I wonder if it relies on specific kit in the exchanges then.

I believe it does. If I remember rightly they have their own DSLAMs in the exchanges in question.

No doubt to keep the the video stuff on a seperate network, which I imagine it relies on to deliver a drop-out free TV service.

They use Local Loop Unbundling so they can stick their own equipment in the exchange as you say. Bulldog does LLU as well.

DirecTV is offering a $200 rebate to (former?) Voom customers.

Heh cool. Vulture move, but cool.

Well, I had planned to go through with upgrading Dish last night. I turned on the TV, hit the Voom button, and instead of the Voom is dead message, it instead was a Voom programing is not dead message. My Voom service will continue at least through Sunday currently, and at that time Dish will be offering a much better deal then DirecTV.

Quote:
Customers can sign a one-year agreement and receive six free months of HD programming with high-definition receivers in up to two rooms at no charge. For a limited time, those who sign up can also receive more than 180 standard definition channels for only $19.99 a month for the first three months, plus a free DVR upgrade, with next-day installation.

Much better then the $200 rebate offer DirecTV did. Oh, and they are doing equipment leases through this, so MPEG4 migration won't affect me beyond having to cable up a new box at some later date.

Seems patience is a good thing in this case. With the rumors that not all the Voom people filming content, people were suspecting some deal to move the programming elsewhere. Noone expected it to happen so soon though.

*sigh*. I forgot how bad Dish is about offering anything to existing or past customers. Out of curiosity, does DirecTV get really problamatic as an existing or previous customer when trying to get new equipment? At this rate, it might be cheeper to go DirecTV. To get the equipment I want from Dish, I'm looking at nearly $800 and a self install. Popular rumor says DirecTV is adding channels in June, and some of those might be from the Voom service.

It would be nice if Dish did the same thing T-Mobile does. I can take advantage of any new cell phone deal by simply signing up for a new contract.

Voom wise, the box is still working fine to display off the air shows. The only noticible problem is the red satellite dish icon on the front, and of course the menus and such taunting what I can no longer receive.

DirecTV's new high-tech satelite is now in orbit. They haven't (so far as I know) announced an exact date for when they're going to start using it. Odds are, you'll get a much better deal as a new customer rather than an existing customer. On the other hand, they're running that Voom promotion.

If it was me, I'd just suck it up and wait until June and see what they do. You could well be an early adopter of their next-generation MPEG-4 boxes (and, presumably, some new kind of dish that can receive the original three satellites as well as the new one).

Have they said where in the sky the new satellites will be? The current positions strike me as very odd that they're so low. I'd hate to be in a wooded area in the northern US, since I'm only halfway up the coast and already we had to top some trees to get a signal.

Here's the location of the satellite (from Sea Launch's web site). You tell me how those numbers transfer to a location in the sky...

Woah, I have no idea. I was just thinking about what kind of angle they'd be at. As long as they aren't any lower than their old ones, I won't have a problem.

Yeah, that all makes sense. And I do mean lower in a relative sense. That's my problem and the one that anyone with any trees has. Any reason why they can't just place them further out, thus meaning we can point higher up at every location?

Quote:
there's almost always someplace you can go with the dish to get a decent shot.

Almost. The only one that is pretty easy to hit is the normal one. The current two with the HD programming are much lower, and that's the reason we had to top trees. We had to cut out a heck of a lot of branches (about 10 feet high, 30 feet wide, and 40 feet back), and we're still on the edge. In a few years they're going to have to be cut again. That's why I'm hoping that we don't have to point any lower. Any lower and they've got to be cutting out a large portion of their possible audience.

For interactive map in real-time of most known satellites:

http://science.nasa.gov/Realtime/JTrack/3D/JTrack3D.html

I gotcha.




So why are they so low?

Okay, that last one was a joke. Hence the and even an extra

But thanks for the extra info. That's interesting.

Well, the last part of this saga finally came today. I have my final bill of service, and a note on the back that states:

"Set Top Box Update: In connection with the shutdown of Voom's business, Voom hearby transfers all rights, title and interest to all Voom equipment in your possession to you for your continued use. Your Voom equipment may continue to be used to receive some off-air digital/HD channels for some period, although there will be no program information or technical support available. In the event that you no longer have use for the equipment it must be disposed of in accordance with all enviornmental laws and regulations."

http://voom.com/ now fully has converted to being a site about the ten current channels Dish broadcasts, and does hint at two things. One, the other channels are still coming back at some point. It also does not state that Dish is the official carrier of Voom, just that they are a current carrier of the channels.

I was kinda hoping DirecTV would have announced, well, anything by now. Looks like their $200 offer will go unused.

*edit* - Reading some other peoples experiences, it seems Voom refunded back any cost in buying equipment if you didn't lease, as long as you kept service all the way to the last day. Some people got refund checks of nearly $1200. This aparently is keeping in line with their tradition of trying to treat customers decently. The initial "charter" members got $300 per box refunds in mid 2004 when the equipment prices droped that much. While Voom was owned by Cablevision, they very much ran themselves like a small business willing to be nice to the customers. It's really a shame they no longer exist as a provider.