Hawaii AH 1.2 dish, LNB3 -- channels missing, but why?

DTV has always had a service call fee as you own everything but the receivers.  Most likely a signal problem as the signal on the 99/103 in the states should be in the 80s.

DTV has launched new sats a few years ago so they are not going anywhere.

Things with the AH1.2 meter dishes have always been "a little different" than ones in the other 48 states--something to do with pointing 23 degrees above the horizon…

At any rate, and FWIW, I did chat with Support and after the usual "have you turned on the receiver?" they got to a likely pointing problem (I'm still wondering if it's an LNB problem) and a truck roll Monday. I had to add Protection Plan to avoid paying, and will drop it once service is back to normal. That should be before 30 days is up, so free but a hassle. Especially for a 29+ year DTV customer.

DIRECTV has only launched one satellite since 2015 and none since T16 in 2019. Their fleet appears to be an average of 15.5+ years on orbit. I can find no information that they have any more satellites or launch slots on order. Given their continuous quarterly drop in subscribers, and push to Stream, it seems unlikely there is a business case, so when the fleet ages out through failure or running low on station keeping fuel, DIRECTV Satellite will too.

This is what DTVs website say about the protection plan

https://www.directv.com/technology/satellite-protection-plan/

*Limited to DIRECTV delivered via satellite residential customers. Pre-existing conditions are not covered. 6-mo. initial term. After 6-mo., month to month unless canceled. Cancel anytime by calling 855-281-7177. For Premier Plan customers, a $50 service fee applies for a repair or replacement on eligible televisions, computers, home theater systems, laptops, and tablets through the premier protection plans. Limitations and exclusions apply. See full terms and conditions for complete program details, including binding arbitration provision (unless exempted by state law):

Noted.

I saved the chat transcript. I'm reasonably confident this will work out as I described. It did the last time I had a DVR disk go south. They can't afford to lose a 29+ year customer over a $100 truck roll.

DTV sends replacement receivers no tech is needed to replace it.

I didn’t pay when the dish blew over either.

You own everything upon install except the receiver/client boxes.

Protection Plan covers service calls ($99), shipment of replacement boxes ($19.95), and remote controls ($15, though cheaper through other online retailers). Unless you are needing those several times each year, every year, than the one-time costs are cheaper in the long run.

Those are the costs for everybody, regardless if you have been with them for 5, 10, or 30 years. Certainly when you call them ask if there is any promotion or courtesy that could help with the cost, but understand your length of time does not guarantee or obligate them to give you any reduction in that cost.

Be very wary of what is told in chat. It is not regular support, too much misinformation has come from that option in the last year or so, and those transcripts do not get saved to the account. Over the phone their system at bare minimum automatically puts a note account was accessed with whatever keyword you said to the voice system (billing, technical issue, etc.), plus any notes the rep puts in. And the normal "call may be monitored for training/quality purposes" of course, which I'm not sure chat has as much accountability (but that is just my personal concern).

DirecTV is still around for the long run. Not everybody has good enough internet, or internet at all, to support streaming as their sole TV option. Yes the market has changed with competitors along cable and streaming, but that doesn't mean they go away. With AT&T leaving (giving up on all TV options and sticking to their roots), the remaining owner of DirecTV even has been attempting to acquire Dish, since it is not the monopoly it was years ago (because of streaming entering the space), which has great potential (I think) to boost equipment innovation, satellite coverage, and bandwidth room for channels.

I wasn't questioning, much less debating, who owns what.

Nor was I opining on the wisdom, economic or otherwise, of paying for "Protection Plan". I've never paid for it and all I was doing was relaying my experience. Aside from their signal, I've only ever paid them for an AM-21, an RC65RB, and an order fee for when I moved and upgraded from an H-21 and HR-21 to an HR-44. Regardless my time as a customer or any of the ins and outs of Protection Plan, I do know this immutable exists for DTV: If a customer stops being able to receive DTV's product, they will stop sending in the money each month.

As to the veracity of chat support, all I can say is I'll know by this time next month how it ends up going down. The tech is due here Monday morning 8-12.

Nor was I predicting DTV Satellite demise as imminent. Just that their trend is not positive and some things that are a given like the on-orbit assets having a finite lifetime. You are certainly correct that some subscribers because of their location and lack of broadband solutions are uniquely suited to remain DTV customers. Feel free to post back when any of the following things happens that might change this arc:

1) DTV launches new orbital assets.

2) DTV has net or gain in subscriber numbers year on year or quarter on same quarter.

3) Dish and DTV actually combine somehow. This one's really rich: it's been The Path To A Brighter Future for each of them for what, a decade and a half or more? When, if, it ever happens, it won't be a sign of either party's strength, just their joint weakness.

DirecTV just attempted to buy Dish but some bondholders heavily rejected it. Both on that and DirecTV's path after AT&T leaving (their acquisition of DirecTV originally was rough as they did not understand the service very well and their business views on customers clashed, in my opinion) is something many of us will be keeping an eye on. Hopefully it goes for the better, but we shall see.

I just wanted to share a realistic perspective and the facts of how it is setup so that you go into any interaction with DirecTV (be it chat, call, or forum DM) forewarned. So sharing my thoughts.

AT&T's involvement in DIRECTV was a disaster for all involved. Their first problem was that they paid a premium price at, or past, the point of "peak cable". Why they did it will probably be an MBA talking point of what not to do for decades. It was all downhill from there. (Edited per community guidelines) to be AT&T. Lol.

I was pleased to note last night that my login to DTV's web page has finally uncoupled from the AT&T SSO. That, and decoupling the billing, took longer than coupling them took in the first place. I only managed to get my DTV billing out of the clutches of AT&T a few months ago--years and many support interactions after I dropped AT&T's wireless services. What a mess that was.

AT&T acquiring DirecTV trying to incorporate an unified login and any further integration behind the scenes and then reversing all that upon selling off their remaining part, yeah that was/is a giant headache. Glad yours got uncoupled. If you end up using any other services under either the AT&T or DirecTV umbrellas in the future, use completely different login (email, etc.) to avoid getting pulled back into that mess.