| Author | Message | ||
| Mark Karlsson (Flying_fishbowl)
Rating: N/A |
Anybody have any thoughts on the best provider for satellite movies and internet connection for my bus?  TIA! | ||
| Crane Rating: N/A |
The answer is a wide as the sky..... ok, I have Direct Tv. It is from home, not the mobile registration. They are pretty insistant to have a phone line to the box. This is for pay movies. the box calls and reports the movies you buy every month. Obviously, you cannot plug in a phone line as you travel so you might tell them you don't have a phone connection for the box. On the other hand, the box will work just fine without the connection as you travel. When you get home and reconnect the phone line, the box will send the pay movie info along at that time. I use Direct because it is pretty easy to set up a dish manually to find the bird. If you attach a dish to the roof, I suggest you make it removable in case you park amoung trees. I also have a device that rotates the antenna until it finds the strongest signal. that is pretty handy in that respect, on the other hand, it is bulky. Nuf said. You will have to ask Direct about internet. they just merged with Hughs and have a new service that does not require a phone line. The problem I have heard of is the dish has to be installed by an installer, that or it is difficult to find the birds (internet looks at several). You can, of course, see if there are any satilite products here on BNO. (wink-to-IAN) My experience has been purely with Direct Tv, hope this was helpful. Crane | ||
| Larry D Baker (Lbaker4106)
Rating: N/A |
I had Dish network and took one of my dish receivers on my bus. When they found out I had one on my bus they shut my home one off and said I could only have one on at a time even though I had to pay for two. I now have Direct. | ||
| Ross Carlisle (Rrc62)
Rating: N/A |
I have dish network. How did they find out you were using it in the bus? I'm always very careful to make sure they understand that my second receiver is in a mother-in-law apartment over the garage. Should be interesting when I go full time. After I sell the house, I'll still use the address for my Dish account, but change my billing to a PO box and set up auto-pay. Regarding satelite internet, here's what I've come up with so far. First, just as you NEVER use the word "bus" when registering your bus conversion, you NEVER use the word "tripod" when talking to Ground Control or HughesNet. The easiest way is to go through a mobile savy dealer, but that's also the most expensive way. I'm looking at a residential plan and I can't get out for less than $1000 with a mobile dealer. You can buy used, but don't forget that they will hit you for a $200 installation fee on your used equipment, so factor that into the price you pay. Some of the mobile dealers will do it for less...or more depending on how much hand holding you need during setup. If you go used, you are not locked into a contract, so if that's an issue, used might be a good way to go. You can buy new right now and get some rebates. I found a guy on eBay who will sell the system for $399 + $100 shipping. He commissions the modem at his place then sends you the whole mess. It's up to you to install or pay someone to do it for you. I can do it myself and if I get stuck, my local sat TV shop will help. They are not a dealer for HNS but they have re-aimed the dishes for people. I think I'm going this route. Just find a good deal on a new system, have it installed in a fixed location then un-install to suit your needs or buy it on-line pre-commissioned. If you get stuck during setup, ask questions at http://www.datastormusers.com/ There are tools and gadgets that make setup easier. The OPI and Birddog specifically. I need a laptop for the bus anyway, so I'll probably just buy a new Dell laptop all set up for wireless, which costs about the same as a Birddog. | ||
| John MC9 Rating: N/A |
"By Mark Karlsson (Flying_fishbowl) Anybody have any thoughts on the best provider for satellite movies and Internet connection for my bus? TIA!" For the sat TV, we use Direct-TV and have no problem. You need to give them a copy of your "RV" registration, and that's all that's needed. We subscribe to the East and West networks, costing an extra $10 per month, but it's well worth the $$, to be able to see what you would have missed, three hours later! When we're "home", we use the dish on the house; when away, we use our portable dish. The charge is the same. We don't do movies or PPV (and you can't, if you're mobile!). For the Internet? For sat service, you'll need to get certified as an installer. It's a pain... Others can tell you of alternative ways... We use a Verizon Cellphone connection, or WiFi, to get to the Internet while on the road. We do an antique and collectible business on our own website, and find this method of connection very satisfactorily. The expense and headaches of using a sat up/down link, can only be justified by the user.... "Your mileage may vary" | ||
| James Smith (Tomcat)
Rating: N/A |
John MC9 wrote: "When we're "home", we use the dish on the house; when away, we use our portable dish. The charge is the same. We don't do movies or PPV (and you can't, if you're mobile!)." Maybe for DISH, but that is not correct when referring to DirecTV. If you have an RV package, and are in the service area, you can order PPV online by going to the DTV website. I confirmed this with DTV today. Jay 87 SaftLiner (Message edited by tomcat on May 10, 2006) | ||
| John MC9 Rating: N/A |
We have DirecTV, and were told a phone connection was mandatory! Have they changed something? It's still the best, in my opinion..... and the Internet can be had much cheaper than from the sat dealers.... | ||
| JW Smythe (Jwsmythe)
Rating: N/A |
I have several different DirecTV units at home. Yes, they want you to have a phone line attached. On a regular receiver, no phone line is required. You'll need to be able to have a phone line to pay for movies. On a DirecTV TiVo receiver, the phone is required. It dials up once a week (more or less), and gets rather upset if it can't contact them for a month. Both systems send their authorization and guide information down from the satellite on a side band, so to activate your box, you have to have it pointing at the satellite. Most, if not all DirecTiVo are fairly easy hack to fix it so you can use an internet connection instead of a phone line. That's the way my old HDVR2 is, as well as a couple stand alone TiVo units. It's a recent hack to make the HR10-250 do it, and I haven't done it yet. If you aren't comfortable with taking apart electronics and working in Linux, you should look at http://www.weaknees.com . They offer kits for upgrades, as well as complete units. I work with computers for a living, so modifying a TiVo is trivial. I don't buy their kits, I do it all myself. It's not really for the inexperienced though. I've been using my Verizon Wireless card in various places more lately. I'm traveling for work and pleasure again, so I've used it fine in 4 cities this week, and will be going to another next week. In most places, it's faster than the cablemodem at my house. Unfortunately, at my house, the signal is too weak to use it.  I do plan on having the DirecWay satellite service on my bus, for when I'm not near any cities or cell phone services. If you don't *NEED* to be on the Internet all the time, you'll probably be very happy with just the Verizon Wireless service. | ||
| Crane Rating: N/A |
My DirectTV system consists of my original receiver (connected to the phone line) and an add on receiver (Not connectted to the phone line. I use EITHER when I travel. As I said before, The phone line is for telling D-TV what movies you bought. If you are not connected, It HOLDS the movie buys until you get home and plug it in. I think there is a limit on the movies you can by if you do not download, I think the number is 20 movies and I beleive you can change that number. D-TV was the most convenient for me for traveling and its so great to keep you stations with you as you travel. As I said, if you connect the dish to the roof, try to make it removable or have a portable dish because if you park amoung the trees, the dish will have a bad time finding the bird unless you can move it. GoodLuck Crane | ||
| Linda-4104-FL Rating: N/A |
Just a comment on the use of a DirecTV TiVo when traveling.... we were on the road last year from mid-May to early November, almost 6 months. We used our TiVo receiver everywhere with no phone line connection, no modifications, and no problems. We do not have the "RV package", just a regular plan. Seems to work for us. For Internet, we use a Sprint cell phone with a data cable connected to a laptop. Not real speedy, but works well enough.... about like dial-up and sometimes a little faster depending on the location. | ||
| Kyle Brandt (Kyle4501)
Rating: N/A |
When I activated my direct TV, I told them I did not want a phone line connected to the receiver. After a little discussion, I was told that if I was not going to use a phone line, I could only order movies by phone & there would be an extra charge to do it that way. I never had a problem. Dad drags his direct TV all over the USA & Canada. They will de-activate his from time to time since it can't get a phone line. He did not want the deal I have because he refuses to have to pay extra to order movies - the funny part is that he seldom watches movies has NEVER ordered a movie. When he called to find out why he was not able to get all channels in Alaska, they told him that it was not supposed to work north of the Canadian border due to satelite position & some political & regulation BS. Just my experience with direct TV. kyle4501 |