Satellite TV/Internet - 1 Subscription/2 Locations?

[CJ4]

I hope it's ok to talk about this subject but I'm having a delima and didn't know who else to ask. You folks on here have always come through for me and you're all real smart! I'm about to finish my farm/lake 2nd home and need high-speed internet and satellite TV there. I'll be spending most of the summer/fall there but will travel 175 miles back and forth and spend some weekends at my main home. I have cable for TV/Internet in the city but I just can't see wasting money on service for both places when i'm never at both places at the same time. Pardon me for my obvious ignorance but what i'd like to accomplish is this:

I'd like to buy and set-up the satellite equipment at both places and just move either a receiver/modem from place to place or whatever to be able to use the same monthly subcription wherever I am.

Is this possible?? I was told no but then I looked up and found that folks traveling in RV's can do this??? I searched on Ebay and it appears you can buy the equipment for around $500 and comments seem to be that you will be told that the FCC requires a professional installer but that's not true.......and also that you won't get tech support if you self install but the satellite TV/Internet companies don't care just so you pay for your subscription.

Also I understand it takes a different dish for TV vs. Internet but on Ebay their appears to be an adapter of sort that will allow both to be used on one dish......

Help......inform me please!!! Thanks!!!

 

[Diesel-ME]

.....I'd like to buy and set-up the satellite equipment at both places and just move either a receiver/modem from place to place or whatever to be able to use the same monthly subcription wherever I am.

Also I understand it takes a different dish for TV vs. Internet but on Ebay their appears to be an adapter of sort that will allow both to be used on one dish......

Help......inform me please!!! Thanks!!!

I have used both DirecTV and DishNetwork. The 1st time that I used both of them I bought my own equipment and installed my own dish. However, with the Internet verisons and/or the HD versions they seem to insist that their installers set the dish up for you. The HD and Internet versions require a more precise aiming of the dish to pick up the multiple satellites.

However, I'll bet that you could let them install for you in the city, then pick up a 2nd dish for the country and install it yourself. You can look up the aiming info based on your zip code of the country address and if absolutely necessary you can even buy a digital gizmo like the pro installers use to aim without having to yell inside to a helper watching the strength meter. Just Google "aiming satellite dish" and you will find plenty of links. Be sure to check that both locations have a clear view in the right direction.

Good luck!

~paul

 

[NoMo]

If I were in your position, here's what I'd do...

At the main (city) house:
Drop the cable TV (or reduce subscription to lowest tier) and keep cable Internet service. Then I would subscribe to DirecTV or Dish for television service and have them install the equipment for free.

At the lake/farm house:
I'd buy a second dish (just the dish) and install it permanently. Then I'd bring my receivers from the city house when migrating. For Internet connectivity, I'd use a low cost dial-up service.

Satellite Internet service is the absolute last resort for those who have no option other than dial-up. And even if that is the case at your lake house, I wouldn't let that cause me to lose cable Internet service at the primary residence. I suffered on satellite for two years and you really don't want that headache if you can avoid it.

Either way, forget about the single dish solution. Back when TV only came in via 1-2 birds, adding Internet onto the dish wasn't nearly as tough. But today, getting a single dish to acquire signals from 3, 4 or 5 TV satellites plus the Internet satellite is nearly impossible.

 

[DrainPondDesign]

CJ4

The satellite internet antenna is transmit/receive while the TV dish is receive only. It's the transmitting part that the FCC requires a professional (licensed?) installer.

Keep checking providers as I think some offer the satellite internet with a dial-up thrown in for when traveling with a laptop.

I'd check with Hughes-Net as I think that all of the satellite internet providers use the Hughes satellites anyway.

 

[Jimbrown]

I highly reccomend that you use seperate dish for tv and satelite. I have both sytems the dual dish is extremely hard to aim properly and does not work as well as the seperate dishes. You can do what you want if you do it correctly. I would look at these two sites and ask the same question. There are some tricks to doing it. The exact same question was ask on the DSL site about a month ago. The real trick will be getting assigned to the correct internet satelite that will serv both locations. If you have never aimed an internet satelit dish it ain't easy. Considerably harder than a TV dish. You also need to read the faqs for internet satelite very carfully. There ae sever restrictions on satelite as compared to DSL and cable.


Datastorm Users - The Premier Site For Mobile Satellite Internet

broadband help » Forums » HughesNet Satellite

 

[CJ4]

I have used both DirecTV and DishNetwork.

Are these services about the same or is one better than the other??

 

[CJ4]

I don't quite understand how the receivers/equipment works. Is it possible to buy a 2nd dish/receiver and "tune-in" with the same Satellite TV subscription?? (of course as long as you're only using it at one location at a time) In the "old days" you had cards in the satellite receivers and you could just take your card that had your paid subscription with you and plug it into any compatible receiver and it worked.........How are these things working today????

I found a link that sells the dish and even multi-receivers but i'm not sure what i'm actually looking at.

TheSatelliteShop.Net Specializes in Directv And DSS Satellite Equipment

Thanks for the replies.

 

[SCRich]

Forget High Speed Internet on a dish, that is a misnomer. There is nothing really high speed on a dish internet feed and the headaches of using it does not justify the costs or speed increase.

Go to broadband help » BBR is DSL · Cable · VOIP · Security · Satellite · Fiber · News · Tips · Reviews · Community · Tools and do searching on the Dish Internet forums, you will see what I mean. If you are a electronics geek and like to twiddle and dabble with the stuff AS A HOBBY then that is one thing, if you are looking for it as a tool I do not believe this is for you.

I am in the same boat but this will be for my home, not a 2nd place. No Cable, no DSL (at least they don't know what to tell me!) and EVDO (Cellular) is not available heck I even have little voice cellular coverage! I think my days of internet and networking as a hobby are coming to an end when I move in this August! The wife will need to do the bills at work and I'll have to surf the web on my EVDO laptop while working on the road. I can't see myself going back to dialup! I think I will NOT do it I'll just wait however many years needed till high speed becomes an option out there.

 

[Diesel-ME]

I don't quite understand how the receivers/equipment works. Is it possible to buy a 2nd dish/receiver and "tune-in" with the same Satellite TV subscription?? (of course as long as you're only using it at one location at a time) In the "old days" you had cards in the satellite receivers and you could just take your card that had your paid subscription with you and plug it into any compatible receiver and it worked....

Thanks for the replies.

They still have smart cards, and I may be wrong, but I think they match the smart card serial number with the receiver serial number. This prevents you from moving your smartcard between receivers. But you can still mount a dish at each location and move the entire receiver from house to house.

If you must have Internet service via dish, then maybe order it up for the country house, seeing as how they have to send an installer out. Then self-install a basic dish for TV only in the city (if the basic dish would work with the receiver that came with the TV/Internet rig).

~paul

 

[terbear1963]

DirecTV has announced in Jan that they will be offering a product called "DIRECTV® Sat-Go" see the press release here DIRECTV - Press Release - Sat-Go

Also, If you would like to see what the product looks like and more info you can go to this forum for a PREVIEW The SAT-GO: First Look - DBSTalk.Com. This might be what you are looking for for the lake home and would only cost the mirroring fee from your main home and could also be used at your main home. Don't know what the cost on the unit will be though.