The Senator Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Something I actually witnessed on my street - the wires from the poles to individual homes were so heavy with ice and hanging so low that a plow came by and the top of the truck 'caught' the wires, snapping every single one of them - one at a time - as it went down the street. So I'm not apologizing for TW, but imagine having 20-30 thousand (or more) installations to do all at once, and having to string new cable from the pole to the home at each one. Plus, these guys have to go thru background checks before TW will hire them to go into homes (at least they did for Adelphia). It could take a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cåblelady Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Hmmm, sounds like he's got the customer service thing pegged. 816019[/snapback] Well....I could have told him to stop whining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Well....I could have told him to stop whining. 816025[/snapback] Well that's what I would have done. I would have told him to pick up a book. Cable is way over-rated. I'm just sayin' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cåblelady Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Well that's what I would have done. I would have told him to pick up a book. Cable is way over-rated. I'm just sayin' 816028[/snapback] Well, gee......now you're making me feel guilty. He could just PM me his address and I'll email our former Division President who took the Buffalo position and see if he can expedite things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fezmid Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Something I actually witnessed on my street - the wires from the poles to individual homes were so heavy with ice and hanging so low that a plow came by and the top of the truck 'caught' the wires, snapping every single one of them - one at a time - as it went down the street. So I'm not apologizing for TW, but imagine having 20-30 thousand (or more) installations to do all at once, and having to string new cable from the pole to the home at each one. Plus, these guys have to go thru background checks before TW will hire them to go into homes (at least they did for Adelphia). It could take a while. 816022[/snapback] And it's situations like this that make me laugh at the cable ads that say, "Weather affects DirecTV/Dish, but not us! Switch to cable." While it's true that you VERY occasionally have a minute or two outage from very severe weather (mainly thunderstorms - when shows are interrupted by the stupid weather people anyway ), but it's never down for more than a few minutes. When cable goes out, it's out for a LONG time. It happened when the truck hit the pole earlier this season, and now with the snow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IDBillzFan Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 I heard a commercial for Time Warner on the radio yesterday promoting all the football games they carry. I was thinking, "Well, they finally did a deal with the NFL Network." But then they rattled off how you get games you want to see on ABC, NBC, CBS, ESPN and Fox. Crazy ad. It would be like Paris Hilton promoting her extensive musical offerings. "That's right. You can hear all my hit songs..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Senator Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 And it's situations like this that make me laugh at the cable ads that say, "Weather affects DirecTV/Dish, but not us! Switch to cable." While it's true that you VERY occasionally have a minute or two outage from very severe weather (mainly thunderstorms - when shows are interrupted by the stupid weather people anyway ), but it's never down for more than a few minutes. When cable goes out, it's out for a LONG time. It happened when the truck hit the pole earlier this season, and now with the snow. 816065[/snapback] True enough - all most satellite customers had to do is remove the 2 feet of frozen ice and snow from their dish, and they were "good to go" (if they still had power). Of course, if a satellite were to drift from it's FCC-assigned 2-degree spacing, or an apogee motor misfired - affecting geosynchronous orbit, or the satellite failed completely, it would probably take as long or longer to re-point several million small dishes or get on someone's commercial launch schedule to deploy a new "bird". All technology is flawed, I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fezmid Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 Of course, if a satellite were to drift from it's FCC-assigned 2-degree spacing, or an apogee motor misfired - affecting geosynchronous orbit, or the satellite failed completely, it would probably take as long or longer to re-point several million small dishes or get on someone's commercial launch schedule to deploy a new "bird". All technology is flawed, I think. 816132[/snapback] Except that if any of those things happened, Dish/DirecTV can easily transfer programming from one sat to another. They have a lot of satellites up there that they can reprogram with whatever programming they need if that sort of catastrophe did occur. Keep in mind that the satellite failures could also affect cable - how do you think they get their programming? I'm sure they have backups as well though. CW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkyMannn Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 Well....I could have told him to stop whining. 816025[/snapback] Well I can see with your attitude you're perfect for the cable industry. Is arrogance a prequisite for your field? I'm not going to further this debate and am signing off from this thread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Senator Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 Except that if any of those things happened, Dish/DirecTV can easily transfer programming from one sat to another. They have a lot of satellites up there that they can reprogram with whatever programming they need if that sort of catastrophe did occur. Keep in mind that the satellite failures could also affect cable - how do you think they get their programming? I'm sure they have backups as well though. CW 816164[/snapback] Yeah, I believe a backup satellite can be placed w/in .4 degrees of the primary, but most operators don't utilize this capability due to the equipment and launch expenses. Of course, the satellites themselves have redundancy in just about every system but if the bird actually were to fail completely, it would be far easier for a cable operator to restore service, as they would only have 're-point' their one dish at the replacement satellite, while a home-dish vendor would have to go out to the homes, crawl up on the roofs, and 're-point' all of its subscribers' dishes at the new satellite where programming was switched. Anyway, like I said, all technology is flawed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cåblelady Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 Well I can see with your attitude you're perfect for the cable industry. Is arrogance a prequisite for your field? I'm not going to further this debate and am signing off from this thread 816171[/snapback] Yeah. Guess you got me pegged. Forget my offer to email the Division President for ya. And don't think you're the only person ever to go without cable because of a freak of nature. Back in 1972 we went without cable for weeks. Wait a minute....we went without a home, too. It got demolished in the flood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fezmid Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 Yeah, I believe a backup satellite can be placed w/in .4 degrees of the primary, but most operators don't utilize this capability due to the equipment and launch expenses. Of course, the satellites themselves have redundancy in just about every system but if the bird actually were to fail completely, it would be far easier for a cable operator to restore service, as they would only have 're-point' their one dish at the replacement satellite, while a home-dish vendor would have to go out to the homes, crawl up on the roofs, and 're-point' all of its subscribers' dishes at the new satellite where programming was switched. Anyway, like I said, all technology is flawed. 816198[/snapback] No, DirecTV has a lot of birds already flying -- 11 to be exact, with more launching later this year and early next year: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DirecTV#Satellite_fleet So if they happened to lose one of them, they could relatlively easily transfer programming to a different one without a major interuption to the customer. CW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fezmid Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 Yeah. Guess you got me pegged. Forget my offer to email the Division President for ya. And don't think you're the only person ever to go without cable because of a freak of nature. Back in 1972 we went without cable for weeks. Wait a minute....we went without a home, too. It got demolished in the flood. 816358[/snapback] You went without cable for weeks?!?! (and for the record, CL is anything but arrogant; misguided, perhaps, but not arrogant ). CW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Senator Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 No, DirecTV has a lot of birds already flying -- 11 to be exact, with more launching later this year and early next year: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DirecTV#Satellite_fleet So if they happened to lose one of them, they could relatlively easily transfer programming to a different one without a major interuption to the customer. CW 816367[/snapback] No, that is not correct. As an old COMSAT employee, I'm aware the switching programming to another satellite is relatively easy - a matter of keystrokes and some adjustments at the TDRSS. But unlike older C-Band technology, which uses the large, movable dishes (the kind you see on the roof tops of some bars and in local TV station lots) that can be easily pointed at a different satellite, direct broadcast TV uses a higher frequency spectrum to allow the use of small, stationary dishes that are in a "fixed" position, pointed at one satellite for all programming (much like VSATs for data). The FCC requires that satellites be placed in assigned slots with at least 2-degree spacing. Move the progamming to a different satellite (easy to do) and you'll have to point the dish at that new satellite (not easy to do). 'Re-pointing' thousands (or millions) of small, fixed, roof-top dishes toward the new satellite cannot be accomplished via a few keystrokes, and does cause a major interruption of service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fezmid Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 Not to take this too far off topic Senator, but the fact of the matter is that DirecTV is already using all of those sats with the current dishes. If one happened to fall from the sky, they can transfer programming to the other 10 that are out there. There may be a loss of some channels, but they could get rid of the crappy channels (shopping, religion, etc) to make sure the real channels (ESPN, SciFi, etc) stay running. (maybe this is what you meant and we just weren't understanding each other?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Senator Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 Not to take this too far off topic Senator, but the fact of the matter is that DirecTV is already using all of those sats with the current dishes. If one happened to fall from the sky, they can transfer programming to the other 10 that are out there. There may be a loss of some channels, but they could get rid of the crappy channels (shopping, religion, etc) to make sure the real channels (ESPN, SciFi, etc) stay running. (maybe this is what you meant and we just weren't understanding each other?) 816527[/snapback] Acually, the point I was trying to make is that your dish is pointed at one particular satellite location - if that satellite fails and they have to switch programming to a different satellite, your dish now has to be pointed at the new satellite or it will not receive the signal from that satellite. It's not the satellite failure that would cause a major service disruption - it's the time it would take to send out technicians/installers to individual homes to climb the roofs and "re-point" the thousands of dishes at the replacement satellite. As you point out, programming can be easily moved to a spare, "hot-standby" satellite, or to another satellite in their system, but dishes have to be 're-pointed' manually, and individually. (Channel grooming is not as simple - one of the reasons for the number of satellites in the system and their locations is that each has a different geographic "footprint" - the area of the US that its signal beam covers - plus the carrying of local channels in each market.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkyMannn Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 And I said I wouldn't post on this any more So this morning just before I leave for work the tree debris removal guys are out doing their job at the house next door to me. They are swinging the boom on their truck around to grab this stuff and hit the TV cable of my next door neighbor and snap it. Welcome to the party neighbor!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fezmid Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 And I said I wouldn't post on this any more So this morning just before I leave for work the tree debris removal guys are out doing their job at the house next door to me. They are swinging the boom on their truck around to grab this stuff and hit the TV cable of my next door neighbor and snap it. Welcome to the party neighbor!!!! 816649[/snapback] You know, I'm almost wondering if Dish/DirecTV aren't paying these people to do this... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Senator Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 And I said I wouldn't post on this any more So this morning just before I leave for work the tree debris removal guys are out doing their job at the house next door to me. They are swinging the boom on their truck around to grab this stuff and hit the TV cable of my next door neighbor and snap it. Welcome to the party neighbor!!!! 816649[/snapback] I suppose the only thing funnier would be if the cable company came to repair, and the boom from their truck knocked off Fezmid's dish!!! (Just kidding, Fez!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chilly Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 Acually, the point I was trying to make is that your dish is pointed at one particular satellite location - if that satellite fails and they have to switch programming to a different satellite, your dish now has to be pointed at the new satellite or it will not receive the signal from that satellite. It's not the satellite failure that would cause a major service disruption - it's the time it would take to send out technicians/installers to individual homes to climb the roofs and "re-point" the thousands of dishes at the replacement satellite. As you point out, programming can be easily moved to a spare, "hot-standby" satellite, or to another satellite in their system, but dishes have to be 're-pointed' manually, and individually. (Channel grooming is not as simple - one of the reasons for the number of satellites in the system and their locations is that each has a different geographic "footprint" - the area of the US that its signal beam covers - plus the carrying of local channels in each market.) 816555[/snapback] I remember when we got DTV at my parent's house in Florida and installed it ourselves - it wasn't that hard to point the satellite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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