Long Distance Networks Going Away

[ROFCIBC]

This sucks!!

I believe that Dish no longer offers the Distant Networks, they didn't want to deal with the hassle.

I called them and they claim the do. Will see. They do have a plan that is kind of a "pay as you go", where you have service from month to month. That way if you are not "out and about" in your rollin' condo, you don't have to pay. Right now the DirecTV receiver in my Dutch Star is on all the time, and cost's $7.00 a month.

 

[NYDutch]

I called my US Representative and am waiting for a callback about the congressional action, or should I say "inaction"....not holding breath, but it's better than nothing.

I've written to mine as well...

 

[NYDutch]

I called them and they claim the do. Will see. They do have a plan that is kind of a "pay as you go", where you have service from month to month. That way if you are not "out and about" in your rollin' condo, you don't have to pay. Right now the DirecTV receiver in my Dutch Star is on all the time, and cost's $7.00 a month.

Dish was offering a west coast DNS feed (San Francisco?), but I understood they discontinued it due to lack of interest. It might still be available on request though...

 

[cpalmer2k]

Dish was offering a west coast DNS feed (San Francisco?), but I understood they discontinued it due to lack of interest. It might still be available on request though...

I contacted them a few months ago about it and they offered to send me the forms to receive them. For a while my wife's parents used Dish when they traveled. With Dish you have a lot more flexibility. If you have a "Dish Outdoors" account you can actually change your locals using the Dish app on your phone or tablet to where you are if you travel. They also have a number of markets that are on the Continental US satellites (though this list is dwindling- a lot of the good ones that used to be there are no longer available). If you don't mind having locals from some obscure market you can just "switch" to one of those and be set for good. It's not hard to "trick" the Dish app into thinking you are somewhere other than where you are either, if you have an Android device.

 

[NYDutch]

I contacted them a few months ago about it and they offered to send me the forms to receive them. For a while my wife's parents used Dish when they traveled. With Dish you have a lot more flexibility. If you have a "Dish Outdoors" account you can actually change your locals using the Dish app on your phone or tablet to where you are if you travel. They also have a number of markets that are on the Continental US satellites (though this list is dwindling- a lot of the good ones that used to be there are no longer available). If you don't mind having locals from some obscure market you can just "switch" to one of those and be set for good. It's not hard to "trick" the Dish app into thinking you are somewhere other than where you are either, if you have an Android device.

As I said, apparently on request. They certainly haven't promoted though. And of course now it's moot anyway, since it will be going away barring a last minute congressional action of some sort.

I'm a Dish Outdoors subscriber that's well aware of using the app to change my service address to anyplace I choose...

As for the CONUS beamed markets, I keep a current list of those as well, but I don't think I'd call markets like Baltimore, MD, Cincinnati, OH, Lexington, KY, New York City, NY, or Sacramento, CA, "obscure" to name a few of the 16 "pseudo DNS" markets still available on one arc or the other.

 

[cpalmer2k]

As I said, apparently on request. They certainly haven't promoted though. And of course now it's moot anyway, since it will be going away barring a last minute congressional action of some sort.

Dish isn't losing anything... remember they offer locals in every market, so the new law granted them the right to offer DNS permanently by default. It will be interesting to see if they do start to publicize it now though. Right after they started offering it again they prominently displayed it on their website. I still have a screenshot of that actually. They quietly removed it a while later. I wondered if it wasn't partially due to the uncertainty as to whether things would be renewed or not.

 

[NYDutch]

Dish isn't losing anything... remember they offer locals in every market, so the new law granted them the right to offer DNS permanently by default. It will be interesting to see if they do start to publicize it now though. Right after they started offering it again they prominently displayed it on their website. I still have a screenshot of that actually. They quietly removed it a while later. I wondered if it wasn't partially due to the uncertainty as to whether things would be renewed or not.

I haven't seen the final version of the bill, but I hope you're right for the sake of those that still want DNS. Has Dish added an east coast feed yet?

 

[bobinraymoremo]

Call me a pessimist but don't know if that is going to help. Congress set terms, that providers must serve all local areas to provide out of network signals. Dish complies, DirecTV does not and has no plans to comply. Calls and letters should be sent to AT&T DirecTV and with their customer service record we know what will happen.

I called my US Representative and am waiting for a callback about the congressional action, or should I say "inaction"....not holding breath, but it's better than nothing.

Sent from my LM-V405 using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[TheRatPatrol]

It would be neat if the technology allowed the receivers to tune into whichever spot beam locals you were near in your RV or semi truck.

 

[raoul5788]

It would be neat if the technology allowed the receivers to tune into whichever spot beam locals you were near in your RV or semi truck.

I'm sure they could if they wanted to.

 

[Jimbo]

Problem with that technology is, you wouldn't be able to "Move" .

Or, for $10 p/m they open up ALL the locals your spot beam your in can receive ...

 

[raoul5788]

Problem with that technology is, you wouldn't be able to "Move" .

Or, for $10 p/m they open up ALL the locals your spot beam your in can receive ...

In the 90s when I got my c-band dish all of the Sportschannels were in fixed key mode. All you had to do was subscribe to one other channel and you got all of the SCs across the country. It was great, I could watch MLB for free!

 

[krynn]

It would be neat if the technology allowed the receivers to tune into whichever spot beam locals you were near in your RV or semi truck.

i thought the KVH system did that for you??? though for the cost of it it should do things to me i won't talk about

 

[NYDutch]

It would be neat if the technology allowed the receivers to tune into whichever spot beam locals you were near in your RV or semi truck.

Two problems with that. One, your receiver doesn't know where you are, and two, your receiver has to be programmed to receive the locals for the market where you are. A single spot beam can carry the locals for more than one market, with the downloaded software determining which ones you receive. Could a GPS be incorporated into the receiver? Sure... Except the vast majority of subscribers have no need for it since they stay in a fixed location, making the required hardware/software development unlikely to ever happen.

 

[NYDutch]

i thought the KVH system did that for you??? though for the cost of it it should do things to me i won't talk about

The KVH system only knows how to find the desired satellites. It doesn't know or care about spot beams...

 

[Jimbo]

Two problems with that. One, your receiver doesn't know where you are, and two, your receiver has to be programmed to receive the locals for the market where you are. A single spot beam can carry the locals for more than one market, with the downloaded software determining which ones you receive. Could a GPS be incorporated into the receiver? Sure... Except the vast majority of subscribers have no need for it since they stay in a fixed location, making the required hardware/software development unlikely to ever happen.

If your on the move, you need to put the zip code that your in , in order for it to know where your at, so it will pull in your locals.

 

[krynn]

The KVH system only knows how to find the desired satellites. It doesn't know or care about spot beams...

thanks for that tidbit. the kvh sales rep said that it does!!! i also thought they did away with the distant locals years ago. god now i'm outdated

 

[NYDutch]

If your on the move, you need to put the zip code that your in , in order for it to know where your at, so it will pull in your locals.

I took RatPatrol's post to mean the receiver would switch automatically as you moved.

 

[krynn]

I'm sure they could if they wanted to.

and at a price to!!!

 

[NYDutch]

thanks for that tidbit. the kvh sales rep said that it does!!! i also thought they did away with the distant locals years ago. god now i'm outdated

If his lips are moving...