DirecTV Install

Well today I joined the land of normalcy again. I had DirecTV installed. I called Tuesday night to schedule the install. It took 20 minutes or more to work through the details with the person on the phone. I told them I want 3 rooms and I wanted to get a HDTiVo. The DTV sales person seemed to understand and noted I would need a multiswitch. At the end he said he couldn't process the order for the HDTiVo and I had to call someone else. I decided I would just wait until I need it then. The appointment was set for 8 AM today.

As I figured the installer called while I was in shower. I called him back within 5 minutes so everything seemed cool. He showed up a 8 AM on the dot, which I was impressed by. He also was driving a van that was painted with DTV on it and looked very professional, as opposed to a Dodge Caravan with sticker on the side and ladder on roof. He came in and asked if I was pre-wired and I showed him. He allowed as I had made his job a bunch easier.

Then we went outside to look at the mounting location. He said it looked good and he would run 2 lines to house. I said you mean 4 right? He said nope 2, standard dish and 2x4 switch. At this point there was a problem. To get HD signals a Triple LNB dish is needed with 4 lines run to a 4x8 switch. He called his dispatcher or whatever and they said I would have to call DTV since it was "much more expensive." Both I and the installer knew that wasn't true. He pulled out the right dish and multi-switch and hooked me up.

He mounted the dish on the roof, ran the cables down the drain pipe and then through an existing hole in the wall. Very nicely done. We hooked up my labeled cables to the switch and then went up and tested. Signal levels were all around 94-96, very good. He called up DTV and activated the three boxes he brought. Everything was done in less than 90 minutes, could have been much worse.

While we were in basement he saw my old remote control cars. He told me had one too. Asked if I worked on them and I said I haven't in a while. As he was leaving he asked if I would fix his for him and honestly I said I wouldn't trust me working on it since it has been so long. He seemed to be cool with that answer.

After he left I called DTV to deactivate 2 of 3 boxes he activated and then add my SD TiVo and HD TiVo. Took a little while but seemed to work. DTV needs to get some better communication, but this was better than most installs I have heard about.