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philnoah's avatar
philnoah
Explorer
Apr 30, 2016

RV Satellite choices--Direct or Dish

Have read many controversial comments about Dish Network and them not honoring the requested local stations at where one is going. Would like some feedback on the quality of service provided by Dish and Direct. Am considering a portable on stand and not attached to our travel trailer. What Pros and Cons can you share with me?
  • I have had a Winegard SK-1000 TRAV'LER for two years now and use it at least twice a month while traveling. Dish is up and down a lot while I'm traveling. I have had no issues with Dish Network other than before i purchased it i ask if i would get my local channels everywhere i went. They said yes and this is true but i also ask if my local channels would stay at my home also they said yes and that is not true. Every time i go out of my local area (Washington DC area) i have to call them and they reset my dish for the local channels and then if the wife is at home she loosed the local channels because i have them where i am. Other than that I'm totally satisfied with my Winegard SK-1000 TRAV'LER and with Dish Network.
  • We used DishTV with the Tailgater satellite dish. It worked very well, never had a problem as long as we were not parked under trees or could not get a clear SW sky. Local stations came in OK as long as we were "local". Once out of our territory, everything came in except our (at home) locals. We really did not care, because as far as (at home) local news and weather, we had our local television stations Iphone-internet app. When wanting local stations where we were camped, we just used over-the-air batwing antenna.

    At home, we had both DirectTV and DishTV. Both worked very well for us and had no problems with the service. The reason we canceled DirectTV first and then 3 years later canceled DishTV was because they kept jacking up the prices, higher and higher. When (both) reach $110 a month for basic television, plus the receivers, we said, "enough is enough". It was hard canceling DishTV (second) after being with them a few years. But the other STRONG disappointment with BOTH systems was the constant repeat of the same program over and over and over. Movie channels (premium or in our bundle), repeat about the same 5 or 6 movies over and over and over. And more than 50% of the time (yes I timed it), of the actual air time, was commercials. After a while we thought, why pay so much for commercials and programming we've seen a dozen times already.

    Kind of like canceling your home lan telephone line to go cell phone only, we though it was impossible. But now we are over-the-air only. So now that television programming is about 35% advertisement, at least I not PAYING to watch advertisements! The advertisements are now coming free!

    If you've never had DishTV or DirectTV before, you'll initially be very pleased and excited with either one. After 2 years, your opinion will probably change!

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