Frankie and Slim

Frankie and Slim
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Wednesday, October 29, 2014

AGAIN AND AGAIN DARN DISH

I awaken each day between 3 and 4 am. Start up computer first thing. Rain usually means no satellite service for my Internet and I wait for the weather to break.

It has nown been almost two weeks that I have not been able to access my Internet until later in the day and the weather has mostly been clear . Calling Dish has me jumping through all kind of hoops. Unplug modem, wait, plug back in. Check cables, jump down turn around pick a bale of cotton. Finally they keep me busy enough until I realize my service just finally comes back up and it has been a Dish service problem all along.

There has been one suggestion from a customer service rep that I upgrade my equipment. That only entails a new contract, less data available and faster speeds. WHAT? Say that again. "Less data?" Me thinks there might be a method to their madness. "Let's get this gals usage reduced by driving her off the old plan."

Are you wondering how I am posting this so early? It is because I have 4G on my phone thank goodness I can do some things but am still crippled without my desk top or my laptop.

Anyone out there with satellite Internet having problems?

44 comments:

  1. Oh I can relate to this one. We live in the country and for about a month now we've had no phone line at all. Fortunately when we bought the house I ran my graphic design business from home and we had a second line into the house for the internet, and most of the time that one works, although not when we have heavy rain and wind. They know what the problem is but they aren't prepared to sort it out as it involves changing a lot of overhead cables etc. Fortunately our neighbours also have a problem with their line, so we've both been making as much noise as possible, and they have said they will do the job. I'm still waiting.

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  2. LL COOL JOE, It is so very frustrating and somehow it helps to know I am not alone. Finally at 8:40 this morning mine started working. We cannot get any other service but satellite out here.

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  3. I'm sorry you're having so many problems with Dish. I heard they just recently dropped all Time Warner programming (CNN, HLN, Cartoon Network, et. al.) Many people are not happy about that.

    We decided on a cable TV, fast Internet, and land line phone/fax bundle because we had heard horror stories about sketchy satellite connections.

    Our cable connection is very steady despite frequent storms in our area.

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  4. Anonymous11:15 AM

    Oh my gosh, that is terrible. So, what have you decided to do?

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  5. Our TV, but not our internet goes out every time it rains. of the 2 I'd much rather have the internet. It does sound kind of fishy that they'd make you sign a new contract to upgrade your equipment. Have you thought to complain to the FCC about that? They are busting a lot of companies for doing that recently.

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  6. If you are having long-term issues with the company, write to the Better Business Bureau (can do it on-line). I had to resort to this with my cable 2x and got an immediate response and fix after months of hassle.

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  7. We have satellite, but we're in the city so there's no issues with it. I have had issues with the actual modem...and it's been replaced 4x. Yup. 4x I had to go through the whole process of re-encryption and all that hassle. Fingers crossed this modem isn't going to go fritz soon... So I've had periods of no internet and it drives me nuts (and interferes with my work) and I don't own a cell phone so when I'm unplugged, I'm really unplugged!

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  8. Anonymous1:38 PM

    If they can't fix it the very least they should do is credit your bill for all the time it doesn't work.

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  9. How very frustrating for you, GA. I know I'd be tearing my hair out. I hate it when things go wrong with my computer...and my TV. I realise just how much a part of my life these things are.

    I hope everything works out to your satisfaction soon...without costing you an arm and a leg.

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  10. Cable companies of all ilks are greedy pigs that could care less about their customers. I want regulation of the Internet..but with everyone against regulation of any kind, this is going to continue. the more you pay the better your service.

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  11. We have been going round and round with our service providers for months. Changing to another provider for TV has helped a bunch. Mom is bedridden and watches TV all day, so when it goes down things get crappy in a hurry... Hope you get yours sorted soon.

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  12. When we have a storm some times we loose our internet. However, my husband thinks that keeping the DSL on is going to ruin the computer so he goes and turns it off and it can get very annoying. LOL

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  13. Not satellite, but cable!

    All cable (satellite, internet, phone) in my area was out for a few hours after a couple hours of wind gusts. It went out about a half-hour before the Green Bay Packers game came on. It came back on around halftime.

    Lots of people were upset because they couldn't watch the game. Businesses were upset because that's a peak time for customers.

    Places that had satellite were the only ones that had service (unless you have a 4G phone).

    I was just like "WOW Charter!" When the TV came back om the first commercial aired was theirs against switching to satellite. The tagline for that commercial is "alway on".

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  14. Goodness I thought I had a crappy ISP. No satellite but phone line. S L O W and I have high speed.
    TV is Direct and really reliable.

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  15. Last year I decided to switch to dish & ended up having to go back to cable b/c there are too many trees around the house to get a connection. It was an expensive mistake switching back and forth like that. None of the ISPs are great. :(
    And now I have that bale of cotton song running through my brain.

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  16. How very, very frustrating. And all too familiar.
    For the moment (knock on wood) we are ok here but in one of our homes anytime it rained (even a little) we lost phone access. And they wouldn't come and fix it in the rain, and there wasn't a problem when it was dry...
    Good luck.

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  17. I actually had the opposite issue...for years i had cable (but I am in an urban area at this time) and service was intermittent and bad and customer service did not exist..I switched to DSL and never had a problem...now there are circumstances beyond everyone's control...the Sun, which has been producing some strong X class flares and actually that messes everyone up... Now I have dish for my TV and my neighbor have cable...in an urban area,,,i get better reception, fewer outages than my neighbors...sad, but true

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  18. Anonymous6:28 AM

    Hate to admit it Annie but we have no problems what so ever with our ISP. One of the benefits of living in town I suppose.
    Do hope your troubles are sorted soon - we need to know what you are thinging and what you want us to think about as well lol
    Cathy

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  19. How frustrating, relying on the weather for good service. Hope you can get things sorted out with your Dish.

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  20. CUBE, We who are dwellers in the boondocks have not a choice. Cable is not available to us.

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  21. GIGIHAWAII, There is nothing I can do. I am at their mercy because we have no other choice of provider in our rural area.

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  22. LISA, I have had my experience dealing with the FCC when I was having cell phone problems. They take forever and then the hoops you have to jump through aren't worth the effort. I am too old.

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  23. BARB, Better Business Bureau does respond very quickly but if the company refuses to work with you, there is nothing you can do but leave your complaint on file. A large company like Dish could care less.

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  24. TALON, I think I remember you saying before that you don't own a cell phone. That is unimaginable to me. Mine is like and appendage and even more so since I have gone to a smart phone. How do you stay in close contact with your publisher?

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  25. DITCHINGTHEDOG, Yes, you would think that but now way will they even consider such an option.

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  26. LEE, the big cost to me if I make a change to their "new plan" would be the reduction of my allowed data usage. I only hope my dish will hang in there until something better reaches out to rural areas. It is so funny that third world countries have better wi-fi than we do here in the USA. Techies from India laugh at me when I tell them my plight.

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  27. TABOR, one of my biggest concerns with my satellite is the Federal regulations they have concerning allowed usage. It is called FAP (Fair Access Policy) and it restricts the amount of usage we can have per month. Cable does not have that restriction so it does not seem all that "Fair" to me.

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  28. BRIGHID, Dish provides my internet AND TV. I am not bedridden but I can assure you I would be very unhappy if the same problems occurred with my TV viewing.

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  29. MUNIR, I can count on losing my internet connection if the sky sneezes. A small sprinkle of rain or light snow flakes falling with knock me completely out of service.

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  30. BONNIE (BIZ), LOL!!! Guess they picked a real sorry time for that commercial. I guess it is a problem we all have. It is most upsetting when the TV cuts out at the very end of an especially good movie (or in your case exciting sports event).

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  31. ARKANSAS PATTI, It is beginning to dawn of me that we all do.

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  32. KERRY, Oops. I did it to me too. Song lingering in my own brain.

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  33. ELEPHANT'S CHILD, I had one occasion where the local provider would not come out to check my internet when it had been out two weeks due to heavy snow. Fianlly I convinced another of their providers that I needed help or a refund and the sent a crew from 80 miles away. All they had to do was climb up to the dish and hit a reset button that was there.

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  34. BRITE MIST, my in town friends who have DSL do not have the problems that I have. Guess I will have to sell my home and move to the city. LOL

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  35. cranethie CATHY, Oh but I cannot trade my country life for anything, even better internet and TV. Gotta have my chickens. LOL

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  36. PAT MACKENZIE, want to hear a funny thing? Yesterday morning my internet was up and running smoothly and I was a happy camper. THEN yesterday evening it went out. YIKES!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  37. No - but you and my sister are having exactly the same issue, too. She lives outside the city limits (way outside) and on a farm. Sometimes I'll send her films to watch and she sighs and says she'll have to watch it at work.

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    Replies
    1. LYNN, isn't it crazy that rural America is so lacking in technical support? You think we would be a prized marketing target for some entrepenuer. There are a lot of us out here!

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  38. Annie - just a quick note - I complained to Better Business about Comcast which is a mammoth company. Comcast (after receiving my complaint to BB) contacted me with a personal rep who followed my complaints until they were resolved. Also, gave me credit for the months that I had disrupted service.

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    1. BARB, you must really have a magic way with words to get the BBB to help you. I didn't have much luck with them on my cell phone issue or with the FCC.

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  39. No satellite internet, but.....had Frontier buy out AT&T cable/phone/DSL here in CT and this past weekend the big transition took place.

    Had seriously sporadic internet usage for most of the weekend.

    Father Nature's Corner

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    1. G B MILLER, I have been wondering if DISH is going thru some major Corp deal and creating these problems as a result.

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  40. One benefit of living mashed cheek by jowl with my fellow humans is reliable internet service. Sometimes the satellite TV reception goes out when a big thunderstorm blows through, but I always have stuff recorded so it doesn't matter much to me.

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  41. Augh! My dad tells me stories like this...even if there are strong winds they seem to lose Internet service, and they are near Minneapolis!

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