Community Forums

kf6ybl · 11-06-2017, 10:39 AM

Hello All,
Fulltime RV'ers for about 5 months now. We currently use AT&T unlimited plans for phone, internet, & the included DirecTV.

This combinations works well when we have adequate signal. Unfortunately this plan isn't cheap, costing about $175 per month.

Our 2006 Southwind has 2 satellite dishes. One of them is a Winegard Roadtrip MiniMax, and the other is the manual crankup version, also Winegard.

I contacted Winegard, and they said that both dishes are compatible with receivers H24 and older. I actually have one of these receivers (without the card).

My question is - where do I go/who can I talk to about either activating the box I have or acquiring another that is compatible. Calling the standard customer service number and talking to the run of the mill off shore Rep. will probably be an exercise in frustration, especially since we are full time RV'ers.

Any suggestions are appreciated!

450Donn · 11-06-2017, 10:52 AM

Does Direct still offer the old SD receivers? They would be your best shot. Otherwise places like Craigslist or Ebay might have what your wanting. Question? Why not dump the old technology and go with the latest HD system?

Bob&AnnaMari · 11-06-2017, 12:43 PM

Unfortunately, no one can give you a solid answer. I know exactly what the DirecTV policy is on "pre-owned" receivers and every time I post it someone cites an example of someone who had an opposite experience.

The "official" policy of DirecTV is that a card and the box are married for life. They will, on occasion, ship a customer a replacement card if something goes bad with only the card. But, their "policy" is that only truly purchased receivers (which are only available to DirecTV employees and similar) can be sold and get another card. Customer service can tell you if the receiver you now possess is one of those boxes. (When you "buy" for a retail store you do not own the box you are still "leasing" it.)

So, the first question is how did you acquire the box with no card? If you purchased it on ebay you more than likely got it from someone who wanted to return it to DirecTV and was told to recycle it and return the card. Some have interpreted this to mean they can resell the receiver. This is not true. What DirecTV has done in these cases is to make these people "whole" again by shipping them a new (reconditioned) receiver with a card in it and then authorizing that receiver. Although, here again, it seems in an inconsistent pattern.

So, if you got your receiver that way, DirecTV may offer to do the same for you. But, in typical DirecTV inconsistent behavior, there is no guarante this will be your experience. This part is a pure crap-shoot.

As for your existing dishes, you are being told to get an H/HR24 or older (think eariler) model because all of them support SD only reception. The dishes you describe are only capable of getting the signals on satellite 101 (ku) which contains most of DirecTV's SD signals. Moreover your dishes are most likely not SWM units, so SWM only receivers would require some additional equipment to hook them to your existing dishes.

Your best bet at this time is to track down someone who specializes in RV satellite service and ask them what your best alternatives are. They have to deal with these issues daily and know all the ins and outs and usually have contacts with industry folks that are not available to you or I.

Because of DirecTV's inconsistencies and extremely varied knowledge of different customer service folks, you will not get a good answer from either web forums nor customer service. You need to deal with someone who knows exactly who to contact to get you the best alternative. That would be my choice if I were in your shoes.

Triker56 · 11-06-2017, 02:04 PM

Replace both of the roof dishes with a Trav'ler to get full use of the DirecTV HD service. Have DirecTV/AT&T send you a Genie HR44 or HR54 that can record up to 5 programs the same time.

They should send you a Genie for Free but may come with a new 2 year contract.

kf6ybl · 11-06-2017, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 450Donn

Does Direct still offer the old SD receivers? They would be your best shot. Otherwise places like Craigslist or Ebay might have what your wanting. Question? Why not dump the old technology and go with the latest HD system?

I really didn't want to add any more wear and tear to the roof. There are already 2 dishes up there now. And, since I don't really care about HD it wasn't a concern to have the latest greatest, rather try to make what I have work.

kf6ybl · 11-06-2017, 08:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob&AnnaMari

Unfortunately, no one can give you a solid answer. I know exactly what the DirecTV policy is on "pre-owned" receivers and every time I post it someone cites an example of someone who had an opposite experience.

The "official" policy of DirecTV is that a card and the box are married for life. They will, on occasion, ship a customer a replacement card if something goes bad with only the card. But, their "policy" is that only truly purchased receivers (which are only available to DirecTV employees and similar) can be sold and get another card. Customer service can tell you if the receiver you now possess is one of those boxes. (When you "buy" for a retail store you do not own the box you are still "leasing" it.)

So, the first question is how did you acquire the box with no card? If you purchased it on ebay you more than likely got it from someone who wanted to return it to DirecTV and was told to recycle it and return the card. Some have interpreted this to mean they can resell the receiver. This is not true. What DirecTV has done in these cases is to make these people "whole" again by shipping them a new (reconditioned) receiver with a card in it and then authorizing that receiver. Although, here again, it seems in an inconsistent pattern.

This is a receiver that I had from my house when we had DirecTv. When we canceled our service, all they wanted were the cards from the receivers, nothing else.

So, if you got your receiver that way, DirecTV may offer to do the same for you. But, in typical DirecTV inconsistent behavior, there is no guarante this will be your experience. This part is a pure crap-shoot.

As for your existing dishes, you are being told to get an H/HR24 or older (think eariler) model because all of them support SD only reception. The dishes you describe are only capable of getting the signals on satellite 101 (ku) which contains most of DirecTV's SD signals. Moreover your dishes are most likely not SWM units, so SWM only receivers would require some additional equipment to hook them to your existing dishes.

Your best bet at this time is to track down someone who specializes in RV satellite service and ask them what your best alternatives are. They have to deal with these issues daily and know all the ins and outs and usually have contacts with industry folks that are not available to you or I.

Because of DirecTV's inconsistencies and extremely varied knowledge of different customer service folks, you will not get a good answer from either web forums nor customer service. You need to deal with someone who knows exactly who to contact to get you the best alternative. That would be my choice if I were in your shoes.

I may have to find someone that specializes, but what a PITA. It really shouldn't be this hard, but I guess it is what it is.

kf6ybl · 11-06-2017, 08:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Triker56

Replace both of the roof dishes with a Trav'ler to get full use of the DirecTV HD service. Have DirecTV/AT&T send you a Genie HR44 or HR54 that can record up to 5 programs the same time.

They should send you a Genie for Free but may come with a new 2 year contract.

Thanks, it's definitely an answer, just not the one I was looking for.