Satellite tv

[Camping family]

Thinking of going with Dish for the tv in the camper. Anyone out there use dish and if so how do you like it?

[Alpine Custom Upgrade]

Originally Posted by Camping family

Thinking of going with Dish for the tv in the camper. Anyone out there use dish and if so how do you like it?

We use Direct TV when we are at a campground and have a portable dome that automatically finds the satellites. We love it. We never use the air tv.

[Hblick48]

I have both a hard mounted Winegard Travl'r and a portable dish in case trees block the Travl'r. Take my Dish Hopper 2 from home with us. Have had Dish at home and in the RV since 1999. Great service, State of the art equipment, and signal everywhere. Have traveled coast to coast twice, north to south and never lost signal. If we travel our of our zone, we call Dish, tell them where we are, and they switch us to the closest locals.

[rhagfo]

Dish here for over eight years, great service. We were on Comcast at the house so bought the dish and receiver. Have an RV package start and stop any time. Only use it for the weekend or a week, once done call and cancel your service. The next time you go just call or use the app to start, you only pay for what time you used.

[RickV]

We have Dish I have the Winegard Pathway X2 it has a bigger dish then the Dome models so, it is not effected by weather as much. It works pretty good. We use it at home too but, they have RV only plans that you can stop and start for when you travel. We are probably gonna drop them when we get home at the end of October, and go with YouTube TV to save some $$$. We have found that we stream as much as we use dish so we are gonna try that for a while.

[gearhead]

We have Dish…the Outdoor plan. Call them when you want it turned on.
I hate it.
It sometimes takes 2 days to get it working. Customer service is terrible.
We don’t use it often, which may be part of the problem.
We keep the owners manual at hand so we can remember the steps needed, but that usually doesn’t do the trick. I usually have to hang up and call back to get a different customer service rep.
When we finally get it working it works well.

[rhagfo]

Originally Posted by gearhead

We have Dish…the Outdoor plan. Call them when you want it turned on.
I hate it.
It sometimes takes 2 days to get it working. Customer service is terrible.
We don’t use it often, which may be part of the problem.
We keep the owners manual at hand so we can remember the steps needed, but that usually doesn’t do the trick. I usually have to hang up and call back to get a different customer service rep.
When we finally get it working it works well.

I think your lack of use is your biggest issue! Your dish needs to be set with a clear view of the satellite arc you use. Once you dish finds all satellites, one quick call does it usually. I find the customer service to be very good.

[gearhead]

Originally Posted by rhagfo

I think your lack of use is your biggest issue! Your dish needs to be set with a clear view of the satellite arc you use. Once you dish finds all satellites, one quick call does it usually. I find the customer service to be very good.

Haven’t had any issues getting a signal.
Our issue is getting customer service to turn it on.
I will admit that we only use it a few times a year so we get rusty.
I’ve been on the phone with CS and them telling me to run the cable through a window to get a signal. Nope, I’m not doing that and I hang up. Call back and get a different rep and in 10 minutes we get it going.

[Hblick48]

Originally Posted by gearhead

Haven’t had any issues getting a signal.
Our issue is getting customer service to turn it on.
I will admit that we only use it a few times a year so we get rusty.
I’ve been on the phone with CS and them telling me to run the cable through a window to get a signal. Nope, I’m not doing that and I hang up. Call back and get a different rep and in 10 minutes we get it going.

I assume you are trying to feed the satellite signal through your RV's pre-installed coax wiring. This has been a problem for years. Sometimes you can get it to work, sometimes not.

What they are telling you is you need a direct feed from your dish to the receiver, which most Keystone owners with satellite have done.

You can purchase a coax outlet on Amazon. Mount it as close to the entertainment center as possible and run the inside wire to your receiver. When you deploy the dish, attach it to the outside of the outlet.

You'll never have that problem again.

[dutchmensport]

We had both Direct TV and later Dish TV. After 2 years with each, we canceled and went back to over-the-air television, which which we've been much happier. Their prices kept increasing so much, it was ridiculous.

We used the Tailgater cube for our Dish TV and the receiver moved from the house to the camper when we traveled. It worked pretty well, but sometimes just absolutely would not. In addition to the high cost for service, setting up became a bigger pain than anything as we camp mostly at State Parks (East of the Mississippi River) and our style of camping requires lots and lots of trees! We camp mostly in the Appalachian, Kentucky and Tennessee Mountains, and forested areas. This meant striving to have a clear view of the South West sky was almost always very hard to achieve.

Between the failures to use the system in the camper and the cost and the switching back and forth between house and camper and back again, we canceled.

In time, technology advanced. Now we use either over-the-air television for local networking and our cell phone wifi-hot spots for streaming video on our Roku televisions. We subscribe to Amazon Prime and that is the only paid television service we use. (that and our internet access on our phones). Over all, the price from the phones, the data plans, and the one subscription to Amazon is still cheaper than what we were paying for, for Dish TV.

[rshipyor]

We have be using dish outdoors for 3years And love it. I get channels where I can’t get cell service or internet. We have dish at home and for $5 more get the same channels as at home. Plus you can turn it off when you are done camping for the year.

[fchampneys]

Similar experience as rshipyor and we love it. Since it’s only an extra $5 a month, I never disconnect it in my RV so I never have to deal with customer service to turn it off and then back on. Stays connected all year, which is heavenly when I just need to get out of the house and go to the RV for some solitude.

[Camp CA]

Used a portable tailgator satellite for picking up HD Dish on my trailer for many years. Satellite is good value for money (~$500) and you get HD. The benefit of the portable satellite is you can locate it where it has a clear view of the southern horizon, even when camping under trees. Motorhome has a roof-mounted Winegard T-4 antenna for picking up HD Dish but need the rv parked where it has a clear view of the southern horizon. However, monthly cost is relatively high unless you have a home Dish account.

[mgrote]

If you are thinking of the little portable dish with multiple receivers don’t buy it. I have one and it’s for sale, you can only watch tv on both receivers off the same satellite. I went with the winegard for dish that you can take your home receivers with you, no extra programming fees and you will have dvr capacity with your home units. Yes it’s expensive but I love it. Push of button to stow, another button to extend and automatically lock on satellites

[Spletbr]

We had Dish with the outdoor package and it was terrible. If we connected the antenna through the convenience center we'd get less than half the channels we subscribed too. If we ran the cable through the door and direct into the Wally it was fine but who wants that! Something about too many or bad junctions in the interior (or should I say: inferior) wiring. I've heard of others with this issue as well.

[Hblick48]

I have a Pathways with Wally. Was too spoiled with Hopper 3 at home. Installed Winegard Travl'r and take my Hopper 3 with us. Love the setup! Currently at a campground covered over with Pine trees. Finally found a site that can see all 3 satellites. Like threading a needle. There's a tree between 110 and 119. Still have Pathways but am now too spoiled to be happy with a single tuner receiver.

[CedarCreekWoody]

I have Dish Wally and it works fine. Getting to be a bit pricey unless you have Dish at home. Opt for a larger sat Dish if you can. I installed a cable inlet in the living area to go direct to the Wally. Factory inlet has too many connectors, loses signal. Great picture once set up! Use a phone app to verify you have clear view of the sky.

[Kzneft]

I think satellite TV might be a limited source now, as if I am correct you don't have internet? I have Starlink for RV, which I absolutely love. Stream all my shows, plus I have internet so I can use my mobile phones to call or go online

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by Kzneft

I think satellite TV might be a limited source now, as if I am correct you don't have internet? I have Starlink for RV, which I absolutely love. Stream all my shows, plus I have internet so I can use my mobile phones to call or go online

Current costs for the "Starlink for RV service" as listed on the website is:

STARLINK FOR RVs
Immediately access high-speed, low-latency internet on an as-needed basis at any destination where Starlink provides active coverage. $135/mo with a one-time hardware cost of $599. ** https://www.starlink.com/rv

While that price may not cause some to "hesitate with that pricing" there are a number of members who balk at using RV antifreeze at 2 gallons for $5, so the cost is an issue for some members.

No doubt, it's currently one of the most reliable sources of mobile RV internet service, but for each member, the cost will have to be considered.

[Kzneft]

Originally Posted by JRTJH

Current costs for the "Starlink for RV service" as listed on the website is:

STARLINK FOR RVs
Immediately access high-speed, low-latency internet on an as-needed basis at any destination where Starlink provides active coverage. $135/mo with a one-time hardware cost of $599. ** https://www.starlink.com/rv

While that price may not cause some to "hesitate with that pricing" there are a number of members who balk at using RV antifreeze at 2 gallons for $5, so the cost is an issue for some members.

No doubt, it's currently one of the most reliable sources of mobile RV internet service, but for each member, the cost will have to be considered.

Yes, that's true, but if I am correct you can't just stop Satellite service when you want, but you can with Starlink, then just start up again in Spring. works out great for me!