Home Satellite Systems

[BIGNASTY]

We have been thinking about the Home Satellite Systems that we see a fairly good sized antenna or dish mounted on a pole in the yard. Not Dish or Direct but its a personally owned dish and equipment I would believe. We have one of the afore mentioned Dish or Direct don't know which but the cost keeps going up and up and the programing keeps getting less and less.

Does anyone have one of these systems, I have been looking on-line a bit and either the equipment has gotten smaller with technology or im looking in or at the wrong systems.


Any help would be appreciated

BIG

 

[CBari]

Big I have been down that road years ago and I have found that as far as options go Dish and Direct are you best option. That being said you have to work the system both are always offering great introductory rates but the creep up after 12 months the second 12 months isn't bad but after that it is ridiculous. I change providers every two years. I have friends that have called and renegotiated there bills after two years and have been happy with that.

With the personal dish option you are always basically hacking the programming, when it is sent from the stations to the satellites it is encrypted and has to be decrypted on your end before you can watch on your TV. The encryption is constantly changing there for the decrypting on your end has to change also.

 

[BIGNASTY]

CB

Thanks I did as I was asked by my better half. Sounds way to much for me to deal with!!

She's upset that there is nothing on TV. I told her Not True!! She's invited to sit down and chew on some pizza and slug a few beers down with the guy's when the NHL, NBA, WFC are on. Nothing better than watching Big Burly Men on skates with sticks beat each other while the ref's back out of the way!! no reason to call it a day because someone lost a few teeth on ice!! for the softer side watch tall men shoot hoops is something that I use to be fairly decent at and still enjoy watching. And then the PREMEIRE EVENT we change to a BIG Sandwich and Beer to watch Sanctioned, Legal Street Fighting at its finest!! where the loser is most often carried to his corner and listens to train whistles for a few hours, the trainers pick up the body parts and make sure that they have the correct parts for reattachment to their fighter, have also found that Chick Street Fighting is somewhat arousing don't know why perhaps the fact that SHE can probably Kick MY A**


BIG

 

[The patriot]

We've had cable and directv. The directv is by far more reliable. It's also well over $100/month for basic+. We dont get skinamax, HBO, or and on demand stuff.
The wife calls every few months and "negotiates" a discount. :laf
She usually gets it down to just over $100/mo. When the discount expires, she calls back. It's like a game we play.

 

[jhenderson]

Whew, for a minute there I thought you were looking to put something into orbit.

 

[mwilson]

Whew, for a minute there I thought you were looking to put something into orbit.

So the new cell phone tower might really be a launch pad and gantry??

 

[Jim W]

Big;
I have had Dish TV since we moved in this house in 1996. We have been happy with the Dish system and cost so far; they are trying to keep cost down or their profits up right now. They have dropped Turner Broadcasting as of now and are in discussion with CBS or cost to rebroadcast their programs. I have the full package which includes everything but the pay for view channels such as Starz, HBO and Cinemax. I have gone up in price from $70 a month in 1996 to $101 in 2014 which I feel is reasonable. This also includes my RV receiver cost for when we travel with the 5er; I believe this amount to only $5.00 a month more.

My wife likes the Home & Garden, DYI and the Food network channels. I tend to watch the sports channels and listen to Sirusxm radio on the TV most of the time. We do tape a lot of programs for rebroadcast later when we have time.

All three of my children have had Direct TV or cable and are constantly cancelling and reinstating trying to get a lower cost. They tend to switch back and forth from cable to Direct TV every other year. I also believe that their cost is higher since they also have the internet included in the deal.

Hope this helps?
Jim W.

 

[Mikey-KE7LBB]

I figured that the big dish was dead until I read your post and did a little bit of searching. http://www.skyvision.com/ Is the first link that popped up. I haven't had satellite or cable for over a year and have been looking to sign up for one of them. This seems to be a viable option and a used dish could probably be had for free. Most of the homes around here that have one also have a small Directv or Dish Network that is the one they're actually using. I bet that a few people are even willing to pay you to get it out of their yard.

 

[BIGNASTY]

So the new cell phone tower might really be a launch pad and gantry??

Hey leave the cell tower out of this its a MONEY MAKER!!!

 

[BIGNASTY]

Big;
I have had Dish TV since we moved in this house in 1996. We have been happy with the Dish system and cost so far; they are trying to keep cost down or their profits up right now. They have dropped Turner Broadcasting as of now and are in discussion with CBS or cost to rebroadcast their programs. I have the full package which includes everything but the pay for view channels such as Starz, HBO and Cinemax. I have gone up in price from $70 a month in 1996 to $101 in 2014 which I feel is reasonable. This also includes my RV receiver cost for when we travel with the 5er; I believe this amount to only $5.00 a month more.

My wife likes the Home & Garden, DYI and the Food network channels. I tend to watch the sports channels and listen to Sirusxm radio on the TV most of the time. We do tape a lot of programs for rebroadcast later when we have time.

All three of my children have had Direct TV or cable and are constantly cancelling and reinstating trying to get a lower cost. They tend to switch back and forth from cable to Direct TV every other year. I also believe that their cost is higher since they also have the internet included in the deal.

Hope this helps?
Jim W.

Jim

I don't know what her problem is really she has Direct and has EVERYTHING on it, and she cant find ANYTHING TO WATCH????? REALLY??????

I read and other than Hockey, fighting, and Basketball, I watch the Nat Geo and that's about it. I subscribe to something like 40 magazines have been a lifetime subscriber of National Geographic for a very long time, many many books Not about Love stories and BS like that, but real life adventures put to books, Mostly if I cant learn something from it I DON'T WACTH IT or READ IT. She was harping about it and got on my nerves, I finally told her GET A DOG!! it will keep you entertained, Didn't go over well but she got the hint and hasn't said to much about it.

 

[Camperman]

We have Dish-net. Been with them since they were Primestar. We live in a rural area, so no cable services are available. My biggest gripe with them, ( Dish & Direct) is they have great offers for 1st time customers. Then to heck with you later. I have the top 250 plan, no premium channels. and pay $71.99 a month. I call them, tell them they are pricing themselves out of my living room, I'm on a fixed income. IMO, whether working or retired, we are all on a fixed income. I call once a year, and they give me a lower rate. Another idea for maybe helping lower the monthly bill is to ask for Customer Retention dept. It is not that I mind paying for satellite TV, we have a set up to take with us when on RV trips. It is the constant nickel & dime increases they want to impose, that I find irritating. I do the same thing with satellite radio in our tow vehicle. I got this year's service for $98.74. Not the best deal, but better than full price.

 

[RVTRKN]

Those big dishes you see are on borrowed time, they are analog receivers from analog satellites, as they fail they replace them with digital satellites. Also, the receivers are complicated and must move to find other satellites. The programmers started charging for the use or you get scrambled, in the early years, if you had a dish, you got very good free TV. DTV is my choice, and as far as how much it costs, I pay it. I have a different reason, I'm a big Raider Fan and their are certain games I won't miss. The three hour game sitting in a sports bar drinking costs me a lot, and then I have to drive home. Last time I did that, I was over my limit and drove anyway, if I would have got pulled over, I would have lost my job. The hundred or so dollars a month I pay is cheaper than a sports bar tab and DUI, not to mention I'll lose my job.

 

[K5IP]

Just as many of us have cut the cord for phone service, you might consider cutting your direct tv or dish in favor of internet service provided by one of the many new services like Netflix, hulu, etc. Cheap, fast, no commercials. I think most of the cable or satellite services are in for a hard time. As for me, I am looking for, and investing in opportunities that avoid all of them.
Rog

 

[BIGNASTY]

Wife called and they dropped the price, They said that they didn't want to loose a valued customer :-laf

 

[SnoKing]

We've had cable and directv. The directv is by far more reliable. It's also well over $100/month for basic+. We dont get skinamax, HBO, or and on demand stuff.
The wife calls every few months and "negotiates" a discount. :laf
She usually gets it down to just over $100/mo. When the discount expires, she calls back. It's like a game we play.

You can get the "family" channel line up for a lot less. We have that, DVR service, Whole Home and maintenance for less than 90 per month. Snoking

 

[The patriot]

Thanks. I'll tell the channel negotiator.:laf:

 

[The patriot]

snoking, I tried looking it up on their site before sending the negitiator to do her thing....which usually entails 1 - 1 1/2 hr on the phone with said satellite provider.
Apparently they either dont offer it in this area, or it's not available to current subscribers.
Upon entering my zip code, there was none such service in this area.
Thanks for trying......

 

[SnoKing]

snoking, I tried looking it up on their site before sending the negitiator to do her thing....which usually entails 1 - 1 1/2 hr on the phone with said satellite provider.
Apparently they either dont offer it in this area, or it's not available to current subscribers.
Upon entering my zip code, there was none such service in this area.
Thanks for trying......

They do not list it on their web site here either. I Look here at this link.

https://support.directv.com/app/ans...annel-list-available-for-the-family™-package?

Look at the first related question. FYI, they do not like to sell it. Tell them it is list available at this site above. SNOKING

 

[The patriot]

Well, it has all the channels my 7yo watches, but none of the ones I or my wife watches.
She watches ch 233 (she dont know the name of the network)
I watch the learning channel, discovery, history, military ch, fox news and fox business & turner movie classics sometimes. (totaling to about 1 hr a day or whenever I fall asleep)
Thanks for trying.

 

[JR]

The last time the wife called and threatened to pull the plug on our Direct TV, they offered us free movie channels for one year. HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, IFC and one or two others I'm forgetting. They will definitely wheel and deal with you if they know they are about to lose a customer. My biggest gripe is when we lose reception from the snow in the winter. Being close to Lake Erie, we get lots of heavy wet Lake Effect and it sticks to the dish and we lose reception. Thankfully it is mounted on the first floor roof (we have a tall two story with a steep pitch) and I've engineered a giant snow brush from an old telescoping paint extension with a broom head on the end of it so I can reach it from the ground, but it can be a hassle none the less.