About dspicer

Amanda, Thanks, I had not seen Liz's message about the modem update rolling out this month. Hopefully, that will fix the problem. Will there be an announcement on this forum, or elsewhere, when the update is rolled out? If not, how can I tell if my modem has been updated? ... View more

Continuing to have problems with dropped calls, so the move to outroute 2 did nothing to correct the problem.  ... View more

I am the OP.  My intent is to document the problems, process and events that have occurred since my installation.  Since Hughesnet tech support requested the technician replace the transmitter, replacing a 2 watt transmitter with a 1 watt transmitter, during this process, it is relevant to the discussion.  All I want from Hughesnet is the ability to make and receive phone calls, without being disconnected, and a 2 watt transmitter.  I don't think that is too much to expect. ... View more

Sometime yesterday, Hughesnet move me from outroute 4 to outroute 2 on beam 82, Don't know exactly when they did this.  Hopefully it is an effort to correct the problem. The repair technician called to schedule the appointment to replace the ATA and the transmitter.  I asked him to confirm the part number of the transmitter he had, it was only a one watt transmitter.  I told him it would be  a wasted service call and a waste of time if he did not have the correct transmitter.  He tried to convince me that all transmitters were the same.  If that were the case, why did my original transmitter have part number 1504730-1002 (2 watt) and the previous technician replaced it with part number 1505328-0014 (1 watt).  Those two parts look alike, but are not the same.  Apparently Hughesnet technicians do not know the difference, nor do they know the difference between a residential system and a business system.   Here it is 24 hours later, and no call back from Hughesnet nor the repair technician.  I suspect he cancelled the service call, which was not my intent.  I just want the equipment that was originally installed and I want it to work correctly.       ... View more

Liz, Spent this past weekend with help from my son, an electrician, checking out the complete Hughesnet installation, from the dish to the modem. What we found is best described as shoddy workmanship. At the dish, was section of RG59 (NOT RG6) coax cable with a ground wire, commonly called a Siamese cable. The coax was connected to the LNB/transceiver and the ground wire was connected to the dish. The other end of the ground wire ran to a ground block on the mast of my Directv dish (you read that correctly). That ground block was loosely taped to the mast, not making a good connection. The output of the ground block was connected to a dual shield RG6 cable that was installled when my house was built in 2004. The original Hughesnet installer and every technician that has been here since was made aware of this, yet did not want to take time to replace the cable with quad shielded RG6. It took us about 15 minutes to pull new quad shielded RG6 cable into the existing conduit. According to information from Hughesnet, quad shielded RG6 cable from the dish to the grounding block is sufficient grouding for the dish. At the entry point into the building, the original installer made a big deal about having to install a ground block and a ground wire. He did in fact install that, but did not attach the ground wire to a known electrical ground. This was proven by a simple ohm meter test. Again, according to information from Hughesnet and the National Electrical Code, a ground point at the dish and and at the building entry point is acceptable, but they must be bonded together. Clearly, they were not. So after all this was corrected, I was still experiencing call drops. On Monday, 8/12/2019, I spent several hours on the phone with Hughesnet tech support, requiring numerous call backs due to the dropped calls. The first agent I talked to, called back after the first two drops, but did not call back after that, and left me hanging with additional questions. That does not make for good customer satisfaction. The second agent, I wish I had his name, continued to call back after every disconnect. He performed a number of tests, and had engineering look at the problem. They found that ping time would intermittently rise to a level that could cause the call drops. Refer to my previous post where the SQF was dropping from above 100 to 30. It is obvious that these are related to the problem. When these tests were performed, my LAN was disconnected from the Hughesnet modem, so that the only thing connected was the ATA. Now tech support and engineering want to replace the ATA once again, but wont send it to me directly, they insist that a technician come out to replace it. This does not give me a good feeling, since I had to show the last technician what an ATA was, and what it is supposed to do. Also, in my previous post I mentioned that one of the technicians had replaced my 2 watt transmitter with a 1 watt transmitter. He apparently did not there was a difference. I was told by tech support that the 1 watt transmitters are being phased out in favor of the 2 watt transmitters and that the technician would bring a 2 watt transmitter with him. I am waiting on a call from the technician to shedule the service call and I will verify that he has the 2 watt transmitter. Otherwise, it will be a wasted service call and wasted time. Both the transmitter and the ATA are very simple for anyone to install, no "technician" required.   ... View more