Question for Floridians

2480 Views 33 Replies 26 Participants Last post by petergaryr, Jul 11, 2008

Mr.P

Discussion Starter · Jul 9, 2008

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.

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Ken S

· #2 · Jul 9, 2008

Mr.P said:
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

· #3 · Jul 9, 2008

Mr.P said:
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

· #4 · Jul 9, 2008

Mr.P said:
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

· #5 · Jul 9, 2008

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

· #6 · Jul 9, 2008

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

2dogz

· #7 · Jul 9, 2008

Mr.P said:
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

· #8 · Jul 9, 2008

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

· #9 · Jul 9, 2008

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

· #10 · Jul 10, 2008

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

· #11 · Jul 10, 2008

Since everyone else from S. Florida already answered the question...

I would just like to say: :welcome_s to DBS and S. Florida.

HarleyD

· #12 · Jul 10, 2008

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.

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SledDog

· #13 · Jul 10, 2008

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

Ken S

· #14 · Jul 10, 2008

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

· #15 · Jul 10, 2008

Ken S said:
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

· #16 · Jul 10, 2008

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.

Ken S said:
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

· #17 · Jul 10, 2008

Your biggest mistake was leaving NY for Florida. See you in North Carolina real soon.

JeffBowser

· #18 · Jul 10, 2008

This thread is for rain-fade questions pertaining to our area of Florida, not a place for short-term carpetbaggers to express their frustrations.

mystic7 said:
Your biggest mistake was leaving NY for Florida. See you in North Carolina real soon.

RunnerFL

· #19 · Jul 10, 2008

Ken S said:
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.

Ken S

· #20 · Jul 10, 2008

JeffBowser said:
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.

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