satelllite decisions

[HornedToad]

I have cable at home and Direct TV on the trailer... great customer service, but if your box is not turned on for about three weeks you have to call in to get it re activated. I could never point a tripod antenna in 5 minutes, so I bought an automatic, be sure and buy one that matches up with the network.

Here's the form to get the local channels on the road... http://www.directv.com/learn/pdf/DNS_Vehicles_Aff.pdf

I didn't consider Dish because someone told me you have to re point the antenna when you change channels?

 

[ramdually4100king]

We had dish tailgater for a year. When we decided to full time we decided to switch to the Hopper. We were told it would cost $800 for all the boxes required for 3 tv's and and we would have to pay the full package fee. After talking to to multiple people at dish we had two choices cancle the service and be without tv for 90days then rejoin to get the new client rate or just suck it up with the tailgater and pay more for 1 tv. We decided on option three and told them to cancle our service we were going with directv.

We called Directv, they came out three days later and ran all new cable in the camper for free. We now have a geni and 4 tv service with more channels then we had with dish for a cheeper price.

Also I found out after two months that Dish was trying to charge my CC (good thing the bank had flagged it and sent me a new card). Dish had never stopped my service and wanted me to pay for the two months since last talking to them. After talking to a manager and requesting a paper bill so I could send them a certified check they dropped the charges and cancled the services.

Long story short I would not recommend going with Dish.

 

[d_fergie]

I have cable at home and Direct TV on the trailer... great customer service, but if your box is not turned on for about three weeks you have to call in to get it re activated. I could never point a tripod antenna in 5 minutes, so I bought an automatic, be sure and buy one that matches up with the network.

Here's the form to get the local channels on the road... http://www.directv.com/learn/pdf/DNS_Vehicles_Aff.pdf

I didn't consider Dish because someone told me you have to re point the antenna when you change channels?

You can login to your DIRECTV account and re-hit your receivers yourself ...

 

[donr827]

This happened to me a couple of times on our home setup. Try calling their customer service and tell them your problem and that you are paying for it and do not want the receivers de activated. I think, but not 100% sure, that they can take care of the problem.
Don

 

[evolvingpowercat]

I have had both DirecTV and Dish, DirecTV first. DirecTV becomes quite expensive after the 12 month length promotions expire, then you have the higher price for the rest of the 24 month contract.

Dish has their no contract offer for RV travelers, the trade off is that you pay up front for the Dish Tailgater and 211 receiver. Some third parties offer discounts but make sure they don't make you sign a 24 month contract to get a small amount off like only $ 50 or $ 100.

I have Dish HD now at home with the Hopper and am geeky enough to move the Hopper back and forth from my home to my RV, with a second Dish HD 1000.2 sat dish and Solo Node (required between the 1000.2 dish and the Hopper) on a tripod I set up near the RV. Or if I am camping for a weekend somewhere with Sprint LTE I leave the Hopper at home and use Dish Anywhere to watch TV in my RV thru my Sprint Mobile Broadband WiFi Hot Spot and my PC connected to the TV with a HDMI cable. If you do Dish Anywhere, BEWARE. I have already used 2.5 Gigabytes of data on Sprint LTE in only 1 day at the campground. Make sure you have a plan with lots of data allowed or stop using before you hit the point where your overage charges begin!

 

[SeattleLion]

We were one of directv's first customers (early 90's, I think), ew love it. We just bought a Bighorn 3160. It is prewired for the Travler. We hav 4 DVR's, no Genie. We can record 8 programs at a time. We have a Tailgater but Dish ends up costing over $100 a month. Two more DVR's will only add $10/ month to our Directv bill. By the way, modern receivers only need one cable. The Travler uses a SWM adapter which is inserted behind either TV between the wall jack and the set. It's all very simple. The roof is prewired for the dish. If the **** thing weighed a little less, I would do my own install...maybe I will. Is it really true that even with the prewiring dealers charge $600?

 

[cookie]

I have no idea how much a dealer would charge to install the Traveler. A phone call to a couple of dealers will verify that.
I do know however that there are a few people here on the forum that have installed their own.

Peace
Dave

 

[kakampers]

We were one of directv's first customers (early 90's, I think), ew love it. We just bought a Bighorn 3160. It is prewired for the Travler. We hav 4 DVR's, no Genie. We can record 8 programs at a time. We have a Tailgater but Dish ends up costing over $100 a month. Two more DVR's will only add $10/ month to our Directv bill. By the way, modern receivers only need one cable. The Travler uses a SWM adapter which is inserted behind either TV between the wall jack and the set. It's all very simple. The roof is prewired for the dish. If the **** thing weighed a little less, I would do my own install...maybe I will. Is it really true that even with the prewiring dealers charge $600?

LOl! We're right there with you in the early 90's...our first DTV box and dish cost us $1,100!!!

If you can get someone to help you hoist the Travler to the roof, it's any easy install...DH did it himself with the assistance of one other guy to lift it up there...well worth it!!

 

[boatto5er]

"We have a Tailgater but Dish ends up costing over $100 a month." That sounds awfully high. My Dish on the Go subscription for our Tailgater setup is $48 a month just for the months we use it. And we have HD and one package upgrade.

 

[SeattleLion]

I have no idea how much a dealer would charge to install the Traveler. A phone call to a couple of dealers will verify that.
I do know however that there are a few people here on the forum that have installed their own.

Peace
Dave

camping world will install it for $149 if you belong to SAMs Club.

 

[SeattleLion]

"We have a Tailgater but Dish ends up costing over $100 a month." That sounds awfully high. My Dish on the Go subscription for our Tailgater setup is $48 a month just for the months we use it. And we have HD and one package upgrade.

We got all of the movie channels just like our DirecTv setup.

 

[ncc1701e]

I don't know about all those cost. When we are traveling for extended periods, such as now. I call Dish and they stop service on all the units at home. I pay only for the unit mounted on the camper plus the basic charges for our cable channel packages. The rest of the time at home we pay for the house setups and not the camper. They have always been very accommodating. Our bill is never close to the figures being quoted and the tailgater for the camper is just part of the overall home package.



Tom

 

[GlenStMary]

You need to talk with the service manager to find out how they intend to locate the sat cable that is pre-wired. When I asked our local CW service guy about that very thing he said they would pull down the ceiling inside the coach until they found it. I did not want to take a chance with that method so did it myself. I was also afraid that since they were only charging $49 to install anything purchased from them that their techs would not have the same careful, logical approach to the install as the other dealer who wanted $600 for the install. In both cases, I was positive that I would not only be much more careful with my equipment and RV, but that I could do a better job much cheaper than they. I'm so glad a did it myself.

As for getting the dish up to the roof, I used a loader on my tractor to put the dish at a height level with the RV roof. But, if you had another person help you heft it up a ladder and then pass it over to the roof, you might be surprised how easy that might be.