CHICAGO METRO AREA VOOM

[Seanb61]

Break ups on all Sat chanels in Chicago

Anyone else seeing this? Started about 10 mins ago and is breaking up like crazy. signal strenth says solid 95

 

[IamtheMp3God]

Do Not Let Adant Install In Your Home!

THIS IS A WARNING TO ALL CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, WISCONSIN, and INDIANA Voom customers.

DO NOT LET ADANT WIRELESS INSTALL YOUR VOOM SETUP!

These are the biggest monkies in the world. Unprofessional, forget equipment, and they outsource to untrained individuals to complete your install.

I know 3 people now that have had Voom installed by ADANT and none of them worked properly! I still do not get some local channels and they have no idea what they are doing!

This is a just a warning, take it as you will.

 

[wase4711]

Well, I am sorry to hear about your problem with Adant Wireless, But I have to strongly disagree with your
'general" statement..
I called 2 days before my installation, and talked to Len; he had he instaler bring out extra equipment that I had requested, but it turned out he didnt need it.
Install was perfect; although the first box was giving me a double image, he got a second box out of the truck, it took about 5 min to get authorized, and I get 25 local HD's, and all the Voom stuff clear as a bell!

Initially we were not able to get CBS local, but he went back up on the roof, and re-aimed the OTA, and boom, WBBM comes in almost perfectly. I was NEVER able to get it before..

So, as always, you can get a great installer, or a terrible one..often its how you treat the person,...this man was here early, cleaned up after himself, and was a very good installer..I rate the install 4 ****...

It took about 30 minutes for the station guide to download, but we now have the guide for locals and VOOM stuff...signal strength is 97 on VOOM stuff, and about 100 on most OTA stuff; even CBS is coming in at 87!!

Sign me a happy camper, at least so far...

wase4711

 

[FunkyBoss]

Ummm, if Adant doesn't install it, who will???

I had Buck and Les from Adant install my Voom system and they did a great job. I'm around 45 miles west of the city, and get all locals (with CBS being spotty sometimes) and never have sat breakups! The biggest problem I have is with rain fade and that has nothing to do with Adant. So if you can request Buck, you will be all good!

One thing that does help with OTA is to do your own homework and don't rely on them knowing where to point your antenna.

 

[cpdretired]

Adant also installed my Voom. The installer's put the dish where I wanted it. They routed the RG6 where I suggested. The installer had a satellite finder. He peaked the dish to 96 without even looking at the Voom install guide. These two guys were great.

Just after they finished it started to rain very heavy. In their rush to get to the truck they left a nearly full roll of RG6. As with any company there are good and bad installers.

 

[IamtheMp3God]

As with anything there is good and bad. This is ridiculous! You shouldn't have to go and hold an installers hand to make sure it works correctly.

Are everyone of you getting all your OTA's and Voom channels with no issues?

 

[FunkyBoss]

As with anything there is good and bad. This is ridiculous! You shouldn't have to go and hold an installers hand to make sure it works correctly.

Are everyone of you getting all your OTA's and Voom channels with no issues?

I am extremely picky about my audio/video equipment and how it's hooked up throughout my house. So I insisted on holding their hands through the setup of most everything. I let them climb on the roof to mount the dish, run cables down the house and ground everything. Once the cables came into the house, I wanted control of it and they had no problems letting me use existing wiring since I had really done my homework beforehand (big thanks to this site) and knew how I wanted it all hooked up. A big advantage for me is that I had already went through the OTA pains beforehand because my HDTV has a built-in digital tuner. But for those of you that don't want to know all the technical details of how everything should work, and just want it to work, it is rather unfortunate that some of the installers are pretty lousy.

I have never had any issues with the Voom channels. About once or twice a month, the box will lock up. But a reboot has ALWAYS fixed it for me.

I get every OTA channel perfectly except for CBS. Never had any weather or rain issues on any (non-WBBM) channel. CBS over the last week has been almost perfect too. It has been totally watchable with a few minor pixelization problems now and again. Before then, it was hit or miss. So I'm not sure if it was the new software upgrade that did something, or some kind of change in the weather that helped out, but 45 miles out here in Sugar Grove, I'm fully Vooming again. I also now get 7-2 and 7-3 since the 6.1 Voom update. I had 7-2 before I got Voom when I had the OTA antenna hooked into my TV, but lost it when I went strictly to the Voom STB since I liked having the integrated PG.

So all in all, I really am loving Voom and have no real problems with it whatsoever.

 

[FunkyBoss]

... I still do not get some local channels and they have no idea what they are doing!...

mp3, Where are you located and what type of antenna did they install for you?

 

[FunkyBoss]

...Well, after a year with DTV, and only 4 hd stations, I am changing to Voom; install scheduled next week...

Well wase, how did the install go? Did you get one of the good Adant guys, or one of the lousy ones?

 

[wase4711]

Well, I must say install went very very well...

Installer called 650am, for a 8am appt; at first I was mad, because he sounded like he didnt have a clue..Turns out he lived near my house, but wasnt able to find my street on his map..
He was able to use my existing wiring, which is what I had wanted..he said he was having good success in my area, (25 mi SW of Chicago) using the normal OTA antenna, even though he had a much larger one on the truck, EXACTLY as I had requested when I called a few days prior to confirm my appt with ADANT..As always, I offered him and EVERYONE who does work at my house, coffee, juice, food, and anything else to make his feel good about working at my house, and I think his attention to detail was as good as any....

Turns out he had been doing Direct Tv installs for years, and Voom for about 6 months. Within 2 hours, he had the dish up, the OTA antenna up, and when he turned everything on, we had a "double picture"..he had an spare box on the truck, and since the CSR from Voom told him to replace the box, he did, and after a few min, we had perfect HD picture..
97 Sig strength on the Sat signal, 99 on the OTA channels, and even "impossible to get CBS" was getting a 87 signal..I was able to dial in over 20 OTA channels, most of which come in PERFECTLY most of the time!
the box had the 6.0 software on it, and over night the software updated to 6.1; initially I wasnt able to get my guide info, but after reading about the problem with that here, I unplugged the box, replugged it in, and within about 30 min the guide was back!
I will admit the HD stuff on DTV DOES have a sharper picture on its HD channels, but the SD stuff on VOOM BLOWS AWAY the PQ on DTV; plus the OTA channels now are spectacular, so overall, I will give my Voom viewing experience 3 1/2 stars at this point.
Plus I called the CSR folks to ask about the new pricing, my billing cycle, and more, and I must say the person was incredibly friendly, volunteering to answer ANY AND ALL questions in detail, and take as long as I needed to ask anything of concern...
I wasnt watching during the severe storms last night, so I dont know how the rain fade was, but its raining this morning, so I will find out shortly..

I was very nervous after reading about so many bad experiences, but mine has been anything but that..

wase4711

 

[FunkyBoss]

Anyone in the burbs get an "upgraded" antenna? I am close to asking for one since football season is nearing and I'm only getting a watchable signal on CBS now about 50% of the time with the Stealth antenna. Which antenna is working for everyone who is 30+ miles out for CBS?

 

[wase4711]

Well, I am 28 miles southwest of downtown, and I get PERFECT reception on every OTA channel except WBBM; although until yesterday, when I was getting quite a bit of fade out and pixelation in the afternoon, WBBM had been coming in perfectly for several days; strangely, I have problems with FOX network twice a day; around 11am, and at 5pm..I have the standard issue antenna, and was concerned about football season myself, especially once the snow starts to fly..
DTV solved that issue by providing CBS NETWORK feeds in HD to customers early this year, so there wasn't an issue with watching some football on sundays. Maybe Voom will do the same, since it seems like CBS locals are a problem for folks all around the country..

BTW, during the heavy thunderstorms yesterday, the Satalite channels went out for a bit, but once the lightning stopped and it was just raining, I expericend NO RAIN FADE whatsoever..very happy about that, and I have the standard 18 " dish

 

[FunkyBoss]

I have actually had some pretty good luck with WBBM over the last few weeks and my little Stealth antenna on the roof. I had totally watchable NFL football games the last 2 weeks.

Some pixellation and quick dropouts here and there, but I can't complain (too much) for this station 40+ miles out with a smaller antenna.

 

[Tvlman]

I have relatives in Schaumberg and Crystal Lake in the Chicago Area. Anyone in those areas getting VOOM? Have told them about VOOM but would be nice to know if anyone in those areas is getting it.

 

[wase4711]

well, got an upgraded winegard 7082 antenna today, and all I can say is WOW..
cbs is at 97, and EVERY local is crystal clear...

Kudos to Avant Wireless, and the fine installer who fixed me up today!!
too bad the jerk from my townhouse association has already threatend to kick us out because of an antenna on the roof, but thats another story!!

 

[wase4711]

I got tired of the same problem with CBS,and at times with Fox, so after some arm twisting and butt kissing, I was upgraded to a Winegard 7082P yesterday...
Outstanding reception now on ALL OTA channels, INCLUDING CBS and FOX..I am 28 miles SW of Downtown. so a bit closer than you, but down in a low lying area..They installed it on the peak of my roof, which caused the Homeowners Assoc Dork to start an argument with me yesterday, but knowing the FCC rules as I do, I could care less..
Anyway, call VOOM, then call AVANT, plead your case and see if they do anything for you...

 

[Vreesar]

Tvlman.....

Yea I work in Schaumburg and live next to it in Streamwood ( a little west of schaumburg). Only problem I've had is dealing with CBS as it seems they broadcast at a much lower level than the rest. (ABC, NBC, FOX, etc.) While I do get CBS it cuts in and out all the time. I don't loose the picture, it just freezes and starts back up again.

Which reminds me, anyone got contact information for the local CBS peeps we need to talk to, to try and get this fixed? Only other option that I see is to try and get a different antenna and I havn't really looked into which one would be the best.

 

[wase4711]

well, this page would be a good place to start...
http://www.winegard.com/offair/offairmain.htm

I am in Darien, about 28 miles SW of downtown, and I have a 7082P installed; CBS is now crystal clear all the time..

And, I doubt talking to anyone at CBS would help; remember the big hoopla
they had last year when they put that gigantic antenna on top of the Sears Tower, and how that was going to make their station the strongest one in Chicago?? Ever since then, they have had worse reception then they had before their antenna "upgrade"...
I would just get a better antenna for your house; the difference was like night and day for me...

 

[FunkyBoss]

Tvlman.....

Yea I work in Schaumburg and live next to it in Streamwood ( a little west of schaumburg). Only problem I've had is dealing with CBS as it seems they broadcast at a much lower level than the rest. (ABC, NBC, FOX, etc.) While I do get CBS it cuts in and out all the time. I don't loose the picture, it just freezes and starts back up again.

Which reminds me, anyone got contact information for the local CBS peeps we need to talk to, to try and get this fixed? Only other option that I see is to try and get a different antenna and I havn't really looked into which one would be the best.

The WBBM/CBS issue is not an easy one to fix. They are supposedly stuck with the channel 3 assignment which falls in the low VHF band. These signals are very susceptible to electrical noise which seems to kill the signal for me from time to time.

I did see over at a local Chicago AV forum, someone posted that WBBM is trying to increase the power a little bit. Let's hope this helps out some. Here is the link if you are interested:

http://chicagoavforum.com/index.php?showtopic=112

 

[wase4711]

well, its the night before thanksgiving, snowing like crazy, and I am recieving NOTHING but locals through my VOOM box; any one else in Chicago having problems?

Large, wet snow flakes, so that may be the problem..I also had the box disconnected for a day, so that might be it also...although the "CSR" said she re-authorized it...