Hi, my apartment use centralised astro system. And they have their own panel to fix astro, when i called them they say they charge RM239 for first time subscribe. When i ask will i get the dish, they said if i want dish i have to add more RM30. I think its not fair because outside full installation is just RM199 include the dish. The reason i ask for the dish is if maybe in future i shift house i can have own dish. Can we just buy the decoder and register with astro and plug in the cable into the antenna socket in the wall ?? My apartment management say i can only fix astro through their panel. Any idea ?

You should be able to just connect the cable(plug and play).. Alternatively, subscribe the Astro at outside dealer, then ask them to activate your account. Bring back the dish and decoder, then install it yourself

Is it as simple as u describe? Or have to troubleshoot to get the reception ? How much it will cost to ask the dealer to activate the account ?

it's the astro that activates your account. All dealer does is call astro to activate.. things that you can do on your own..

If I were you, I would also do like willkso says. Since you're using centralised astro, you don't need installation at all.. Get the astro decoder, install it as if you install your own dvd player. Keep your dish. Call astro to activate.. astro will activate from 1 hour to 24 hours.

Thanks. But how do i get the astro smartcard ? I have to go to the astro centre ? Where i can buy the decoder ? How much is the decoder? Do i have to do troubleshoot to get the sattelite reception ? Please share. Thanks

No, astro don't sell directly to customers. You still need to contact an agent.. The agent will come with all the accessories (decoders, dish, smart card, cables). That means, you still need to pay err.. what's the price.. Rm199? anyway, it still cheaper than using you apartment's astro panel..

You can contact the agent directly, or just contact astro. Astro will send an agent to you..


On second thought, before you call astro, check you astro connector first. Borrow your neighbours astro decoder and see if you it works. I'm worried that your astro point/connector is not connected to the centralised dish. Who knows. It's not impossible they do that so that any resident can't pick other astro agent. Only the apartment's astro panel can access to rooftop to connect the cable to the splitter. I'm not saying this is your situation, but it is not impossible if they want to do it. That's why I suggest, better try ur connector using your neighbour's decoder. It's just plug and play. No need to change setting whatsoever. It just to test whether astro can get signal or not.

This post has been edited by zeese: Mar 21 2011, 02:09 PM

The problem is when i ask other astro agent, they say they cannot do it if the management didnt allow. The management is forcing to do with their panel contractor. Any ideas ??

I think it is because some building management don't like the idea of having so many Astro dishes sticking out from their building, so that is why they have a centralized dish at the top.

But the problem is that when a building utilizes a centralized dish, you can't subscribe to HD.

using panel.. 239 + 30 (for dish) = rm269...
Outside agent = rm199. That's rm70 difference..

Perhaps, just close your eyes pays the extra rm70 like every of ur neighbours..