Which is best for tv, Dish or Direct? 2. Thanks

[Wondershire]

We are part timers traveling in a travel trailer 5 6o 6 months each year. We would like to know if there are special plans with Dish or Direct where you can temporarily dc your monthly payment when not traveling. I saw such a plan several years ago. Thanks for any advice or assistance. Hope you all are enjoying good weather, good friends and good camping.

[Wondershire]

Thanks to all for the new posts today. If anyone else has any more suggestions I keep learning more and more from your responses. Thanks again. Keep sharing with us newbies and have a great night! Just because you can.

[BB_TX]

8ntw8tn wrote:
............. I'm told, by local representatives, that as long as my billing address remains the same, I'll continue to get my present local channels. ............

If you get more than 2-300 miles from your home area you will not be able to get your home local channels. The signals are transmitted in a "spot beam" meaning the satellite sends those signals to cover basically a round "spot" on the earth centered around a major population center. Think of it as a spot light shining down on the earth.
Your account will have two addresses, a billing address and a service address. The billing address is where the bill will go to, generally your home. The service address defines which spot beam you will receive. Generally the service address is also your home unless you want it to be some other location. When we travel outside the range of our local spot beam I just call Dish, give them our new service address (the address of the RV park), and a few minutes later we receive local channels of the nearest major population center to that RV park. As long as we do not travel too far from home I do not change the service address and continue to receive the home locals.

[paulcardoza]

What is important to you? HD? If you have a dome or carryout antenna, DISH is your only HD option. DirecTV HD REQUIRES a multi-lnb dish.

Beyond that, it's a matter of what programming packages are offered and which you prefer.

[jbarry]

daily double wrote:
When you can't choose a provider you post a question on rv.net. When you post a question on rv.net you get conflicting answers. When you get conflicting answers you yell at DW. When you yell at DW you wish you never heard of tv!Don't regret hearing about tv. DRINK!!

:B 2 FUNNY!!!!

[Bill_Satellite]

If you want to use satellite TV in your home and your RV for year-round service then the hardware should not cost you a dime. Call Dish or DirecTV and request a home installation. They will get you setup and if you tell the installer you will use one box in your RV, he might also be able to provide you with a portable antenna for use when you travel. You could also pick from a variety or RV satellite antennas from manual to semi-automatic to portable automatic or roof mounted automatic.

[rhingst]

We are fulltime and have an RV account with DirecTV. We had DirecTV for years before we went fulltime as we watch a lot of sports. We are very happy with their service and support. We have both east and west coast network channels.

[Wondershire]

Thanks to everyone that replied to my question. I think the simplest solution would be to have Dish at home and then just use the box when we are traveling. One of you did give a web site dishformrv.com which you can buy the equipment $400 to $500 and then only pay for the months you use the service and no contract. Take care, keep enjoying life and reaching out to help others. It is always a good feeling to know how many of you are willing to help others. Keep it up!

[Bill_Satellite]

Wondershire wrote:
We are part timers traveling in a travel trailer 5 6o 6 months each year. We would like to know if there are special plans with Dish or Direct where you can temporarily dc your monthly payment when not traveling. I saw such a plan several years ago. Thanks for any advice or assistance. Hope you all are enjoying good weather, good friends and good camping.

Lots of "I like mine better" responses but that may or not be helpful.
Here's the reality.
Dish has a pay-as-you-go program that allows you to turn the service on for 1-12 months (you choose) and at the end of that time period it simply stops like it never existed. You have to pay for all of the hardware up front but you can turn it on and off at will without additional charges.
DirecTV has no such plan but you can sign up for service, get free hardware and suspend the service for up to 6 months per year without penalty.
The 2 services offer very similar (but not exactly the same) so you should check into the specific service packages and make sure that what you like to watch is included in the package you want to purchase. Where you travel, the antenna you plan to use, whether HDTV is critical and whether you need Network TV programming no matter where you travel will make the largest differences.
Let us know a bit more about what your hopes and desires are and we can get you some additional details.

[Dick_A]

Moved from General RV'ing forum.

[PastorCharlie]

I have had Dish Network for many years and I have a receiver for home and put second one in the motor home with in motion antenna. HD coast to coast. One bill for home as I do not use that unit when on road and do not use motor home unit when at home. No problem as I pay by CC for year program at a time and get one extra month.

[slarsen]

I switched from DirecTV to Dish about two months ago. Dish has better technology for multiple use points in a home; not likely to be an advantage in a trailer. The picture quality and tendency to go out in a storm is the same for both. I'd suggest you get pricing from both and go with the cheapest.

[8ntw8tn]

We had DirecTV for over 10 years and I was satisfied with the programming; a few years ago we started suspending the account for the months we went south. Last year we had an issue when they continued to charge my account for another month's service after I called in to have it suspended. They refused to refund the charge and I ultimately cancelled the account and went to DishTV last April. I plan on getting an automatic antenna for use when we go to Texas this winter. I'm told, by local representatives, that as long as my billing address remains the same, I'll continue to get my present local channels. We'll see. In the meantime, I'm pretty pleased with Dish. Now if DirecTV would just stop calling and sending me emails to re-subscribe!!

[jmiller]

I have had dish for 10 years. Take a receiver from home and I have tailgater for trailer. No problems. No extra money or problems.

[Dance_Chick]

Hated DISH..major PITA..canceled it this week. But, to answer part of your question. Ours Pay-As-You-Go for RVs. The plan we had (200 channels?)was $71.99 per mo. when activated. I think that price had an extra box or something with it. When paused, it's $5.35 per mo. We have local cable through our HOA at home, so can't use DISH or DTV at home and carry with us in the RV.