DirecTV and telephone lines? - Montana Owners Club

snfexpress · 02-16-2006, 12:03 PM

I am thinking about getting DirecTV. However, I was wondering what most people do about the requirement for the receiver being always connected to your land line.

I want DirecTV at my home, and take a receiver with me when we travel. According to DirecTV.com, they will shut off the receiver if it is not connected to a telephone line at your house.

Thanks for any info.

Michael

Montana_3956 · 02-16-2006, 12:28 PM

Sure don't work like that! I've never had a phone line connected to mine. I understand that you need it if you want to order movies Etc. from your T V
I'd just hook it up and start watching.
You may run into a problem if you want them to tune your antenna. They wouldn't come out when I was in Georgia because my billing address is Florida. I called an independent Company & was fixed in a jiffy.

Bill and Bobbi · 02-16-2006, 12:36 PM

I cut the phone line to my satellite reciever trimming hedges. It was months later that I realized it and repaired it. Then months after that the reciever started dialing out all during the day(it would try to dial while we were talking on the phone) and I disconnected the reciever phone line. Again months later no problems. BUT - I don't buy any pay per view programming. That requires the reciever to dial out for billing purposes.

richfaa · 02-16-2006, 12:37 PM

The primary reason for the telephone line is to order Pay per view Movies. It is also used for troubleshooting, to send upgrades and to send you Directtv spam. We have been taking a receiver with us in the camper for years, don't worry about it...If fact you can order pay per view by phone IF you want to. We have one receiver in the house that has NEVER had a phone line attached to it and the Directtv police have not caught us yet>>> NOTE if you have DSL on the phone line to your directtv receiver make sure you have a DSL filter on that line.The OLDER receivers did not care but the newer one do and if you do not have a filter on the line it will do bad things to your DSL Like cause it to drop sync and to be very slow....

jpf · 02-16-2006, 01:48 PM

Ditto to the above. We ordered Directv in August 05 and told them we would be full time in our RV with two recievers beginning in Sept 05, and not have a "phone line". They said it was only for PPV movies, which we didn't intend to order, and that was that, great TV reception. We had a little more time delay getting the East and West Coast Major networks, but most of that was lost paperwork, 2x a month mail service as we travel type delays. Everythings working fine now.

jerry

rvfirefighter · 02-16-2006, 02:02 PM

Additional to all the above, you can order pay-per-view on the computer without any additional fees that you will be charged by ordering on the phone. You also can get service dedicated to an RV account and get 8 Network channels anywhere you travel. Local channels are only for home network area.
I have done this for 5 years fulltiming.

Glass Guy · 02-16-2006, 02:18 PM

I also have Directv and have not used a phone line in the two years that I have had it. It sure is nice to take with you if you can get a clearing thru the trees which can be a problem in some campgrounds. Good luck Roman

5rvers · 02-16-2006, 03:18 PM

I have three DirecTV boxes and one TIVO at home. I do keep a telephone line connected to the TIVO. Sometimes we order pay perview, but by having it connected to the phone line it also updates the software and guide. When I travel I take one of the boxes with me. I bought a dish and tripod from e-bay.

Thunderman · 02-16-2006, 03:36 PM

I have the satellite system from DISH. By having the phone line connected, I save $5.00 per month. I do take one of the extra receivers when going on a trip and have no problems. Taking the extra receiver has no effect on the billing.
Picked up my extra dish from a friends rent house and the stand from Radio Shack. Good luck!

Weldon

ols1932 · 02-16-2006, 05:18 PM

Have never had a phone line hooked up to ours and never a problem. It is only for PPV and as others have said, you can still call in for PPV or go on line and subscribe.

Orv

Garin1 · 02-16-2006, 05:34 PM

The last time the DTV service man came out he had to go back and get a new reciever. He told me mine was out of date and the replacement was free but I should have recieved a notice through the phone line telling me about the new upgrade.

(didn't have the phone line connected for 18 months)

bobgay · 02-16-2006, 11:55 PM

When we first signed up for DirectTV 7 or 8 years ago, there was no phone jack near our TV. DTV was insistent that we have a phone line hooked up, or they wouldn't activate the service. We strung a wire across the family room and hooked it up. They activated our service, we disconnected the phone line, and everyone was happy. Phone has never been hooked up since.

richfaa · 02-17-2006, 12:46 AM

The phone line does have a function..In the above case they COULD NOT activate the service without the phone line hooked up.That is how they communicate with the receiver like we communicate with the forum on the internet via a phone line. They troubleshoot your receiver via the phone line and can send receiver updates via the phone lines.However the phone line is NOT necessary to receive the signal.You just will not be able to use the services available via the phone lines.

Sunshine · 02-17-2006, 04:39 AM

We have DirecTV now and had DISH before that. Neither one was/is connected to phone line, and we were never told it was a requirement of service, or that our bill would be cheaper if you were connected to a phone line. As has been said, being connected to a phone line allows you to order PPV with your remote. A telephone call does the same thing. Any time we had a problem with DISH we just called customer service and they resolved the problem, again without the receiver being connected to a phone line.

snfexpress · 02-17-2006, 08:32 AM

Thanks, everyone. I wasn't sure if they would turn off service to the receiver that is not connected to a telephone line. According to their website, if you want it for a boat or RV, you have to pay the full service fees (no mirroring, they call it) and you have to sign a waiver that it is for recreational use, or some such thing.

Anyway, I will order DTV and have the ones in the house connected when they can be and not when they can't!

Michael

dsprik · 02-17-2006, 10:38 AM

Not to hijack this thread, but what do you FTers, with no stick house, do for dish TV access?

lightningjack11 · 02-17-2006, 10:53 AM

I have had Direct TV for a long time and I keep one receiver at home connected to the telephone line. Never had a problem.

As far as pay per view all you have to do is go to the DTV internet site and request the movie. By doing this all of your receivers can get PPV. If you order by remote with telophone line only the one receiver will see it. I have always used the internet to order PPV.

I bought a dual LNB for my roof antenna so hopefully I can use two receivers on the road.

The Oldguard · 02-17-2006, 01:12 PM

Dave set up your dish network account with auto pay on one of your credit cards. If they get their money every month with the auto pay they could care less where you are at.

dsprik · 02-17-2006, 02:13 PM

So Dish Network is more "RV" friendly than Directv?

The Oldguard · 02-17-2006, 03:12 PM

Yes and if you have a problem with set up you can call customer service and get help. You don't need a phone line to view PPV only you’re remote. You can also change the local channels to the different areas of the country by making a phone call and requesting it.

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