Satellite TV signal reliability

[bueller555]

Re: Satellite TV signal reliability

Craig, sorry if I missed it, but what was your reason for going with satellite rather than Oceanic?

[Konaguy]

Re: Satellite TV signal reliability

Craig, sorry if I missed it, but what was your reason for going with satellite rather than Oceanic?

Oceanic's service area doesn't reach where his house is in HPP.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Satellite TV signal reliability

Craig, sorry if I missed it, but what was your reason for going with satellite rather than Oceanic?

yeah ditto for what Aaron said. But if I could get cable I'd drop satellite in a heartbeat...but beggers can't be choosers unless you're willing to pay the $17,000 for Oceanic to drop a line two miles down to my home. That's what they quoted me.

[Nords]

Re: Satellite TV signal reliability

...but beggers can't be choosers unless you're willing to pay the $17,000 for Oceanic to drop a line two miles down to my home. That's what they quoted me.

Waterproofing that line would be extra. It doesn't float, either...

Could you tell us what you're paying for service? It sounds like you have at least two HD DVRs. How many channels can you record simultaneously?

Oceanic just broke the $50/month barrier on their "basic" (or "standard", or whatever they're calling it as long as they don't say "continuous") service. Boy am I ready for ala carte pricing.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Satellite TV signal reliability

Waterproofing that line would be extra. It doesn't float, either...

Could you tell us what you're paying for service? It sounds like you have at least two HD DVRs. How many channels can you record simultaneously?

Oceanic just broke the $50/month barrier on their "basic" (or "standard", or whatever they're calling it as long as they don't say "continuous") service. Boy am I ready for ala carte pricing.

It would be the same line strung from pole to pole that would extend down to my home a few poles down the road.

I have the Choice Plan with HD service, four HD boxes and one HD DVR. With the DVR you can record one and watch another.

It's a bit more pricey than Oceanic but like I said about beggers.

[GregLee]

Re: Satellite TV signal reliability

DirecTV channel 573 has just (at 12:32 pm Wed.) gone live to show the launch of a new communications satellite, DirecTV 11. It should go up at 12:48.

[localmoco]

Re: Satellite TV signal reliability

I just went over to the DirecTV web site to check out their pricing. But when I plug in my zip code an error message comes up that says, "Because of Hawaii's unique equipment and programming needs..." (you have to call a phone number instead of using their web site to check pricing).

Can you shed some light on the "unique equipment and programming needs"? I assume this means you need the two 4-foot dishes described above and it will cost you more than the mainland prices listed?

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Satellite TV signal reliability

I just went over to the DirecTV web site to check out their pricing. But when I plug in my zip code an error message comes up that says, "Because of Hawaii's unique equipment and programming needs..." (you have to call a phone number instead of using their web site to check pricing).

Can you shed some light on the "unique equipment and programming needs"? I assume this means you need the two 4-foot dishes described above and it will cost you more than the mainland prices listed?

For Hawaii residents all subscribers will be on HD. I don't know why but I suspect it could be that the only way to get all channels you need to use the satellite broadcasting in HD?

Anyway the special equipment would typically be the HD receivers and dual 4-foot diameter dishes. I was told the $9.99 HD add on wouldn't be an add on and pricing would reflect standard package pricing.

[GregLee]

Re: Satellite TV signal reliability

I assume this means you need the two 4-foot dishes described above and it will cost you more than the mainland prices listed?

I thought it would cost more, too, but it didn't. Instead of dealing directly with DirecTV, I subscribed through The Satellite Guy.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Satellite TV signal reliability

I thought it would cost more, too, but it didn't. Instead of dealing directly with DirecTV, I subscribed through The Satellite Guy.

You cannot deal directly with DirecTV instead you must deal with an authorized installer. In my case I went thru Ironwood Communications in Kapolei that does statewide installations.

I'm not sure about the Satellite Guy but I was told that an authorized installer cannot be an installer for another company...conflict of interest so I'm not sure if the Satellite Guy is breaking any rules by doing both Dish and DirecTV as they advertise Heck they even do Clearwire.

[GregLee]

Re: Satellite TV signal reliability

The Satellite Guy did not actually do my installation -- they subcontracted that to (I think) Ironwood. I did it this way just because The Satellite Guy posts on our local HD thread on AVS forum, and I thought that if something went wrong, it would be useful to have a public place to discuss the problem. But the install went okay.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Satellite TV signal reliability

The Satellite Guy did not actually do my installation -- they subcontracted that to (I think) Ironwood. I did it this way just because The Satellite Guy posts on our local HD thread on AVS forum, and I thought that if something went wrong, it would be useful to have a public place to discuss the problem. But the install went okay.

I've been wondering about the Satellite Guy and it seems it's a nationwide company. I simply went thru the Sunday morning paper inserts and found the DirecTV ad. It was a different company than the Satellite Guy but they contracted thru Ironwood as well.

[antonio808_808]

Re: Satellite TV signal reliability

I had been doing lots of research and reading the forum since a few weeks ago and was not sure if I wanted to get Directv or Dishnet. I tried getting info from Best buy but they just told me to go to oceanic... kidna funny. Well after what i found out i decided to go with Dishnetwork because of the smaller dish, i actually signed up with hawaii satellite service, they seemed to be very helpful and knew their stuff, they sell both dish and directv and told me straigh up the pros and cons of both, they actually gave me a 30" dish instead of the standard 24" dish. they said that they upgrade all their customers for free to the 30" I have had absolutely no problems with it.
their website was pretty informational too http://www.hawaiisatelliteservices.com/Home.html
I would recommend anyone to sign up with them. They are located in aiea.
talk to jamie...she was great!

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Satellite TV signal reliability

I'll agree that a larger dish is a must for Dish Network. Can you pick up satellite 110? Over here in Keaau 110 seemed to have disappeared and we only had one satellite (119) to receive. I even had a dual LNB but could not pick up the additional satellite. When I called Dish Network and we tried to reestablish signal, the lady ultimately told me that one of their satellites was down and had been down for a while. She also wasn't aware that in Hawaii we were using the smaller 24-inch dish. She thought we were using the larger 30-inch dish as you have because we were so low on the horizon.

From day one with Dish Network I experienced drop out during rainstorms out over the ocean miles away. I haven't had a single drop out even during some heavy thunderstorms with DirecTV.

[antonio808_808]

Re: Satellite TV signal reliability

I'll agree that a larger dish is a must for Dish Network. Can you pick up satellite 110? Over here in Keaau 110 seemed to have disappeared and we only had one satellite (119) to receive. I even had a dual LNB but could not pick up the additional satellite. When I called Dish Network and we tried to reestablish signal, the lady ultimately told me that one of their satellites was down and had been down for a while. She also wasn't aware that in Hawaii we were using the smaller 24-inch dish. She thought we were using the larger 30-inch dish as you have because we were so low on the horizon.

From day one with Dish Network I experienced drop out during rainstorms out over the ocean miles away. I haven't had a single drop out even during some heavy thunderstorms with DirecTV.

Satellite 110 has 2 transponders (3 and 10) that are weak and from Hawaii they have extremely poor signal, each transponder carries about 6 channels so any time you change to a channel that is on transponder 3 or 10 you get a signal error message on the screen, Dishnetwork put a lot of Infomertial and religious channels on these 2 transponders because they know they are weak. on the mainland they dont see this problem. The best way to resolve the problem of changing into one of these weak transponders is create a favorite channel list or if you by accident click into the bad channel is to press menu then 1 for program guide and then change to another channel... kinda humbug but i guess thats the price you pay if you cannot get the bigger dishes...