Customer Service

It isn’t possible that AT&T reduced power on their satellites. I’m sure that your satellite dish isn’t properly aimed. In that case, a technician WOULD have to come out to aim it. If not, there are YouTube videos showing how to do it if you are more of a DIY’er.

I agree, AT&T’s acquisition of DIRECTV messed up a lot of things, but satellite power was not one of them. This would be an issue with your specific setup. Also, what boxes are you trying to replace? List their receiver models so we can tell if they actually need to be upgraded.

Detuch254, how come my dish was properly aimed BEFORE AT&T bought DirecTV and now it isn't?  And adjusting the power on satellites IS possible, unless you know something about satellite management I don't.  

I am not going to go through a debate with you on whether my boxes needed to be upgraded or not, I know they are old and there are upgrades.  Free upgrades.

I've been around the block a few times, know a little about satellites, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering etc.  

AT&T is no longer involved with DirecTV's day-to-day operations since they spun them off. 

As mentioned, your issue has nothing to do with AT&T or reduced satellite power. Dishes can move out-of-alignment for a variety of reasons. Coax cable connections can loosen or corrode over time. A service visit will get your system operating properly again.

It doesn't matter if ATT isn't involved, they have screwed up everything they have touched.  The pompas Holier than Thou attitudes I've seen from the various ACE non-employees is laughable (especially Detuch254).  Not just this thread, but several that I've read.  If you think that the satellites power cannot be reduced, you don't understand satellite technology.  But to illistrate my point, my signal strength had decayed after ATT bought DirecTV.  There is a tech coming today and I'll make him check EVERYTHING.  But I'm done reading this thread since I'm being talked down to from you "experts".   I'd like to be done with ATT and all of their subsidieries but I"ve got 2 years on my contract.  Then it FO AT&T!

Sorry if you feel that you're being "talked down to", but you're being silly. If the satellite power was reduced, then we would ALL see that, not just you.

Let us know what the tech finds. 

So Mr Genus, how many people complain about loosing signals when a storm comes through?   Used to be nobody I talked to had a problem with DirecTV (only those with DISH in our area).  Now????  I'm not being silly, (Edited per community guidelines).   I'm paying for a service that is worse than what I contracted for and received in the past.  

Just quit responding.  I'm done with all this (Edited per community guidelines).

"Mr Genus" .... gotta love that :)

Folks have complained about rain fade since the beginning of satellite services. It's no worse now than before. Your assertion that DirecTV reduced their satellite power is false, I'll leave it at that. Best wishes to you. 

The only change in the satellites is shutting down the MPEG-2/SD-only feeds. The transmission strength remains the same as Federally regulated.

Satellite service always has the chance to be affected by the enviorment, be that rain, clouds, other obstacles in the way, etc. Over the years building settling, shifting of dish or what it is attached to, and wear and tear of cabling can affect both the alignment as well as quality of the signal from the receiving dish down to the boxes. If you are experiencing issues outside of what you are accustomed to, then a service call may be needed to tighten, realign, or otherwise repair the connections. Though I would always go through normal troubleshooting first to see if it is something that can be self-resolved.

I concur that transmission strength being lowered to begin with would not be the case. That is more a conspiracy theory in my book.

Well, back to customer service.  The tech appointment that I was scheduled for between 8 and 12 today.  At 9, I was informed that it was now 12 to 4.  (Edited per community guidelines)!  Ok, so I'll completely rearrange MY schedule to accomodate (Edited per community guidelines) who can't schedule.  Then at 1:40, got a text that the tech would show up between 2 and 2:30.  At 4:10 I called customer support to find out where the tech was.  They had no clue, the dispatch office had no clue, nobody had a clue.  To top it off, the agent, her supervisor and her manager all said (at 4:22) that it was only 3:22.  (Edited per community guidelines) again.  They said I lived in mountain time zone.  I've been living in East Texas for 43 years and I've been on the wrong time zone (Central) all this time.  I told them to plug my address into Google Maps and find out where I lived.  But regardless, the tech lives in the same time zone I do, unless he's driving from the Mountain time zone.  They told me he'd be here by the end of the day.  Well, the end of the day is midnight, but I wasn't about to wait that long.  I have rescheduled to Wed, 8 to 12.  At 12:01 I'm locking the door and if he shows up I'll send him home.  I've already warned customer support that I will be calling if he doesn't show up.  

You guys can bow and sc(Edited per community guidelines) and tell us how wonderful DirecTV is (all you ACE dips) and how they are separate from AT&T (how come I have to use my AT&T id to log in and every email comes from AT&T?), but those of us who have to put up with this (Edited per community guidelines) know better.

@janichol1 

Sorry but "warning" customer support does nothing. They are not afraid of you and likely the person will never speak to you again. They have call centers across the country being a nationwide service, plus some outsourced support. If tech doesn't show, then of course you call and submit a no-show complaint on the appointment; That is a Field Service Request (FSR) for the agent that gets sent down to the dispatch in charge of the tech and those appointments.

And please lay off the insults. Just because you don't like our answers or perspective make them no less valid than yours. Sometimes we can give direct answers or guidance, others simply a realistic perspective (even if that perspective is not what you want it to be). Continued insults or other toxicity are against the forum guidelines and can result in consequences as chosen by the moderators.

Unfortunately, since the pandemic techs have been short staffed. Though a lot of restrictions have been lifted, people aren't rushing out to apply for these kinds of jobs. This is an area that is still going to take time to get back to normal.

However, an automatic reschedule (even if same day) without notice to verify if that would be ok if rescheduling for a different day would be better, is not the right way to handle any delays with the appointment. I would certainly submit a complaint on that.

Umm, "locking" your door doesn't do anything for the appointment. They are not going to just stroll into your home. They must knock, ring the bell, or whatever you use to announce their arrival. And though it seems you may understand this next point, I mention just so all bases are covered, the 8am to Noon or Noon to 4pm is only the arrival time. There is never a guarantee on how long work will take.

That tech probably saw your comments here and decided not to come :)

You all can kiss my (Edited per community guidelines).  Bunch of punk (Edited per community guidelines)es