Satelite TV eqipment questions.

shadows4 wrote:
First let me say I don't know anything about satelite TV. I have been looking at both DTV and Dish. Mainly my question is about the equipment.

Specifically the recievers, do you have to rent theirs? I have seen where I could buy recievers on ebay. Doing this would really keep the monthly cost down.

Thanks, John

Your questions will prompt a lot of answers. I will speak from my experience...mostly with Dish.

First, you have the option of either buying a portable .. ground sitting dish or you can have a permanent dish installed on your RV. Factors to consider....will you be camping where a roof mounted dish may be shaded by trees? Also, a major difference between DirecTV and Dish is that DirecTV requires a more expensive type dish antenna if you want HD, but Dish Network does not....you will receive Dish HD with even a small portable dish.
Second.....if you want a second Satellite TV account for your RV AND if you only want to pay for service for the months you actually are using your RV then Dish is the way to go with their Pay-as-you-Go account. (Dish for my RV). It is a No Contract account...no automatic billing! I had this for years but since I had Dish service in my home I found it cheaper to simply add my RV Dish receiver to my home account for $7.00 per month.
Lastly, you can buy a nice inexpensive Dish receiver and own it....no Dish Network rental fees. The model ViP211K is recommended.... A model ViP211Z receiver is also available but for reasons I won't go into in this post the K model is superior.