10-27-2006, 06:32 AM
We had DISH in California for about 8 years and it was a very good service. We seldom had service drops, even during thunderstorms. But the equipment may have been old and the downloading of the schedule took a while. If you checked the schedule more than 3 or 4 hours into the future, you'd wait for several minutes for the information to download.
We got DISH here, too. The service is generally great. The differences compared to service in California include the frequent service cut outs during heavy rain. The equipment must be better now, because the schedules download quickly. We almost never see the download progess bar, even when checking days into the future.
We had a dual dish system in CA in order to get all that we wanted. Here in Hawaii, we can't get all of the stations. You can find out what those are on their website. Our installer tried to find out if LinkTV and FSTV were available on the Island with a second, larger dish, but that was negative. So, I don't think a second dish will help here. It was going to cost an additional $500 one-time fee. Like finding a NAV system in a car that covers the Islands, you have to accept the fact that the Islands represent a relatively small market to warrant the placement of satellites that will provide us with all services available on the mainland.
I'm beginning to ponder going with Oceanic Cable. We can get the same channel line up, except for the doubling up of the eastern and western feeds on the movie premiums. I'm trying to find out if the costs are comparable; it might be since we use their cable modem service. And, if they ever get the digital phone service going in our area (is it even on the Big Island yet?), that might be another benefit. Our neighbors have cable and they don't have service drops during heavy rains.
The installation issues for Dish can be problematic on the Island. As I understand it, there is one company doing the Dish installs and service in the Islands, and there may be only a handful of guys doing it on the East side. My friend in HPP said to avoid using the guy set up across the highway and near the Kea'au Humane Society; he felt that his work was questionable. Tim, who did our installation, was okay, he did a good, clean job. You should be open to his personality and banter.
Les
Edited by - Les C on 10/27/2006 10:36:09
We got DISH here, too. The service is generally great. The differences compared to service in California include the frequent service cut outs during heavy rain. The equipment must be better now, because the schedules download quickly. We almost never see the download progess bar, even when checking days into the future.
We had a dual dish system in CA in order to get all that we wanted. Here in Hawaii, we can't get all of the stations. You can find out what those are on their website. Our installer tried to find out if LinkTV and FSTV were available on the Island with a second, larger dish, but that was negative. So, I don't think a second dish will help here. It was going to cost an additional $500 one-time fee. Like finding a NAV system in a car that covers the Islands, you have to accept the fact that the Islands represent a relatively small market to warrant the placement of satellites that will provide us with all services available on the mainland.
I'm beginning to ponder going with Oceanic Cable. We can get the same channel line up, except for the doubling up of the eastern and western feeds on the movie premiums. I'm trying to find out if the costs are comparable; it might be since we use their cable modem service. And, if they ever get the digital phone service going in our area (is it even on the Big Island yet?), that might be another benefit. Our neighbors have cable and they don't have service drops during heavy rains.
The installation issues for Dish can be problematic on the Island. As I understand it, there is one company doing the Dish installs and service in the Islands, and there may be only a handful of guys doing it on the East side. My friend in HPP said to avoid using the guy set up across the highway and near the Kea'au Humane Society; he felt that his work was questionable. Tim, who did our installation, was okay, he did a good, clean job. You should be open to his personality and banter.
Les
Edited by - Les C on 10/27/2006 10:36:09