Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 

Go Back   Montana Owners Club - Keystone Montana 5th Wheel Forum > MOC Technical Forums > Additions & Improvements
Click Here to Login

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 04-06-2007, 06:13 PM   #21
dsprik
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Fort Myers
Posts: 5,933
M.O.C. #4282
Delaine and Lindy, sounds like a good system. How much to get set up with that system and where do you put everything while traveling down the road?
 
dsprik is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-06-2007, 06:36 PM   #22
Delaine and Lindy
Montana Master
 
Delaine and Lindy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Lobelville
Posts: 2,128
M.O.C. #6650
dsprik, as you know we have a Cambridge and our basement is huge, and we store both Systems Hughes Net and Direct-TV in the basement in the boxes they came in. As for cost our Maxwell system was about $1,600 dollars and after a month of service we got a rebate of around a $100.00 as for Direct-TV I think its around a $100.00 a month for everything. Hughes Net is $69.00 a month. Direct-TV came and upgraded (HDTV two receivers and Dish) everything and we had to sign a 2 year agreement. We have had Direct-Tv for several years... I don't know how many channels we get but we get East/West and within a hundred or two hundred miles we get out local channel but even when we are out of our area we just call D-Tv and we get the locals were ever we are. Just a phone call. Hope this helps.....GBY....
Delaine and Lindy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-07-2007, 04:03 AM   #23
dsprik
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Fort Myers
Posts: 5,933
M.O.C. #4282
Great info, Lindy. Do you have a rooftop mount also in addition to your tripod setup? Can you just buy the D-TV setup - boxes/modems, or do you have to sign a lease? There must be different programs, too that DirectTV offers. I think the basic would be good for us. Maybe the HD programming, but doesn't that start to rachet up the cost fiairly fast? Not sure how expensive the HD stuff is.
dsprik is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-07-2007, 05:26 AM   #24
richfaa
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: North Ridgeville
Posts: 20,229
M.O.C. #2839
If we decide to keep the 3400 we are considering the Hughes net roof top mount. The portable ones are IMO to bulky and since we will be spending a lot of time in the west and SW we can get a "clear view of the southern sky" most all the time.
richfaa is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-08-2007, 06:14 AM   #25
RadioMan
Seasoned Camper
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Placerville
Posts: 51
M.O.C. #222
Send a message via AIM to RadioMan
Hi Folks,
Radioman here. I'm a little less than nine months away from retirement. I've been reading the posts on this subject. Now I might be way out of my league, but I'm not exactly rich. First of all I would like to get a roof mount automatic finder for satellite service. I guess the first thing I want to mention is that a dish is a dish is a dish. Any receiver dish will work with either dish network or direct tv. I've had both, but currently have direct tv. Right now I use a tripod to setup. Sometimes I can tune right in and other times I just have to give up. I just unhook the receiver from the bedroom and take it with me. I program in the zip code and get my readings and setup from there. Right now with HD service in the living room of the house, I'm paying over $60 a month plus $30 a month for verizon service. Have no idea what they charge for mobile service except what I've read here. I'm just a simple kind of guy and don't watch much sports. I know I know, I'm non american. What can I say. But my brother-in-law who will be travelling with us a great deal next year is a big sports fan. But from what I'm gathering in reading the posts, seems like most of the systems amount to BIG bucks. A roof mount automatic finder dish (stationary) can be had for around $1200 plus installation. The you just take your receiver with you and you pay the same costs as if you were in your stick home. At least that's the way I plan on going. Just my two cents worth.
RadioMan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-08-2007, 07:09 AM   #26
richfaa
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: North Ridgeville
Posts: 20,229
M.O.C. #2839
Radioman. That is what we do now. Pull 2 directive receivers out of the stick house, use a tripod and a dish we picked up a garage sale for 5.00 . We have Directive Choice plus.. including local channels. Cost is 61.99 tax and other crap included. When we went to Arizona we called Direct TV told them where we would be and they changed our local Chanel's so we got local Channels for Apache Junction. All you need to do is change your service address and the local channels will follow. We are looking into directway.....Sometimes you have to look at these things in terms of cost VS convenience and if it is not to bad I go with convenience because I am a very lazy person.
richfaa is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-08-2007, 07:16 AM   #27
dsprik
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Fort Myers
Posts: 5,933
M.O.C. #4282
I'll probably start out with tripods to see how our camping habits combine with trees. We really like high speed internet, but hate paying the high dollar for it...
dsprik is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-08-2007, 08:04 AM   #28
richfaa
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: North Ridgeville
Posts: 20,229
M.O.C. #2839
There is no inexpensive way around internet service Dave//It is a matter of how much money do you want to pay and how fast do you want to be.
richfaa is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-08-2007, 01:04 PM   #29
dsprik
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Fort Myers
Posts: 5,933
M.O.C. #4282
Well, as with anything, Rich, I think you can find bargains. There are expensive ways to get hi speed, and there are less expensive ways. Now, hi speed is also relative. I really don't need the 5 meg cable speed to be happy. 56K modem speed (or 14.4 from cell phone) is unacceptable. Somewhere in the middle that can still give moderate good quality on video, is what I'm looking for.

I agree with your assessment of how unsecure it is hopping around the country using all the free WiFi hotspots you come across. I believe that this will become an even bigger target as the next few years roll by, as hackers discover how easy it is to pull passwords and how many people actually do this.
dsprik is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-08-2007, 03:15 PM   #30
DonandBonnie
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Madison
Posts: 1,239
M.O.C. #5906
Rich and RadioMan, Do I understand you correctly that I can take my Hughesnet dish off of the stick house,rig up my own tripod and run some wire and do the same thing that Maxwell Satellite's $800 dollar kit will do? Maxwell says I need an additional arm to operate both Hughesnet and DirecTV off of the same dish. What do you think?
DonandBonnie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-08-2007, 05:07 PM   #31
fulltimedreamer
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Cumming
Posts: 2,820
M.O.C. #919
Don and Bonnie,
Maybe I can clear the water for you abit (hopefully I want muddy it for you). During hurricane Katrina I was involved in doing disaster relief. One of the things I did was to borrow a Direcway/Hughes Internet satellite system from a friend that was no longer using it. He reactivated his service with Direcway so that i could take the system with me and set up a local area network that could be used to send emails, register with FEMA and other disater related stuff.

We set it up in his driveway on a tripod several times and I became familiar with the system and felt confident I could set it up again. When I arrived in Louisiana I set up everything just as at his home, but I could not get connected to the satellite dish. Direcway/Hughes does not support tripod mounted portable dishes. Unfortunately since this was supposed to be a fixed system I could not get support from Direcway/Hughes. After working on the system for two days I managed to get in touch with a friend who knew someone at Hughes and they told me that Hughes was having problems. I was finally able to get connected to the satellite on the third day.

The advantage of going with Maxwell or Dustyfoot or another company that sells tripod systems is that they can get support from Hughes. These companies will know if Hughes has a problem or will be able to help you troubleshoot any problems you are having. If I were going to use one of these systems myself, I would use Maxwell or Dustyfoot so that I could have support if needed. This is the real value of the $1600 or so they charge for these portable systems. If money is not a problem I would go with a Motosat System and push a couple of buttons and everything works!!

BTW I did get the system up and we were able to help hundreds of hurricane victims register with FEMA, contact family, get help from the Red Cross, etc.

As to using a tripod for Dishnetwork or DirectTV, it is very simple to get the pointing information from the DSS box using the zipcode of your location. I use a compass and a satellite finder and typically have my system up in under 10 minutes. The advantage of the tripod is cost and being able to get around trees or other obstructions that prevent a clear view of the southern sky.
fulltimedreamer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-08-2007, 06:16 PM   #32
Delaine and Lindy
Montana Master
 
Delaine and Lindy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Lobelville
Posts: 2,128
M.O.C. #6650
dsprik, We did have to sign a lease for our Direct-Tv, yes you can get cheaper packages of Direct-Tv. If I were you just call Direct-Tv and they can give you a break down of all the different packages. We had Dishnet in the past also but we are very happy with Direct-Tv and as richfaa said just give them the address of your location and you will have local channels. We also have the East/West abc,cbs,nbc etc. We really love the HDTV system, and in the near future everyone will have to go with HDTV, no more anolog systems. As I said before we have the 5 LNB HD dish, it is more cumbersome and larger than the older dishes, but it is very easy to set up.

We are also looking to the roof mount system for our Satellite system for the computer, but the expense is very high. We are just using the Tri-pod system now. I just want the push the button and it locks on to your assigned satellite. We don't do State parks or any boondocking so the tree problem isn't a big problem. We also used the Cingular (Sony Erickson card) only problem was you have to have a good signal before it would operate. And a lot of places out West just didn't not have a good signal. GBY....
Delaine and Lindy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-12-2007, 11:33 AM   #33
RadioMan
Seasoned Camper
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Placerville
Posts: 51
M.O.C. #222
Send a message via AIM to RadioMan
Hi Everyone,
Just a short note here about Direct TV. I don't tell them anything. I just go into my setup and program in the zip code where I'm physically located at the time, get the readings and take my finder and compass and tune it in. I've been in law-enforcement over the years and the one thing you learn before going into court is don't give away information. The less you say the better off you are. Also 35 plus years ago I once had a rep from unemployment office when I was filing a claim tell me I was too honest. I also ran across a number for Direct TV that is not the normal number and goes direct to a tech. So I side step having to give up the ship if you get my drift. Even with the tech, I don't give out any unnecessary information if I don't have to. What the heck, I'm still paying for the service and they aren't loosing anything at all.
RadioMan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-12-2007, 12:51 PM   #34
dsprik
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Fort Myers
Posts: 5,933
M.O.C. #4282
DirecTV now has a division that just handles RVs. They finally recognized the market they were throwing out the window. I went to a applaince store that handled DirecTV installs and they told me they couldn't even do it. Whole different division set up just for this. They have a website:

DirecTV Mobile

Check out the Mobile Vehicle Declaration of Intent – Distant Network Services link near the bottom of the page...
dsprik is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-12-2007, 06:30 PM   #35
Wrenchtraveller
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location:
Posts: 1,568
M.O.C. #4890
I have Star Choice Satelite and they don't mind if you take your receivers on the road as long as you fax them a copy of your RV registration. I have my High Def receiver with the built in hard drive for taping and pausing live TV with me. This is hard wired in the Montana when I travel and I also carry a little receiver and a portable TV to help me find the satelite easier.
There is no extra charge for extra receivers if you keep the larger bundle packages. With a smaller pkg you pay 5 bucks a month extra for more than one receiver.
Wrenchtraveller is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-13-2007, 03:15 AM   #36
richfaa
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: North Ridgeville
Posts: 20,229
M.O.C. #2839
We do not have hughes net..We had directtv and we use the portable tripod..Fulltimedreamer did a good post above on the Hughes net system and how to get it working.We use the Verizon air card and KR1 router for internet access..You need not let Directtv know you are in a Rv..If you do they will attempt to sell you Rv packages.. Dave..our verizon air card speed will vary according to the quality of service in the area we are in..here at home it is @ 550kbps..on the road the average has been @ 300/400kbps and a few times zero.Anywhere around laarge metro areas you will get good fast service...of course the technology is always improving.
richfaa is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-13-2007, 08:37 AM   #37
tom41
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: chattanooga
Posts: 1,002
M.O.C. #6363
a fulltimer camped right behind me has Hughesnet internet. it was working great for I was questioning him about it and watching as he was online. He bought his dish and tripod used at a price of $2500.00, and he said the internet service cost him $60.00 a month. He did not have satellite TV, he said he and the wife never watched TV and didnt even own one> But the Hughesnet was working good.
tom41 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-13-2007, 11:50 AM   #38
stiles watson
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Leona
Posts: 6,382
M.O.C. #2059
Okay, I started this thread, so I guess I need to report. I ended up with Maxwell Satellite Portasat. The provider is HughesNet. I opted for the "professional" for upload speed needs I have. I got their last Bird on a Wire. This is my first day on the net and I have been very happy. It beats the heck out of dialup, but a bit slower than cable DSL. I am now shopping for the best TV service to go with the "bird".

This is not what I wanted. I wanted an all-in-one, one piece of electronic equipment to serve as both modem and receiver, one service provider, one billing system. I seems it is not to be had.

The "Bird" keeps me from having to buy another dish, but I still have to deal with 2 providers which about doubles what the price ought to be. So the griping is over and we will enjoy the services we can have. If someone else got a better deal, so be it. It is done and I will take on the next challenge.
stiles watson is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-13-2007, 02:23 PM   #39
dsprik
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Fort Myers
Posts: 5,933
M.O.C. #4282
Stiles, someone has to have an all in one system. Rich, I want the RV package. If they try to gouge, they can take a leap. I like Delaine and Lindy's setup.
dsprik is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-13-2007, 02:28 PM   #40
dsprik
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Fort Myers
Posts: 5,933
M.O.C. #4282
One thing I am strongly thinking of doing is calling the Geek Squad from Best Buy. I need new HD LCDs anyway. Probably get everything all at once.
dsprik is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Internet Tv jimyoung10 Let Us Entertain You 1 09-07-2011 11:11 AM
Internet hookman Internet & Cell Phones 4 10-15-2010 03:41 AM
KVH Internet Montana Sky Internet & Cell Phones 0 05-10-2006 08:39 PM

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3
Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Montana RV, Keystone RV Company or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 03:42 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.