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Old 04-10-2021, 10:31 AM   #1
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TV options

Except for the past (Covid) year, we usually spend 5-6 months on the road. We used to be able to stream our Direct TV on our devices (iPads/computers) but the Direct TV App no longer works. I've been researching YouTube TV and Hulu but they require a checkin at the home wifi every - 30 days for Hulu and 90 days for YouTube. I'm looking for options that others may be utilizing. Should we go with Dish? They are (supposedly) RV friendly, I've heard.

PLEASE refrain from the, "Turn it off" remarks. We don't sit in front of the TV all day, but we like the ability to tune in on rainy days, or just for downtime.

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Old 04-10-2021, 07:44 PM   #2
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With the proliferation of inexpensive mobile data plans personally I think that streaming services have largely obsoleted satellite (much better content, more choice, less hardware, etc.), but that's your call.

If you only watch on occasion then you may find Netflix and Amazon Prime adequate by themselves, plus whatever local OTA signal is available. If you want to use a service that requires local use every so often and you maintain Internet service at your fixed location while you're gone (many do to monitor cameras, thermostat, etc.) then you could just set up an inexpensive computer at your home and use Teamviewer or another remote control app to access YouTube TV or whatever for a few minutes every few months, thus satisfying the local viewing requirement.
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Old 04-10-2021, 10:12 PM   #3
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Old 04-10-2021, 10:59 PM   #4
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If you still have a live internet connection at home, you could always set up a VPN to tunnel your connection to your home address for the Youtube TV check ins.
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Old 04-11-2021, 06:55 AM   #5
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I've been researching YouTube TV and Hulu but they require a checkin at the home wifi every - 30 days for Hulu and 90 days for YouTube. I'm looking for options that others may be utilizing. Should we go with Dish? They are (supposedly) RV friendly, I've heard.
I would assume that the Fake GPS app (for Android) would work for the purpose of convincing YouTube TV that you are in the correct city . Otherwise have a friend in your home area log into your account using their phone so the system updates your location.
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Old 04-11-2021, 09:21 AM   #6
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I would assume that the Fake GPS app (for Android) would work for the purpose of convincing YouTube TV that you are in the correct city.
That is great idea, I didn't realize that you could spoof a location without rooting the phone but sure enough you can. It looks like that on a PC or smart TV YouTube TV first tries to do a crude location verification via IP address (referencing data from when you first signed up), but if that doesn't work you are asked to visit a website on your smartphone to verify physical location, in which case a GPS fake app should do the trick.
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Old 04-11-2021, 09:54 AM   #7
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I would assume that the Fake GPS app (for Android) would work for the purpose of convincing YouTube TV that you are in the correct city . Otherwise have a friend in your home area log into your account using their phone so the system updates your location.
I would suspect they are going to use your IP address for location information? Early on when I travelled to Europe on business I could access Netflix using a VPN. Of course Netflix now blocks VPN connections but back in the day it worked a charm. Point is that I don't think they use gps location. Or am I missing something?
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Old 04-11-2021, 10:20 AM   #8
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I would suspect they are going to use your IP address for location information? Early on when I travelled to Europe on business I could access Netflix using a VPN. Of course Netflix now blocks VPN connections but back in the day it worked a charm. Point is that I don't think they use gps location. Or am I missing something?
From what I can research there are a couple of things going on with the location process. IP is used if possible (since many PCs and most smart TVs do not have GPS available), based on data collected when you started service (i.e. if you are on the same WAN subnet as when you first signed up then you're probably in the same place.) Crude, but it can work well enough for typical home users. But if the IP check fails then you are supposed to use a smartphone and access a web page that transmits actual GPS location.

If you are using a VPN the IP check may fail since the VPN provider will either be on a block list, or the IP you are using would not match prior activity. In this case you would (as far as I can tell) be directed to use the GPS verification method, and if you could spoof GPS then you would be good to go (as long as you are not also trying to use a blocked VPN as I expect that might be an immediate disqualifier.) So I think the GPS spoof would work in the US but possibly not in a foreign country.

Not certain about this since I haven't actually experimented myself, would like to hear from someone who has.
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Old 04-11-2021, 10:22 AM   #9
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Using fake gps app with YTTV works great. I did that regularly on 6 month trip last year. Set your fake gps location, go to YTTV and your are done. Others have also reported that using a VPN can accomplish same thing.
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Old 04-11-2021, 11:42 AM   #10
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Point is that I don't think they use gps location. Or am I missing something?
Actually, I think they do. YouTube TV starts questioning me about location if it's been a long time since I last used it from my phone. Our cellular connections down here in south TX all have Houston or San Antonio IP addresses so the phone wouldn't look any different than the laptop. I'm pretty confident that it sees the phones GPS location.
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Old 04-11-2021, 08:55 PM   #11
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Actually, I think they do. YouTube TV starts questioning me about location if it's been a long time since I last used it from my phone. Our cellular connections down here in south TX all have Houston or San Antonio IP addresses so the phone wouldn't look any different than the laptop. I'm pretty confident that it sees the phones GPS location.
That’s interesting. By far the majority of their subscribers are streaming on smart tv’s, fire stick, etc which do not contain a gps so I’m surprised they would take that approach.
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Old 04-11-2021, 09:18 PM   #12
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It is surprising, but my elderly mother has youtubeTV and has the same problem even though she watches from home on smart TV's / Roku's only.
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Old 04-12-2021, 03:27 AM   #13
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It is surprising, but my elderly mother has youtubeTV and has the same problem even though she watches from home on smart TV's / Roku's only.
I've never had a location problem when using Roku, but one or more of my hotspots serving my Rokus is GPS-enabled and I assumed that they were providing GPS info.

Last week I accessed YTTV from my laptop, having not done so in a while, and I got a screen that said I was traveling away from home and was this a permanent move or just temporary. I told it temporary and it said "have a nice trip" or something like that. I then connected from my cell phone and everything was fine.
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Old 04-16-2021, 08:57 AM   #14
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Originally Posted by Cinders1 View Post
Except for the past (Covid) year, we usually spend 5-6 months on the road. We used to be able to stream our Direct TV on our devices (iPads/computers) but the Direct TV App no longer works. I've been researching YouTube TV and Hulu but they require a checkin at the home wifi every - 30 days for Hulu and 90 days for YouTube. I'm looking for options that others may be utilizing. Should we go with Dish? They are (supposedly) RV friendly, I've heard.

PLEASE refrain from the, "Turn it off" remarks. We don't sit in front of the TV all day, but we like the ability to tune in on rainy days, or just for downtime.

[moderator edit]
I’m sold on what DISH offers for me
That is, I boon-dock a lot and am off the grid where cell service and internet data is limited.
All I need is a line of sight to the south and I am golden.

So I have a DISH residential account at home, plus an add-on Wally & hard drive for my RV.
I chose the roof mount Winegard Trav’ler for the RV which works perfect every time, all the time (knock on wood).
I can even bring my Hopper3 with me from home when traveling in my RV for long periods.

I vote for DISH because of the above reasons. Plus, my wife knows how to access her favorite shows without being an expert in technology.
She’s happy, so I’m happy.
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