I need to vent a bit about the frustration my father has gone through to get HD programing. Unfortunately, I suspect his experience is all too common.
My father is 70 years old and lives in a fairly rural area of Oklahoma. He enjoys all the new electronic toys almost as much as I do. He is tech savvy, and spends almost as much on time on-line as I do. LOL! I bought an HD set 4 years ago. Every since he saw my set-up, he has been considering HD.
He finally decided he was going to pull the trigger, but needed to check for the availability of HD in his area first. He contacted the local cable provider, not one of the majors, who assured him they could provide him an HD box and that they had several HD channels. He checked their website, putting in his address and received same info. He ordered his set and was ready to go. He contacted the cable provider to set up an install, and this time was told that they were out of HD boxes and no idea when would get in. He called back and got a different rep who told him HD simply was not available in his area. To top it off, that night the cable box died and he was told could be a week before got him a new one. Boy did I hear about that.The regrets of buying an HD tv, etc
He did not think he could go with a dish as his property is heavily wooded and had been told by 3 installers it was impossible to get signal. Out of desperation he tried again. Since his neighbors had E* and it worked, he went that route. An installer came out and told him he could get a signal. They found a spot, and up a pole and dish went, and Dad was happy. I spoke to him by phone that night and he was pleased to have a signal, but a bit disappointed he was only getting about 5 HD channels as had signed up for several more. I live 200 miles away and it was frustrating trying to diagnose the problem over the phone. I finally told him to call Dish as something was wrong. The next day he spent an hour on the phone,and finally figured out he was only getting 2 of the 3 satellites, and not 129, which has much of the HD programming. He called for a different installer who came out and verified installer #1 had not set it up to receive all 3 satellites, and that to get the signal on 129, the dish needed to be another 5 feet higher. He told Dad if he would provide the materials, the installer would come back in a week or so and get him going. Dad was incredibly frustrated and ready to give up on HD.
I was visiting over the 4th of July holiday when the installer showed up. It took him nearly 2 hours, but he was finally able to get a signal on all 3 birds, and Dad has the HD he paid for. Dad and are are both pleased, but frustrated at the hoops he had to jump through to get HD programing. The incompetence shown by the cable company employees, and the initial dish installer show how hard it can be for people to get HD programming. The hassle factor can not be discounted in the adoption of HD.
By the way, when the cable guy came to pick up the cable box and disconnect everything, he told Dad he had an HD box in the truck and there was HD programming available to him. All we could do was shake our heads.
My father is 70 years old and lives in a fairly rural area of Oklahoma. He enjoys all the new electronic toys almost as much as I do. He is tech savvy, and spends almost as much on time on-line as I do. LOL! I bought an HD set 4 years ago. Every since he saw my set-up, he has been considering HD.
He finally decided he was going to pull the trigger, but needed to check for the availability of HD in his area first. He contacted the local cable provider, not one of the majors, who assured him they could provide him an HD box and that they had several HD channels. He checked their website, putting in his address and received same info. He ordered his set and was ready to go. He contacted the cable provider to set up an install, and this time was told that they were out of HD boxes and no idea when would get in. He called back and got a different rep who told him HD simply was not available in his area. To top it off, that night the cable box died and he was told could be a week before got him a new one. Boy did I hear about that.The regrets of buying an HD tv, etc
He did not think he could go with a dish as his property is heavily wooded and had been told by 3 installers it was impossible to get signal. Out of desperation he tried again. Since his neighbors had E* and it worked, he went that route. An installer came out and told him he could get a signal. They found a spot, and up a pole and dish went, and Dad was happy. I spoke to him by phone that night and he was pleased to have a signal, but a bit disappointed he was only getting about 5 HD channels as had signed up for several more. I live 200 miles away and it was frustrating trying to diagnose the problem over the phone. I finally told him to call Dish as something was wrong. The next day he spent an hour on the phone,and finally figured out he was only getting 2 of the 3 satellites, and not 129, which has much of the HD programming. He called for a different installer who came out and verified installer #1 had not set it up to receive all 3 satellites, and that to get the signal on 129, the dish needed to be another 5 feet higher. He told Dad if he would provide the materials, the installer would come back in a week or so and get him going. Dad was incredibly frustrated and ready to give up on HD.
I was visiting over the 4th of July holiday when the installer showed up. It took him nearly 2 hours, but he was finally able to get a signal on all 3 birds, and Dad has the HD he paid for. Dad and are are both pleased, but frustrated at the hoops he had to jump through to get HD programing. The incompetence shown by the cable company employees, and the initial dish installer show how hard it can be for people to get HD programming. The hassle factor can not be discounted in the adoption of HD.
By the way, when the cable guy came to pick up the cable box and disconnect everything, he told Dad he had an HD box in the truck and there was HD programming available to him. All we could do was shake our heads.
