I am Astro-less

Sigh

It has been another one of those moments. Last Tuesday my Astro was hit by lightning (the 2nd time in five or six years). But fortunately this time only the decoder and the transceiver on the dish was spoilt. The rest of the items, tv, amp etc was spared and working fine.

Therefore I called my regular Astro repair man to have a look. He confirmed that the transceiver is faulty and took away the decoder for further inspection. A phone call later confirmed the motherboard is gone and needs to be replaced.

My options are:

1. Replace transceiver (RM40) and replace motherboard of the decoder (RM 180+) - not a bad option since I have the old Phillips decoder which is reputably the better and more robust of the types of decoder that Astro supplies.

2. Go and get a new set and register a new account (RM 199 - not sure of any hidden cost though) - the upside is I will get a new set, the downside is I have to go through the hassle of registering a new account and cancel my old account.

3. Called up Astro and they have this scheme for a replacement decoder for RM 169. Their authorized service person would come and confirm that the decoder is faulty and arrange for the replacement. I still need to pay for the transceiver replacement (RM 40). However, what Astro failed to tell me is the there will be an additional service charge by the service person of RM50. I got to know that from my regular service man. Ouch that will come out to be more than option 1...

Finally I decided to go for option 1 and right now waiting from my regular service guy when the decoder can be ready. Hopefully by weekend I can get back my decoder.

I am going to miss the French Open finals... already missed the semis.....
I missed my weekly dosage of Life, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, CSI ....

Sigh

Updates (1 week later)
Finally got my Astro back. The repair man sold me a previously owned (marketing jargon for 2nd hand) for RM150. So everything totaled up to RM 190 (RM 150 decoder + RM 40 transceiver) not bad eh...