"Moving" question from a newbie

[Greedytree]

New guy here. Sorry if this info is elsewhere, but I've looked around and can't find it.

Several threads have talked about "moving" in order to zone in on your hometown RSN while physically out of market. (I need Comcast SportsNet Bay Area for my San Fran Giants but I live in Washington State.)

It all seems pretty straightforward -- just call and change my service address to a semi-legit one in the target zip code, right?

But on the DISH website it says to call "and we'll send someone to install your new dish for free."

Sooo....how do you avoid that step?? Can't have them sending someone out to hook up to my dummy address.

What am I missing? Or maybe what's the exact process everyone else seems to have figured out for this that I'm misunderstanding?

I'm desperate here. Thanks a million in advance!

 

[VegasVoomer]

I was going to ask this very question until I saw that my LV locals are about to go online.

 

[ab187]

It would be a little bit costly but you could always buy the dish you need and self install it.

The Dish Store - Powered by Metro25

 

[jwgreen68]

Hmm, you'll have trouble "moving" now if you're not in that DMA's spotbeam

 

[naccoachbob]

I "moved" about 2 years ago and told them that the dish was already set up and that I was getting all my channels.
They TOLD me that I would have to give up my current locals and get the Dallas locals.
Which is kinda what I wanted in the first place since they were HD and the Tyler locals weren't.
They didn't offer to have a tech come out at that point.

 

[Greedytree]

Uh-0h... DMAs? Spotbeams? The threads I read didn't mention anyone having snags like that. (I'm in the Seattle area trying to grab northern California. Is that a problem?)

I have no idea what I'm talking about.

I'd buy my own equipment if I had to. Is that that only way?

 

[Greedytree]

I "moved" about 2 years ago and told them that the dish was already set up and that I was getting all my channels.
They TOLD me that I would have to give up my current locals and get the Dallas locals.
Which is kinda what I wanted in the first place since they were HD and the Tyler locals weren't.
They didn't offer to have a tech come out at that point.

Ah... Now that sounds promising.

So you "moved" to Dallas then and basically got the whole Dallas enchilada? I'd be fine with getting everything No Cal. Yakima locals suck anyway.

And it was just a simple matter of a phone call, right?

I'm thinking of using my parents' address. They're DirecTV anyway, so they're fine with that.

 

[jwgreen68]

Uh-0h... DMAs? Spotbeams? The threads I read didn't mention anyone having snags like that. (I'm in the Seattle area trying to grab northern California. Is that a problem?)

I have no idea what I'm talking about.

I'd buy my own equipment if I had to. Is that that only way?

There's a spotbeam map around here somewhere, see if ya can find that. You may be in that spotbeam, I don't know. But, what I do know and hope you realize, is that when you "move", the address you move to, becomes the physical address that Dish associates to you. It's where your bill goes{unless you have paperless billing}, all correspondence from Dish, equipment upgrades/replacements, and a tech if a service call is needed. It's not done without risks or consequences.

 

[bross]

You can have a service address and a different billing address. You can also have your system in a RV and change the service address as often as you like.

 

[Mr Tony]

SF locals don't reach Washington. Theyre on the old satellites (110 for SD 119 for HD) and those spotbeams are tight

you would get the SF area RSN's though as those are CONUS (whole US)

 

[Greedytree]

Thanks for all the info, guys. Much obliged.

I appreciate you weighing in, too, Iceberg. You seem like the go-to guy for this topic based on those earlier threads I mentioned. (Looks like I'm on 119 already according to the receiver, but the RSN is all I'm really after, so I can take or leave the rest.)

I'm guessing most of the people who have done this own their own dish, right? I'm gonna give it a try anyway using naccoachbob's technique. If DISH insists on sending someone to setup the "new" equipment, they've got me, but it's worth a shot.

Thanks again!

 

[shy_guy]

Just tell them the dish is already set up and working, or that you prefer to do it yourself. They won't mind because you are actually saving them money and time. As far as I know, there is no rule against do-it-yourself dish installs. (Although I did try it once and failed miserably, lol)

 

[Greedytree]

That makes sense, shy_guy. Now that I think about it, the first time we ever signed on to DISH they may have discussed whether or not there was already a dish in place.

Yeah, I'm sure it looks easier than it really is to get one up and running all by your lonesome. At least for a low-tech like me. Clearly this is the place to come for advice if I ever do, tho.

 

[mikenewy]

Since you are not really moving, just "moving". You already have the equipment installed. As Iceberg says, SF locals are on the National Beam (CONUS) right now so you don't need to worry about Spotbeams at this point. Also, you can do this online-csr, vs phone call (its easier and less tense), since many CSR's don't speak good english. Its no big deall, if the SF locals go spot, you jus move again. Same routine.

 

[terpsmandan]

I did it online with the csr-chat and it went fine. Just tell them that you have everything up and running and you have good signal strength and here is my new address. It did take me three chats to get everything set up however including a csr telling me that the locals were not available in the market that I moved to. Good luck.

 

[Greedytree]

Sweet. I was wondering about doing it online. Forgot about live chat mode!

 

[bsakoff]

Are there any local hd still on Conus 129?

 

[Laddyboy]

Are there any local hd still on Conus 129?

I think they have moved all of them. I think the 118.7s will be removed at some point. If you're looking for ConUS HD locals, 77W is about the only longer-term option.

 

[bsakoff]

do you know if the Richmond VA. or the Charlotte NC or Charleston WV hd spots are active yet on 129?

 

[mdonnelly]

Since you are not really moving, just "moving". You already have the equipment installed. As Iceberg says, SF locals are on the National Beam (CONUS) right now so you don't need to worry about Spotbeams at this point. ...

SF HD locals are on a 119 spotbeam, not CONUS.