Thanks Pentium. Today, the installer will be paying us a third visit. All of the missing channels which I never had from the very start (all HDs, all movie channels, ABC 5, GMA7, etc.) have the diagnostic message "not locked." and their signal test bars are both zero. The few channels that are NOT MISSING have "locked" diagnostic message and strong (182 and 80) test bars. The channel guide has the complete channel listing though.
If I remember it right, during the pointing of the satellite dish, only Channel 1 (Aksyon TV) was tested for signal strength. I don't remember Channel 5 (ironically, ABC 5 of the MVP conglomerate) being scanned for signal strength during the dish-pointing. When the installers came down from the rooftop, they were at a loss why there's no Channel 5 when even before activation and right after installation, Channels 1 and 5 should already be there. But no effort was made to re-point the dish to correct the "not locked" and zero signal test bars of Channel 5 as it was already dark by then.
I have a gut feeling that all the missing channels are grouped with Channel 5. Taking note that the system is dual band, I'd like to ask Sir. Pentium: Shouldn't it be standard operating procedure during installation to test both Channels 1 and 5 for signal lock and signal strength during dish-pointing? If it is correct that there are two channel groupings, I suspect that the group which includes the HD channels are more unforgiving of dish-pointing error, if such is the case.
As I've mentioned in my earlier post, I have gone through with all the resets, hard and soft boots many times already, as guided on phone by Cignal's call center agents and my installer. My account has already been activated and reactivated a number of times, but nothing has resolved the issue.
Anyway, whatever the problem may be (dish-pointing error, defective receiver or LNB or cable fault, etc) I just want to get ALL of the channels I am paying for, considering that I am tied to this contract for three years. Still, as a consumer, I can pre-terminate this without paying any penalty in the light of the other contracting party's failure to provide service as elucidated in the contract. I don't want to do that but I can't be paying P1,290 a month for free to air channels I can get with a rabbit antenna and a few foreign channels I already have with my existing cable.