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Old 08-28-2018, 07:23 AM   #1
wiredgeorge
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Dish Satellite set up

We are dumping DirecTV at the house as of Sept 5! Their recent upgrades to the GUI were the last straw and the cost has gotten to be more than our first house payment. AT&T bought them awhile back and things have been sliding since... anyway....


Once we have Dish set up in the house, I plan on buying the following:


Winegard P1000 Playmaker, ViP211K and get an external hard drive (2TB USB 2.0) from Best buy.



Only need to hook up ONE TV in the 5ver as we almost never watch the TV in the bedroom and the hard drive usage and receiver will be activated just after the house system is installed. I decided that $7 (extra receiver fee) a month would keep me from having to get on the phone to turn the "pay as you go" stuff on and off would be worth it.



Is there anything I am missing, a better plan? Am I doing a dumb thing? I know a bigger dish will have better signal strength but the small size of the Playmaker is a benefit that outweighs the larger dish performance. TIA
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Old 08-28-2018, 09:35 AM   #2
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I might change to Dish next month (from Directv).

How many TVs do you have setup at home? You can probably use the VIP211k at home in place of one. Then you really wouldn't be paying for an extra receiver every month. You just need to move it to the TT when you hit the road. I currently do this with my Directv H24. I have to change the satellite type in the menu, but it only takes a couple of minutes.
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Old 08-28-2018, 10:03 AM   #3
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If you plan on traveling to the Eastern part of the US I suggest getting the Pathway X2 vs the Playmaker. The X2 can get both Eastern and Western Arc. Dish also just released the new King Tailgater that adds the capability of getting their 61.5 satellite in cases of not being able to pick up their 129 bird. I also would get the Wally vs the 211k, The Wally has 2 tuners which will allow you to record one channel and watch another at the same time as long as both channels are on the same bird.

Mfifield01 made a good point about having it installed in your home in a spare room and taking it with you when you travel. That way it will always be activated and have the current software.

One other nice thing is you can get the Dish OTA USB adapter and connect the OTA roof antenna to it which will pick up the local channels where ever you are and they will show up in the guide. This will save you from having switch your input source on the TV
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Old 08-29-2018, 10:32 AM   #4
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Bought the PL-7000 / Wally bundle from dishformytailgate.com which is linked off the Dish website.* They are NOT part of dish but a preferred partner.* I bought the extended 3 year warranty for under $20 and only covers the Wally.* The dish has a 2 year manufacturer's warranty from Winegard.* Total cost $357.99 including warranty and shipping.* The actual company where I made the purchase is Pace International.* Listening to the elevator music interrupted by sales ads, I found I could have received a free dish from them in a promotion (didn't see it on their homepage) if I had purchase my home Dish service from them... didn't want to get the missus mad because she set up the service and the install so don't have any deals but if you are thinking about Dish TV, you might want to call 800-811-4191 for Pace International and speak with them as you might get a bonus RV dish of some sort.**

I didn't go with the Pathway X2 because it weighs about 3 times as much as the Winegard PL7000 and decided to try the Wally as early complaints seem to have been resolved based on comments from various sources.* It is also easier to hook up a modern hard drive for recording.* I don't think we can record one show and watch another though without some more equipment involved so will pass that for now as it ain't a big deal.* Will probably record stuff while parked at home for playback later.* I also don't care about integrating the OTA with the receiver; will just switch inputs and watch OTA if the situation warrants.* Will likely pick up a tripod at some point once I understand how to place the dish while camping;**

​​​​​​​Thanks to all who helped me make a decision!*
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Old 08-29-2018, 10:41 AM   #5
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I'm partial to farmer vision myself.
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Old 08-29-2018, 10:47 AM   #6
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How is the pricing compared to the website? Did either of those give you any internet options?

I was on chat with Dish yesterday. They quoted around $90 for 120+ and 3 receivers. They said they would have to all 3 as Wally HD to be able to move one to RV and back. They did offer an internet option for $20/month (200Mbps).
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Old 08-29-2018, 11:06 AM   #7
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What was their internet option? Is it satellite internet? If so, pass on it. Satellite internet is one step above dial up and should only be used if you live in a very rural area and cant get internet.

I would not go with 3 Wallys. I would suggest a Hopper 3 and a Joey for the additional rooms and then get the Wally for your outdoor solution, if they cant give you a Hopper with a Wally configuration.

You could also contact Pace as George mentioned and compare what they can offer. If they throw in a Tailgater that's a $250 savings.
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Old 08-29-2018, 11:18 AM   #8
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It is probably cable or fiber internet. I have AT&T fiber right now.

Yeah, I tried to get that setup. He said they couldn't do it. I would have to add a Wally myself.
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Old 08-29-2018, 11:46 AM   #9
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Originally Posted by mfifield01 View Post
It is probably cable or fiber internet. I have AT&T fiber right now.

Yeah, I tried to get that setup. He said they couldn't do it. I would have to add a Wally myself.
Find out for sure what their internet option is. In northern Michigan, AT&T is moving away from "cable/fiber optic lines" and are going with cell tower relays and satellite systems. They've "partnered with VIA SAT" as their preferred provider. VIA SAT is the old Blue Sky system that's been rebadged and remarketed (putting lipstick on a pig).... They're attempting to compete with HughesNet but most of the subscribers in this area are not satisfied with the service.

If their internet is satellite, be very cautious !!!!!
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Old 08-29-2018, 01:43 PM   #10
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The internet option is satellite internet. We have Hughesnet at the house and it is actually fairly decent. Prior, I had a 32 gig per month AT&T hotspot internet set up. It worked well enough as our signal was 2 bars 4G LTE but we couldn't watch a lot of Netflix. Going over our allotment cost $10 a gig. One day, AT&T called my wife and offered her a DirecTV & AT&T bundle with UNLIMITED data for less than we were paying just for the AT&T service. She jumped on it to find that unlimited meant the use of a hotspot IMPOSSIBLE (period). They turned off our hotspots. When she realized they had not disclosed this little fact they told my wife to go hunt up the terms and conditions on their website. We could not even just revert to our previous plan as they no longer offered 32 gigs at the price we were paying. We now just use AT&T for just phone service with the minimum mobile data allowance.

AT&T is pushing out "AT&T Fixed Wireless Internet" which is essentially radio line of sight internet coming off their cell towers. They sent us a mailing telling us to sign up. It is $85 for 340 gigs of data. When I called to check on this service, although they claim it is for rural customers, I guess we are too rural as they don't have it coming off the towers near us.

My other possible option is to wait for my electric company, Bandera Electric Co-op to run fiber out near where I live. It is supposed to be done by end of 2019. Not all that hopeful.

Another option is radio internet; Rock Solid Internet is the provider in our area. I had it a few years ago and since we live in a very hilly area, could only get their lowest level service which was 2 gigs download speed but unlimited data for about $25 a month but about $500 for the equipment set up. The dish we were able to get service on was moved and we can no longer use them. I could stream videos at that speed and service was pretty good.

Last... Viasat aka Excede aka Wildblue. Poor rep as the latter two versions of the same company. We had Wildblue for awhile. Gov. Perry announced all Texans would have access to high speed internet. AT&T partnered with Wildblue and it was really kind of sketchy service and much more prone to atmospheric interference than our current Hughesnet service. We have the largest data package at 50 gigs a month and can now stream Netflix. My business is also internet based so I need a reliable service and it has proved pretty reliable so far. I have a wifi extender pointed at my shop office and the shop office has an external wifi antenna to catch the signal. The interface limits speeds so streaming youtube videos can be a challenge at times but the link works pretty well. The wifi through the house is good.

According to a blurb I found,
"DISH + Internet. When you sign up for satellite Internet through HughesNet you can add DISH. DISH Network provides both television and Internet services. If you already subscribe to DISH Network's satellite television service you can add HughesNet high-speed Internet service to your plan."

When my wife signed us up for Dish, she asked about internet and they told her we were doing about as well as we could so she didn't pursue it. Not sure if they partner with other sat internet providers in other areas of the country.

Found this as well:
"At its core, DISH is in the business of satellite television packages. Though it used to provide satellite internet directly to customers, in 2017 it began partnering with HughesNet and Viasat — the two major nationwide satellite Internet providers — to bundle satellite internet services with its TV packages.Apr 17, 2018"

Was curious about Viasat so a look at their website said they offer 25 mbs download speeds for $100 a month but unlimited data; this makes them competitively price with Hughesnet (biggest data package 50 gigs @ month) but they have unlimited data. Hughesnet offers 25 mbs download or at least that is the advertised speed; we get 10-20 mbs download speed generally at the house directly from their router and that speed can vary based on how many folks are using the satellite I guess.
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Old 08-29-2018, 01:49 PM   #11
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I would have to check on their option at my address. I can get up to 1Gbps at my current house.
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Old 08-29-2018, 03:42 PM   #12
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I have Dish with 2 wireless joeys for the house and The vip211z and playmaker. Mine is around $110 per month and I pay $60/month for the 100 plan through AT&T. Dish has been awesome for me so far in 3 years at home and on the road. My only suggestion, make sure you have at least 1 long cable(75-100 yards) on hand. It can be tricky if you are not in an open area to get a clear view to the southern sky.
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Old 08-30-2018, 11:06 AM   #13
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Great suggestion on the longer RG6 run KHBama. Thanks. Just went ahead and bought a 75' run on eBay (RG6 18awg).
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Old 08-30-2018, 12:24 PM   #14
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Be careful with the Wally and a 75 ft cable along with the cable run in your RV. The Wally is not as forgiving as a 211k with that much cable and the Tailgater/Playmaker will not get sufficient voltage from the Wally to operate.
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Old 08-30-2018, 02:16 PM   #15
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The 75' run, if needed will run from dish directly to the receiver. I believe i will feed it in next to the slide penetration and the receiver is right there. Hopefully will work OK. The cable didn't cost much. Next step will be a tripod. I am still not clear if the Playmaker needs to have some part of it oriented directly north as I have heard or it can find the western birds regardless of how it is set with a clear view of the southern sky.
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Old 09-06-2018, 02:52 AM   #16
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The 75' run, if needed will run from dish directly to the receiver. I believe i will feed it in next to the slide penetration and the receiver is right there. Hopefully will work OK. The cable didn't cost much. Next step will be a tripod. I am still not clear if the Playmaker needs to have some part of it oriented directly north as I have heard or it can find the western birds regardless of how it is set with a clear view of the southern sky.
Handle goes north
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Old 09-06-2018, 05:07 AM   #17
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Handle goes north

Got the Playmaker and Wally yesterday. Set the Playmaker on top my slide as the instructions say it likes a clear view of the southern sky. Turned the handle north as mentioned. Ran the RG6 into the rv via the window in the slide and hooked it to the Wally. Turned on the Wally and it went through its set up with a few clicks on CONTINUE and such by me after steps were complete. Birds were acquired with no drama and the remote paired with the TV (Vizio) done easily. Called the number on the screen and was watching satellite TV within minutes. I have ordered a tripod as they say a level mounting surface for the dish is required and the top of my roof isn't flat. I would order one of those ladder mounts BUT not always sure of having a view of the southern sky where the RV is parked at a camp ground. Also ordered an RG6 bulkhead connector for outside/inside:


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Not crazy putting the coax through my window where it is still open a crack. I will get a USB3 compliant external hard drive at some point when finances allow and get it hooked up to record.



FWIW: Had DishTV installed in the house. A hopper and 3 Joeys. Once the software update was downloaded, working great. The receivers came with a much older version of software and once the new software was loaded it works great. We manually kicked it off before going to bed. The Dish GUI is feature rich and offers MUCH more than DirecTV did and while it will take some time to figure everything out, my wife and I are both happy to save $60 a month for MORE programming.



It took longer to cancel DirecTV than to have the DishTV installer set up the new package. My wife was on the phone for over an hour and a half. She was put on hold, mis-directed and stonewalled. She finally was able to get to the RETENTION person after an hour and a half and they actually tried to brow beat my wife by asking first OVER AND OVER why we wanted to cancel. My missus was patient and told the gal on the phone we no longer watched TV. They actually offered my wife a drop in fees from about $175 a month (ouch) to $80 a month (not sure what the terms were as my wife insisted they cancel and didn't listen). If you have a mind to cancel with DirecTV, just be prepared to be given the run around and be patient. Do not get into discussions about WHY just be firm and say CANCEL CANCEL CANCEL and if they must have a reason, tell them something like "WE NO LONGER WATCH TV".
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Old 09-06-2018, 06:23 AM   #18
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Thanks for the info on Directv cancellation. I might go through the retention department just to get my Directv price dropped next month.

For my carryout, I just put it on my slide (or on a black tupperware storage bin).
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Old 09-06-2018, 07:40 AM   #19
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We used to have DirecTV and switched to DISH at home and in the RV about 3 years ago. No regrets at all.

We have the Pathway X2. As someone else mentioned, it gets both Eastern and Western arc satellites and we've been able to find a bird no matter where we are from coast to coast. It has been flawless and setup is simple.

As far as local channels go, it depends on where you're setting up. Your service with DISH has both a BILLING address and a SERVICE address associated with it. It is the SERVICE address that determines which local channels you receive while traveling. Normally, they are both the same. If you're staying in the same area as home, nothing needs to be changed and you will get your local channels on the DISH Guide. But if you're staying away from your home area, in order to receive the local channels where you are, you need to have them change the SERVICE address. This is really easy to do - I don't even pick up the phone. I go to the MYDISH app or website, go into CHAT with a service representative the longest I've had to wait is 30 seconds. Ask them to change the service address to the address of the RV park, no change to the billing address (I have a boilerplate chat message saved on my desktop - just change the park address). It takes them a minute to do it and you have local channels in the DISH Guide in less than 15 minutes. It is just a part of my setup routine and I do the CHAT while the X2 is finding the satellite. Note that locals are available in a narrow cone. If you are traveling outside that cone, you won't get local channels until you change the service address. Anyway....it is easy to get local channels.

We've been VERY happy with our move from Direct to DISH.
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Old 09-06-2018, 07:53 AM   #20
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Dish for RV

We like our Dish very much. Have it both at home and for the RV. Have the 211K receiver, and the original tailgater "cube" unit.

One thing to note, that I found out after the fact, is that if you do NOT turn on your receiver for more than a couple of weeks, your receiver will go to "sleep" and when you try to turn it on again, it will give you the "programming not authorized" message. The first time I called Dish about it, they told me that the system has a fail safe for inactive units, that if it isn't turned on once in a while (they said it can vary from a couple of weeks to a month) then it goes "inactive" and you have to call Dish to have them "re-boot" it again. No cost to do that, it's just having to call and go through the process again. So, about once every two weeks, I go out and turn the receiver on. Don't even turn on the TV, unless I want to check it. The receiver will turn itself off automatically a few hours later if it sees no channel change or other activity from the remote, but the system shows it still being active, so it stays on line to the satellite.
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