Yes, I believe everyone has phase 3.
I believe your problem is not the one solved by pressing exit. With that problem nothing works until a reboot. The exit key is not as painful as a reboot.
You say the light on the receiver blinks - This means that the STB has received the signal - as a test wait and see if it finally works.

This must be very frustrating. It seems like something must be wrong with your equipment or network. I have seen the delay. I have seen posts about the delay, but not as bad as yours sounds.

Have you tried shutting all the boxes down & rebooting RG - wait til stabilized - DVR - wait til stabilized - STB.