noping
no route to host
Premium
join:2007-01-09
 ·Verizon FIOS
4 edits | [northeast] Lost HBO West(s), MSNBC (now fixed)
/spit
Repair tech showed up yesterday morning to take a look at image quality issues I've been having, ended up replacing a malfunctioning (?) STB. Signals were reported as "good," all channels were functioning.
Later that evening, all HBO West channels went black. HBO West, HBO2 West, etc. Also, MSNBC went black. According to the FSC, I'm the only one in this area that's experiencing this problem - I'm going to have to take another day off for someone to make another trip out here. Re-initializing the STBs - nothing. Rebooting the ONT - nothing. FSC is "clueless" as to why this is going on (that, or they won't tell me).
The TV portion of the service has been nothing but trouble ever since it was installed early last month - one so-so installation, nine trouble calls, three repair technicians sent out, three ONTs replaced, $70 worth of credit from Encore, HBO on Demand continuing to show signs of random tiling.
Questions, as usual:
1. What could be causing MSNBC, HBO West(s) to be entirely blacked out? answered by KA3SGM
2. I'm coming up on the "30-day" cancellation period. Should I jump ship? If I called up the Encore department, would they be willing to extend this (seeing as how I haven't had extended periods of trouble-free service to know whether or not I like the actual, working service)? Billing department would not extend 30-day period; if I do choose to cancel, I'll have to argue to get the fee waived
3. Think Encore would be willing to throw more credit my way? Not that it makes up for taking another day off, mind you. account supposedly credited, we'll see
4. Does anyone have the contact info (snail mail) for some sort of person in the corporate department to complain to about shoddy service? To me, this situation is entirely unacceptable - it's getting to the point where this is a waste of my time and money. |
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KA3SGM
- -... ...- -
Premium
join:2006-01-17
West Chester, PA
clubs:
 ·Cricket Broadband
·Verizon FIOS
| Re: [northeast] Lost HBO West(s), MSNBC, getting fed up
Noping, much sympathy from the other side of West Chester !
I went through the same kind of treatment for almost the whole month of February, and into March. 3 ONT's, 3 Routers. They had to cancel my account completely, and rebuild it from scratch, to fix the problem. Everything has been almost perfect since then, except for the stupid MR-DVR software bug is still not fixed, and it has been over a month now.
Did the Verizon techs re-wire any of your house, or replace connectors from before? Not that it is the current problem, but it only adds to the problem possibilities. Loosing a few channels, with everything else working fine, is most certainly not a problem at your house. The FSC just loves throwing technicians and equipment at problems that don't actually exist. It took like 7 service calls, and 12 techs, before they realized it was an internal Verizon problem, and nothing anywhere close to my home.
What time did HBO-W and MSNBC go dark? How long were they out for? Was this during the afternoon or evening?
It would be interesting to note, because this could be a headend problem, or solar outage problem, because HBO and MSNBC are both downlinked from neighboring satellites that are only 2 degrees apart(Galaxy-15 & AMC-10).
You would loose HBO(G-15) first, then MSNBC(AMC-10) about 5 minutes later as the sun sets further to the West. Depending how well Verizon's headend dishes are aimed, start to finish, it could take 30 minutes to completely correct itself, unless someone needs to manually reset the headend DigicipherII receivers.
Spring solar outages occur late Mar. early Apr., then Fall outages in late Sept. early Oct. each year. This is when the sun passes directly behind the satellite, and the satellite signal is eclipsed by the mega powerful electromagnetic garbage being spewed from the sun, for about 10-20 minutes in the late afternoon. This happens daily for about a week during spring, and a week during fall. You may not have noticed that other channels were out too, and by time an FSC rep gets a chance to investigate, the outage has passed, and the problem is back at your house again.
The FSC reps all have fiber on the brain, and would not figure on a satellite problem. But ask them where they get their headend signals from, and they're clueless.
I have personally noticed The Discovery Channel, and The Weather Channel (also on the AMC-10 satellite) go bye-bye for about 15-20 minutes in the late few days, but have not called the FSC, because I know it's a problem they can't fix.
Every cable company and DBS satellite provider goes through this problem, because they all get their programing via satellite.
I just ask this because I am used to this happening this time of year. Had the same problems with Dish Network, with my good old 9 foot C-band satellite dish, and even with Comcast.
This will be my first solar outage season with FiOS TV, and I can already see that they are not immune. I just know that within the week, the outages will not be anything to worry about again until the fall.
Even if that is not your problem, it's a good thing to know, because sooner or later, everyone will experience the solar outage problem, as long as TV signals are delivered to cable systems via satellite. |
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noping
no route to host
Premium
join:2007-01-09
·Verizon FIOS
3 edits | >Did the Verizon techs re-wire any of your house, or replace connectors from before?
No. That's what the tech was sent out to do (FSC: "we're going to send someone out to redo all the old coax that Comcast ran that the installers likely should have, hopefully that'll fix the problems you're having") but all that got replaced was a STB (tech: "signal is fine, I don't know why the FSC wanted to send someone out to replace it").
>What time did HBO-W and MSNBC go dark? How long were they out for?
Saturday evening. Still dark as of this morning, never any images after it first went out. Looks like I won't get to watch my favorite left-of-center news program later tonight.
>It would be interesting to note, because this could be a headend problem, or solar outage problem, because HBO and MSNBC are both downlinked
I'm curious, if this were the problem, why was I repeatedly told that I am "the only one in this area experiencing the problem"? For what it's worth, I've never seen a channel disappear like you've described, not even with Comcast. |
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GeekNJ
Premium
join:2000-09-23
Waldwick, NJ
·Verizon FIOS
| said by noping  :>It would be interesting to note, because this could be a headend problem, or solar outage problem, because HBO and MSNBC are both downlinkedI'm curious, if this were the problem, why was I repeatedly told that I am "the only one in this area experiencing the problem"? What would be a more appropriate response is "You are the only one that has called in with the problem.".
I have at least 1 neighbor now that I know has FIOS and I could ask if they are experiencing the same thing. Do you have any neighbors that have FIOS and you can see if they are experiencing the same issue?
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Tweaked your connection? | Mail Parse | Speed Converter |
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RAH
join:2007-03-16
West Chester, PA | I live south of West Chester in Pocopson township. This morning no MSNBC. I havn't had time to investigate with other FIOS neighbors yet. |
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MagScribe
join:2001-08-20
West Chester, PA
| Also in Pocopson. No MSNBC here, either. or HBO West.
Guess it's not a problem of someone's home wiring or ONT. Feel free to call the FSC people and start slapping 'em around.
They should know if they have a multi-channel outage for a large block of homes. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy.
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Back writing about tech, read me at www.tektruth.com |
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noping
no route to host
Premium
join:2007-01-09
·Verizon FIOS
1 edit | reply to GeekNJ
said by GeekNJ :
What would be a more appropriate response is "You are the only one that has called in with the problem.". If I had gotten a response like that instead of the generic "it's a problem with your house," I'd have been somewhat more satisfied.
As far as I know, I'm the only person in this development with the TV service (others that I know have internet and phone but not TV).
said by MagScribe :
Guess it's not a problem of someone's home wiring or ONT. Feel free to call the FSC people and start slapping 'em around. They've already scheduled for two people to come out tomorrow (a "foreman" and a "normal repair" guy). Should I cancel the appointment (seeing as how it's not just me; technicians coming out would just be a waste of everyone's time)?
During my morning commute this morning, I decided to call up Encore to see if they would be willing to credit me - a gruff person said that they don't handle credit for downtime, that I'd have to talk to the FSC (uh, right, which explains why Encore credited me for all the downtime and problems last month) and I ended up getting bounced around different departments.
And while I write this post during a break, I'm watching TV through the Slingbox - the channel that I watch for left-of-center commentary is flickering on and off, something that it wasn't doing all of yesterday.
What a mess. I'm still looking for some sort of corporate address that I can write a letter to complain to about this less-than-ideal service.
Edit: And there it goes, it's back up, just like that. |
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GeekNJ
Premium
join:2000-09-23
Waldwick, NJ | HBO West works fine for me in Northern NJ. We don't have MSNBC though so I can't check. |
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MagScribe
join:2001-08-20
West Chester, PA | MSNBC is back, but not HBO-W. Issues remain at the FSC...and it would be nice if someone were to come on here from VZ and acknowledge it.
--
Back writing about tech, read me at www.tektruth.com |
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Jon Purkey
join:2006-09-29
Washington, DC
| reply to KA3SGM
said by KA3SGM : I have personally noticed The Discovery Channel, and The Weather Channel (also on the AMC-10 satellite) go bye-bye for about 15-20 minutes in the late few days, but have not called the FSC, because I know it's a problem they can't fix. Every cable company and DBS satellite provider goes through this problem, because they all get their programing via satellite. What Verizon could and hopefully will do in the future is put up a slide explaining why the channels are out. That is what DirecTV used to do. I'm sure it cut down on the calls to DirecTV and saved DirecTV some $$ on their phone bill in the process. |
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barje
join:2002-06-24
Park Ridge, NJ | reply to GeekNJ
GeekNJ will be ever get MSNBC or does Cablevision have us locked out? |
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GeekNJ
Premium
join:2000-09-23
Waldwick, NJ | They say it has to do with some contract with CV/MSNBC but I haven't heard anything official. Just seems odd that NY, served by CV, has MSNBC and SNY-HD and Northern NJ doesn't. |
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JeepMatt
Delaware Fios
Premium
join:2001-12-28
Wilmington, DE | reply to MagScribe
HBO-West / MSNBC coming in fine in DE.
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"ONE team - ONE city - ONE dream!!" |
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matcarl
join:2007-03-09
Franklin Square, NY
1 edit | reply to GeekNJ
Geek
NY doesn't have MSNBC, just SNY HD |
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GeekNJ
Premium
join:2000-09-23
Waldwick, NJ | Ah. I thought you did. |
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noping
no route to host
Premium
join:2007-01-09
·Verizon FIOS
2 edits | reply to noping
Aaaaaand, all is well and fixed - everything suddenly started working during my mid-afternoon lunch break when viewed from the Slingbox. HBO West(s) are up, and more importantly, MSNBC is up. For a while there, I thought I'd end up watching CNN, a news organization which I absolutely loathe. This had better not become a reoccurring issue like KA3SGM described, and if it does become one - here's to hoping they come up with better generic excuses in the future other than "there are no reported service outages in your area, sir" or "we're going to send another technician out."
I'm still looking around for some sort of corporate address that I can write to and complain. Of course, complaining to executives that are simply in it for your money wouldn't do much good, but I'd at least feel better after venting a bit. |
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