Dish/Directv Alternative

[Carl n Susan]

Originally Posted by rames14

Tony, the reason I am assuming they will do away with changing locals is DirecTV used to allow you to change........

With 6.1 million customers joining a company with 11.3 existing customers, I don't expect much to change for a while. I suspect the first priorities are consolidating staff, accounting systems, and eliminating duplicate efforts. Given the two use completely different technologies for their satellite service there will be some time before they go there. As Dish allows you to change location via their app, that doesn't appear to be a high value target for change given the other challenges they have (Looming debt payments and customer abandonment).

Based on the responses, my guess is no one does it yet via streaming. Mike, I suspect they are using a VPN to mask location. I will check that out....

VPN is the way to hide your location, but a couple of streamers have discovered how to detect you are using a VPN and they cut you off. I don't use a VPN but one of my techie friends has been playing with them and I think Apple TV (or YouTube TV) is one that detects the use of a VPN. The point is that if one figures it out, they all will, and can stop you if their rules preclude the use.

[Mikendebbie]

Carl said “As Dish allows you to change location via their app, that doesn't appear to be a high value target for change given the other challenges they have (Looming debt payments and customer abandonment).”

Just a small clarification for those that don’t have Dish. I have Dish at the S&B. I can not change my location with the app…I have to call them and have them activate the local channels for the zip code of the campground we are at. I think if you only have Dish Outdoors for use in the RV (no S&B) you can change locations with the app.

[Bourbon County]

I've been a Dish customer for >26 years in my home, satellite and/or antenna were the only options when we built. I have the Hopper/Joey system and 4 TVs on the dish. I don't subscribe to any premium services and the monthly bill is upwards of $200.

I didn't realize until reading this post and doing some research just how many customers Dish has been hemorrhaging over the past few years; 12% per year. Apparently people are "cutting the cord" at a faster rate on satellite service than cable service.

From what I read, Dish is in debt nearly $10 billion, and ATT is going to assume that debt after buying them for the sum of $1.00. Here's where things get very confusing for me. In 2020 Dish bought Boost Moblle and had to float some corporate bonds to afford it. They got permission from the FCC to become the fourth nationwide cell carrier to encourage more competition. Why did the regulators approve this transaction for such a cash strapped company? Of the big 3 cell carriers, ATT is in third place not too far behind T-Mobile. This merger will add >7 million Boost Mobile customers and put them pretty close to T-Mobile customer number wise. I'm curious if Boost Mobile is viewed as the real prize and Dish Network is just the red-headed step child that comes with the package? Another puzzling thing is that I'm pretty convinced that there are no humans that actually work for ATT, this has to be an AI based decision.

As far as the mobile satellite service, as cheap as it is, there can't be any profits there. The little Wally receivers aren't terribly expensive, but the portable dishes are ridiculous. These are both 1 time purchases and not really a revenue stream. We'll just have to wait and see what if anything they do to screw up this service.

On a more personal note; Charlie Ergen, the co-founder and former CEO of Dish Network is (like me) an east Tennessee native and attended UT. Dish has long been a major donor to UT athletics and though they don't have to disclose, supposedly is a major donor to the UT NIL collective. We have a young quarterback that is rumored to have an $8 million NIL deal. Who is going to pay our ball players now?

[Carl n Susan]

Originally Posted by Bourbon County

...From what I read, Dish is in debt nearly $10 billion, and ATT is going to assume that debt after buying them for the sum of $1.00.....

Part of the deal is for AT&T to sell off its 70% portion of DirecTV to TPG Inc (the current partner). At least we DirecTV customers will be rid of AT&T (not that will ensure better customer service).

[Chief Brown]

Guys, we were with Dish for 17 years and they just kept going up in pricing. Finally, about 2 years ago, they dropped ABC here in the Atlanta market. No big deal for us because we are not big fans of mainstream media. BUT, when the Southeastern Conference signed a huge contract with ABC/ESPN to broadcast their sports, I had to do something. We dropped Dish and signed up for YouTube TV for half of what we were paying Dish. We have all the channels we want to watch and when we are traveling we use our phone hotspot if Wi-Fi is not available in campgrounds.
We absolutely love YouTube TV.

[Foldbak]

Originally Posted by Chief Brown

Guys, we were with Dish for 17 years and they just kept going up in pricing. Finally, about 2 years ago, they dropped ABC here in the Atlanta market. No big deal for us because we are not big fans of mainstream media. BUT, when the Southeastern Conference signed a huge contract with ABC/ESPN to broadcast their sports, I had to do something. We dropped Dish and signed up for YouTube TV for half of what we were paying Dish. We have all the channels we want to watch and when we are traveling we use our phone hotspot if Wi-Fi is not available in campgrounds.
We absolutely love YouTube TV.

We have YouTube as well. However not every place has cell service therefore no Wi-Fi. Thus the reason for a satellite dish. As long as I have line of sight I got television. I may not have Wi-Fi which means I will not have youtube.

[RCMP03]

Might I suggest Starlink, Firefly, and Superbox for a host of channels including regional. All you would need (providing good satellite reception.)

[TennTom]

I'll second that Superbox. Had if for a few years now with T-Mobil 5G and love it. Just purchased a second one for home use. Leaving Dish.

[Todd727]

YouTube TV has worked perfectly when traveling. I never change my service address and get local channels.


You can't record those locals though and some content may be blocked.


The idea behind changing your location would be if you spent six months in one area and six in another (think Snowbirds).


If you instead want to just keep your local, home channels at all times, use a VPN.


https://support.google.com/youtubetv...-on-youtube-tv

[sberlin]

Just dropped Dish at home & RV. Got Directv Streaming for home which I can take with me. Got Starlink for the RV and it’s worked great. Been in the RV since 8/18 and in Williams AZ now- traveled from Nor Cal to VA and now heading back. Been through 20 States and have had local channels at every stop plus our full dvr library. Both Directv & SL have worked great.

[Mikendebbie]

Originally Posted by sberlin

Just dropped Dish at home & RV. Got Directv Streaming for home which I can take with me. Got Starlink for the RV and it’s worked great. Been in the RV since 8/18 and in Williams AZ now- traveled from Nor Cal to VA and now heading back. Been through 20 States and have had local channels at every stop plus our full dvr library. Both Directv & SL have worked great.

Just curious…with streaming Direct - did you have to “reset” anything to tell the stream where you were so it would know what locals to bring up? Or did they come up when you logged in?

[sberlin]

I signed up for the Residential vs Roaming plan primarily so I wouldn’t get deprioritized in heavy traffic…..side benefit is it cheaper. When I change locations I go into the SL app the morning I’m leaving and enter the new address. When I get to the new location it takes less then 5 min to b up and running. Since the SL is the local WiFi, Directv loads accordingly. This scenario is typical on the FB group Starlink for RV’rs(u should join) and not against the rules. When I’m done traveling I can cancel my subscription and simply rejoin when I want.

[rames14]

Sberlin, are you saying DirecTV changes your location? I am trying to get local channels wherever I travel and would change at home if I find an alternative. I already have StarLink. I turn it completely off about six months a year. I will have to investigate Superbox.

[sberlin]

Yes. I bought the stream box on Amazon(https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0CNK...b_b_asin_title) and set up my RV tv. I enter the rv park address in SL. Then I go to settings in Directv, there’s an auto date & time function but it doesn’t seem to work correctly. I manually update the date, current time and time zone. Once completed I have local broadcasts. I forgot to mention this step the first time. ��

[Carl n Susan]

Originally Posted by sberlin

...I manually update the date, current time and time zone. Once completed I have local broadcasts.....

Just to be clear (at least to me) after the update, you have the local channels for your current location *OR* the local channels from your home/billing/Santa Cruz address?

[Route66Rambler]

We have FUBO TV and Hulu Live. Hulu is fussy and needs to change locations when you move but FUBO does not. We have ROKUs in the camper with an AT&T hotspot. The hotspot is $55 for 100GB. FUBO has all the sports you want too (rated #1 for sports streaming) and local channels where ever you are. If we want to watch Hulu, we cast from our phone or ipad to the TV or use an HDMI and dongle.

[ColoradoKampers]

Originally Posted by dhuhn

I believe once you reach 50gigs they charge you per gig after that not sure how much.

Dan's right, it's $1/gig. We needed service for only about 10 days, so instead of turning on the whole $165/month - I activated the new 50GB plan. They are good about sending you notifications when you're close to using up all of your initial allocation. You can also see your daily usage on the Portal, Subscriptions page. This is also where you opt-in for the $1/gig overage. If you don't do that - which I think is the default - your service stops working when you hit 50GB. Very conveniently, they let me access the Starlink Portal page to opt-in to the $1/gig charges even though my bandwidth had been used up. It took about 15 minutes for service to return after I opted-in.

Another "oddity" is the billing cycle of the plans. Just as on the unlimited plan, the 50GB plan is prorated to my normal billing date. So, I paid $26 for a partial month and used all 50GB of "free" data. I haven't seen it yet, but I presume the overage will be billed on my next billing date, even though my service is now suspended.

[plgavin]

Dumped Dish a few years ago. It was a pain to switch locations. For both on the road and S&B we have been using Tablo for OTA which includes both live and a DVR for recording. On the Tablo I can simply change the zip code to change local channel guides. It usually changes my recording shows just based on the guide. There are times we watch something while recording something else for later. I pay about $40 a year for the Tablo guide service but understand this may change with the newer units.


Have two Roku boxes but usually only have one on the road. Even with a smart TV I use the Roku. This way my subscriptions travel with me.



Last winter I ended up using T-Mobile and Google-Fi for internet. Park didn't have anything for WiFi yet and I needed it to work remote some. Spent about $110 a month for the network, no streaming to stay well below limits. We do stream quite a bit at the home base.


If I cannot get any decent OTA signals, we will sometimes watch a movie. My set up is a Raspberry PI, with Kodi and a 2tb drive. There are over 300 movie titles on the HDD that I have collected over the years.

[Drifty1]

We have recently switched to DTV streaming service buy have not had long enough to make any opinion about it. We use Star Link year round for our internet access. I will have to give a update after we have used it while.

[Bourbon County]

I have a fresh addition to this thread. I had an old Dish Wally receiver that was several versions behind in software updates, and just bought an additional one.

I spoke to two different Dish customer service reps over the past 2 days getting the receivers updated and activated. During one of the excruciating long pauses waiting for the information to download, I asked each operator the same question. I mentioned the merger with ATT and what if any changes we as Dish customers should expect. With both operators, you could hear the keyboard clicking in the background and then the same answer: "We plan to continue offering the same quality service and programming to our customers" I seriously doubt those details have been worked out yet, but they do at least have a stock answer prepared.

I will have to give kudos to Dish customer service; you will get to talk to an actual human very quickly. They are patient and will stay on the phone until issues are resolved which can be very lengthy at times.