Subcontracted DTV company trying to rip me off?

[wildpanda86]

Hey guys... just found out about this forum... hopefully I can get some help about what to do.

First of all I live in a Townhouse where multiple units share the same direct TV dish... supposedly according to the company that my housing developement contracts with to get direct TV called Consolidated systems tells me that there is a non HDTV dish and a dish for HDTV.

The next thing you guys should know is that since the place was just built November of last year... it is pretty much wired for ethernet and cable in all the rooms with the central box being in the closet where all the cables can run into a splitter. All the cables are labelled for each room & then there are 2 cables, one black and one white labeled "D-Mark" which I am assuming are for the satellite dishes.

Now for the past couple of months while I didn't have an HDTV set, I have been using the R15 I think it is called... the SD reciever with DVR.

So Saturday morning I call up the subcontracted company telling them I want to upgrade to an HDTV reciever + DVR & they tell me that they don't have the HD DVR reciever in stock & may be out of stock for some time possible because of issues between them and Direct TV... so they tell me there is no fee to come and install it so they scheduled an install day & to just go ahead and get the reciever from Best Buy or Costco ... so I went and bought the HDTV + DVR reciever from Costco & called the company back to tell them I have the reciever & that I want to place my old unit in another room.

Now this is where things started going bad... the new person I spoke with told me that to move the reciever to another room... would be $30 and trying to give me some techno BS that made absolutely no sense (needing to change stuff in the dish & changing stuff in the "head- in box").

To make things even worse... they tell me that since I bought my new HD box from somewhere else it would be another $100 to put it in!!! Or I can wait to see when they would have there units in stock which could be for another month for all I know!!!

I am thinking to myself... why the heck do I have to pay $130 to install my stuff when the whole house is already prewired & if I where to live in my own residence and go directly through Direct TV it would be free.

So I want to just install it myself, bypass this subcontracted company, and bill directly through DirectTV.

Now I managed to open up the network box & found out that the built in 8 way splitter can only go up to 1500mhz 2way splitter provided by Consolidated goes to over 2000mhz... found out that plugging the Direct TV dish line labeled D-Mark into the 8 way splitter gets me no signal... so I just unplugged the living room cables and plugged it into the bedroom cables & now the box is moved and works just fine.

But how do I hook up the HD box? I don't want to open it since if I do, I can't return it... unless the outside company agrees to put it in with no charge.

I dunno what the second line is labelled D-mark... even if it is an HD dish... it should still support my R15... but I get nothing out of that line. I can't see where on the roof of the building the antennas are located at. Should I just call Direct TV themselves & show them the network box and tell them to try it? So if it doesn't work I can just return my unopened box back to Costco?

Or should I just try to pursue the issue with the Consolidated Systems... supposedly according to our building customer relations officer any installs and such are supposed to be free as it was already negotiated through the builder... but this is the 2nd time they have tried to charge us & now I just don't want to deal with them...

thanks

[armophob]

Way out of my league. You lost me at "multiple units share the same direct TV dish". I was not aware that was an option.

[BNUMM]

Hey guys... just found out about this forum... hopefully I can get some help about what to do.

First of all I live in a Townhouse where multiple units share the same direct TV dish... supposedly according to the company that my housing developement contracts with to get direct TV called Consolidated systems tells me that there is a non HDTV dish and a dish for HDTV.

The next thing you guys should know is that since the place was just built November of last year... it is pretty much wired for ethernet and cable in all the rooms with the central box being in the closet where all the cables can run into a splitter. All the cables are labelled for each room & then there are 2 cables, one black and one white labeled "D-Mark" which I am assuming are for the satellite dishes.

Now for the past couple of months while I didn't have an HDTV set, I have been using the R15 I think it is called... the SD reciever with DVR.

So Saturday morning I call up the subcontracted company telling them I want to upgrade to an HDTV reciever + DVR & they tell me that they don't have the HD DVR reciever in stock & may be out of stock for some time possible because of issues between them and Direct TV... so they tell me there is no fee to come and install it so they scheduled an install day & to just go ahead and get the reciever from Best Buy or Costco ... so I went and bought the HDTV + DVR reciever from Costco & called the company back to tell them I have the reciever & that I want to place my old unit in another room.

Now this is where things started going bad... the new person I spoke with told me that to move the reciever to another room... would be $30 and trying to give me some techno BS that made absolutely no sense (needing to change stuff in the dish & changing stuff in the "head- in box").

To make things even worse... they tell me that since I bought my new HD box from somewhere else it would be another $100 to put it in!!! Or I can wait to see when they would have there units in stock which could be for another month for all I know!!!

I am thinking to myself... why the heck do I have to pay $130 to install my stuff when the whole house is already prewired & if I where to live in my own residence and go directly through Direct TV it would be free.

So I want to just install it myself, bypass this subcontracted company, and bill directly through DirectTV.

Now I managed to open up the network box & found out that the built in 8 way splitter can only go up to 1500mhz 2way splitter provided by Consolidated goes to over 2000mhz... found out that plugging the Direct TV dish line labeled D-Mark into the 8 way splitter gets me no signal... so I just unplugged the living room cables and plugged it into the bedroom cables & now the box is moved and works just fine.

But how do I hook up the HD box? I don't want to open it since if I do, I can't return it... unless the outside company agrees to put it in with no charge.

I dunno what the second line is labelled D-mark... even if it is an HD dish... it should still support my R15... but I get nothing out of that line. I can't see where on the roof of the building the antennas are located at. Should I just call Direct TV themselves & show them the network box and tell them to try it? So if it doesn't work I can just return my unopened box back to Costco?

Or should I just try to pursue the issue with the Consolidated Systems... supposedly according to our building customer relations officer any installs and such are supposed to be free as it was already negotiated through the builder... but this is the 2nd time they have tried to charge us & now I just don't want to deal with them...

thanks

The $30.00 to move the one receiver is reasonable even if the wires are already there. As for the rest you have to know if there is the correct dish for the programming ( if you can get HD Locals ) you want now and in the future. You really need someone who knows what they are doing if it is a mutiple dwelling unit.

[veryoldschool]

You seem to be in a "non standard" situation.
Don't open the box from Cosco, for the time being.
Your cable feed isn't something D* will be able to work with [easily]. Your sub-contractor has setup a special system.
There are some new pieces either out or coming out for your type of SAT feed.
I think you will need to work with your management & have them put some pressure on the sub contractor to make the upgrade. If it cost you D* may be able to give you some credit. Maybe D* can even contact the contractor for the installation [or vise a versa].
On a "normal" installation, you would have two coax coming to the HR-20 & no splitters to the dish, but with multi-unit dwellings, there is a more complex system.
I'm sure this isn't the most help for you, but I hope it will be some for you.

[VeniceDre]

Sounds like an MDU system. You're going to have to go through them... I know, it's a pain in a** and they make a lot of money off it. I have clients in a townhome condominum complex that have installed their own dishes and rewired their homes to bypass the complex dish and the MDU company. They've paid for this expense but in the long run it will be cheaper in most cases and is easier to deal directly with DirecTV. Since you already have DirecTV service you should call them back and ask if you have a MDU account or JDU account. Also when you speak to the contractor again ask if they have upgraded their system to allow for the new MPEG4 module that will be released shortly. I haven't seen a MDU system yet that is up and running with MPEG4.

[wildpanda86]

Well the subcontracted company originally told me that the HD box with DVR was out of stock on their end & they don't know when they will be getting new ones... so they told me to just go buy it, but when I called them back... they said they mistakenly forgot to tell me about a $100 setup fee for the box.

Maybe I can get Direct TV to come out themselves... when they originally came out to install the R15 they thought they had to run new coax lines out the window and mount a dish... they could not get a signal from the built in system. At the time I didn't know we had to go through Consolidated. Well Consolidated came out, charged us $100 and basically just connected a white cable labeled "DMark" to a 2 way splitter where two Coax cables labelled "living room2x2". (we later got the $100 refunded back to us) I dunno if there are any switches at the antenna that they have to turn on or off. Now there is a 2nd black "DMark" cable that I am wondering as to whether or not is the line for HD signals... how can I find this out? When I call Consolidated asking about this... they just tell me "we need to use special equipment" & won't give me any clear answers even though I pretty much know where all the lines feed in and out of & was knowledgeable enough to switch the original box to a different room without using any "special equipment (that they needed to move the box)" except for my thumb and index fingers as I screwed and unscrewed the cables.

btw originally to move the old box they wanted to charge $100, but dropped it down to $30 if I paid $100 to install the HDTV DVR box... which I think is just insane.

It is just frustrating how this company is keeping us in the dark so they can charge us whatever they want.

[wildpanda86]

Sounds like an MDU system. You're going to have to go through them... I know, it's a pain in a** and they make a lot of money off it. I have clients in a townhome condominum complex that have installed their own dishes and rewired their homes to bypass the complex dish and the MDU company. They've paid for this expense but in the long run it will be cheaper in most cases and is easier to deal directly with DirecTV. Since you already have DirecTV service you should call them back and ask if you have a MDU account or JDU account. Also when you speak to the contractor again ask if they have upgraded their system to allow for the new MPEG4 module that will be released shortly. I haven't seen a MDU system yet that is up and running with MPEG4.


I thought the Direct TV HDplus DVR already has the new MPEG4 module... at least I think that is what the Direct TV Costco rep told me back in December.

What does MDU and JDU stand for?

[wildpanda86]

Sounds like an MDU system. You're going to have to go through them... I know, it's a pain in a** and they make a lot of money off it. I have clients in a townhome condominum complex that have installed their own dishes and rewired their homes to bypass the complex dish and the MDU company. They've paid for this expense but in the long run it will be cheaper in most cases and is easier to deal directly with DirecTV. Since you already have DirecTV service you should call them back and ask if you have a MDU account or JDU account. Also when you speak to the contractor again ask if they have upgraded their system to allow for the new MPEG4 module that will be released shortly. I haven't seen a MDU system yet that is up and running with MPEG4.

How much more difficult you think to bypass the complex dish? the network box that has all the other Coax lines feeding to it for each room is located in a closet... directly above the closet is our roof... maybe 11ft up... would it be just a matter of fishing the line up? Is this something Direct TV would include on a basic install when they say free install?

[VeniceDre]

How much more difficult you think to bypass the complex dish? the network box that has all the other Coax lines feeding to it for each room is located in a closet... directly above the closet is our roof... maybe 11ft up... would it be just a matter of fishing the line up? Is this something Direct TV would include on a basic install when they say free install?

It's sound like you are an MDU and Consolidated services your complex.

IF you want to bypass the complex dish you'll need your own 5 LNB AU9 or AT9 Dish installed on your roof, then have at least four lines fished down to the box in the closet to a WB68 6x8 multiswitch which when then feed the individual lines going to each room. Hopefully the lines that are leaving the closet go directly to each room and don't have any splitters in the way.

Running the four lines down will not likely be covered by DirecTV if you are going down through the roof. If the lines are exterior and go through an exterior wall into the closet then they might do it unless they say the MDU subcontractor's have to do it, which is back to square 1. In this case you'd have to have someone do it for you.

Since you live in a complex which probably has a Homeowner's association you might not even be able to run the lines on an exterior wall or even put your own dish up since they might have rules against it.

You might just have to bite the bullet and just go through Consolidated and pay the $100.00. It's not that much considering what I've seen some MDUs charge. If you have to go out of pocket on your own dish the cost of the dish and multiswitch is around 200.00-230.00 together, then you have the cost of labor running the lines.

[VeniceDre]

I thought the Direct TV HDplus DVR already has the new MPEG4 module... at least I think that is what the Direct TV Costco rep told me back in December.

What does MDU and JDU stand for?

The HR20 can take a MPEG4 signal but it has to see it from a 5 LNB HD dish and whatever switching system the complex has needs to be able to handle the MPEG4. So the community dish needs to be a 5 LNB w/ MPEG4 compatible hardware between it and your home.

MDU stands for Multi Dwelling Unit... I don't know exactly what JDU stands for, I've come across it with a client who has there own dish on their townhome's roof feeding the upper floor with HD, but the rest of the house is still on the community Dish which is SD... Maybe it means a hybrid combination of own dish and community dish.

[dragonbait]

All the cables are labelled for each room & then there are 2 cables, one black and one white labeled "D-Mark" which I am assuming are for the satellite dishes.

D-Mark is likely an abbreviation for demarcation point. This is a telecommunications term for the physical point where the public network ends and your private network begins. So your assumption about these lines coming from the dish is essentially correct, although they may connect to other equipment along the way.


I dunno what the second line is labelled D-mark... even if it is an HD dish... it should still support my R15... but I get nothing out of that line.

I would doubt there would be separate lines for HD vs. non-HD. Not that I have any knowledge of MDU setup, but it just wouldn’t make sense to have separate HD feeds.


Now this is where things started going bad... the new person I spoke with told me that to move the reciever to another room... would be $30 and trying to give me some techno BS that made absolutely no sense (needing to change stuff in the dish & changing stuff in the "head- in box").
Perhaps the techno BS was meant in regards to the HR20. They might have to change the dish on your complex to the new 5 LNB dish along with changing out the distribution unit to one that supports sending MPEG4 to your HR20 . If you are the first unit to want to use an H20 or HR20 then I would think this is highly likely as an older type of dish and older distribution equipment was likely installed when the place was built.


Or should I just try to pursue the issue with the Consolidated Systems... supposedly according to our building customer relations officer any installs and such are supposed to be free as it was already negotiated through the builder... but this is the 2nd time they have tried to charge us & now I just don't want to deal with them...

I would talk to the building customer relations office and see about getting them to help get the fees waived since they say these activities are supposed to be no charge.

[joe diamond]

Hey wildpanda,
I hope the other posts made everything perfectly clear. Here's more.
1. Each DTV cx gets one free installation of up to 4 rooms (4 receivers) There are many more details.
2.There is a special multiswitch designed for MDU application. It s a few hundred bucks but it will allow a DTV recorder operate the two required lines.
3. The HD dish (AU 9 or Au 10) can be installed to replace whatever is up there and all tennants can have HD. Don't know about the HD part.
4. There have been bugs detected in the HD & HDR receivers so don't push for a new box too soon. Also you are looking at 12 HD channels now and many more on ther promised list.
5. If you have a clear line of sight (LOS} from a window to about Dallas ,Texas and up about twenty or more degrees yoy can bolt your own HD dish to a table or railing. They will work through clear window glass.
6. My rate for this work is $60 for the first hour and $40 for each additional hour. DTV will charge you $70 for a service call and my pay the tech around $25 or less...........It's like electricity and water.......pretend a DTV tech drilled your wall and hit a water pipe and filled your electrical distribution pannel with water............you are in the dark with water running everywhere........how would you get it fixed?

Happy DTV

Joe