Dish vs. Direct TV

Hi. Just wondering whether to go with Dish or Direct TV for satellite service. Any ideas or thoughts are appreciated!

I use Dish but not in a mobile setup. I've also been a Direct TV customer not mobile either, and didn't like their product and service.

They are both pretty close, but the equipment is different, and with electronics its the equipment that makes the difference. I would figure out which meets your needs for the lower price.

I have direct tv at home and a portable set-up for the 5'er, both dish network and direct tv set up about the same at the campground. I got the larger dish so I can get the local channels, direct tv requires a larger dish to do this as dish network uses the same sizedish outside. I have a DVR unit,(Digital video recorder) with direct tv and the unit responds slow with the remote, compared to dish network unit. Cost approx. same depends on how bad they need customers, don't be afraid to ask for more, eveythings negoitable in my book. Also compare packages and contracts, but you'll still have complaints with either one. Good Luck.

We're just about finished with the first year of our Direct TV contract so the monthly rate will be going up. I'm almost afraid to calculate what it will be. It has worked fine for us but when moving from location to location it can be a challenge to get a CSR that know what they're doing to get the right locals. Being the frugal person that I am (OK cheap) I don't want to spend the extra $$ for the distant network feeds. Plus all the red tape. Ten years ago, this was easy to do but with all the bureaucratic BS, it's become more difficult for either provider. With Dish Network, they charge an extra $5 if you don't have a phone line plugged in.

I have had both and I prefer Direct TV. Easier to tune their satellite. Dish has two satellites you have to find.

We have Dish-so far it's been good. They even sent out a tech way out here in Creede,CO
It was the first time setting up the dish and could not get a signal. Guy came out got it all
working.

Pat

I have DISH, my Dad has Direct and so do others. I prefere DISH, IMHO, easier to use. Same price for service, It's your choice.

Even though I have Direct TV and my local stations when I am out of my local area I just put up the antenna and get the local stations on the antenna and the rest on the satellite. Has worked good so far.

We have Direct at home and just move the receiver to the trailer when we are on the road. A few days before we go on the road I call Direct and switch our feeds to the national feeds(both east and west coast). Once in a while I get a customer service rep that is ignorant about DNS but I now have the correct "words" to tell them where to look in our files. In the 10 years or so we have had Direct I think there has only been 1 time where we had to go to a supervisor to get our feeds switched.

What I really like(I assume Dish is the same) is that I sit with the tv on and check all the feeds before hanging up the phone. They don't have any problems with waiting until I check all the feeds.

We set up our sat every night on the road(assuming we have clear line of sight), takes us longer 10 minutes on the outside to do this and then we don't have to deal with the cable form the CG and avoid the frustration of what channel number, poor cable etc.

Tom,
What process did you go through to get your file set up this way? I tried a couple years ago and was denied.

We use Dish at home and on the road. I have learned to tell the service center on the phone that "I want to change the service address" to whatever the campground address is if we want the local networks. For those of you that want to keep your home area sports channels (different than home networks) to see your favorite sports teams, don't do this, as you will also be switched to the local area sports channel. I have watched Oakland A's games in Oregon and Seattle this way.
Sometimes we have run the campground cable through the window into the back of the TV to the 2nd input, and then get both home satellite and local channels by changing the TV input select on the remote.
I still have some problems aiming the dish but am getting better at it, I have started keeping a log of what the specified angles are and what the actual angles turned out to be, to aide me. I also hook up a 2nd long cable to the storage compartment coax outlet along with a power cable, and bring my bedroom tv out to the dish to do aiming. The bedroom remote is RF and will reach the receiver from the dish site for aiming/setup functions. I have HD which involves 3 LNB's on the dish - I believe Direct TV uses a 5 LMB dish for this. I usually do my aiming on the 119 degree satellite (middle LMB) and this seems to usually bring in the other 2
"birds" if the skew is correct. Our RV system is set up just like at home with backfeeding (sending the bedroom TV video low frequency RF signal down the same trailer coax cable that the satellite dish high frequency dish feed signal comes in on using frequency dependent signal splitters/combiners).
Recently, at home, I was able to do programming changes on my Dish account on my home computer, without a telephone call to the service center. The update was enacted within 1/2 hour. Pretty neat!

First you need to fill out a Distant Area Local Waiver form(we are Escapees and they have one online, let me know if you need one). Once that is all processed you just call and request they drop your local service and switch to the national stations. We pay for both the west coast and east coast as we generally travel across the country during our 5 month winter excursion.

When we call them(I generally do it a week before) sometimes you get an idiot. If there is a problem ask them to look at the Distant Area Local Waiver in your file, sometimes you need to go to a supervisor.

Has been no problem in all the years we have done this.

We have Dish at home and on the road. I use a Wineguard auto seeking dish. During set up, as soon as we plug in, wife turns on the satelite and the TV/reciever. I finish the rest of our setup, come in and I have TV. I call Dish and have our locals changed to our current location, takes less than 10 minutes. Then we are set until we move again.

We have had Directv for years. When we had a S&B we would take our bedroom receiver with us in the trailer with the extra satellite we kept in the trailer.

Once we went fulltime we got the Distant Network Service. If you have a S&B where you get satellite service you're not suppose to be able to get DSN and Local service.

I have heard that if you do not use DNS you can call in and change your service address to receive local channels at the campground your staying. I also heard you can not make the change every week or so.

I like Directv, because we don't take the HD service. We only need the small 18" dish with 2 LNB's. Only have to acquire satellite 101. The signal is digital, not HD but we are happy with the digital only.

Our satellite is not mounted on the roof. I use the tripod from the TV4RV Website. It is real easy to setup and if you need it, it will handle the large HD satellite. I have always had a problem trying to set up my satellite. The tripod that we started with and the dish from Campingworld by Winegard with a little meter took a long time to setup and find the satellite. I have talked to those with dishdirect having problems also and especially due to having to get 2 satellites and tilting the dish.

When I got the tripod from TV4RV and I bought a BirdDog I can even get a signal at a campground that has heavy trees. We were at Jekyll Island GA and had people come up to me and ask how I got a signal through the trees. So far the last three places we stayed that had a heavy cover of trees I have still been able to get a satellite signal.

Yes, the Birddog is expensive, but I can move my dish anywhere I want to get a signal and once I get the satellite setup on the tripod it literlly takes me less than 2 minutes or less to locate the satellite and do not have to holler at the DW, "Is it on?". I can see the signal and the strength on the meter. This saves me a lot of time and stress. Plus it also makes DW happy so she can see Rachel Ray, then life is good. LOL

This is what I do...

BC