Dish or Direct TV

[Ustabslim]

We now use time warner at home but were going to change to dish or direct tv so we can take with us. Get one of them cubes. Looks like Dish is more friendly and the price of $44.95 is $60 monthly less than I pay now.
What are you alls experience and recommendation.

[Grumpy]

I have DIRECT, but that was because numerous years ago DISH got their hand slapped by the FEDS and could no longer offer ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC when you are away from your local area. From what I understand that may have changed so you may now be able to get the networks when traveling. Also DISH offers HD with the portable cube/dish where as DIRECT does not.

[tnchuck100]

Well, if your looking for who does what......
I have DirecTV. I have had them for over 18 years. I just upgraded the house to HD. That gets you a new receiver and a new dish. They did not want the old dish or the receiver. Bear in mind it was 18 years old. Throw it away? No way. Put it in the camper!

Now here is the catch...DirecTV wants you to have a separate account for an RV. Don't tell them you are putting it in an RV. As far as DirecTV is concerned the receiver is in one of your bedrooms. That way it is only a $6.00 additional receiver charge. The only downside is you will loose your local channels if you venture too far from your home. Local channels are sent via "spot beams". No big deal..you can use you crank up antenna for locals in your destination area.

Next, if you leave the receiver in the RV unused for over ~30 days it will loose authorization. You can go to the DirecTV website and send a refresh signal yourself. Fire up the satellite system the day before you head out and send the refresh signal and you should have no trouble.

[jimp]

tnchuck100:
did Direct do any favors for you when you upgraded to HD in the house. I've been with 'em for at least a decade, and the equipment I have now is 7-8 yrs old, been considering upgrading to HD, just wondering.

[tnchuck100]

DirecTV does no one any favors. You must keep your guard up 100% of the time. They will mislead and lie in a heatbeat to sell and trap you into their 2 year contract.

Just pay attention. Take whatever they tell you on the phone and do your own research to verify what they tell you. The contract is inevitable when you upgrade. Just remain skeptical when dealing with them.

[Dizz]

Originally Posted by jimp

tnchuck100:
did Direct do any favors for you when you upgraded to HD in the house. I've been with 'em for at least a decade, and the equipment I have now is 7-8 yrs old, been considering upgrading to HD, just wondering.

I've got the genie with the little genie. So I can't take the main receiver because
The little ones work off the big one. My in laws have dish I'm thinking next year of getting the travel program through their dish and just pay them the monthly fees which will be not too much according to dish info.

[Parcany]

We have Dish, Both at the house and on the road. We did have a Tailgater but it stopped searching, and now we have a actual dish. Where ever we have been in Az we get the local station from Phoenix. When we get back to the house we will send the tailgater back to Minn to get it fixed. [it has to be sent back to get fixed. There are no authorized repair facility except in Minn]. When the tailgater first went bad I called Dish and they would not even send anybody out to fix it cause even tho they have their name on the tailgater they will not fix it. Come to find out Dish has a section that will help you troubleshoot if you have a tailgater. Just some info for you.

[nylyon]

I have Dish at home as well which made it a no-brainer for the camper. I've got the Tailgater and it's okay. I wish that it had the programming to pickup east coast HD satellite instead of only the west. The end result of the Tailgater is sometimes I don't get full HD. Other than that I like it (and Dish gave me some perks on the dish and Hard Drive activation). I like my setup and the small form 211Z fits perfectly in the little cubby under the TV

[TEBechtold]

I have been a Dish subscriber for 10 years. This year we started to have numerous problems with their service. Receivers would not connect. They told me I had a bad dish. Turned out their service rep hooked it up to satellite out vs. satellite in. Needless to say after arguing with them about increased costs incurred with a new Winegaard Carry Out they gave me credit. I will be canceling service with Dish.

[Yamerhammer]

I also have dish network. I'm very satisfied with it. Have it in the home and the RV. I have the 211 reciever that fits nicely on a shelf beside the tv and the HD dish that I put on a camera tripod. Love all the football games that I get in HD! When I travel outside my local area, I'll call dish and tell them what zip code I'm at, then in 5-10 min. I'll have the local networks. So far in 26 months no problems. I leave my camper on a seasonal spot 6 months a year and if I don't use the tv for 3-4 weeks, I have to call dish to authorize the reciever. That takes a few min. Took a long trip this summer from Louisiana to Minnesota and used the dish network one time in Wisconsin with no problems. Had to much to see on that trip to watch much tv:-)

[skijlw]

I have directv and have it at home and my RV. You can get local channels wherever you are if you tell them you are in your vacation home with just a phone call. You can buy a receiver on Ebay cheap and leave it in your RV. Make sure you call Directv with the serial number before you purchase to be sure the receiver is an owned unit. Or you can use your home receiver. I use my home DVR now because it has a lot of recorded shows from home. I use a free standing dish on a tripod at this time. Takes a little time to set it up but it gets faster the more you do it. I can't say it is better than Dish but I can say I get help from Directv when needed.

[The Dster]

I have had Dish for I can't remember how many years.. I am totally happy with it in my home and the rv.. When I sold my toy hauler month or so back and purchased the Eagle I had them throw in a tailgater on the deal, I had to get the 211z receiver for the tailgater but, I am real happy with it as it's very small.. I use my rv mostly for fishing camp and hunting camp but, when I travel I wanted the tailgater as I have a hard time adjusting the dish on a tripod.. I pay about $100 dollars a month for top 200 package, local channels, NFL redzone and both the receivers... It's well worth it to me, hope this helps..

[UPCamper]

I hated DirecTv when I had them. I've had Dish now for 6 years and love them! Every time I've called with a problem ready to yell, they suprise me with more than I could have asked for. Sent me a Roku once to buy my TV shows because one of my favorite stations was in contract disputes with them. So $80 Roku and two $30 credits to buy the show. And I didn't even ask for it. They are my only utility provider I actually am happy with. Ntm, if you wanted you can get an automatic portable satellite for you trailer with Dish, don't know about Direct. I think it's only $7 bucks a month (month to month, no contract) to get all of your stations you have at home at your trailer. No aligning required!

[Ustabslim]

Thanks all. I ordered Dish this am and a cube.
Tex

[Plowtoy]

Up until we moved last fall, we had Directv. I had two extra satalite dishes, that would each work 3 recievers. I mounted 1 of the dishes to a pole cemented in a 5 gallon bucket and would take that along with our bedroom reciever when we went camping. If there was a group of 3 campers (which is normal for us) we would all be wired into the one dish. Anyway, when we moved, Charter cable had the "triple play" for less than we were paying for directv alone so the switch was a no brainer. Do I miss directv while camping? Not really, in the areas we camp, I am getting about 35 channels off the antenna tv, and I only watch it if its raining out, or im in bed. Also, when we stay at private campgrounds (which isnt often), it seems they all have cable hook up too...