Antonlm
join:2004-09-15
Birmingham, AL | reply to BF69
Re: Now this...
The fact that losing service when it rains has been alluded to in some cable ads and more recent than when sat service first came out. So I find this suit from a cable company pretty funny. |
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fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
1 edit | Um,... no one said "every time" it rains, for one, and two, it's a fact that heavy storms DO interfere with low powered satellite services. So, now you're sitting here trying to make a fact a non-fact.
Rain fade happens and is proven. Even satellite acknowledges that it happens but states it happens only in heavy storms and is rare which is becoming more and more true. Bankruptcy is always based on individual facts and each case is different.
Unless DirecTV has a crystal ball and knows the outcome of Charter's bankruptcy, even before the judges do, then in this case, I stand by Charter on this one. DirecTV should be getting their check books out for this one and should be ashamed of their downright dirty tactics.
This is about the same a saying that you have skin cancer and are going to die. You might, you might not, but should the estate auction begin now? ... many people survive cancer and don't always die. Many companies make it through bankruptcy protection and do survive. However, rain-fade DOES happen.
Oh, and the amount of times cable has "eluded" that storms affect satellite reception hasn't recently gotten stronger.. it was, however, pushed VERY hard by cable a decade ago. |
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Anonymous
Premium
join:2004-06-01
IA | Agreed. Besides customers won't lose their TV/Internet/Phone service. Someone will always take over. Rain fade is a fact. Satellite service goes out during storms. Anyone saying this is not true is full of shit. |
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ChrisDG74
@qcrepro.com
| Gonna put my 2cents in here. As a cable subscriber from 1994-2001 and a DirecTV subscriber from 2002-now, my experience has been that cable outages were far worse. I had TWC and every time the wind got over 30 MPH, the cable went out. Every time there was lightning, the cable went out. Every time it snowed more than 5 inches, cable went out. It would be out anywhere from 2-12 hours. This was not at one residence, just to put that thought to rest. This was in 3 different apartments in three different parts of town. Has my DirecTV gone out? Sure, but with DirecTV, I have lost my signal for no more than 15 minutes at a time. It takes a MAJOR storm to roll through and block the signal(sideways downpour, thunder/lightning, 50 MPH winds all at the same time). You could add up all the minutes lost and still not come up with more than the average cable outage I had(7 hrs). |
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Flibbetigibbet
@lmco.com
| reply to Anonymous
Satellite can go out during very HEAVY storms, unless your dish is mis-aligned. In that case it'll happen more often.
Back when I had cable TV, I lost their signal during rainstorms a lot more often than I've ever lost my satellite signal.
Plus cable companies clean out the Jerk Store every time they go hiring for customer "service" reps... |
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Anonymous
Premium
join:2004-06-01
IA | My cable service is not affected by storms. So what's your point? |
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Flibbetigibbet
@lmco.com
| My satellite service isn't affected by storms, either--the only exceptions were a tropical storm and a hurricane, in both cases the power went out about a minute after the dish lost signal.
If you have a properly aligned dish, rain fade is a very rare occurrence. If you've never lost cable service in bad weather, you're an exceptionally lucky (and rare) cable subscriber. Good for you. |
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user00001
@qwest.net | reply to Anonymous
Our old Comcast connection was frequently affected by rain storms. Unless the dish is not aligned for cap, it take quite a storm to knock out sat TV. And there is no rain fade either. |
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Redux
@cox.net
| reply to fiberguy
said by fiberguy  :Um,... no one said "every time" ... for one, and two, it's a fact that heavy storms DO interfere with low powered satellite services. Um,...no one said "every time" bankruptcy results in problems for customers for one, and two, it's a fact that worst-case bankruptcies DO result in problems for customers. |
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fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
| reply to Flibbetigibbet
Great for you, however YOUR experience does not set the status quo for the technology itself, but nice try.
It's a known fact that cable is not typically affected by rain or heavy cloud covers. It IS a known fact that Satellite is.
Now, you're coming in here and saying "If you've never lost cable service in bad weather, you're an exceptionally lucky (and rare) cable subscriber." which is completely different. If you want to talk about "bad weather" now, that opens up the definition broadly to include tornadoes and hurricanes. Point your finger to Florida or anywhere in the Tornado alley and I'll show you where "BAD WEATHER" will take down cable.. oh, and phone, and power, and... but, if you want to get back on topic and talk about heavy rain and snow, then we'll all be on the same page again.
But, if you think that bad weather takes down cable and you're "exceptionally lucky (and rare)" then you are totally misguided, or simply trolling.
You've obviously not worked for any dish company like some of us or are simply cheer-leading for your cause. Either way, you're not even close to correct with your post. |
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dsldude08
Premium,VIP
join:2008-01-03
La Crosse, WI
 ·CenturyLink
| reply to ChrisDG74
Re: Now this...
I agree completely. I've had DirecTV in the past and now have DISH and I have never lost signal unless the storm were to the point we had to go in the basement and take cover. So, at that point, if your TV isn't working, what's the big deal when you're not watching it anyway (taking cover)? I've had bad experiences with Charter in the past, it would start drizzling outside and I'd have snow all over my TV screen and they failed to resolve the issue. Poor service nonetheless. |
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battleop
join:2005-09-28
00000
| reply to fiberguy
Cable has a long history of misleading adds. Like their "Twice as fast as DSL" that has 3.0Mb Cable compared to 1.5DSL buried in the fine print.
Then again how many of us have actually seen the add in question? Can any of us who have not seen the add really make a good call on who is right or wrong? |
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DougG
@enterprise.com | reply to Anonymous
That ad is genius! All it really does is ask if you want to deal with "Charter's mess". It leaves the outcome of their bankruptcy as an unknown. Basically, "Who wants to deal with that?". The whole lawsuit is comical. |
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BlakePaulson
join:2008-08-06
Alexandria, MN
 ·AT&T Wireless Broa..
 ·Charter Pipeline
| reply to Anonymous
Mine goes out when it's sunny out? What's your point? Aside from heavy storms direcTV rarely goes out... how often do fiber cuts, equipment malfunctions, employee errors, and infrastructure problems cause issues for cable users? I bet it's a lot more often than "heavy storms."
I love cable internet but when it come to TV... I say hell no. Charter/Mediacom/Comcast are all unreliable. I should know because I've had all three and can't wait until directv installs my dish on June 2nd (my dad has DirecTV as well and loves it and I've seen the quality...) |
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mmainprize
join:2001-12-06
Houghton Lake, MI
| The problem is worst the more north you dish is located. In the south your dish point a 45 dgrees but up north it is like 20 and must cut through many more clouds and stroms.
IF you are in canada and getting sat form americia then you know this all to well.
Just like calbe, if you live in an area with bad weather then you have a higher chance of cable outage. |
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Antonlm
join:2004-09-15
Birmingham, AL
| reply to fiberguy
I realize this is a bit late. But I just got to a point where I can respond. Maybe you should actually read what I wrote.First I never said cable ads said "every time" it rains but If the person in the ad says "Tired of losing your sat signal when it rains? Switch to cable" (or something along those lines)What will someone with no experience with sat going to conclude? Maybe that's why no one has ever asked me how my service was during "heavy rains" only "when" it rains. And again I never said that rain is a non factor, but I stand by my statements because in my experience and other sat owners I know, it is infrequent at best. And with your skin cancer analogy, now may not be the time for the estate auction, but a prudent person would be prepared for it. And maybe in your neck of the woods, a decade was the most recent time for the cable companies to "elude" to storms being a factor, but here it's been much more recent than that. |
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Ebolla
join:2005-09-28
Dracut, MA
| reply to battleop
How is "twice as fast as DSL" misleading if it is comparing 3.0meg cable internet to 1.5DSL. In this area when Comcast had a 3.0 connection most DSL connections didnt even break 1meg. Comcast doubled it to 6meg a few years ago, DSL didnt. Recently the Comcast service in this area has been upped to 12meg, DSL isn't at a 6meg in this area. In this area the "twice as fast" was incorrect only in the fact that it was MORE then 2x the speed for the average connections. |
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mc5w
join:2002-06-14
Independence, OH
| reply to fiberguy
Most cable service comes from satellites, but the cable companies and broadcast stations get to use bigger dishes for the ground antennas. A bigger receiving antenna means that when the signal fades during a rainstorm the automatic gain control has a chance to crank up the gain to compensate.
If the rain is really really bad, a broadcast station is going to be be broadcasting emergency alerts and the feed from the network gets cut off. Same for cable TV except they usually shrink the program picture and cut off the sound for the emergency alert. |
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Flibbetigibbet
@lmco.com
| reply to fiberguy
I'm happy to talk about heavy rain (not snow, haven't been there or done that), and "bad weather" does not include tornadoes or hurricanes (I suspect I've seen plenty more of both than you have). It's just plain bad weather--rain, thunder, lightning. In the years when I had cable (several different companies in different cities), it went out all the time in generic old bad weather. Not destructive weather--bad weather, and it stayed out for well after the storms passed.
Judging by the other responses in this thread, I was hardly the only one. So drop the self-righteousness. It's a bore. |
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