RV Satellite choices--Direct or Dish

[philnoah]

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?

[Dick_A]

SEE POST IN TECHNOLOGY CORNER. PLEASE DO NOT POST IN MULTIPLE FORUM SECTIONS.

[Dutch_12078]

When we're at our upstate NY vacation cottage, we have Dish set our service address there for the Albany, NY local market stations. When we leave there and move to different markets, we have the locals changed, sometimes as often as daily. The receiver back at cottage does lose the satellite transmitted locals then, but the same locals are available over the air, so when our kids stop by, they can still see them. Dish has never given us any problems with frequent service address changes using their online chat service. We like leaving one of our two Hopper with Sling receivers at the cottage so we can program it remotely using Dish Anywhere online to record programs we will miss while underway. We can then watch those programs later on with Dish Anywhere. Our other Hopper is installed in the motorhome, and when we're at the cottage each Hopper can "see" the other Hopper's recorded programs, allowing us to watch any of them from either location. Overall, we've been very pleased with our Dish service.

[full_mosey]

Dennis12 wrote:
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.

Dish uses spot beams for locals. If you drive out of your home spot beam, you lose those locals. When you call Dish with your ZIP code, they send a signal back to your receiver(s) to set your new local spot beam. There can be only one.

HTH;
John

[Dave_H_M]

We have had direct for years. Use a tripod and slimline three SWM dish. It works great.

I don't know about the two Genie's deal. We take the genie with us from the stick home plus one of the little remote boxes for the bedroom.

I have no problem getting direct to change my service address so we get the locals via the dish.

I like the tripod method for set up cus I can move it around until I get a shot at the satellite.

[TrailerTravele1]

We have the Winegard G2 portable with Direct TV - only because that's what we have at home and we just added a receiver. Here's a blog post I wrote about it when we were making our decision. Ins & Outs of Portable Satellite TV

Ours has always worked, but not necessarily without spending some time on the phone with Direct TV tech support.

Good Luck!

[Sandia_Man]

We've had both services time and again over the years and they pretty much deliver the same channels, and as of late Dish has all the specialized sport packages that Directv at one time had more exclusivity to.

As for customer service it can be poor and good from either service, just luck of the draw when calling in. Both services start with good pricing and over time go up to normal pricing but you can at times negotiate better pricing.

Locals can be switched to the city you are in with Dish by calling in or through their online chat, locals at home change too. Directv prefers to give you East or West coast feeds so you can keep up with OTA network programming.

We get our locals throughout NM and outskirts of CO, UT, and AZ. Outside our spotbeam we use rig's antenna should we desire OTA network programming, we just use our phones and local news apps for what's happening at home.

For whatever service we have we purchase the very same dish that is mounted on our home along with a home-made stand or tripod from CW. Pointing is simple once you get the hang of it, practice at home first.

We prefer dry-camping and boondocking in the four corner states which can make getting OTA signals challenging. Even set up dish at private RV parks where cable is available due to poor video quality and generic channel selection.

Many fret the cost of satellite service and to be sure it can get pricey. We purchased our rig to explore our country with home-like amenities. We choose to have sat tv on the road and with little effort have all the same channels.

[TechWriter]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Dish Network. July 2007...

A 9-year-old story? Even 2oldman doesn't go back that far.

[full_mosey]

philnoah wrote:
Have read many controversial comments about Dish Network and them not honoring the requested local stations at where one is going.
...

We have a portable Dish setup; a VIP211k receiver and a Tailgater antenna. We bought this in Quartzite during the Winter 2014 tent show. We use the Pay-as-you-go subscription and pay for about 4 months per year.

Local programming is a breeze. When we arrive at a new location, we power up the system to see if we get local channels. If not, we call and tell them we have moved, along with our current ZIP code. We get the ZIP code from the where-am-I feature of our Garmin GPS. About 15 minutes after that we use the menu system to erase the prior locals and rescan for the new locals. The VIP211k merges the program Guide right in with the satellite stations. Be sure to get the 'k' and not the 'z' receiver as it has both the satellite and the OTA tuners, plus the ability to add an external portable hard drive. You can record one while watching from the other tuner, or record from both.

HTH;
John

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Dish Network. July 2007...

"Hello hello, my does not work"

"Good morning (it was 10:30 PM)"

"Oooo sir, you waited too long to connect! You need another card!"

"The customer assistance center? Where am I calling to?"

"Uddar Pradish, sir. India"

Tried to get PBS programming. But I needed to FAX Dish Network a current USA vehicle registration. With proof of purchase and system warranty number.

Suddenly the hotel had no patio television service. The receiver and two dishes went on their way to the scrap metal recycler.

I never could deal with absurd situations. But I understood "the other guys" had their quirks.

Good luck to you. Maybe they straightened out their act but I doubt it.

[pennysmom09]

We signed up for DirectTV through a great deal at Costco, while wintering in Tucson. The service, reception and everything about it was great. We were told no problem to just transfer the service when we get home, since we were so happy with it. However, they wanted $200 to transfer the service, (even though we had all the equipment) and an additional $100 for an additional genie box. What a rip off!! Since we have Xfinity here at home, we are sending all their equipment back to them. When in Florida next winter we will use the cg cable and our antenna on the way!! We tried Dish a couple of years back and their service was atrocious. We are done with satellite tv.

[Dennis12]

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.

[DutchmenSport]

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!

[2oldman]

Dish v Direct Aug 2010
Dish v Direct 2011
Dish v Direct 2013
Dish v Direct Dec 2013

Dish v Direct 2016