Hi, I've got to remain somewhat annoymous to protect the little bit of
identity i have amung the near 1000 card exchange employees throughout
the nation.

I've been working the card exchange end of Dish Network since mid
january and I've got to say there's some definate problems in the
whole process.

1. Shipments of cards seem to get lost in the mail too often

2. 21-23 days is not enough time for the average human to get around
to doing something.

3. We know our job, but it gets tiring when customers get stupid on
the phone.

So, with that stated, please!!!

1. be ready with your phone number, name and address when you call
in.

2. have the card in, receiver on, and your TV tuned to see what the
receiver is showing.

3. Try to get to a screen that shows the R00 and S00 numbers, and read
us the R00 number FIRST! that way we know what receiver it is we're
putting the new numbers in for.

OK, when we open an account and see a "7100" or "7200" on the screen,
it horrifys us! Apparently Microsoft screwed up with the operations
of these receivers and that is what makes them highly unstable. The
receivers were designed to be stable with the blue cards, but even
then they've had problems. When you place the new yellow (dish500)
card into the receiver (in the back, not the front) The receiver has
a sort of stroke and becomes retarded. Rarely are we able to get them
up and working with the yellow cards, but we're willing to spend an
hour on the phone with you to attempt to get it to work. The option
code 32768 has proven effective in maybe 10% of cases, but that tends
to still be a long time on the phone.

Your best bet with these receivers is to just toss them and get in
line with technology. These have less than 20gig hard drives and
don't store anywhere near as much as newer DVRs. It's worth the $150
and $5/m lease to get a 501/510/522/ or better. Dish network customer
service is the ones to call about this and be persistant, cause they
love to transfer all their **** calls to us, even if they're not card
related problems.

You don't keep a black and white TV and bitch out the maker when it
begins to flicker out, you just buy a new TV. Understand that the
same works with computers, receivers and most all electronics.

On a personal note, thank you to everyone who has been pleasant in
trying to fix these, i know it's annoying and takes time out of your
day. We love to run through calls quickly, so being well prepared is
a vital key to our and your happiness.

Tips:

Don't throw out the blue card until you've had god working service for
a few days

The card numbers will not match, new cards start with S003,5,6 old
cards start with S000,1,2. Pull out the old card and look on the
letter the new cards are glued to to find that old card number, the
new card associated with it goes into that receiver.

Sometimes the new cards will lock up on 015 "aquiring satellite
signal". This is OK, just pull the card out and put it back in if it
doesn't change in 2 minutes.

The 357 "smart card replacement" screen is the place to be! Don't try
to exit this screen, your receiver needs authorization.

error 019 "the smart card is not inserted correctly" is likely due to
software, so place your blue card back in, go through the menu
(commonly 6-1-5 or 1-2 for 1000model {except 71/7200}) and select
"save" in the system upgrades screen. Once it changes to the
"installation setup menu" then turn your receiver off and *keep* *it*
*off* for up to 5 minutes. A screen that says "warning" will come up
and the download will begin. Some receivers will simply blink the
front panal light for a moment and then stay off, usually software
takes 5-10 minutes to download and install.

If your program guide is showing the channels in red on the left side,
check the time and date, if they are incorrect, it isn't authorized,
so pull the card out, put it back in and call for activation.

You have a better chance activating your new cards by skipping the pin
number in the automated phone system and getting us, we can
troubleshoot and the authorization signal is more likely to go
through. Both the website and automated systems have their flaws and
we tend to get a lot of calls from their errors.

Thank you for reading this, and please understand, it's not our fault
the cards are being exchanged, we're just trying to make the measly
$7 an hour....not only that, we have your phone# and address in front
of us :P (that's not a threat, just a deturrant from threats)