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Thread: Foxtel Existing installation.

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    Default Foxtel Existing installation.

    Ok, so here's the deal.

    I have a Foxtel Dish from a previous installation mounted on my roof...

    Since that initial installation, I have had UBI also installed and configured on the same dish.

    I have 2 Sharp KU Band Twin LNB's, with 2 x (2 x 1) Diseqc switches feeding 2 receivers.

    Here's the dilemna, Foxtel and UBI both work on this dish the way it is currently configured and I decided to cancel Foxtel about a year ago.

    The Optus C1 channels still scan in and I'm sure if I put a legit foxtel subby into a dreambox, then I would get pics.

    So I decide that I am ready to get Foxtel back into the house and call up to get an installation done as I thought I might as well get them to run a cable to another room while they are up there.

    Foxtel guy gets here and looks at current install, puts his sat meter on the lnb and then says that the BER is under 14 and that it is insufficient to run an optimal Foxtel connection. He calls his supervisor and is advised to do a completely new install, so I give him the ok, but he says he needs to check with the sales office if this will cost me extra.

    After ringing them up, he is advised that he must take all services off the existing dish, remove the bracket and re-install foxtel on my dish as the dish is the property of Foxtel!!

    I'm sure GW1 God rest his soul would be turning in his grave right about now about this one.

    I argued with the installer and told him that I would not be proceeding with the membership if they didn't install a new dish along side the old one and leave the existing services as they are.

    He ended up leaving on the premise that we wouldn't be going ahead.

    I then rang customer service and argued with them for about 30 mins and ended it by them advising they would get back to me on Monday with a solution.

    What do I do? What are my rights? Surely, if they can do free installations for new customers, they can do the same for existing...

    I remember reading a thread that GW1 commented on where he states that by law and by contractual agreement, the Dish is not the property of Foxtel?

    Anyway, wanna be prepared for when they call me as I'm not happy with the service and the complete waste of a day waiting for these guys to show up.



Look Here ->
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    How would they know if it was their original dish?
    I very much doubt that it has FOXTEL emblazoned on it.
    Stand on your dig.


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    Quote Originally Posted by beer4life View Post
    How would they know if it was their original dish?
    I very much doubt that it has FOXTEL emblazoned on it.
    Stand on your dig.

    In Hindsight, I would have requested a new installation regardless.

    But the fact that I am still on their system as having foxtel previously installed makes it a little difficult to play the "this is not a foxtel dish" card.

    But having said that, I could have said that I removed the original dish and that this was installed by someone else as you are right, there is no Foxtel inscription whatsoever on the dish.

    As far as I'm concerned anything left behind when they came to pick up the cards and the receivers was rightfully mine.

    The customer service reps argument was that they don't like to remove dishes from roofs as they could create damage to existing gutters or tiles or whatever...

    What a crock. They just don't want to spend the money to get an installer to remove it and it's a win/win situation for them anyway as they won't have to do anything should the current/next owner of the house wishes to install foxtel again.

    And to be honest, there is no reason why the installer couldn't have played with the skew of the Foxtel LNB on my existing dish and got it up to where it needed to be, lazy.

    It was all too difficult for him, his words "I'm not familiar with this setup".

    I had soo much planned for todays installation, i.e. run 2 more cables to 2 other rooms and then install a multi-switch which I have on order to arrive next week, so I can feed 4 receivers.

    But instead, I get a moron who doesn't even know what a diseqc switch is and thought the bracket on the disk was the reason the signal wasn't strong enough.
    Last edited by esky; 20-02-10 at 11:08 PM. Reason: Additional Information

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    Have a little read of the foxtels terms and conditions...........i think there is a little section on cancelation of service and returning of decoder and card........i believe this is where GW1 got his info from..............I believe you will find they have no claim on the previous installation and it is yours to use as you wish. I do believe you are right. Keep us posted.

    Ok did some digging around......... the general belief is the installation remains the property of foxtel unless you request it removed and they don't remove it with in reasonable time. Then it becomes abandoned equipment.
    Last edited by jrmargi; 21-02-10 at 12:38 AM. Reason: More Info
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    For god's sake people......you can buy a dish anywhere, there are free services on the optus sats.

    Tell foxtel that if they touch and disturb your private satelite setup in anyway that they will be invoiced for any repairs!!

    That is your right!!!!!

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    Quote Originally Posted by esky View Post
    In Hindsight, I would have requested a new installation regardless.

    But the fact that I am still on their system as having foxtel previously installed makes it a little difficult to play the "this is not a foxtel dish" card.

    But having said that, I could have said that I removed the original dish and that this was installed by someone else as you are right, there is no Foxtel inscription whatsoever on the dish.

    As far as I'm concerned anything left behind when they came to pick up the cards and the receivers was rightfully mine.

    The customer service reps argument was that they don't like to remove dishes from roofs as they could create damage to existing gutters or tiles or whatever...

    What a crock. They just don't want to spend the money to get an installer to remove it and it's a win/win situation for them anyway as they won't have to do anything should the current/next owner of the house wishes to install foxtel again.

    And to be honest, there is no reason why the installer couldn't have played with the skew of the Foxtel LNB on my existing dish and got it up to where it needed to be, lazy.

    It was all too difficult for him, his words "I'm not familiar with this setup".

    I had soo much planned for todays installation, i.e. run 2 more cables to 2 other rooms and then install a multi-switch which I have on order to arrive next week, so I can feed 4 receivers.

    But instead, I get a moron who doesn't even know what a diseqc switch is and thought the bracket on the disk was the reason the signal wasn't strong enough.
    Until about 2004, when a customer cancelled their subscription a tech would go out and remove the dish in addition to the stu & card and you would find, especially on rented properties, that you were backwards and forwards to the same address removing and replacing the dish every time the tenant changed. The morons running Foxtel eventually came to the realisation that it was costing them a fortune and therefore decreed that in future unless specifically requested by the customer that all infrastructure was to remain in place.
    As for ownership of the infrastructure, it has always been my understanding that at all times it remains the property of Foxtel although I doubt very much that they would get involved in a dispute with a customer about ownership.
    The tech who came to your place clearly did not know his job or he would have made the adjustments to increase the BER, although it would have been sufficient as the minimum BER from my memory is 13.
    You should not have to buy a multi-switch as it should be included in any install that requires more than one box

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    Advise Foxtel that if they wish to proceed down that path , then you will be billing them for storage of their equipment that they left on your property.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sanity View Post
    Advise Foxtel that if they wish to proceed down that path , then you will be billing them for storage of their equipment that they left on your property.
    Good point! I'll definitely use that one.

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    Quote Originally Posted by porkop View Post
    For god's sake people......you can buy a dish anywhere, there are free services on the optus sats.

    Tell foxtel that if they touch and disturb your private satelite setup in anyway that they will be invoiced for any repairs!!

    That is your right!!!!!
    porkop I would never had wasted time with Foxtel if it wasn't for the monopoly that they have on Australian sports and for the hassle free ability to watch euro sports as well.

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    So anyway, just got off the phone to the Rep at Foxtel and after a painstaking 10 mins of going around in circles, I decided to give up / hang up, I think it happened at the same time.

    She just was not smart enough to give me a solution and didn't understand my point about the whole argument being null and void had they sent a field rep installer who knew what he was doing..

    He wanted 14 BER and didn't know that it was just a matter of changing the skew of the LNB.

    She just tried continually to end the call due to her mis-comfort and the fact that the call was being recorded and she had nothing but a cancellation of the order as her reply...

    So I'm done with Foxtel, I will fix the LNB myself with I'm sure plenty of assistance from the gurus on this forum.

    I just received my 4x4 multi-switch and it has LNB A 13V/0Hz, LNB B 18V/0Hz, LNB C 13V/22KHz & LNB D 18V/22Khz.

    I don't understand this? Can I connect up my 2 x Sharp Twin LNB's to this unit?

    My understanding is that this unit was supposed to accept 4 satellites?

    Thanks.
    Last edited by esky; 22-02-10 at 04:09 PM. Reason: Typo

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    Quote Originally Posted by esky View Post
    So anyway, just got off the phone to the Rep at Foxtel and after a painstaking 10 mins of going around in circles, I decided to give up / hang up, I think it happened at the same time.

    She just was not smart enough to give me a solution and didn't understand my point about the whole argument being null and void had they sent a field rep installer who knew what he was doing..

    He wanted 14 BER and didn't know that it was just a matter of changing the skew of the LNB.

    She just tried continually to end the call due to her mis-comfort and the fact that the call was being recorded and she had nothing but a cancellation of the order as her reply...

    So I'm done with Foxtel, I will fix the LNB myself with I'm sure plenty of assistance from the gurus on this forum.

    I just received my 4x4 multi-switch and it has LNB A 13V/0Hz, LNB B 18V/0Hz, LNB C 13V/22KHz & LNB D 18V/22Khz.

    I don't understand this? Can I connect up my 2 x Sharp Twin LNB's to this unit?

    My understanding is that this unit was supposed to accept 4 satellites?

    Thanks.

    G'Day Cobber,
    You've been mislead. They say 4 Satellite inputs, not 4 Satellites.
    Yes, you can use the 2 Twin LNBs for H & V on 2 Satellites, OR,
    Have 2 Sats with H and another 2 with V only.
    The inputs to the MS are fixed at 13/18 V for H/V and you switch from either pair with the 22KHz.
    Kindest Regards, " The Druid ".


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    Quote Originally Posted by beer4life View Post

    G'Day Cobber,
    You've been mislead. They say 4 Satellite inputs, not 4 Satellites.
    Yes, you can use the 2 Twin LNBs for H & V on 2 Satellites, OR,
    Have 2 Sats with H and another 2 with V only.
    The inputs to the MS are fixed at 13/18 V for H/V and you switch from either pair with the 22KHz.
    Kindest Regards, " The Druid ".

    thanks b4L, yeah I figured as much given the inputs were spread across 2V&2H.

    That's fine, as I only have 2 dual lnbs at the moment, but it means I will need to use 2 of the 4 switches outputs for the IQ2 if I was to ever get it or alternatively any other dual tuner stb.

    I was planning on running 4 receivers incl. 1 dual tuner box, and was going to use one of the cables from the dual Lnb output, I guess I'll need an 8x8 multi-switch to do that.

    Just out of interest? Has anyone put together a dual tuner stb to rival the IQ2 yet?

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    Quote Originally Posted by esky View Post
    thanks b4L, yeah I figured as much given the inputs were spread across 2V&2H.

    That's fine, as I only have 2 dual lnbs at the moment, but it means I will need to use 2 of the 4 switches outputs for the IQ2 if I was to ever get it or alternatively any other dual tuner stb.

    I was planning on running 4 receivers incl. 1 dual tuner box, and was going to use one of the cables from the dual Lnb output, I guess I'll need an 8x8 multi-switch to do that.

    Just out of interest? Has anyone put together a dual tuner stb to rival the IQ2 yet?
    Take your pick of the Strong. Methinks there are others, mostly DVR.



    Kindest Regards, " The Druid ".

    Last edited by beer4life; 22-02-10 at 05:58 PM.

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    I wonder if you were to ring Foxtel one day (non Customer) and tell them the dish on the roof came adrift in a storm and will they accept responsibilty for the damages caused as you believe it is their Dish and their responsibility to make good the damage??
    I'll bet you a dollar they deny any knowledge and say they have no record of any such installation at that address.
    One thing Austar have never done is reclaim a dish that I have ever heard of.

    That BER reading has me curious as my STB's read a BER of 63.

    And remember they DONT have to provide you with any service if they dont wish too and can impose any restrictions they see fit unless it breaches some Act or Law of which there would be few I think.
    Last edited by gordon_s1942; 23-02-10 at 01:21 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by gordon_s1942 View Post
    That BER reading has me curious as my STB's read a BER of 63.
    What they really mean is MER, not BER.

    MER = The is a measure of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in a digitally modulated signal. Like SNR, MER is usually expressed in decibels (dB).

    Foxtels minimum spec is a MER of 13. Yet here in WA, with the 65cm dish they supply, 13 is not always achieved.
    Last edited by vk6xlr; 23-02-10 at 06:23 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by vk6xlr View Post
    What they really mean is MER, not BER.

    MER = The is a measure of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in a digitally modulated signal. Like SNR, MER is usually expressed in decibels (dB).

    Foxtels minimum spec is a MER of 13. Yet here in WA, with the 65cm dish they supply, 13 is not always achieved.
    Thanks vk for that explanation, I have just 2 questions, one I'm sure is going to be fairly obvious.

    1. Does size matter when trying to get optimal signal quality?
    2. Is there a cheap sat meter that measures MER?

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    Quote Originally Posted by esky View Post
    1. Does size matter when trying to get optimal signal quality?
    2. Is there a cheap sat meter that measures MER?
    1: (In WA) 65cm dish, 11.5-13.5dB vs 85cm, 14.5-16dB. This is based on the Foxtel 12688 transponder.
    So bigger the dish, better the MER

    2: Not that I know of. I use a Unaohm S22+, but that's around $2000

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    BER, MER and NM (Noise Margin) all relate to the 'quality' of the signal.

    MER is an overall signal quality measurement.

    BER is the measurement ratio of digital bit errors, both prior to and after correction.

    DCP (Digital Channel Power) relates to the signal strength.

    The key to reliable digital reception, both terrestrial and satellite, is low BER, high MER and NM.

    It's common to scrifice a little signal strength (DCP) to gain better figures of BER, MER and NM.

    They don't always increase or decrease together.

    One of the cheapest digital sat meters with MER that I know of, is the Maxpeak SAM.... priced around $1,200.00 but I don't know how accurate it is.


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    Quote Originally Posted by mtv View Post
    BER, MER and NM (Noise Margin) all relate to the 'quality' of the signal.

    MER is an overall signal quality measurement.

    BER is the measurement ratio of digital bit errors, both prior to and after correction.

    DCP (Digital Channel Power) relates to the signal strength.

    The key to reliable digital reception, both terrestrial and satellite, is low BER, high MER and NM.

    It's common to scrifice a little signal strength (DCP) to gain better figures of BER, MER and NM.

    They don't always increase or decrease together.

    One of the cheapest digital sat meters with MER that I know of, is the Maxpeak SAM.... priced around $1,200.00 but I don't know how accurate it is.

    haha, I've read about those satellite meter on TELE-Satellite Magzine. Very good, but a little bit expensive. Maybe you were insteresting on my satellite meter. just have a quick look on the link which located in my sign.
    Shit! Bigpond told me that is ADSL2+!!!!

    http://www.speedtest.net/result/1246500658.png

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    Quote Originally Posted by comtj View Post
    haha, I've read about those satellite meter on TELE-Satellite Magzine. Very good, but a little bit expensive. Maybe you were insteresting on my satellite meter. just have a quick look on the link which located in my sign.
    There's no mention in the specs about your meter measuring true MER.

    It's not me who needs a meter.. I use a $10K real-time spectrum analyser.

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