DirectTV is telling me I can't take my home equipment

[Gypsy Traveler]

Hi everyone,

My husband just got off the phone with DirectTV. They said we cannot take our home equipment on the road because it won't work and they don't offer mobile DVR. They also don't offer HD. He said we had to go to a dealer and have them sell us the equipment and antenna.

WTH?

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

CSRs are not the widest of knowledge people.

 

There is the wive's tale that DVRs can't be in RV's. There are hundreds on this forum who will disagree.

 

The HD issue is dependent on the dish you use. A roof dome cannot support HD receptions. But the Winegard Trav'ler supports the full range of satellites including. And there is the option of a ground tripod dish that also supports the full range of satellites.

 

You do need to acquire the dish for you RV, DirecTV doesn't do that. But once you have the dish and cabling for your RV, just move your home receiver and go.

[Gypsy Traveler]

Can't I just take my dish mounted to my house now?

[Rif]

Can't I just take my dish mounted to my house now?

 

While technically you could, there is no easy way to aim it. You need some kind of mount. There are various options like tripods and home made mounts. Tripods are probably easiest, while home made mounts are the least expensive. I have used both.

 

Do you currently have HD? What receiver do you have?

 

One thing that you do need to be aware of it that you will not be able to receive local channels when you get a couple hundred miles from your service address. DNS is available which will give you New York or LA networks, but this is a separate discussion from whether or not you can take your equipment with you.

[pjstough]

 

 

One thing that you do need to be aware of it that you will not be able to receive local channels when you get a couple hundred miles from your service address. DNS is available which will give you New York or LA networks, but this is a separate discussion from whether or not you can take your equipment with you.

 

When you move to a new location, all you need to do is to call Directv and have them change your service address. So far we have done that four times since December, and Direct was more than willing to do it. You call them, they change your service address, and then you reboot your receiver, and you are good to go. The CSR will even stay on the phone with you until everything is working properly. We carry a portable Slimline-5 SWM dish and a tripod with us, and aiming it usually takes about 5 minutes.

 

BTW, I bought the dish off Craigslist for $20.00.

 

Paul

[SWharton]

You talked to someone who doesn't know what they are doing. You need to talk to the KVH Dept. They are in charge of the Rvers. The rule of thumb is to keep calling until someone has the answer you want.

 

There have been several threads on taking your unit from home. Just search for Directv.

 

For tripods and other odds and ends I recommen TV4RV.com, He has everything you need and is easy to talk to.

 

I also recommend getting DNS(you need to fill out a form from the Escapees website and send to Directv). This gives you access to the national channels and allows you to record from the same channels all the time. Getting local every day you move will get old fast. If we want local we just use our batwing.

[Gypsy Traveler]

While technically you could, there is no easy way to aim it. You need some kind of mount. There are various options like tripods and home made mounts. Tripods are probably easiest, while home made mounts are the least expensive. I have used both.

 

Do you currently have HD? What receiver do you have?

 

One thing that you do need to be aware of it that you will not be able to receive local channels when you get a couple hundred miles from your service address. DNS is available which will give you New York or LA networks, but this is a separate discussion from whether or not you can take your equipment with you.

We do have HD. Our receiver is a HR44-500. I'm going to have hubby call again and ask for the KVH dept that SWharton suggested. Geez, I cant believe they all have different answers. Kindof like politicians.

[pjstough]

You dont even need to contact Directv at all unless you want to change your service address. We carried a portable dish and a receiver from the house for four years and never contacted Directv. We didnt change our service address because we had renters in our house, so we got by without locals over the satellite. Just get yourself an appropriate dish, and a stand, and you are good to go.

 

Paul

[SWharton]

You need to realize that 99%(guess) of their installs are in the home. At least they have a dept. for the Rvers to go to.

 

As I said before, look at some other threads about Directv, they should help you understand what you need to do.

[pjstough]

You need to realize that 99%(guess) of their installs are in the home. At least they have a dept. for the Rvers to go to.

 

As I said before, look at some other threads about Directv, they should help you understand what you need to do.

 

At the risk of repeating myself my experience when we sold our house and wanted to have our service moved to our RV it was easy peasy. I called the regular number for Driectv, told them what I wanted done, they sent out an installer and because they were running a "movers special" my receiver was upgraded to a Genie. The installer connected it up, and then assembled a new Slimline-5 SWM and installed in on existing post on our leased lot(the same post I had been using for a couple of years with the Slimline-5 SWM that I had purchased from Craigslist, but had taken down before the installer got there). He then connected it to the satellite connection on the motorhome, and we were good to go.

 

I am glad our experience has been so good, and feel bad for others who have had bad experiences.

 

Paul

[Biker56]

Put a Trav'ler SWM dish on the roof of the RV.

Move your HR44 to it anytime when going on a trip.

Don't call DTV about any move from the house to the RV.

You will lose local channels if you travel out of the spot beam.

With that Trav'ler you will get HD just like at home.

 

I have the HR34, H25 and HR23 in my MH.

With the price increase in Feb I dropped the H21 I had, and just ran a HDMI cable from the HR34 to that TV.

 

Next price increase one of the other receivers will be gone.

[Gypsy Traveler]

I wish I could afford the Trav'ler dish. That would make things easier.

My husband wanted to take the dish off the house since we sold the house.

[pjstough]

I wish I could afford the Trav'ler dish. That would make things easier.

My husband wanted to take the dish off the house since we sold the house.

 

If you wish, take the dish off the house, then all you will need is a stand. One caveat though, if the dish on your house is not a SWM, then I would leave the dish on the house and get a SWM dish.

 

Paul

[Biker56]

 

If you wish, take the dish off the house, then all you will need is a stand. One caveat though, if the dish on your house is not a SWM, then I would leave the dish on the house and get a SWM dish.

 

Paul

If they have and are using a HR44 then the house dish would be a SWM one.

The HR44 will only work with a SWM dish.

 

Sorry to hear they didn't make enough profit on the house sale to buy a Trav'ler.

[Gypsy Traveler]

If they have and are using a HR44 then the house dish would be a SWM one.

The HR44 will only work with a SWM dish.

 

Sorry to hear they didn't make enough profit on the house sale to buy a Trav'ler.

Me too! We won't even break even because we haven't been here long enough.

Hubby said the dish is a SWM. I had to cancel the Internet portion of our service today (it's bundled) and got hit with a $40 early termination fee. There's no sweet talking those people. As for the Direct TV part, I think I'll do what someone said and not tell them and just take the equipment and hit the road.

 

Two weeks out and I'm getting nervous!!! Can you tell?!?

[Barbaraok]

Your first mistake was talking to the initial person that answered the call. Since you are in an RV, I've found that it takes at least 2 transfers to get to a supervisor who knows what they are doing. What you do is tell the initial person that you don't want to yell at them, so would they please get a supervisor - then when you get that supervisor, tell them you don't want to yell at them, just need a supervisor who KNOWS about RV program through Direct - that will usually get you someone who can get things done.

 

Since you are 'moving' tell them that - give them your new address and tell them you have everything needed to set up, just need to be changed to the new address. Then you should be up and running and can decide if you want DNS or not.

 

Barb

[BooneDocks]

 

When you move to a new location, all you need to do is to call Directv and have them change your service address. So far we have done that four times since December, and Direct was more than willing to do it. You call them, they change your service address, and then you reboot your receiver, and you are good to go. The CSR will even stay on the phone with you until everything is working properly. We carry a portable Slimline-5 SWM dish and a tripod with us, and aiming it usually takes about 5 minutes.

 

BTW, I bought the dish off Craigslist for $20.00.

 

Paul

Good to hear, Paul. We have held down our service address changes to about 4 a year spread out over the year, but had heard that Directv now was more willing to make changes. Your four changes since December seems to confirm that.

[pjstough]

One change was for only a week when we went to California, and that didnt seem to be a problem. When we changed our service address back to an Arizona address the CSR did ask if we were in a mobile home. I said, no we are in a motorhome. The CSR just said, ok, and went ahead with the change.

 

As a side note, when we went to California we were boondocking near Borrego Springs, and when I first set up the dish, I could no longer get Phoenix locals, and didnt even think about now I was out of the Arizona spotbeam, and called Direct for help. Since I wasnt smart enough to tell the CSR we have moved, and he didnt ask, we tried several things but still no locals, so we basically gave up. After hanging up with Direct, I realized we must be out of the spotbeam, and called back to change our service address, but since we were not at any address, the CSR looked up a map of the area, and found as address that would work, changed out service address, I rebooted the receiver, and everything worked.

 

A Happy Directv customer.

 

Paul

[Gypsy Traveler]

I have the worst luck with Direct. I seem to get people who don't have a clue. I'm glad we can take our house DVR because we've got so many things recorded on it.

Thanks for your input everyone. I love this forum!

[edatlanta]

The only problem with the Trav'ler is if your site is under trees. I just had to move a camper to a different site from the one he wanted because a tree was in the way and for him to get his DirecTV he would have had to back up 10' or so and that would have put him in the river. He did not have a backup dish/tripod.

 

I have contacted both King and Winegard about coming out with a portable auto dish that many people have on Dish, but I'm a DirecTV guy and I won't switch to Dish and I also want HD which you can't get with the auto portables except on Dish.

 

So I continue to use a tripod and a Slimline dish and all is well.

[Gypsy Traveler]

Thanks everyone. Eventually we'll learn everything. There is quite a learning curve for all this!

I appreciate your input!!

[Gypsy Traveler]

You talked to someone who doesn't know what they are doing. You need to talk to the KVH Dept. They are in charge of the Rvers. The rule of thumb is to keep calling until someone has the answer you want.

 

There have been several threads on taking your unit from home. Just search for Directv.

 

For tripods and other odds and ends I recommen TV4RV.com, He has everything you need and is easy to talk to.

 

I also recommend getting DNS(you need to fill out a form from the Escapees website and send to Directv). This gives you access to the national channels and allows you to record from the same channels all the time. Getting local every day you move will get old fast. If we want local we just use our batwing.

I printed out the forms off the Escapees site. My husband said they don't apply to us, but I think he's wrong. I printed them out again this morning and I'm going to look over them.

[SWharton]

You need the DNS form is you want the national stations. I find having the national stations means that I can record the programs from the same channel each night and the receiver is smart enough to change time zones as we travel across them. I also don't need to call and give DTV a different service address to get the locals and then set up the programming for that night to correspond with the local channel numbers.

 

As I said before we put up the bat wing if we want the local stations. We only look at the locals if the weather is questionable.

 

Just depends on what you want to do.

[Gypsy Traveler]

You need the DNS form is you want the national stations. I find having the national stations means that I can record the programs from the same channel each night and the receiver is smart enough to change time zones as we travel across them. I also don't need to call and give DTV a different service address to get the locals and then set up the programming for that night to correspond with the local channel numbers.

 

As I said before we put up the bat wing if we want the local stations. We only look at the locals if the weather is questionable.

 

Just depends on what you want to do.

HA! I love it when I'm right!

Thanks so much.

[thegoodwins297]

I have the Genie and mini Genie. When we sold the house, we had it set up for our RV. The installer didn't give us any guff doing it. We have the Slimline mounted to a flat base. Using the Dish Pointer Pro app, we find the satellites...usually in just a couple of minutes. We move often and this hasn't been a problem. We pay extra to have CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox and CW which is pulling from New York (CW is from DC).