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Directv / AT&T Changes
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Andre.
I’am with Direct TV for 10 plus years and have some problems but overall …satisfied.
Not canceling or changing as my plan includes east and west coast feed for $20 per month. Like it when traveling with current news and information.
Bus upgrades were done by Marathon removing all old sats. and receivers. On rear of bus is the Direct TV big dish which is HD with own receiver on salon drop down Samsung Smart TV. On nose is the Winegard T-4. Which has its own receiver to the front slide Samsung Smart TV. All is programed to my Crestron.
Marathon added a switch on dash to lock in to T-4 Sat pick up when parked. I’ve used this a couple of times when parked for the night without running slide out. Another time trees blocked the rear big Sat dish but the T-4 on front was clear to pick up signal.
AL
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Not canceling or changing as my plan includes east and west coast feed for $20 per month. Like it when traveling with current news and information.
Al,
Tell me now to make that happen? Everytime I call Direct about the east/west feeds they tell me it’s no longer available. So we’re screwed when out of our home area and subject to the air antenna. I loved the Dish I had, all you had to do was change to your current zip code and away you go. Direct sucks.
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Al might be “grandfathered” (no reference implied to his age) on the east/west thing. I have a friend in California (originally from Wisconsin) who is a Packer Fan. He has had east-west satellite TV for decades and I recall him mentioning that feature might not be available anymore.
Jon wrote: “Isn’t it only a question of time when nobody will use satellite or antennas, but will be watching shows, news, listening to music, etc. from devices like MiFi or phones?”
I don’t know if Jon is being a smart a** or is putting forth a legitimate question about technology … so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, this time.
MiFi, WiFi, phones are currently only good over line of sight and there being a signal available. When we’re out in the middle of nowhere and there isn’t any cell service, we’re going to be dependent on satellite for radio and TV. I’m not aware of any technology on the horizon that will make satellites obsolete when we’re out of “signal range” of something land based.
Jon went on to write … To show how far this wireless stuff is going, if your tires on the bus do not have chips in them, they will. They will record all kinds of data, including tire pressures. No sense having sensors in the tires or on the valve stem when a device can probably pick up the radio sinals from the chip in the tire and display the infor on a dash mounted device.
Its interesting that Jon is speculating about this technology today, but maybe he got a glimpse of what is on the immediately horizon when he attended the Michelin tire seminar. Chip technology in our tires to relay pressure, temps, etc. will be available very shortly. However the information won’t be presented on a dash mounted device. This will be a “leap frog technology” which means that typical intermediate steps in the maturation of an emerging technology are being “leap frogged”. In this case, present day data presentation and data communication methods are being leap frogged to embrace another emerging technology. The data will be sent in real time to a receiver imbedded in a suppository which when properly placed by the driver will transmit directly to the driver’s nervous system and the data will be converted to useful information and be presented to the driver as a hologram in corner of the driver’s vision. Maybe Jon is beta testing the technology at this time.
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A few months ago the”travel” plan was still availbale but you had to sign an affidavit and mail it in …something to do with the commercials being different when in a different area… total crock of “bull” in my opinion… You also could not combine it with your home DTV account…. you had to set up a separate account… for us the best thing is to have a separate antenna that gets all the locals in HD ( for free)… that works for me.
Cheers.. Diane
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A simple phone call to Direct TV with address and county will give you local affiliates. Geo.
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Like Al I have the East and West coast feeds from Direct TV. Got them about 12 or 13 years ago and really would like to stay with Direct TV just for the East/West feeds. But, if ATT is going to change things at Direct TV I might run out of options. For now keeping Direct TV and getting a Winegard Traveler Direct TV HD antenna would be my best choice. I can use the KVH R6 when moving to get most channels in SD, which includes a lot of music and news and weather channels. Then switch to the Winegard Traveler HD when parked. There may be several things wrong with that idea. If sat 101 does go away, I do not belive the KVH R6 will do be much good, I thing it becomes a boat anchor at that point. Then if ATT messes with Direct TV to the point where it is no longer worth paying for, I would then be at the point where DISH may be all that is left.
Or, I could just bite the bullet and move to DISH now and be done with it. In the “big picture” of coach ownership this is really a minor thing. It is just frustrating always having to go thru this resarch / replace / upgrade cycle for electronic devices. Seems like it is very easy to make a decsion that will cost a lot of time and money and find out 2 or 3 years later that you have to do it all over again.
Right now, the easy thing to do, is take a wait and see attitude and get more detailed information about ATT/Direct TV plans for the future. If anyone has REAL inside information to pass on, please do so.
END of RAMBLING random thoughts on things that drive me crazy.
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And everyone wonders why I like my flip phone……………….
No updates, no files to move to the latest phone, etc.
Our buses are going to be nightmares as they age. We already know coaches that have DDEC I are not going to be able to get a new one if the ECU quits. Try buying a replacement slide control for older coaches. Older touch screen devices are no longer supported or available, but you can replace them with an ipad that will be out of date before the software for the bus is loaded. We have already had to replace inverters because some later model appliances will not function with modified sine wave. Our satellite dishes are in question now because no matter what we do to upgrade today, it appears we are a short time away from downloading TV shows in a completely different way.
If your coach only came with VHS, you upgraded to DVD, which is now obsolete. Let’s not forget the control system for some coaches. When new it was great fun to show off how with the touch of a screen you could turn on the AC, light lights, and open closet doors. Then you were able to update that and use your telephone to do the same thing from across the country. Based on how fast technology is changing does anyone believe something else coming down the pike will make that obsolete and require another upgrade?
We used to be able to work on our engines with hand tools. Now the primary hand tool is a computer. We used to be able to make adjustments. Now we cannot. Most of the engine service problems are related to the technology and add on emissions equipment, and I can envision our ability to have some flexibility with regard to engine maintenance to go out the window and it will not be long before big brother can disable our coaches that don’t exhaust air that is cleaner than what the engine sucks in.
Am I the only one that sees no benefit to this race to obsolescence? Do the purchasers of new coaches really want systems that are so complex nobody can work on them and they will be out of date before next spring?
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Not so simple Geo, I tried that and was told that zip code would then be my permanent feed and they said you can’t change it based on traveling around the country.
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Geo apparently doesn’t make the phone call himself either.
I would rather eat bees than try to telephone a big business nowadays. They tell you how important your call is and then start asking you to press one for English, enter your account number, enter your phone number, and then you get to talk to an artificial voice. By the end of a 30 minute session you are told all representatives are helping others.
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I’am grandfathered in on Direct TV with east and west coast feed.
In my Direct TV post above I wrote being satisfied. That does not say being a Direct TV customer has been great. Putting it another way every phone call depends on who you get on the other end. If the problem or fix is not relating well, then hang up, call back until finding an experienced rep.
Truk, you can change zip code location in Direct TV menu . Maybe my equipment is the reason as it was not an option as I remember. Direct TV rep took me to location while in FL last winter. Entered your Lakeland zip then tried menu for local Lakeland channels…. No change. On my next visit with Direct TV the reply was zip code change would / could take a couple of day’s. It could be changed now…
AL
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Tom…Sorry, George is correct. And no need to pay the $20 a month for the east/west feed.
I get national network channels through the local affiliates whereever I travel with DirecTV. Now it doesn’t happen automatically and you need to make a phone call to DirecTV. I call (800) 531-5000 and when Linda or Mary answers from the Philippines I just tell them I want to “change my service address“. You give them the address and county of your local RV resort or wherever you are parked with the zip code and voila, once they update the feed, you’ll get all the network channels. It takes about 5 minutes…most of the time is spent letting you know they can help you with this and thanking you for every answer to each question.
Important: you need to get your account set up on autopay and paperless biliing so all of your bills come through your email. Because they will ask you if the new service address is the current billing address. I always say yes. I just looked up my account and my billling address is in Florida though my autopay information is set up for NY. Never had a problem in most southeast states. On my last trip, I changed my service address 3 times in a week without a hitch.
A few years ago, I did have problems when I tried to explain that I was in an RV and this was my 2nd home and I had equipment in both homes and I need the local channels wherever I travel. I spent hours of frustrating phone calls to many supervisors abroad and in the U.S. No one ever got it. But no more of that frustration. Just change your service address and you should be good to go with DirecTV for local networks.
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Our in-motion Winegard Roadtrip Mission dome, model RT4035T, can be used for either DirectTV or DishNetwork satellite service(dip switches).
We’ve been with Dish for 7+ yrs. There has been very little change in that time. I think we may have swapped recievers when HD service began, but thats about it. We have an old VIP211K reciever(HD) we have used in many of our MHs. We’ve added a couple of newer Dish recievers at our second home. They are on the same RV acct we’ve had for 7+ yrs and I don’t think Dish gives a rats ass, but we don’t raise any flags either.
To get local channels I simply call Dish and let them know the new address and they spot beam them to us. This doesn’t cost any extra and you can do it as often as you want.
To “pause” or “unpause” our service, a simple ph call gets it done. I did this recently and spoke with AN AMERICAN in Colorado. Yeh!
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Thanks Jimmy, I can only type so much before it slows waaay down. Jon is right…Corey is usually on the phone for 1-2 min. and then the guide changes. Geo.
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Geo. & Jimmy
will one of you guy call Direct for me the next time I travel? I used to do as you both have described but ran into a problem and multiple “supervisors” said it can no longer be done due to FCC rules.
if you have the secret hand shake plz share other wise I have to side with Tom and no one wants to do that. -
We will find out in 3 weeks when we make the left turn on I10 to Bella Terra…worked fine in late Oct. on our way home. Geo.
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