Hopper Upgrade - Dish giving me no real options..

[DeadEnd]

I'm new to the forum but the past few days with Dish Network has brought me to finding this forum over and over for answers. I have a 14 year history with Dish, equipment, installations, worked as an installer for years.

So what brings me here. I'll save my complaints to the end.

I have 10 acres, house, 2000 square foot shop. I want to upgrade to the hopper/joey package. I travel for a living, nuclear contractor, and often take a receiver and a spare dish to the campground or apartment I end up staying at for a month or so before going to the next job. Obviously this wont work for me since Dish tells me I cant keep the VIP receivers on the same account, and Dish anywhere isn't always an option due to slow or no internet.

I go through about 2 722k's a year due to failing hard drives so I want a change of equipment in which one of the Loyalty team members today said that stuff doesn't last forever so I got kind of s***ty with him on the phone.

What I have learned is they are not going to give me a hopper and joey to replace the 722, without giving me 3 joeys to replace the 2 VIP single tuners.

Basically the distance between the shop and house doesn't permit the cable length, and having only joeys and hoppers, I cant necessarily take one with me on my jobs anymore.

My question is: Can I get a 2H/2J system and separate the hoppers? Run a hopper in the house with a joey, and run a hopper and joey in the shop (or take it with me when I go on the road) and use 2 satellite dishes? Do the 2 hoppers on one account need to "talk" to each other?

I've read of installers putting 2 dishes up for 2 hoppers before... it must work but Dish says "well I don't know why but it wont work at all if you do that".

I want the system, but I cant possibly connect this "network" together between the shop and house. They suggested I get a second account and pay double.....

They told me I had to have an installer come put special cable in, they told me initially I would need to pay $915 for 2 hoppers and 2 joeys plus the $15 was for the installation. I mean I have heard one line of BS after another all day from Dish.

So guys, how do I do it. I want a hopper/joey system off of 2 dishes. I can live with giving up the 2 single tuners, but I cant build this "network" of receivers to suit their "requirements". How can I make this happen?


Thanks

 

[n0qcu]

You can get your setup if you go to your local retailer instead of directly with dish.
You will get the exact same deals on the equipment.
You can also buy a 211 for "tailgating" that can be on the account with your Hoppers.

 

[TheKrell]

I am pretty sure you can indeed put up two hoppers disconnected from one another on two dishes, and I know some have Hoppers in RVs. I think the Hoppers share recordings exclusively over MOCA,so I don't think you'll be able to see recordings on one Hopper from another. Is your Internet service common in both house and shop? If so, you could run a Joey over IP in the shop, and see everything in the house.

 

[DeadEnd]

We discussed the tailgater option, in which the other 2 receivers are 211 and 211k but I'm still told I cant have them on the same account.

Internet is shared but I still have that need to occasionally have a standalone receiver.

Years ago, there was the option to have a receiver without spotbeam limits, for travelers, but things constantly need to change.

I cant figure out why the Loyalty team told me that 2 hoppers could not be separated and would only say "I cant tell you why but they cant" and then I asked why he couldn't tell me and he said he didn't know why that's why he couldn't tell me.

I think it could happen, I have a close friend that is a dealer but has done only 1 hopper install because nobody around here wants it apparently.

My only thought is that the 2 hoppers would somehow report through the internet to Dish Network that the IP's are different (if I'm gone) and then probably get banned. Any thoughts?

 

[TheKrell]

Do I understand that you have only one 722 presently? If so, I think a single Hopper and a single Joey for your shop, connected via broadband, would work for you. When you go on travel, just take the Hopper with you. Then you don't have two receivers simultaneously calling home from different locations.

 

[bobrown14]

What about dishanywhere for on the road. I went to another country with my laptop and had internet and was able to see all my recordings and also live tv. I would expect you can do the same with your laptop in your shop if its really that far away from your main house. Whats the distance from your house to your shop?

Cheers,
?Bob

 

[Scherrman]

If you are taking 722 receivers with you when you travel I can see why you go through so many. Moving a receiver with a hard drive around that much is not good at all. You will shorten the life span of that receiver a great deal. This is one of the reasons Dish recommends using 211 receivers for travel, since they do not have hard drives they have fewer parts to fail.

 

[Scherrman]

What about dishanywhere for on the road. I went to another country with my laptop and had internet and was able to see all my recordings and also live tv. I would expect you can do the same with your laptop in your shop if its really that far away from your main house. Whats the distance from your house to your shop?

Cheers,
?Bob

The OP mentioned that he didn't think Dish Anywhere would be a good option since he does not always have a good connection.

 

[bobrown14]

The OP mentioned that he didn't think Dish Anywhere would be a good option since he does not always have a good connection.

I think the OP has 2 issues with connection - one being in his shop and the other being on the road for a month. I would think it's easier to get internet and use dishanywhere than running expensive wire to his shop (for the one issue) and dishanywhere while on the road (2nd issue). Personally I'd run my own cable to the shop (get dish approved type of cable for length of run) which is why I asked about distance from house to shop and have Dish install the Hopper/Joey system and be done with it.

Cheers,
?Bob

 

[Scherrman]

What we generally do in a case where they have a separate building that they want Dish at is to do a complete second install and that customer must pay for the materials and labor. I think this would be his best option since you will be limited by how many feet of cable to can run.

 

[rglore]

Hoppers do not have to see each other, a standard install option is to use isolators to keep two Hopper systems completely separate. As you mentioned, if multiple receivers don't call home with the same phone number or IP address, it could trigger a fraud aleart.

 

[Tampa8]

So I see a couple of options. Yes, you can have a 211K on your account, but you have to own it, can not be a leased unit from DISH.

You mentioned not needing the spotbeams, Dish itself no longer has Distant Network service but there is a company you can use that goes through Dish seamlessly with your receiver that will provide Either or both San Francisco Networks or New York Networks. http://www.allamericandirect.com/

As mentioned, and what MANY people have done is pay for the extra install at the workshop and you are set. It's still one account, then no worries about running cable etc.

And Scherrman hit it squarely on the head - your problems are because a 722 is not meant to be moved around. Yes, at some point a hard drive will fail normally, but not often in a unit that sits at home.

 

[TheKrell]

Only a couple? 1H/1J with the 1J in the shop via IP might do perfectly.

 

[DeadEnd]

Do I understand that you have only one 722 presently? If so, I think a single Hopper and a single Joey for your shop, connected via broadband, would work for you. When you go on travel, just take the Hopper with you. Then you don't have two receivers simultaneously calling home from different locations.

No, I have a 722, using dual, a 211 and 211k. I cant necessarily take the Hopper and leave my wife and son without TV.

What about dishanywhere for on the road. I went to another country with my laptop and had internet and was able to see all my recordings and also live tv. I would expect you can do the same with your laptop in your shop if its really that far away from your main house. Whats the distance from your house to your shop?

Cheers,
?Bob

I "could" do it, but I currently have 2 dishes setup, so I don't want to relocate 1 and eliminate the other. This setup works best for me and I am happy with it. Next, sometimes I don't always have an internet connection, or the connection isn't that great, etc. Everything has its benefit, for example, I knew I was going to a location last year that the Dish wouldn't work, they told me that it was impossible to set a dish by their rules, and get a signal due to the trees and have had multiple attempts from previous renters at that lot. So I would have loved to have my DishAnywhere then. However, I get in some remote places that don't offer high speed internet and I prop up the dish on the tripod.

Regardless, it seems that the most ideal setup is 2 hoppers and 2 joeys since its truly 4 TV's and I don't really care to try and setup a Joey over the IP. Lastly, if I give up all my equipment and hate this new setup, I'm kind of stuck so I better start off right, then I could purchase a 211 and tailgate. Ideally, I just want to put my system out in the garage, and a sister system in my house without digging for 200' or running overhead cable from the Dish.

That being said, does anyone know if a Hopper can stand alone or do they have be integrated?

 

[DeadEnd]

If you are taking 722 receivers with you when you travel I can see why you go through so many. Moving a receiver with a hard drive around that much is not good at all. You will shorten the life span of that receiver a great deal. This is one of the reasons Dish recommends using 211 receivers for travel, since they do not have hard drives they have fewer parts to fail.

My wife would kill me if I took her "shows" with me lol...

 

[DeadEnd]

Hoppers do not have to see each other, a standard install option is to use isolators to keep two Hopper systems completely separate. As you mentioned, if multiple receivers don't call home with the same phone number or IP address, it could trigger a fraud aleart.

That's the kind of details I'm looking for. I don't want fraud alerts. The system I run was professionally installed and approved by a dealer, and no the 211's don't have to call home. If the Hoppers need to "home" themselves through the internet, that's where I may find my problems and will just stick to what works, that sounds like the easiest route. I just asked the question because I saw a complaint that an installer put up 2 dishes and told the customer that each hopper had to have its own dish. So I thought hey, I guess it can be done... but maybe not with home problems.

But... I see where people have a Hopper/Joey installed in their RV, how do they do that?

 

[DeadEnd]

Only a couple? 1H/1J with the 1J in the shop via IP might do perfectly.

4 TV's, 1H/3J = 3 tuners so I'm told, so I'm going to sacrifice the ability to watch the 4th if all are going. I keep reading that people ended up getting 2H/2J because the 1H/3J sucks. That's what spawned all of this.

 

[aaronwt6]

To me personally as an installer, it seems like you'd want 1-2 Hoppers at your house, possibly a Joey in the Shop, and a 211k for your traveling. How far exactly is the shop from the house? The Joey doesn't have nearly the constraints on wire length that the Hopper does. I've successfully run one 350' or so from the Hopper with adequate MOCA signal. Also, I was still unclear on this but do you have the same internet shared at the shop that you do in the house? You can feasibly run the Joey out there via your router.

 

[aaronwt6]

Where about are you located DeadEnd? I was thinking South Carolina based on your info you have posted. This is being made way more complicated to you than it needs to be. I just did a very similar configuration to yours for a friend with very little extra cost.

 

[navychop]

Yep. I second Hopper system at home, 211 series on road (w/EHD that has prerecorded programs on it).

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