Looking for HD Satellite for RV. Suggestions

[Alford2275]

We need to get a satellite to mount on our RV so when we travel we can watch TV. We have Direct TV and I would like a system that will show HD channels. I don't want an in motion system but a stationary one that can be mounted. What satellite do you recommend? I am looking to spend around $500 or so. I want a good system and so I am looking for suggestions. THANK YOU!!

[bluwtr49]

mikestock wrote:

Bill.Satellite wrote:
Someone who subscribes to Dish or DirecTV at home and moves an receiver to their RV when they travel boosts the income at Dish or DirecTV by exactly ZERO dollars.

This assumes that this person would have DirecTV at home if they weren't RV'ers. In my case, if not for the RV I would not have DirecTV at all. We began as DirecTV subscribers for the RV in 1999 and eventually moved the receivers home. Early on, they would let you turn the system off and on as needed. Then, when they began limiting the number of times you could do this in a year, we shut down the cable.

If we stop RVing we will shut down DirecTV and go back to cable.

This is a very good point. The only reason we have sat service is that we had Dish on the RV and it made sense to put in in the house also. Baring that, we would probably still be with a cable service.

With that in mind, there is an incentive to provide good customer service to the admittedly small RV market segment and allowing service address changes as necessary is indeed paid for as part of the service. Granted each service address change doesn't bring in addition revenue but is paid for as part of the bigger picture.

[mikestock]

Bill.Satellite wrote:
Someone who subscribes to Dish or DirecTV at home and moves an receiver to their RV when they travel boosts the income at Dish or DirecTV by exactly ZERO dollars.

This assumes that this person would have DirecTV at home if they weren't RV'ers. In my case, if not for the RV I would not have DirecTV at all. We began as DirecTV subscribers for the RV in 1999 and eventually moved the receivers home. Early on, they would let you turn the system off and on as needed. Then, when they began limiting the number of times you could do this in a year, we shut down the cable.

If we stop RVing we will shut down DirecTV and go back to cable.

[Pirate1]

Goldencrazy wrote:

TechWriter wrote:

CA Traveler wrote:
Someone asked how often you can switch DTV locals. Answer: As often as I want BUT I do not abuse the service. I check the spot beam maps and use that as a guide.

That was me -- and I still haven't heard from the other guy who claimed he did it all the time.

I've heard these claims from some DirecTV users before -- that they could change their local TV stations at will.

However, when pressed (like I'm doing now), the most amount of times a DirecTV user changed their stations was 5.

The fact that you said you don't want to "abuse the service" indicates a cap on the number of times.

So . . . what is the most times you've changed your DirecTV locals during a camping trip?

Last year I changed 7 times in a two week period. Then 4 times over the next three months. No one ever suggested I had to stop or slow down. Then this summer I changed three times in one week and twice a month later. Directv is always helpful.

What number, what do you say? Tks.

[Goldencrazy]

TechWriter wrote:

CA Traveler wrote:
Someone asked how often you can switch DTV locals. Answer: As often as I want BUT I do not abuse the service. I check the spot beam maps and use that as a guide.

That was me -- and I still haven't heard from the other guy who claimed he did it all the time.

I've heard these claims from some DirecTV users before -- that they could change their local TV stations at will.

However, when pressed (like I'm doing now), the most amount of times a DirecTV user changed their stations was 5.

The fact that you said you don't want to "abuse the service" indicates a cap on the number of times.

So . . . what is the most times you've changed your DirecTV locals during a camping trip?

Last year I changed 7 times in a two week period. Then 4 times over the next three months. No one ever suggested I had to stop or slow down. Then this summer I changed three times in one week and twice a month later. Directv is always helpful.

[Bill_Satellite]

TechWriter wrote:

Bill.Satellite wrote:
Not sure when "pressing" becomes something less attractive. I guess you are a Dish customer and happy with your service. He is a DirecTV customer and happy with his service. Do we really need to press each other in hopes of proving something?

When someone makes a claim that make affect others' purchasing decision, then, I think yes.

Luckily, he doesn't have to be bullied and I hope he just moves on. The truth is that DirecTV has no restrictions on moving locals as often as you can get it done. Their problem is finding the right person and actually getting it done. Sometimes it's easy and sometimes it's not. Of course, the same can be true with Dish but those using the online chat feature seems to be the one avenue with the highest success rate.

[bluwtr49]

Somehow I suspect there is very little real difference between Dish and Direct...some technical details aside. We happen to have Dish for reason I've forgotten but suspect we would have been pleased has we gone direct.

I used to move the receiver from the house to MH but finally got tired of that and just had them install a separate Hopper and Joey in the MH on the same account. The extra $15.00/mo or so is just worth not having one more item to deal with when we're packing up. Because I have the Winguard Traveler it was simple as they use the Dish reflectors and LNB's so the unwary installer didn't have an issue. Baring that, the installer would not have installed the new receivers.

Like others, when traveling I just call up and order a "dish move" and they change my locals. Do this about 10 time a trip. Here again, I suspect Direct does the same thing.

[TechWriter]

Bill.Satellite wrote:
Not sure when "pressing" becomes something less attractive. I guess you are a Dish customer and happy with your service. He is a DirecTV customer and happy with his service. Do we really need to press each other in hopes of proving something?

When someone makes a claim that make affect others' purchasing decision, then, I think yes.

[Bill_Satellite]

Not sure when "pressing" becomes something less attractive. I guess you are a Dish customer and happy with your service. He is a DirecTV customer and happy with his service. Do we really need to press each other in hopes of proving something?
You certainly can change your locals with both DirecTV and Dish. There is no question at all that Dish users encounter much less resistance to this option but that's likely due to Dish's failure to provide DNS services to their mobile customers (RVers, Trucker, boaters).

[TechWriter]

CA Traveler wrote:
Someone asked how often you can switch DTV locals. Answer: As often as I want BUT I do not abuse the service. I check the spot beam maps and use that as a guide.

That was me -- and I still haven't heard from the other guy who claimed he did it all the time.

I've heard these claims from some DirecTV users before -- that they could change their local TV stations at will.

However, when pressed (like I'm doing now), the most amount of times a DirecTV user changed their stations was 5.

The fact that you said you don't want to "abuse the service" indicates a cap on the number of times.

So . . . what is the most times you've changed your DirecTV locals during a camping trip?

[CA_Traveler]

Someone asked how often you can switch DTV locals. Answer: As often as I want BUT I do not abuse the service. I check the spot beam maps and use that as a guide.

I now know for example that I can get the San Francisco HD locals from Santa Barbara to the OR border and SD to the WA border so I don't change locals once I'm in that spot beam. Besides I'm not really that interested in say Eugene, OR locals.

[CA_Traveler]

And yes it does cost DTV employee time to switch our locals. But the phone experience has gotten a lot better lately and we pay the bill. Sure wish they would provide website support for switching locals.

[FordDiesel250]

King Quest RV satellite which your can get at Camping World

[CA_Traveler]

Someone who subscribes to Dish or DirecTV at home and moves an receiver to their RV when they travel boosts the income at Dish or DirecTV by exactly ZERO dollars.

Bill, I understand the point you're making but it doesn't really apply to us. If we could not move the receiver then there would be no receiver and DTV would be out our monthly payment to them. Most likely we would be using OTA with a recorder. We might also be looking for a satellite setup that we could cancel and restart at will if one exists.

So DTV loses as does the dish vendor for the RV, etc. Just a different way of looking at it...

BTW That was an excellent and informative post.

[William_B]

I'm not sure why you say DirecTV is not RV friendly. We used to have Dish until they messed with the rules as they applied to Distant Network Stations and went with Direct more than 10 years ago. We have HD and DVR's and wouldn't be without. Winegard uses the same size dish for either the Direct or Dish Traveler. Both Direct and Winegard have excellent customer service and we are very happy with our setup. Yes it is more than the OP wants to spend, but he said he wanted HD. We push one button and it goes up and locks on the satellites. JMHO