Here is a copy of the letter I wrote to DirecWay regarding our internet issues:
I thought it would be best to share my DirecWay saga as I feel it could help DirecWay help other users as well. Please forward it on to someone you feel could help solve this issue. Thank You!
It all began back in November when the first freeze hit. The very next morning my system began to lose signal and over the course of a few days eventually it went out completely. After talking to Tier 3 support a technician was dispatched to try and resolve my problem.
The technician wasn't very experienced and he simply re-aimed my dish and was on his way. However, when the weather drop down below freezing again the same issue occured.
The next technician sent to my home was experienced and he decided that the issue was probably because he found some water in the weather sleeves that the installer had placed over all the connections. he removed those, re-aimed the dish and was sure that would solve the problem.
A week later, with the freezing weather, the system went out yet again. This time Tier 3 decided that a new IRU and a new Radio Transmission Arm (the part the transmits and holds the LNB) was needed so the order was made and 2 weeks later I got my parts and the same installer replaced the units. After replacing the units the system still did not work, he had reaimed the dish. This time however he had to adjust the right support arm on the mount about 2" to realign. He realized that for some reason the dish had slipped 2 inches in the 3 weeks since he was last here and he knew it wasn't because he failed to tighten it. He also noticed that some rust had formed around the inside poll of the arm. This lead him to believe that water was inside the arm and when the weather would freeze it was somehow allowing the arm to slide back in on itself making the dish go out of alignment.
Literally 12 hours after he left the system went out again. This time Tier 3 issued a field order that basically said to do whatever it would take to fix this issue. DO to the weather it was about a week until the installer arrived and when he did he said he could tell the dish had slid again.
I opted for a poll install although it would cost me more money. After moving the dish to the poll the technician began to dissassemble the roof mount. When he dissasembled the support arms he showed me how each arm was completely filled with water and that it had caused a layer of rust/mold slime on the smaller part of the arm that fits inside the larger.
So in the end I was without service for over 2 months because of a bad design in the support arms of the roof mount. The thing is there was/is a simple and cheap solution. If the support arms had small holes at their bases to allow moisture to drain out this would have never happened.
Posted by John at January 30, 2004 06:31 PM