What Satellite service best for my application?

NuHorizon wrote:
I need satellite service at home and in my RV. I am living in a rural area. My Motorhome has a King-Dome 9762 in-motion satellite system as delivered by Winnebago and has never had a receiver from Direct or Dish. I am not a full-timer and can move a receiver from house to RV when needed. I like HD and can usually get network broadcasts over the air.
I would like to hear pros/cons from actual users.....someone who doesn't want to sell me their product.

If you don't currently have any service, the first thing you want to do is get Dish or DirecTV to install service at your home. This will allow you free installation and you can then move one or 2 of the receivers to your RV when you travel.
What kind of an RV? Do you have HD TV's in the RV? Is HD while you are in the RV important? How often will you be traveling and for how long and how far?
Any additional details about your plans would be helpful.

sdianel wrote:
Is your King Dome a 9762-LP? If so, it will receive HD from DirecTV. If not, it may not get HD. http://www.kingcontrols.com/userfiles/file/1355%20Rev%20S,%209762-LP%2009-23-08.pdf

If it's the LP all you need to do is take your receiver, however I would rent an additional receiver and leave it in the RV. You can suspend the RV receiver when not in use (may be limits). We have DirecTV (not HD) and have had no problems with it at all for 5 years. We had it in our home before we went full time.

There is no dome of any kind from any manufacturer that can receive the DirecTV HDTV programming (used to be true many, many years ago). You can receive Dish HD if your KD is new enough to be able to switch between 110, 119 and 129.

tvman44 wrote:
We have had Direct TV since the started and are satisfied, take it with us camping all the time. :)

We do what you intend on doing Direct TV works great for us in our Winnebago we have added the DNS east coast feeds for $15 per month - a bit strange when sitting at a state park in Texas to have the snow report for the NY area.

Is your King Dome a 9762-LP? If so, it will receive HD from DirecTV. If not, it may not get HD. http://www.kingcontrols.com/userfiles/file/1355%20Rev%20S,%209762-LP%2009-23-08.pdf

If it's the LP all you need to do is take your receiver, however I would rent an additional receiver and leave it in the RV. You can suspend the RV receiver when not in use (may be limits). We have DirecTV (not HD) and have had no problems with it at all for 5 years. We had it in our home before we went full time.

Moved from Forum Technical Support

We have had Direct TV since the started and are satisfied, take it with us camping all the time. :)

We have had Dish at home for many years. Two years ago I added Dish to the home account for an extra $7/month. Very happy with both and their customer service.
Check Dishformyrv.com.

Have had both Dish and Directv at home and have only used Directv while RVing. Both offer basically the same channels and receiver types with Directv having additional offerings for sports packages. They both have great deals for new customers. When RVing, we use a Directv HD dish mounted on a homemade stand and just bring a spare HD receiver to get all the same channels we get at home. I don't believe your Kingdome can receive all of Directv's HD programming making Dish the choice to go with if you want all available programming.

I too live in a rural area, 20 miles from a cell phone signal and don't even ask about over-the-air TV. We have had Dish since it became available. Once a couple years ago I talked to Direct because I wanted their NFL package. There were also other things we had with Dish that I asked about. Five things. I was assured they were all available.

Someone disputed one of those things, a long time Direct customer I knew. So I called back. Again, all five were available.

The installer was in the house ready to switch over to Direct. I showed him my list of five requirements. Only one was available and a 2nd was sort of available. No wonder the BBB gives the a D+ rating.

If you go with Dish I would not go with their new Hopper/Joey system. I'd suggest a simple DVR if you can. Ask CS to speak to an RV specialist so you don't get inaccurate info on your mobile satellite. I don't know anything about them and won't comment further on them.

You might consider buying a 211 receiver from them for $99 and adding an ac powered hard drive if you want DVR capability. That receiver will work with the satellite dish they'll install at your home and can easily be moved into your RV. I have no idea if it will work with your mobile sat. Ask. If not, you can purchase a Tailgater from a private source. About $350 new.
Photo
This link is just to give you an idea of what it looks like. Takes about five minutes to hook up at your campsite and you can call Dish and they'll give you local stations at no charge if you have traveled to another TV market.

You can lease the 211 as you would any of their receivers, but at $7/mo I've decided to pay for one and escape the never ending monthly charge.

See what others have to say and good luck with your decision.

Yep.. depends on what you watch and what you want to pay.