Upgrading from DirecTV SD to HD - 5 weeks to install appt!

1578 Views 17 Replies 11 Participants Last post by ATARI, Sep 17, 2008

Chevy-SS

Discussion Starter · Sep 11, 2008

I am upgrading my DirecTV service from SD to HD. They told me it would be 5 weeks until I could get a install guy to my house! I made the appoinment, but holy mackeral, that's a very long wait time.

Is there any way to beat the system here? I have installed a bunch of these dishes myself, but they refuse to drop-ship the dish to me. I know I could install this stuff in about 10 minutes, so this is driving me crazy.

Any suggestions (besides waiting, that is, lol)?

thanks

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1 - 18 of 18 Posts

jodyguercio

· #2 · Sep 11, 2008

Chevy-SS said:
I am upgrading my DirecTV service from SD to HD. They told me it would be 5 weeks until I could get a install guy to my house! I made the appoinment, but holy mackeral, that's a very long wait time.

Is there any way to beat the system here? I have installed a bunch of these dishes myself, but they refuse to drop-ship the dish to me. I know I could install this stuff in about 10 minutes, so this is driving me crazy.

Any suggestions (besides waiting, that is, lol)?

thanks

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I went out and bought my own slimline and installed it, then I went to Best Buy and picked up a HR21 and installed it myself. I have seen around here where the folks who do that then can get credits for doing it all yourself.

MX727

· #3 · Sep 11, 2008

Keep checking the DTV website. Under your current orders, select reschedule. If any dates come up that are sooner, book it. If there aren't any dates that work, just cancel out of the window and you will retain your original date. I moved my install up nearly three weeks using this method. One day the entire month of September was unavailable and the next day, the last three weeks of the month had available appointments.

Justin23

· #4 · Sep 11, 2008

It's a very busy time of year for installs because of the NFL Sunday Ticket.

J

billgrayny

· #5 · Sep 12, 2008

5 weeks is bad, I agree, but I am just into a 7 week wait for a second receiver install. As above, I could do it myself, but no go with DTV. So I impatiently wait.

Tried the Reschedule thing on the web and it is "unable to schedule your appointment. Please check back." I don't even get to the calendar. Probably depends on where you are and the the density of installers. I am in the middle of nowhere which probably means no installers either!!

So we wait...

Chevy-SS

Discussion Starter · #6 · Sep 12, 2008

jodyguercio said:
I went out and bought my own slimline and installed it, then I went to Best Buy and picked up a HR21 and installed it myself. I have seen around here where the folks who do that then can get credits for doing it all yourself.

Where did you buy the dish? Is that the best one?

Was it hard to install? I never set up a 5 LNB dish. My other old ones were all 2 and 3 LNB.......................

My local Best Buy now has HR22 in stock, for 100 hours of HD recording. I just went and looked a little while ago a all their DirecTV stuff. They did not have any dishes at all though. Perhaps DirecTV is trying to discourage self-installs?

thanks

jodyguercio

· #7 · Sep 12, 2008

Chevy-SS said:
Where did you buy the dish? Is that the best one?

Was it hard to install? I never set up a 5 LNB dish. My other old ones were all 2 and 3 LNB.......................

My local Best Buy now has HR22 in stock, for 100 hours of HD recording. I just went and looked a little while ago a all their DirecTV stuff. They did not have any dishes at all though. Perhaps DirecTV is trying to discourage self-installs?

thanks

I bought it on EBay and it wasnt hard to install at all. I used a Nextel phone and my wife looking at the signal meters on the HR21 to help tweak and peak things and Im 80+ on all sats and transponders.

Chevy-SS

Discussion Starter · #8 · Sep 13, 2008

jodyguercio said:
I bought it on EBay and it wasnt hard to install at all. I used a Nextel phone and my wife looking at the signal meters on the HR21 to help tweak and peak things and Im 80+ on all sats and transponders.

Thanks for the tips. I bought a HR22 yesterday and ordered a Slimline from a local Ebay dealer. I have a pretty flat roof where the dish mounts, so I will take the HR22 and a small TV up there onto the roof and calibrate the dish.

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LameLefty

· #9 · Sep 13, 2008

It was worse two years ago.

edy

· #10 · Sep 13, 2008

I had the same problem as you. It was a one month wait for the install, and I thought it was silly. I was able to get directv to ship the receiver to me for free and it arrived within a few days. The dish was a different story, but after reading some posts, I kept checking directv's reschedule website and eventually found an open slot a week out. I would also get that error message, but if you keep trying, you'll get the calendar to show up.

boxster99t

· #11 · Sep 15, 2008

I haven't tried lately, but when I upgraded in March, I called on a Sunday and could have had the install the next day, of an HR21 and slimline dish replacing one of my two standard def directv tivos--as it was I had the install on Saturday, 6 days later.

I would call retention and say you're going to switch to Fios or Dish--it might get you a quicker appointment.

Chevy-SS

Discussion Starter · #12 · Sep 15, 2008

boxster99t said:
....
I would call retention and say you're going to switch to Fios or Dish--it might get you a quicker appointment.

LOL, I probably will switch to FIOS, but it won't be in my area for at least another year.

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boxster99t

· #13 · Sep 15, 2008

Chevy-SS said:
LOL, I probably will switch to FIOS, but it won't be in my area for at least another year.

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I seriously considered it (I am in Dallas in one of the areas that got Fios from the very beginning).

I may have switched but for the fact that Fios' DVR gets the "worst" rating when compared to Directv or Dish and secondarily Fios would not have saved me any in terms of what I pay for Directv and separately to TimeWarner for cable internet.

Fortunately, the mere meantion of "I'm looking at Fios or Dish which would not charge me $199 for an HD DVR" in my call to Directv retention, got me an HR 21 and slim line dish installed that coming Saturday, for $19.95 S&H fee with 2 year commitment. In March, of course. But I would take the same approach regardless of time of year. Unless there's an equipment shortage or the customer is stuck in a commitment already, I cannot imagine Directv would lose a paying customer because they cannot get an install done quickly.

Your mileage may vary, of course.

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Chevy-SS

Discussion Starter · #14 · Sep 17, 2008

Well, just wanted to post about my self-install.

I bought a Slimline dish from eBay, total cost $78. I bought a HR22 DVR from Best Buy for $200.

I installed everything yesterday. The Slimline was a little bit tricky to install, but if you follow directions in the manual, it wasn't too bad. I had a small TV and the DVR right on the roof, so I could see the signal meters in real time as I adjusted azimuth, tilt and elevation. I got real good signal strength.

When I first started the DVR it did a software download that took about 15 minutes. Then I had to activate the DVR.

I originally forgot to add the B-Band Converters to the two "IN" coax cables, so I was getting no HD. Finally, I realized that two new BBC's were sitting right in the DVR packaging box. So, I added them into the back of the DVR and then HD service was up and running with no problems.

All in all, not a bad job, plus now I KNOW the dish is adjusted for highest maximum signal strength.

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Mertzen

· #15 · Sep 17, 2008

Cool, nice job. Hope you installed monopoles.

durl

· #16 · Sep 17, 2008

Excellent job, Chevy-SS. I liked the idea of taking a small TV with you to the dish.

There's nothing quite like doing it yourself.

Chevy-SS

Discussion Starter · #17 · Sep 17, 2008

Mertzen said:
Cool, nice job. Hope you installed monopoles.

Thanks for the comment. Are those the pole braces? If so, you bet I installed them. I even made a special mounting plate out of 3/4" plywood for the base, then the monopoles were lag-bolted into the eaves. The dish is super-solid.

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ATARI

· #18 · Sep 17, 2008

Sounds like you knew what you were doing, and did a good job. Enjoy your HD.

Also, try calling D* to get credits for a self install.

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