West coast feed for Directv

[jerry davis]

I have searched the forums but can't seem to find the info I want on this question.

I have a Motosat HD-SL5 system that I like a lot. The problem is trying to get NBC,CBS,ABC when out of our home footprint.

How does one go about getting the West Coast Feed from Directv? They don't seem to want to allow us to have the feed unless we are full timers.

Is there some trick to getting around the regulations that I can use?

[OldForester]

We have the West and East Coast feed by purchasing DNS (Distant Network Service) from DirectTV. We simply informed them we had a motorhome and we traveled to different locations around the U.S. each year where we were away from our local service (like in the Seattle/Tacoma area, where we live). We have had no issues having this service for the last six years and changed receivers 3 times (currently have a Winegard Travl'r).

I would call DirectTV again and ask them to send the forms for DNS (think we had to sign something saying we traveled out of our home footprint the first time we did it). We also asked for both east and west coast feeds because we do travel across at least three time zones each year.

[Langord]

We too have both east and west coast feeds, both at home and in the Alpine. Last time I had a conversation with Direct TV, I understood that they no longer offered both feeds, but that we were "grandfathered in". We've had both feeds for 8 or more years. Good luck in acquiring the east coast. It certainly is a nice feature, even when not traveling for those of us who are early-to-bed.

[OldForester]

Langord reminded me of the east/west feeds on both. We changed our receiver from the RCA that came with the coach to DirectTV's DVR when we changed to the Wineguard Trav'lr satellite in late January this year. When I asked DirectTV to keep the east/west DNS and upgrade to HD, they wouldn't do it. They said we could have west or east only (not both) if we switched to all the HD channels on DirectTV. We elected not to add the HD channel feed and continued with the standard feed, which allowed us to keep the east/west feed. We have found the new Trav'lr satellite, the new receiver, and the 32" LG monitor that came with the coach produce such improved resolution over the old Kingdome/RCA combination that the shift to HD isn't worth it. It's reasonably close to HD like we have at home without the extra cost and still allows both east and west feeds.

[RickO]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Langord We too have both east and west coast feeds, both at home and in the Alpine. Last time I had a conversation with Direct TV, I understood that they no longer offered both feeds, but that we were "grandfathered in". We've had both feeds for 8 or more years. Good luck in acquiring the east coast. It certainly is a nice feature, even when not traveling for those of us who are early-to-bed.

I think it's true that they no longer want to approve both east and west feed when approving DNS. We've had it for a year now and because our home address is in Texas, we got east... what we wanted since we retire early too.

The forms you need are here on the forum at DirecTV and Dish RV DNS FORMS

but I found that hardly anybody you talk to at DirecTv will know what you're talking about so you may have to ask to speak with someone else until you get the person that can make it happen for you. You may have to agree to have the service in your stick house... at least your local channels... turned off when you have DNS activated but I'm not sure.

Good luck...

rick

[bkphotog]

1. The federal law does not allow DNS programming authorized for a mobile vehicle to be viewed on receivers located in your permanent residence. If you have, or plan to have, receivers in both your home and mobile vehicle, you must have a separate DIRECTV account for each location.

The above is taken from the forms mentioned earlier in this thread. This has been a total hastle for us. We have Direct TV HD in our stick house and in our MH. This is fine as long as we are camping within 100 miles of our stick house. Then we get the local ABC NBC CBS FOX and with this we can see the national broadcast of these stations. Once we are out of the range of our local stations then we lose the broadcasting of the national feeds. Then the only way to get the national feeds is to hook up to the campgrounds cable service. As the statement says above you need to have a seperate account for the stick house and the RV. If you are a "full timer" and do not have a stick house account, then the DNS service should work for you. DW and I are not full time as of yet and so we have one account with Direct TV with the receivers in the house and the RV receiver all on one account. I refuse to give any more money to Direct TV than I have too. Remember this really is not Direct TV's rules, its the FCC rules, and the affiliates (locals) that are dictating these rules. They ( affiliates) want thier viewers (numbers) for advertizing purposes. Its a rip-off in my humble opinion.

Anyways this is what we have had to deal with and this is what I have been told directly from Direct TV.

I know that some RV'ers are getting DNS service in their house and their RV but I sure can not at his time. I did have it for a short time several years ago but it came up for renewal and it was then taken away from my account.

Good luck

Bill

[wa8yxm]

Ok, first everythign you need with DirecTV is on the same bird, East coast, West coast, Middle of the country, and most likely your home town (Thought that is not a given) The problem is your home town is "SPOT" beamed (Think of a spot light shining on your house) What you need is Distant Network Service.

Make about fifty calls to DirecTV cuss-some-more non-support and you might get lucky and find someone who can either point you to or E-mail you the waiver form

Fill it out, fax it back, and you should be good within 48 hours, slight extra fee.

[RickO]

Hi Bill, the way I interpret that rule is that DNS cannot be VIEWED in your stick house so one needs to activate and de-activate DNS as they travel. I don't think it is intended to state that simply because one has a stick house with DirecTv they can't also have DNS approved for their account. I imagine that some folks don't deactivate when they return home but....

Many folks don't permanently locate receivers in their RVs but rather borrow one from the spare bedroom when they travel.

Maybe someone will correct me on this but that's my understanding of how it works.

rick

[bkphotog]

Hi RICKO

Let me clarfly my situation.

I have an account with Direct TV in which all of my receivers are listed. These include the ones in the house and the one that is out in my MH.

This account allows me to get my local ABC, NBC,CBS and FOX in HD. Thus I will receive both local broadcasts and the national feeds from these stations. I get these feeds both in the house and the RV, as long as the RV is within the footprint of the spot beaming of thse local stations. The minute I travel outside of that spot beaming range of my locals, I lose all of the locals and the national feeds.

I have submitted on many occasions (more that I want to now) the official documents for DNS service for the MH receiver ONLY. All have been disapproved / rejected because I have all my receivers on one account I have been told repeatedly that I have to have a new and seperate account for just the receiver in the MH. Then I can have DNS service on that account. Ofcourse that means that I have to pay additional monthy service to Direct TV for the programming package. This then would only be on the RV receiver and the house account would be seperate with all the coverage that I currently have locally.

As for moving one of my receivers from the house to the RV, this just will not work due to he complication of all the cabinet placements of the units.

Again I have been told this from Direct TV and I have called so many times trying to register a complaint. I have all ready talked directly to a person in the DNS office of Direct TV and was still told that their hands are tied by the rules of the FCC. The only thing that person said is to write letters to your Senators, Congressmen and the Chair of the FCC.
I have done this also and have received cursory "thanks you" from all.

So I hope this clears up any confusion in my situation.

DNS works for "full times" if you only have the RV receiver or if you want to move your receiver to and from your stick house to the RV. Not possible in my situation.

Thanks
Bill

[RickO]

Understood Bill. That's a real pain. I guess those non-full timers who do get this to work either move a receiver back and forth from the house or "cheat the system" by going to their DirecTv account on line and re-register their receivers as something other than their RV.

Good luck to you!

Rick

[Jeff and Cheryl]

I have DirecTV at home and in the RV. When I attempted to get distant networks on my account I was told that I would have to have two accounts, one for the MH and one for my S&B home. The "why" to this came down to "we have to be able to verify that the Distant Networks is being used solely in the MH". I have read a number of posts over the years of folks that have DN service with only one account and move the reciever between the house and the RV. I can only presume that either they have been grandfathered in or that DTV hac adopted a policy to increase their revenues by forcing RV'ers that want to have/add distant networks to have an addditional account. BTW, I started have DNS two years ago this month. Don't like the extra cost but it beats the grief I'd get if DW did not have those networks.

[chris cross]

In every communication I have with DTV they thank me for being a loyal and long term customer. As such, I thought they would have no problem providing HD to my coach when we embarked on a two month trip in August. I've had DNS at home for many years and now have the same in HD.
I don't think I've ever asked for "Supervisor" more that in my last futile attemp to positivly resolve this issue. Bottom line. I must have a separate account for the coach in order to recieve HD DNS. I don't beleive removing a receiver from home to coach does anything. Your still going to drive outside your "spot". And it does not make any difference how you identify the receiver.
Good luck to all and I give up on this issue. I will not create a seperate account.

[Old Rv'er]

All - It may have been mentioned, the comments are informative, I might have missed something.

We have the king dome satellite antenna installed on the front of the coach. I have the Wineguard automatic portable dish for when I don’t get clear signal because of the trees. My company will be an authorized KD service Center by the end of the month.

All – this assume we are discussing Direct TV Service. Dish is another breed of cat, and I don’t have any idea about their system/service. I have had both, like Direct TV Better, easier to set up for and operate. I have all my receivers on the same account, and the RV works as well as the house at the same time and I also receive my local stations as long as I am within 400 miles of my home billing address. I have not tested this range, so it may be longer or shorter depending on whatever. The installer (when put in the home service) tried to get me on two accounts, but I beat him at his own game, by calling DTV and correcting his database. You may need two accounts for HD service, we don't have it at home, so we don't have two accunts.

We have the HD receiver & basic receiver (not enabled) in the MH, and the basic receiver at home. We don’t subscribe to any premium channels. We will transfer the home service to the MH for the basic receiver so we can watch TV when we travel for the bedroom, since I have to pay for it anyway. DTV said they would do this at no charge except the second receiver charge. I also believe I can put that part of it on suspension, so that would save the 5 bucks for the second receiver charge, if not, then no big deal.

We started the service when we were in Florida, away from our Washington State address, so we did not receive our local channels. We were informed that we would not receive them because we were over 400 miles away from our home. We were told that if we wanted East/West service we needed to talk to the RV Department. I did not want to pay an additional 49 dollars a month to get local channels. With having the internet at most all the places we stay, I can check the local news via websites. Short of a major earthquake I don’t much care about what goes on locally. I will be too far away from home to do anything about it anyway.

I have to pay for the HD service because that is the kind of receiver we have in the MH. And with the Dell 1080i TV, its ok on the channels we get that have it. I don’t watch sports so it’s not important to me if I have it or not.

We signed up our friends to DTV so we get lots of credits on our bill for that and of course the promotions through the end of the year. Once those are gone the bill will go up. I will start to slice off products to keep the bill reasonable, because I don’t like the “Printer Model of Marketing” and won’t let them gouge me to death on various features. TV is not the reason I go camping in the motorhome, it’s a nice feature to have, but my life won’t end if I don’t see it, and not knowing if such and such team won/lost/tied is not important to us. I have gone camping for over a week, and did not have it, did not miss it, and aside from knowing the weather, it’s not that important. For weather we carry a dedicated alert type weather radio, and it keeps us informed of severe weather threats. I can download the few TV shows off the internet I might miss.

So if having local is important, talk to the RV department in Direct TV customer service center. With HD, I’m sure the east & west locals have been done away with. So you can decide which/what you want and pay for it.

[RickO]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old Rv'er All - The installer (when put in the home service) tried to get me on two accounts, but I beat him at his own game, by calling DTV and correcting his database. We have the HD receiver & basic receiver (not enabled) in the MH, and the basic receiver at home. We don’t subscribe to any premium channels. We will transfer the home service to the MH for the basic receiver so we can watch TV when we travel for the bedroom, since I have to pay for it anyway. DTV said they would do this at no charge except the second receiver charge. I also believe I can put that part of it on suspension, so that would save the 5 bucks for the second receiver charge, if not, then no big deal. We started the service when we were in Florida, away from our Washington State address, so we did not receive our local channels. We were informed that we would not receive them because we were over 400 miles away from our home. We were told that if we wanted East/West service we needed to talk to the RV Department. I did not want to pay an additional 49 dollars a month to get local channels. I have to pay for the HD service because that is the kind of receiver we have in the MH. And with the Dell 1080i TV, its ok on the channels we get that have it. I don’t watch sports so it’s not important to me if I have it or not. I will start to slice off products to keep the bill reasonable, because I don’t like the “Printer Model of Marketing” and won’t let them gouge me to death on various features. . With HD, I’m sure the east & west locals have been done away with. So you can decide which/what you want and pay for it.

Hi Monte... a few questions:

* When you say you "beat the installer at his own game" by calling DTV and correcting his data base what do you mean? What game? What correction?

* Were you really told by DTV that to get local channels when you traveled would cost an additonal $49/month? I believe DNS is typically $12/$14.

* You pay for HD service in the MH because of the type of receiver you have but don't receive HD? I'm not sure I understand. Do you get any HD channels with Directv in your coach? What type of dish do you have?

* Is the "printer model of marketing" you refer to the same as the old razor blade marketing model... give the razor away but charge like heck for the blades?

* You say that "With HD, I’m sure the east & west locals have been done away with. So you can decide which/what you want and pay for it"... I'm watching the east coast feed of DirecTv HD feeds as I type so please clarify what you mean.

Thanks much....

Rick