Direct TV or Dish

[Wanderlust]

So the husband and I are in the market to install a satellite dish on top of our 2017 landmark Newport. We're not quite sure what the pros and cons are for each of these systems so if anybody can give us some opinions and recommendations on which is satellite service is best, that would be great.

We are in our early 40s and we full-time in our 5r but we stay in place for long periods of time as we still work full time. In the next three years we will start traveling so we don't want to do something that will limit us for future travel. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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[EOneal59]

I've had Directv for the pass 17 years and been happy. There has been ups and downs with aligning my dish on the tripod but hope to upgrade to the Trav'ler SWM on the roof of my BH

 

[BigJim45]

I have the dish on top of my Big Horn and also have it at home so I pay extra for the two receivers in the RV. We love it and only have problems once in a while with trees at some RV parks and when that happens we just use the park cable.

 

[BouseBill]

We were Direct TV customers for almost 20 years and last April I finally had enough of their price gouging. We were paying almost $160 a month for Direct, When I called and told them I refuse to pay that much to watch tv.....well.....AT&T could not care less about you the customer and how long you have been with them. We switched over to Dish and are saving $60 a month or $720 a year.

I've found Dish is more RV and full-timer friendly in that in the last 6 weeks we have moved 3 times (3 differed local channel areas) and had no trouble having Dish change the local channels, and come to find out you can change the local channels yourself if you go on-line.
Give it some serious thought though, I did like Direct TV, but since AT&T bought them out, IMHO they have lost something.

 

[SNOKING]

We have had Direct TV for 20 some years and yes they have always had their thorns just like Dish. It seems one needs to switch back and forth every few years to get the best pricing. I do like DTV SWM dish setup and whole home DVR.

We switch out location twice a year with a chat session. Most find Dish easier of multiple switches of location during a single year.

I shoe I am wearing just seems comfortable.

Chris

 

[Lynn1130]

At the bottom of this thread under the heading "similar threads" you will find a list of previous discussions on this topic that might help.

 

[wdk450]

I have remembered previous postings about Dish network saying that if you had Dish network at home, you could get a 2nd receiver in the trailer for $5 a month more, and could also put that 2nd receiver in a "suspended month" status if you didn't plan to use it for a month. I am not sure these are the current Dish policies, but this might be worth checking out.

Another technical item if you are wanting to get HD signals is that Dish uses just 3 satellites for SD & HD, where Direct uses 5 satellites. If you use a manual tripod antenna this means you have more possible tree obstructions to the signals.

An executive in Colorado for Dish made a statement to the press a few years ago after the ATT buyout of Direct, that Direct TV planned to be out of the satellite TV business in 5 years or so, and move all their business to broadband internet TV delivery. Dish has launched 2 new (replacement?) satellites this year. https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/...ectv-parent-at-t-to-phase-out-satellites.html

 

[BigJim45]

I have the dish on top of my Big Horn and also have it at home so I pay extra for the two receivers in the RV. We love it and only have problems once in a while with trees at some RV parks and when that happens we just use the park cable.

I pay $7 each for the two extra receivers in the RV. I keep them active all the time.

 

[Wanderlust]

My goodness! I posted this at lunch and just a few hours later the responses have been overwhelming! Thank you all for posting! I believe we have been leaning towards Dish because I have heard their customer service is much better than DTV, the local channel swapping is easier and you can do it online, AND we agree that AT&T doesn't care about their customers which is why we don't have phone service with them anymore either.

Thank you all again!


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[jayc]

We have used Dish since going full time about 9 years ago. They have been good to work with, changing locals is a breeze and their customer service is outstanding.

 

[TravelTiger]

Since we decided to use our ElkRidge 5ver as a home instead of traditional housing when we needed to move for Tony's job, we had to go from cable to satellite. We opted for a tripod mounted Dish and the Hopper/Joey system.
Now with our Big Country, we have the Trav'ler and we transition between the tripod dish at our semi permanent site, to the trav'ler when traveling. It's been fairly smooth, so far, just requiring a phone call to get whichever Satellite locked in and the local channels.


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[shelsay]

We've had Dish for many, many years and in the RV with our Travel'r for seven years. Very satisfied. I wasn't aware I could change local channels online (when traveling). I looked at My Dish and don't see where that happens. How do you do it?

Pat

 

[wdk450]

We've had Dish for many, many years and in the RV with our Travel'r for seven years. Very satisfied. I wasn't aware I could change local channels online (when traveling). I looked at My Dish and don't see where that happens. How do you do it?

Pat

I know when I call them the magic term for getting your channels reset is "new service address", then give them the address of the RV park.
BTW, if you get into the automated phone call routing, enter 0 for a live person.

 

[klindgren]

I've had DirectTV for over 5 years now so when we got our 2015 Newport I had them install the Traverler satellite dish on the coach. I do not like Direct TV and wish I could switch to Dish, but the expense of switching to a whole new satellite dish on top of the coach is just too much to justify switching. I like the on-again/off-again pricing with Dish. I don't have to pay for full year's service when I only use the coach for 6 months or so. I'd love to drop DirectTV from my home and go back to cable because of the dependability of satellite is any where near what I was told it would be.

 

[Wanderlust]

I've had DirectTV for over 5 years now so when we got our 2015 Newport I had them install the Traverler satellite dish on the coach. I do not like Direct TV and wish I could switch to Dish, but the expense of switching to a whole new satellite dish on top of the coach is just too much to justify switching. I like the on-again/off-again pricing with Dish. I don't have to pay for full year's service when I only use the coach for 6 months or so. I'd love to drop DirectTV from my home and go back to cable because of the dependability of satellite is any where near what I was told it would be.

Thanks so much for the post. Great information. I do believe we will be going with Dish. Seems too much hassle and too expensive to go with Direct TV.


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[VMooreSR]

I've had DirectTV for over 5 years now so when we got our 2015 Newport I had them install the Traverler satellite dish on the coach. I do not like Direct TV and wish I could switch to Dish, but the expense of switching to a whole new satellite dish on top of the coach is just too much to justify switching. I like the on-again/off-again pricing with Dish. I don't have to pay for full year's service when I only use the coach for 6 months or so. I'd love to drop DirectTV from my home and go back to cable because of the dependability of satellite is any where near what I was told it would be.

klingren, I think you can still get this kit. https://rvseniormoments.com/tech-docs/dish-tv-for-rvs/directv-to-dish-travler-conversions/
Vince

 

[porthole]

to get HD signals is that Dish uses just 3 satellites for SD & HD, where Direct uses 5 satellites. If you use a manual tripod antenna this means you have more possible tree obstructions to the signals.

Bill, My DTV uses three satellites located at 99, 101 103 degrees. What are the others you mention?

In my experience when using the tripod (about half the time), if I can lock onto the 101 SAT I can get the other two since they are relatively close, and it only requires you to skew the reflector correctly.

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leaning towards Dish because I have heard their customer service is much better than DTV, the local channel swapping is easier and you can do it online,

I haven't dealt with customer service since the takeover, but when I had to deal with dish CS I got so ticked off I disconnected and boxed up the equipment while I was on the phone with them.

As far as local channels? We never felt a need to even consider what that means ( I do know though). For us, we consider local channels to be our home network (NYC) wherever we go.

'If' I feel the need to get really local to 'where we are right now' channels, or I just can't get a clear view of the sky, I use an "over the air" receiver that connects via USB into the DTV receiver.
I scan with the TV antenna then scan with the DTV receiver for available channels. They will then come up on the DVR guide like you would see on a regular TV input, e.g 2, 2.1, 2.3 5, 5.1 etc

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I've had DirectTV for over 5 years now so when we got our 2015 Newport I had them install the Traverler satellite dish on the coach. I do not like Direct TV and wish I could switch to Dish, but the expense of switching to a whole new satellite dish on top of the coach is just too much to justify switching.

Kieth, the HD DTV Travel'r is 'down-gradable' (in pricing) going from the DTV to Dish antenna pricing. When I installed mine I was told the $$ path was about $100

 

[wdk450]

Porthole:
I stand corrected about the 5 satellite DTV comment. I do not think that this reflects the current system, but I DO remember walking around an RV park and seeing a Direct TV dish with 5 LMB's at one time.

 

[klindgren]

Vince & Duane,

Thanks for the information on switching. I am certainly going to look into that. I would truely love to switch. Now, thanks to your responses I think I can.

 

[oldelmer1]

You can not change your service address yourself, I called dish yesterday to change mine and they said it's suppose to be in the works, but not yet.