Dish at home and on the road

[SarahW]

We currently have Comcast cable at our home and use Dish Pay-as-You-Go when we travel. Due to issues with Comcast , we're considering changing to Dish at home and including the RV 211Z receiver as an add-on to that account. I'm thinking this will result in a lot less bother and fewer calls to Dish when we want to take a trip.

For anyone who does this, I have a few questions, please.

Does using the RV receiver at home keep it updated and programmed? So when using that receiver in the moho, we'd just plug it in and after the antenna finds the satellites we're good to go?

Are there any other problems/considerations to doing it this way?

And finally, do you call Dish and have the locals changed to the current travel address, or does Dish frown on this? This is not a biggie since we can usually find local channels using our OTA antenna.

Thanks in advance for any tips.

[MisterT]

yes, and yes - call and say: Hi, I have my dish and receivers with me in my RV while away from home. Please UPDATE my local channel zip code to:_________

[lllkrob]

The only thing you may have to do is rerun check switch when the receiver is moved to a different type antenna in the RV and then again when back home.


I use DISH chat feature on MYDISH.com to change my location and never had any problem with DISH not wanting to do the change. Only sometimes you get a poorly trained rep who changes your service address on your account but doesn't do the actual change to your programming. A follow up contact usually corrects things.

[Solask]

Originally Posted by SarahW

We currently have Comcast cable at our home and use Dish Pay-as-You-Go when we travel. Due to issues with Comcast , we're considering changing to Dish at home and including the RV 211Z receiver as an add-on to that account. I'm thinking this will result in a lot less bother and fewer calls to Dish when we want to take a trip.

For anyone who does this, I have a few questions, please.

Does using the RV receiver at home keep it updated and programmed? So when using that receiver in the moho, we'd just plug it in and after the antenna finds the satellites we're good to go?

Are there any other problems/considerations to doing it this way?

And finally, do you call Dish and have the locals changed to the current travel address, or does Dish frown on this? This is not a biggie since we can usually find local channels using our OTA antenna.

Thanks in advance for any tips.

Hi Sarah, you are about to do what I did a few months ago. A couple things I learned through the process.
- if you move the receiver back and forth from the house, I had to go through the point dish/check switch process every time.
I decided to leave the 211 in the RV to avoid that hassle.
- I searched and found a 211k receiver on line and had that registered to my account. The reason for this is the 211k has an ota module built in. So now, I have the 211k permanently installed in the coach with an ota connection going to it. I don't have to call dish every time I move. The receiver will download the local channels and put them into the guide. If you add a hard drive to the 211, you can now record those local channels. You couldn't do that otherwise. As for the 211z, I believe a ota module can by purchased separately.


Rod

[SarahW]

Originally Posted by MisterT

yes, and yes - call and say: Hi, I have my dish and receivers with me in my RV while away from home. Please UPDATE my local channel zip code to:_________

Thanks! That's what we do with Dish Pay-as-you-go, but I wasn't sure about a fixed account.

[SarahW]

Originally Posted by lllkrob

The only thing you may have to do is rerun check switch when the receiver is moved to a different type antenna in the RV and then again when back home.


I use DISH chat feature on MYDISH.com to change my location and never had any problem with DISH not wanting to do the change. Only sometimes you get a poorly trained rep who changes your service address on your account but doesn't do the actual change to your programming. A follow up contact usually corrects things.

Thanks. I appreciate the info. I am finding Dish pay-as-you-go a lot less "customer friendly" than when they had the dedicated RV phone number to call.

[SarahW]

Originally Posted by Rkh

Hi Sarah, you are about to do what I did a few months ago. A couple things I learned through the process.
- if you move the receiver back and forth from the house, I had to go through the point dish/check switch process every time.
I decided to leave the 211 in the RV to avoid that hassle.
- I searched and found a 211k receiver on line and had that registered to my account. The reason for this is the 211k has an ota module built in. So now, I have the 211k permanently installed in the coach with an ota connection going to it. I don't have to call dish every time I move. The receiver will download the local channels and put them into the guide. If you add a hard drive to the 211, you can now record those local channels. You couldn't do that otherwise. As for the 211z, I believe a ota module can by purchased separately.


Rod

Hey Rod, and thanks. We own both 211k and a 211Z receivers, though we have not used the "z". If I remember correctly, we always have to go through the check switch and setup on the receiver because it stays in the moho and usually sits a couple of months between uses. I'm not familiar with the OTA module so I'll have to investigate that. I appreciate the help.

[TVforMyRV]

When you are moving the receiver from house to RV and back, you may find it helpful to run the check switch with no antenna attached in between connections. This will clear out the "old" info and often makes it easier to correctly identify the new antenna.

[SarahW]

Hey Don. Thanks for the help, as always. I'm thinking that we probably won't move the receiver after all, but will leave it installed in the RV. I don't think we'd gain anything by taking it into the house...??? Not sure which is the best way to proceed.

[TVforMyRV]

Originally Posted by SarahW

Hey Don. Thanks for the help, as always. I'm thinking that we probably won't move the receiver after all, but will leave it installed in the RV. I don't think we'd gain anything by taking it into the house...??? Not sure which is the best way to proceed.

Pleasure Sarah....

The only real advantage I see to taking the 211 in the house (other than getting more use for your dollars) is that if you don't use the RV for a while, the receiver will need re-authorized by Dish. If you take it in the house, it will continue to receive updates as needed as long as its powered up and connected.

[SarahW]

Originally Posted by TVforMyRV

Pleasure Sarah....

The only real advantage I see to taking the 211 in the house (other than getting more use for your dollars) is that if you don't use the RV for a while, the receiver will need re-authorized by Dish. If you take it in the house, it will continue to receive updates as needed as long as its powered up and connected.

Hmmmm. Good point, as always. Our Comcast contract doesn't expire until October, so I have a couple of months to decide how to get this all set up. Thanks again.

[Lt Dan]

Originally Posted by TVforMyRV

Pleasure Sarah....

The only real advantage I see to taking the 211 in the house (other than getting more use for your dollars) is that if you don't use the RV for a while, the receiver will need re-authorized by Dish. If you take it in the house, it will continue to receive updates as needed as long as its powered up and connected.

I second Don's comment about taking the 211 in to the house. I had to go through a 15-30 minute phone call ordeal every time we used it after a few weeks of inactivity to get it reactivated. I ran a separate feed and keep it hooked up in my office until we are ready to travel. Now it's just a simple check switch procedure when I take it to the MH. Of course, it costs $7 per month to keep it active, but it's well worth it. I have the Hopper system in the house and you can't hook directly to the feeds for it, but have your installer run a separate feed from the LNB.

[SarahW]

Originally Posted by Lt Dan

I second Don's comment about taking the 211 in to the house. I had to go through a 15-30 minute phone call ordeal every time we used it after a few weeks of inactivity to get it reactivated. I ran a separate feed and keep it hooked up in my office until we are ready to travel. Now it's just a simple check switch procedure when I take it to the MH. Of course, it costs $7 per month to keep it active, but it's well worth it. I have the Hopper system in the house and you can't hook directly to the feeds for it, but have your installer run a separate feed from the LNB.

Good idea; thanks, Dan. (BTW, our daughter's boyfriend is in the Air Force and his name is Dan...so we call him "Lt Dan." )

[Solask]

Originally Posted by Lt Dan

I second Don's comment about taking the 211 in to the house. I had to go through a 15-30 minute phone call ordeal every time we used it after a few weeks of inactivity to get it reactivated. I ran a separate feed and keep it hooked up in my office until we are ready to travel. Now it's just a simple check switch procedure when I take it to the MH. Of course, it costs $7 per month to keep it active, but it's well worth it. I have the Hopper system in the house and you can't hook directly to the feeds for it, but have your installer run a separate feed from the LNB.

Being a new Dish user, this scenario concerns me. However, I haven't run into it yet. I have a 211k that stays on the coach. My experience has been:
It has sat idle and off for a month at a time.
When I put power to everything, satellite, TV, receiver, it will take about 10 minutes doing "stuff". The interface says it acquiring satellites and then it goes into a downloading the guide process. During all this, the satellite is churning away doing something (not sure this noisy behavior is normal but it eventually stops). After that, all is good.
I wonder if this would change if it sat idle longer?


Rod