The Answer to my Satellite Question
Jan. 29th, 2005 06:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
in_the_blueIn which it's proved that Gwynne is just as smart as everybody says she is.
Since we started having problems with the satellite internet and since the problems were taking place at night, I assumed that there was some sort of water-related thing going on inside the receiver and when it got cold out, the water was condensing and freezing things.
How right I am. I feel so vindicated. There was a plastic cap on the end of the LNB (that's the receiver for y'all who don't have to get into that level of detail about satellite technology) allegedly to protect it from the elements; when the service tech took it off he said a ton of water came pouring out. Apparently they don't even use those plastic caps for installs any more. He took it off and left it off: that's the good news.
The bad news is that it can't be fixed without replacing the LNB arm. Now, I could call up Direcway and plead with them to let us have a new one for free, or I can pay this guy (who actually appears to know what he's talking about) $50 to bring one with him next time. I opt for the easy $50 loss. But wait, there's more! There's a problem with the way the dish was mounted in the first place. It's on a pole on concrete and the original installer didn't do it properly, so it's swaying back and forth under the weight of the dish whenever there's wind.
Whee! The dish must be remounted! I'm so very excited about spending another $175 on top of the LNB replacement for that. It's worth it, though, so I can internet with y'all at my convenience. (Look, ma, new verb: to internet: to connect, to chat, to play, to take the place of a telephone call.)
The guy's going to call tomorrow or Monday and set a time for coming out, probably toward the end of next week. In the meantime there's a small possibility that the LNB will dry out if we ever have a nice day and if there's no permanent damage it will start working magically again. Of course, this is Oregon and this is winter and it rains all the time. Maybe if I went out there with a blow-dryer... on second thought, it might take a blow-torch.
Isn't technology just the best? I knew I was in trouble when the tech asked if I had dialup for backup.
(I'm so smart.)
Since we started having problems with the satellite internet and since the problems were taking place at night, I assumed that there was some sort of water-related thing going on inside the receiver and when it got cold out, the water was condensing and freezing things.
How right I am. I feel so vindicated. There was a plastic cap on the end of the LNB (that's the receiver for y'all who don't have to get into that level of detail about satellite technology) allegedly to protect it from the elements; when the service tech took it off he said a ton of water came pouring out. Apparently they don't even use those plastic caps for installs any more. He took it off and left it off: that's the good news.
The bad news is that it can't be fixed without replacing the LNB arm. Now, I could call up Direcway and plead with them to let us have a new one for free, or I can pay this guy (who actually appears to know what he's talking about) $50 to bring one with him next time. I opt for the easy $50 loss. But wait, there's more! There's a problem with the way the dish was mounted in the first place. It's on a pole on concrete and the original installer didn't do it properly, so it's swaying back and forth under the weight of the dish whenever there's wind.
Whee! The dish must be remounted! I'm so very excited about spending another $175 on top of the LNB replacement for that. It's worth it, though, so I can internet with y'all at my convenience. (Look, ma, new verb: to internet: to connect, to chat, to play, to take the place of a telephone call.)
The guy's going to call tomorrow or Monday and set a time for coming out, probably toward the end of next week. In the meantime there's a small possibility that the LNB will dry out if we ever have a nice day and if there's no permanent damage it will start working magically again. Of course, this is Oregon and this is winter and it rains all the time. Maybe if I went out there with a blow-dryer... on second thought, it might take a blow-torch.
Isn't technology just the best? I knew I was in trouble when the tech asked if I had dialup for backup.
(I'm so smart.)
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no subject
Date: 2005-01-29 08:31 pm (UTC)What about badgering the people responsible for the original install? Shouldn't they have some sort of guarantee on their work so you don't have to pay for their incompetence?
no subject
Date: 2005-01-30 11:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-30 09:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-30 11:31 am (UTC)We Scorpios are an exceedingly intelligent bunch.