Rain Fade

[JohnBeaulieu]

Have you ever experienced rain fade? I live in the pacific northwest part of the USA. We get plenty of rain but I have never noticed this happening. I see cable commercials claiming its a big enough problem to switch and have seen people post about it being a problem on other forums.

[JohnBeaulieu]

I'm hoping somebody has some answers to this. My searches online haven't turned up much for me. Is this something that doesn't happen much anymore? Am I just lucky?

[shanetx1969]

I live in east Texas and it rains a pretty good amount. And every time either moderate or heavy rain gets within half a mile from my house, we experience either fade or total loss of signal. I tell people all the time that I don't need to look at a weather radar. All that has to happen is for the rain to get close enough. This is my biggest complaint in regards to satellite television. You would think technology had advanced enough through the years to come up with a solution.

[6up]

The problem persists when it rains heavily. But the problem is not common where I live. I see no problems when it is not raining heavily.

[JohnBeaulieu]

Weird. It rains all the time here. I haven't ever had any noticeable problem. Snow wasn't an issue either. I guess I have just been lucky.

[tlspiegel]

I had one instance of rain fade when we had a torrential rain storm where the rain was coming down almost sideways from the wind. The signal came back nice and strong after the storm ended. 

However, I have had my HD Satellite dish from DirecTV repositioned. I was getting a significant amount of signal loss after we had a series of monsoon storms (I live in the desert SW) where the wind moved the dish just enough that I was having problems.   

I've been a customer for a long time and they originally wanted to charge me for having a tech come out to do the adjustment. But, I protested due to my longevity with the company, and they honored my request for a free visit.  The tech was quite knowledgeable, and my signal has remained stable ever since. 

[tiffaninichole]

We live in southern Oklahoma and experience quite a bit of rain in the spring and I haven't experienced and issues. Funny thing is, my mom lives in Phoenix where there is hardly any change in weather, and she frequently experiences problems and outtages with her dish.

[tlspiegel]

Funny thing is, my mom lives in Phoenix where there is hardly any change in weather, and she frequently experiences problems and outtages with her dish.

I'm in Phoenix.  What provider does your mom use?  DirecTV or Dish.  I know DirecTV has excellent customer service and will go out of their way to help.  Has she called in and complained? 

[tiffaninichole]

I'm in Phoenix.  What provider does your mom use?  DirecTV or Dish.  I know DirecTV has excellent customer service and will go out of their way to help.  Has she called in and complained?

I think she uses Dish, and I haven't heard stellar things about their customer service. My mom has repeatedly mentioned that she's going to switch soon because the service is constantly going in and out, even during the smallest dust storm. Maybe the dishes are different with different companies? I'm thinking DirecTV has sturdier satellites or something?

[tlspiegel]

Dish doesn't have that great a reputation here. I don't know why, but there must be a good reason.  Everyone I know uses DirecTV and all my neighbors have the same service.  Satellite is satellite... don't know if the dishes are different in quality.  I found this article that 'might' explain the differences, but it's too technical for me:  http://blog.solidsignal.com/content.php/4151-NICE-AND-EASY-Why-can-t-you-use-the-same-dish-for-different-providers

[tiffaninichole]

LOL. Yeah, that article may as well have been written in Ancient Hebrew because I didn't understand any of that technical speak.


I have definitely heard more bad than good when it comes to Dish Network, so when I was given the choice to decide between the two, choosing DirecTv was a pretty easy decision. Since the satellites are roughly the same, I guess it all boils down to customer service and signal strength? Maybe DirecTv just has a better signal than other providers.