Dish Network DNS for $5 per month - Montana Owners Club

snfexpress · 01-13-2012, 06:22 AM

We got our renewal for DNS (Distant Networks Service) from All American Direct and of course the price had increased yet again.

Many will remember that DISH had their hands slapped fairly severely back in December of '06 when our government issued a cease & desist to them in regards to providing DNS to its customers because they were allegedly handing out waivers like candy at a Mardi Gras parade.

I found out that DISH is now offering DNS again and I just had our programming upgraded. We currently have AAD for about another month or so, and have the DISH DNS as well. With AAD, we have NY and SF standard definition programming; with DISH, we have LA HD and NY SD plus one station of PBS which we didn't have with AAD.

Supposedly we will lose our current locals, spot beamed in our service area, but so far we still have them. We don't really care about locals because we typically use our batwing antenna to get OTA programming.

We didn't change any of our equipment. All we had to do was fill out the waiver and provide our RV registration.

For us, we are saving about $10 a month by switching back to DISH. Also, the image quality is better, in our opinion.

Here is the link:

DISH RV

sreigle · 01-28-2012, 05:47 AM

I don't know exactly what your setup is and maybe I'm repeating what you just said. Since we're brand new (2 weeks) to satellite tv, that wouldn't surprise me. With the RV To Go package (I think that's the right name) we can call them when we land somewhere, give them our new physical address, they load that and we have it reload the program guide and now our clock on the receiver and tv are correct with the local time. And, if we want, we can pay $4.67 and have them beam us the local channels for that area we are in. Or we can have our receiver scan for locals via a connection to our antenna (or cable) to the receiver and it will include those in the program guide and will allow us to watch them via the receiver. However, I think it picks up only digital channels, which eliminates some cable channels.

I do have a satellite newbie question, though. Why would I want locals from NY or L.A. if I'm not from those areas? I would think if we had a stick home somewhere we might want those locals but that we couldn't get. Right?

HamRad · 01-28-2012, 04:09 PM

Steve and Vicki,
Finally! Hard to believe you now have satellite TV service! Hope you got the HD service too! Actually we just got the HD service but don't normally get it while on the road. The antenna is a bit large for Mary Kay to handle. But wow is it a nice picture.

We love the DNS because it gives us the capability to watch network programs 3 hours early (since we are mostly on the West Coast). We don't have to stay up late to watch some network program. We lose our "locals" after we get about 300 miles from home. We do not care to call (or use computer) to get updated locals. Of course you do not have to call about the DNS. It is always the same no matter where you are. If we want true locals we'll crank up our batwing and get them on that. The DNS is also nice for some sports programming. It might not be on the West Coast feed but will be on the East. Or vice versa. It is just nice to have even if it does cost a bit.

Sounds like you have a pretty nice option. I'm sure you'll end up enjoying the service. Later, Dennis.

wingerphil · 01-29-2012, 12:55 AM

Steve,

We have Dish "RV to go" as well. I had to sign up for the DNS to get any of the "local" type stations and receive the LA and NY feeds for ABC/NBC/FOX/PBS. We enjoy several of the sit coms on the networks and that is the reason for subscribing, Oh ya and "days of our lives" but that's a whole different kettle of fish to keep Mama happy

.
We were told having the DNS service was the only way to get these channels since we are mobile.
The only thing we are really missing is the local weather forcast and I get it on my Droid phone so no harm no foul.

Hopefully your locals will work like you discribe, please let us know, but if not it is pretty easy to sign up for the DNS, just fill out a form and send in a copy of your RV registration as proof. Ours took about 10 days to get through their system and then the channels appeared.

Phil

sreigle · 01-29-2012, 02:41 AM

Michael & Kat, I didn't mean to take over your thread. Let me reply to these and I'll back out.

The info about the Pay As You Go Programming is at http://www.dishformyrv.com/

Dennis and Phil, that makes sense. Thanks.

Dennis, the dish we have weighs less than 10 lbs, has an easy carry handle and a place for a padlock/chain/cable, and is easy to store. Plus automatic to find the satellites. It would work great for Mary Kay. But it works only with the VIP211k receiver, which has just one tuner. I even carted it up the ladder onto the roof trying to get the satellites through the trees. Here's a picture.

And, yes, we paid the one time $99 charge for HD Free For Life.

Phil, DNS is still one option for us but with this setup the current location locals is another option. For that we call and tell them our new physical address. That will give us the correct local time on the set when we download the program guide. And if we want the locals we pay $4.67 and they include that in the feed to us and in the program guide when we download it. They have a separate phone number for customer service for RV To Go. The regular customer service folks don't seem to understand the program but these folks do. I called them just to ask about procedures and to make sure I understood everything. That number is 888.854.9535 If we had a stick home with Dish then we'd probably want DNS rather than the current locals just because we'd not want to change the physical address. Unless this is independent of the home Dish setup. Not sure about that.

We've already done this at this location. At that time we were getting the satellite (see sight picture above) that broadcasts those locals. I since moved the dish so we get a different satellite because we wanted espn for our Jayhawk ballgames. Different satellite. So we're not getting the locals. I could put up the antenna and have the locals scanned into the receiver, though, if we wanted to do that. No charge for that. This is all somewhere on the website. I am sure it's in the receiver manual, too, and that's available on the website somewhere. The key is they allow us to change our physical address whenever we move. But we have to call them to do that. Can't do that online. I think I can restart the service after a period of inactivity (and not paying for the service) online or by phone. No charge to restart. No charge to change physical address.

If I understand correctly, if you already have Dish Network service at home you can buy this receiver and add the mobile service for $7/month. You'd need to double-check that.

Michael & Kat, again, I'm sorry. If we want to discuss further I'll start a new thread.

sreigle · 01-29-2012, 03:57 AM

I see I neglected to include the picture of where this dish is trying to pick up the three satellites and why it finds only one at a time... This picture is from the roof of our Montana, where at the time I had located the dish.

BB_TX · 01-29-2012, 04:55 AM

We have had Dish at home for many years and very happy with it. Last year I added sat to the Monty thru dishformyrv.com as Steve noted. Bought a new vp211k receiver and basic sat dish on tripod. We typically only use it if the park we are at does not have cable and antenna signals are not available. But we typically spend 2-3 weeks in Colorado where neither is available. It added $6/month to our home account.
When I set up the dish, if we are out of our spot beam I call Dish and they reprogram us for the nearest local network channels. That way we get the network channel programs in their normal time frame for the area we are in, plus local news/weather. For example our home area is DFW. When is southern Colorado, we get Denver locals. When we were out west of San Antonio, we got San Antonio/Austin locals.

snfexpress · 01-29-2012, 05:27 AM

Steve, no worries about the thread! Dennis explained it very well as to why we like DNS. We have had DNS for 6 years and wouldn't be without it.

sreigle · 01-29-2012, 06:21 AM

One thing I was wrong about in an above post.. Per dish network, the tailgater works with the 211, 211k, and 411 receivers. You can buy the tailgater from dish directly for $350 (includes shipping) for the dish itself or $499 as a bundle with the 211k receiver.

ols1932 · 01-30-2012, 12:45 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by sreigle

...

I do have a satellite newbie question, though. Why would I want locals from NY or L.A. if I'm not from those areas? I would think if we had a stick home somewhere we might want those locals but that we couldn't get. Right?

Steve, we got the DNS simply to be able to watch some of the network programs "earlier" than normal by watching them from the west coast stations. As far as locals go, we usually watch them with the antenna up. But mostly we get all the negative news we want from the network news channels. We are "Fox" groupies.

Orv

sreigle · 01-30-2012, 02:32 AM

Michael & Kat, thanks for your allowing me to keep this going. I'm trying to learn as much about this as I can.

Orv, I can see why you'd do that with DNS, same as Dennis and Mary Kay. In our case, our receiver itself is not a DVR so can't record but we were able to add a usb hard drive to turn it into a DVR. So we now can record anything on the program guide and watch it at a later time with full pause, rewind/skip back and forward, stop, etc. Likewise, when watching live TV through the receiver we can hit the pause button, go do whatever, then resume watching where we left off. Or skip back, etc. Just like a regular DVR. So I guess there's two solutions to the idea of not having to stay up late to watch a show. Just depends on your situation as to which is best for you/me.

We're getting spoiled by the HD picture, especially since the cable here has just a little snow on all channels and a lot on some. It does have a lot of stations, though. And with these trees we're only getting one satellite and thus just a few channels, relatively speaking.

wingerphil · 01-30-2012, 03:22 AM

Holy Smokes Steve! I have the same hook up as you and I didn't know I could pause it on live TV ..... How cool is that! I just tried it and it works!

Thanks!

Phil

sreigle · 01-30-2012, 04:08 AM

Amazing what we learn on this forum, huh?!

7.3Ford · 01-31-2012, 06:37 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by sreigle

Michael & Kat, I didn't mean to take over your thread. Let me reply to these and I'll back out.

The info about the Pay As You Go Programming is at http://www.dishformyrv.com/

Dennis and Phil, that makes sense. Thanks.

Dennis, the dish we have weighs less than 10 lbs, has an easy carry handle and a place for a padlock/chain/cable, and is easy to store. Plus automatic to find the satellites. It would work great for Mary Kay. But it works only with the VIP211k receiver, which has just one tuner. I even carted it up the ladder onto the roof trying to get the satellites through the trees. Here's a picture.

And, yes, we paid the one time $99 charge for HD Free For Life.

Phil, DNS is still one option for us but with this setup the current location locals is another option. For that we call and tell them our new physical address. That will give us the correct local time on the set when we download the program guide. And if we want the locals we pay $4.67 and they include that in the feed to us and in the program guide when we download it. They have a separate phone number for customer service for RV To Go. The regular customer service folks don't seem to understand the program but these folks do. I called them just to ask about procedures and to make sure I understood everything. That number is 888.854.9535 If we had a stick home with Dish then we'd probably want DNS rather than the current locals just because we'd not want to change the physical address. Unless this is independent of the home Dish setup. Not sure about that.

We've already done this at this location. At that time we were getting the satellite (see sight picture above) that broadcasts those locals. I since moved the dish so we get a different satellite because we wanted espn for our Jayhawk ballgames. Different satellite. So we're not getting the locals. I could put up the antenna and have the locals scanned into the receiver, though, if we wanted to do that. No charge for that. This is all somewhere on the website. I am sure it's in the receiver manual, too, and that's available on the website somewhere. The key is they allow us to change our physical address whenever we move. But we have to call them to do that. Can't do that online. I think I can restart the service after a period of inactivity (and not paying for the service) online or by phone. No charge to restart. No charge to change physical address.

If I understand correctly, if you already have Dish Network service at home you can buy this receiver and add the mobile service for $7/month. You'd need to double-check that.

Michael & Kat, again, I'm sorry. If we want to discuss further I'll start a new thread.

If you add a USB drive to you VIP211K it will turn it into a DVR. I got a 320GB USB drive on mine. You pay a one time activation fee of $39.95 and you are good to go.

Gkerlin · 02-23-2012, 09:47 AM

Forgive me folks but I've read thru everything twice and not sure that I have it all straight.

Let me tell you what I do.

I have Dish at home. Last year I bought a Wineguard Carryout, and a VIP 211 receiver or the 5ver. I just added that receiver onto my home plan since it is $7/month were as the Pay as you go RV plan is $50ish and up.

We then spent 9 weeks traveling all over the west. Once in a while I would call dish and tell them to update my service address (but not the billing address) so that I could get local networks. Most of the time they were fine - once in a while they were a pain. I like getting the networks sometimes when we are out of range of my OTA antenna hence the need for networks over the Sat.

I know if I go with a separate account I can then do the RV waiver thing but again thats just a lot of money for part time service.

Since I don't want to set up a second account till we are spending longer on the road my other option as I understand it is to continue to call and update my service address from time to time.

Is there a way to get networks (I really don't care if they are local) across the US without having to call each time we move out of a spot beam?

I've heard that If I give a NYC address for instance - that Channel is beamed all over the US. Anyone know if that is correct? I have a relative who lives in NYC and I could give that as a sercie address when we leave for our trip and switch it back to our home when get back.

Any other options? Sorry if this was already answered but I'm Satellite Challenged.

sreigle · 02-23-2012, 11:01 AM

Greg and Kate, I'll have to let someone else reply re the DNS. As for the pay as you go, you're correct. It's a good deal if one does not have a permanent home with DISH. In that case, your approach is better.

For those of us who do not have a permanent home or have a permanent home without satellite, then the pay as you go is a good approach since we pay only for the months we use the service. The lowest monthly price for pay as you go is $25/month. That is, of course, for a limited number (55) of channels. The more you want the more you pay. Our package is $45/month for "America's Top 120" package. Of course, if we don't use it one month we pay nothing for that month. It's a good deal but not maybe for those with satellite at home.

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