. i had a temporary move to san antonio & installed an extra dish & also recieved my signal....in tx, i dont remember it going out very much....i found that most of the people in tx used e*. in sofla it seems that most use d* but then i think that was becuz everyone was getting it for free... in fla my dish goes out maybe once a week for a few minutes.....i also have my internet on cable....there is where i have a big problem....the cable goes out about 2-3 times per month.....& when it goes out it can be out for days.....once it was out for 1 1/2 weeks (adelphia).
more people are flocking to e* here in sofla becuz of signal problems with d*. during hurricanes wilma & katrina, i too, watched until the power went out. if i had a generator, i would have been able to watch my programming.....& cable....it was just out until most of the city was back up.....with wilma, i was without power for 3 1/2 days.....katrina, 2 1/2 days.....satellite was back up immediate with power! however, my neighbors in west palm & parts of ft lauderdale were without power for 3 weeks. cable has a lot to offer....especially with vod...i was in ca recently & it was excellent! i'm sure that soon d* & e* will step up to the plate & offer more better vod options where u can watch tv shows & movies u missed previously.....(many for free!)

[pjmrt]

I live outside DC. My cable would frequently go out in bad weather and stay out for hours. My cable company's policy was that I had to report that outage to geta credit. The lines were alwys busy during these outages though.

After 7 years of DISH I can safely say that it soes out far less often and when it does it is momentary. Cable companies love to tell you that satekllite goes out but it is not my experience.

I had pretty much the same experience. Funny, given how cable makes a big deal out of the sat outages. I had more outages with Cable than I ever had with Dish. My worst Dish outages came when I lived in Florida, maybe lasting half hour during thunderstorms. But after investigating that one more after it became a real nuissance - the culprit was a big tree on the edge of the line of sight for the dish. I repositioned the dish to another part of the house, and rain fade would occur during bad thunderstorms on rare occassions - and then only for short periods (couple minutes). When I moved out of Florida, I almost never have rain fade, although I did have "snow fade" once after a heavy snow - fixed that with a broom to brush off the dish.

[Rogueone]

I've been using Dish for 6 years, and PVR's the whole time. I record everything then watch it a few days later. While like the others I loose signal now and then during heavy rain or when the wrong cloud gets between me and the birds, I've only lost part of 1 show that I can think of.

Thinking back, and I record around a dozen programs a week during the normal TV season, plus about half that during summer (mostly SciFi and USA shows that don't run normal TV seasons), and amazingly I've not had issues with more than 2 or 3 recordings in 6 years. Considering most of these can't be recorded at a later date that same week, that's pretty amazing. Getting OTA is a good idea too, especially if you plan to do HD, as you can then setup must see shows to record off OTA and Sat (just in case the OTA antenna signal is out, which I've had happen once or twice, so about as much as missing a show due to rain :) )

[Donp]

In my area heavy rain or snow build up on the dish caused signal loss four to six time a year. Becaus of several large trees aroung this old farm house the dish is 60 feet away from the house on a fence post whis was the only unobstructed view of the sky. Which makes for an easy cleaning for snow buildup too.