Anybody ever used Dish network on the road?

I recently became aquainted with someone who sells both DirecTV and Dish who says Dish beats DirecTV hands down.  Does anybody agree, disagree? 

I had DirecTV in a former lifetime many years ago before it was popular for RV parks to provide free cable service.  When I left for Brazil in 2000, I shut it off and never bothered to reactivate it when I came back.

Now I'm considering Dish.  You only need one box for two TVs in separate rooms.  You can watch two programs and record two programs all at the same time with it.

I have been using Dish for a few months and I have come to hate the company. I order service from an online ad that said "Silver Turbo HD package, $32.99 a month". But when I got my bill it was $39.99 a month. I called and complained and they are charging me $32.99 a month for the first year then it goes up. I only ordered the Silver Turbo but they also included local channels for $5.99 per month, and Premium Hd for $12.99 a month. When I called to remove those services they wanted $5 a piece to remove them. I could go on and on but it gets my blood up. I may end up dumping them and going with Direct, they couldn't be any worse.

We've had Dish for many years. Never had a problem with them. With Dish, we get Denver channels which is what we want for networks. We have an older version so we don't get the 2 channel stuff.

Wendy

Bruce,

DirecTV has more sports than Dish if that is important to you.

Also if you want the distance networks you can get them direct from Direc but have to get them from a second party vendor with Dish.

Bruce Patterson said:

I recently became aquainted with someone who sells both DirecTV and Dish who says Dish beats DirecTV hands down.  Does anybody agree, disagree? 

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It must be that they make more by selling Dish.  Personally I would do business at all with Dish.

Now I'm considering Dish.  You only need one box for two TVs in separate rooms.  You can watch two programs and record two programs all at the same time with it.

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Dish violated the rules concerning DNS and IMHO should have been fined.  But the senator from Vermont must have been successful in getting them out of hot water.  I will not knowingly do business with a company that feels they are exempt form the rules. Just my opinion.

they are kinda like the CC companies, IMHO.  they change the "rules" and "contracts" whenever they want and have congress and the FCC in their pockets so they can do whatever they want and the customers have no recourse.  Maybe if we all write congress they will reform the industry and give us a better deal like they just tried to do with the CC companies.

it's really sad to be forced to "subscribe" to channels you never, ever watch or even want to watch.  I know you can select a short list of "favorites" and exclude the others but they certainly have the technology to allow a la carte selections.  Then if a channel gets popular they move it to the more expensive tier.  I hate it.

The idea of using one box for two TVs really doesn't simplify anything - you still have to run coax to the second TV location.   At that point you might as well use two single boxes instead of the dual box.

What's really neat is Dish's all-in-one HD DVR, two tuner box.  It will output HDTV to the primary receiver, record HDTV from both tuners and receives over the air local digital TV stations and incorporates them into the regular programming menu.  The second tuner will record HDTV to the hard drive, or can be used for picture-in-picture on the main TV, or will output standard definition TV via a RF (cable) feed to the second TV.  This last function seems to have been added almost as an afterthought.

We originally used the second tuner for our bedroom TV, but after living with it for a while decided to get a seperate box for the bedroom, reserving the second tuner for the DVR.  The additional box only added $5 per month to our bill.

Lou Schneider said:

The idea of using one box for two TVs really doesn't simplify anything - you still have to run coax to the second TV location.   At that point you might as well use two single boxes instead of the dual box.

What's really neat is Dish's all-in-one HD DVR, two tuner box.   It will output HDTV to the primary receiver, record HDTV from both tuners and receives over the air local digital TV stations and incorporates them into the regular programming menu.   The second tuner will record HDTV to the hard drive, or can be used for picture-in-picture on the main TV, or will output standard definition TV via a RF (cable) feed to the second TV.   This last function seems to have been added almost as an afterthought.

We originally used the second tuner for our bedroom TV, but after living with it for a while decided to get a seperate box for the bedroom, reserving the second tuner for the DVR.  The additional box only added $5 per month to our bill.

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Lou:

Your description matches Direct's HR-23 HD DVR with an AN-21 Over-The-Air receiver to a "T"

If you want HDTV, its is much simpler using Dish because their HD channels are on the same satellite as the others. With Direct, you need to receive at least three different satellite signals to get full HD (and you cannot do that at all with any dome type satellite antenna).

Directs satellites are positioned such that they get slightly better coverage in the northern US. There are places like northern Maine where Direct reception is good while Dish is marginal or impossible because the satellite is so low on the southern horizon. Direct can also be received somewhat further into southern Canada, if that is a concern.

Otherwise it's a matter of which programming suits you best.

As I understand it you need three satelliites to get HDTV on Dish. Dish had been having problems with satellite 129 and had to replace it recently. With reception of only 110 and 119 I got no HD at all. When I replaced my tripod mount with a new KVH R4 it would not pick up HD since 129 was down. Today I am headed for Lake Havasu to have the software upgraded so it will get 129 and HD finally.

RV Roamer said:

If you want HDTV, its is much simpler using Dish because their HD channels are on the same satellite as the others. With Direct, you need to receive at least three different satellite signals to get full HD (and you cannot do that at all with any dome type satellite antenna).

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I guess that is OK if all you want is HD.  But as I understand it there are a lot of programs on Dish that are not HD that are on other satellites. 

    We have Dish. Originally got it because it was cheaper and I'm not interested in sports. Currently have an in-motion on the rear of the roof and a crank-up in the front. This is because I may be partially under a tree. Have a DVR in the front that goes into the house between trips and a basic model in the bedroom.
    While we had a short time issue with networks, we are past that and reception is seamless except for two entry's on the credit card statement instead of one.
    As far as HD, I watch a lot of TV, but, I'm pleased with the normal picture I receive.
    Since I don't switch back and forth to get the current best deal, I've had few dealings with customer service. The two times that the back receiver went to sleep while home for several months took about a 10 minute call with 1 minute of hold time. (I now leave the back receiver on to keep it alive.) If I was to start over not having experience, I don't know which I would choose. As of now, I have no desire to change.

We have had both and are currently with Direct.  Aside from programming choices (Direct has more sports) I see little difference.

I use Dish at home and in the RV and have been relatively happy with them. As already stated, if you're interested in sports packages Direct TV is probably a better choice for you. Other than that, I think Dish is the better option. Their dual tuner DVR's beat anything Direct TV has, hands down and their Dispro Plus technology beats DTV's SWM.

If you're installing HD equipment, Dish is a better choice because they use standard, KU band transmissions for HD. Direct, on the other hand, uses KA band, which limits dish types and is more susceptible to rain fade.

I have to disagree with Gary on the coverage area. Dish network used to have problems in the north, as he stated, but they now have new satellites at 72, 77 and 61.5 that give excellent coverage in those areas.

Seilerbird, Dish did recently replace their 129 satellite, but it never was out of service. Their old satellite was working right up until the minute they switched to the new one. If you couldn't receive it, it was on your end, not theirs.

Ron, Dish did violate FCC rules for DNS, but Direct was just as guilty but didn't get caught. Just my opinion.

As I said, I've been happy with Dish, but I'm probably going to switch to DTV when my contract is up because I can't get major league baseball extra innings with Dish. If either of these companies would let you buy any and only the channels you want, they would put the other one out of business.

 

bross said:

Seilerbird, Dish did recently replace their 129 satellite, but it never was out of service. Their old satellite was working right up until the minute they switched to the new one. If you couldn't receive it, it was on your end, not theirs.

 

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No, the satellite was not out of service, it was wobbling, meaning sometimes you could recieve it but most of the time you couldn't. Because of it's instability they had to replace it, which they just did. I know the problem wasn't on my end. When I tried to view 129 programming I got a message on screen telling me that this satellite was not available and it was being worked on. It also instructed me not to call Dish. After a week without 129 I called customer service and spend an hour on the phone with them and they couldn't figure it out.

bross said:

Ron, Dish did violate FCC rules for DNS, but Direct was just as guilty but didn't get caught. Just my opinion.
 

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DirecTV was not in violation I know because to get DNS a wavier was and still is required.  I do know several folks that went with Dish just because they did not require the wavier.  Oh I have heard that when Dish got caught they requested the FCC to look close at DTV operations the FCC did and no violation were found.  I still think they should have been fined big bucks.

My sister got Dish TV by mistake - against the advice of everyone in the family.  She had poor eyesight and thought she was calling the DirecTV number.  When the Dish truck arrived she figured oh well they couldn't be that different.  She had nothing but problems and they made numerous visits trying to get her TV to work.  We kept telling her to cancel the contract but they were quite threatening and she thought she would lose a lot of money and be fined.  A few months later she died.  At the time of her death all her bills were sitting on her kitchen table, paid and stamped to be mailed - except the Dish bill.  When my nephew called to inform Dish that my sister had died and they should discontinue her service, he had numerous and lengthy discussions that went something like this.

Dish operator:  Tell your mother she has to pay her bill.
Nephew:  I've been trying to tell you.  She can't pay it because she's dead.
Dish operator:  What is her phone number so we can call her?
Nephew:  Look, lady, she's in heaven and you can't call her there.
Dish operator:  We have to have a phone number because she must pay her bill.
Nephew:  She's dead.  She can't pay her bill and you can't call her.

After finally working his way up through the hierarchy my nephew finally got someone who understood that death means you can't write a check.

If you go with Dish, all I can say is - Good Luck!

By the way, everyone in our family who has satellite TV has DirecTV and we're all quite happy with it.  We've had it in our motorhomes for at least 10 years using the RV exemption.

ArdraF

OK, here are a few more tidbits of information.

I really don't have much interest in Sports, but it would be nice to be able to watch my home team play once in a while, That would be the Washington Huskies, Seattle Seahawks, and the Mariners.  But that isn't really all that important.

Mostly I watch Fox News Channel and not much else.  My wife likes to watch movies and she likes us to watch them together.  It would be nice if she could get subtitles in Portuguese so she could understand the movies too. 

It would also be nice to get programming from Brazil. 

I don't understand what the DNS controversy is all about.  I thought DNS had something to do with name servers on the internet I don't understand what it has to do with Satellite TV.

What channels do you get with satellite TV these days.  In the old days when I had DirecTv, I had an east coast and west coast feed. Here I am in Houston, and I almost never watch local news, but I do like to watch the network programming on occasion.  Doesn't matter where they are coming from except for the time zone issue.

My friend who sells this stuff is a fellow HughesNet dealer.  He sells it in the USA, Mexico, Central America and the Carribean, and I sell it in Brazil.  He also sells DishTv as well as DirecTV, again mostly to people south of the border but in the USA too.  He says that Dish TV is a better deal except for those who want sports channels regardless of money.

Sounds like a similar conversation I had with Quest a few years ago.

I don't understand what the DNS controversy is all about.  I thought DNS had something to do with name servers on the internet I don't understand what it has to do with Satellite TV.

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DNS is Distant Network Service, in this case those satellite east-west channels you mentioned.  People who have stick houses technically can't get them.  They're for people like RVers who might not have a stick house and so don't have need for "home" programming.  The east-west channels are great for RVers who are never in the same time zone.  We can watch NY channels when we're on the east coast and LA channels when we're on the west coast and it more or less matches our current time.  If you had the east-west channels many years ago, I recall we had Los Angeles, San Francisco, and maybe Seattle for the West coast and NYC, WDC, and somewhere in the south for the east coast.  That variety disappeared years ago.  Today it's strictly LA and NYC.  Moreover, the changeover to digital means we can only get west coast high def channels if our billing address is west of the Mississippi and vice versa for east coast high def.  At this point we still have the "old" east-west channels in standard digital.  None of us knows how it's all going to work once June 12th rolls around, but it should be interesting.

The controversy (if that's what it is) is because we RVers have had to go through red tape hoops to certify our need for the DNS channels, e.g. copies of our RV registration, etc.  Then the whole thing got into the court system and Dish got their hand slapped for not playing by the rules set down by the FCC per Congress.

Hope this helps clarify DNS.  By the way, we changed to HDTVs and there's a significant improvement in picture quality - much more than we ever expected!  The ability to see the ball in games is much better now so, if you like to watch your favorite sports teams, you might want to consider HDTV.

ArdraF