Dish NetWork Pre-paid services

[SteveG]

Is any one using Dish Net Work's Prepaid satelite service? If so, is it working OK?

[SteveG]

Is any one using Dish Net Work's Prepaid satelite service? If so, is it working OK?

[FrankO]

I use Dish and pay month to month. I have them stop the service when I have the MH in storage and start it when we decide to go on a trip. No issues yet with this process. DirectTV will not let us suspend service.
Frank O.

[Tom N]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by FrankO:
DirectTV will not let us suspend service.
Frank O. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I have a friend that suspends his DirecTV service, in upstate NY, from Nov to Apr.

-Tom

[waiting2retire]

I used to use DirecTV but just changed to Verizon FIOS. We really like the channel selection and the bundled price. I now use Dish prepaid. It's OK but has some drawbacks:

1) no local channels - can use my crank up in some places.

2) prepaid cards start as soon as you activate them - $40....

3) be careful since it's easy to get confused. I burned $40 on HBO before I should have know to select the "basic package" option from the auto attendant order system. Once you order anything, it runs until the credit is used up with no change or cancellation process.

4) Dish uses two satellites. My Itasca has the simple one LNB dish. Most of the channels are on one of satellites, but you still have to move the dish slightly to get the second one.

Overall, it's OK. I wish that Directv was a bit more responsive and offered a RV package for the occasional users (like me). I can't justify paying for their packages on a regular basis when I can't get the RV out for months at a time due to my kids sports intensive lifestyles. Oh well, the DVD player still works great.

[SteveG]

Thanks for the feedback. I purchased a re-manufactured "pre-paid" receiver today for $45 plus shipping so not a huge expense. Once I try it out I'll post back with my results.

The pre-paid Green Dot credit card (purchased at Wal-Mart, CVC or Walgreens) is suppose to allow applying useage as little as a day at a time. The Radio Shack card is suppose to apply the entire card at once. I found some discussion on this here So I guess I'll know shortly what the real deal is.

Again, thanks for the reply

[waiting2retire]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Reply



iRV2.com RV Forum THE OWNER'S CORNER Winnebago Industries Owner's Forum Dish NetWork Pre-paid services </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Steve, thanks for the information on the green dot card method. That will work a lot better for us since our trips are "short" and too infrequent.

[Olive]

This is a link from another post as to how the pre paid works. There are actually 2 types of pre pay systems. It is on the RV Systems and Tech Forum.



[URL=http://irv2.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/9156094452/m/65510066441?r=99210266441#99210266441]

[Stevegd007]

Here is my thoughts. I have Dish PrePay and it works just fine. I also have Dish at Home and in the RV. My Home unit is a HD DVR and as such I signed up for DishDVR Advantage for a $5.95/month Discount off my monthly bill. My RV Dish Receiver is the 311 unit and would normally rent for $5/per month. So with the discount I figure the RV Receiver is kind of free to me. Depends on how one looks at this, but by adding Dish Advantage the RV receiver added no additional cost to my monthly bill.

One thing to remember is that if you keep the RV 311 receiver off (unused for several months) you have to call Dish to reactivate the receiver. It will lose its "Brain" if off for several months. East fix is to take the unit into the house and keep it plugged into the house dish system. This is easy, just got to remember to do this.

Also local channels, come off a spot signal, and will not work beyond a small radius of several 100 miles.

[SteveG]

During our last campout I was able to use our new Disk Network pre-paid system available through a DishNow Prepaid 301 receiver. It worked but there were some initial kinks.

I used the Green Dot card purchased at Walgreens with the minimum $20.00 amount. I provided the information requested by the DishNow prepaid computer and purchased just five days which covered the amount of time we were camping. That left us about a $15.00 balance which I will be able to use prior to the end of the 90 day period when the next $4.95 admin fee will be charged.

The one piece of missing information that caused an hour's setup completion delay was that the initial "activation"� signal is transmitted from satellite 110 and not 119. I initially setup on the 119 satellite. First, I did not realize that an activation signal was required. Second, getting help for a pre-paid customer is difficult. I went through four regular accounts customer service representatives before the last one took mercy and transferred me to a pre-paid customer service rep. This person was helpful and solved the problem. She also told me that if I dial the pre-paid automatic number (same number I used to purchase my original 5 days) and just provide a non-sense unit number the computer will shift the call to a representative. I did not actually try this as my problem was resolved.

Once "activated"� I was able to switch over to satellite 119 and the channel guide downloaded and off we went. But changing between the two satellites wasn't all that fast with only a single LNB. Maybe I just need more experience.

The signal was clear at 100 to 125%. How can the signal strength exceed 100%? I purchased the basic 150 channels and out of 150 channels it was amazing how few of the channels were something we found interesting. So I will need to explore other channel options.

Our 2004 Journey has the basic manual Winegard dish RM-DM04. The RM-DM04 is included in the RM-DM46 manual which can be downloaded from Winegard. It was a perfectly clear day but the wind was blowing 25 to 30 mph. The dish had so much wobble you could actually see it move from the ground and hear it moving from inside. But the wobble did not disturb the picture or sound.

So next trip we'll keep experimenting.

[Route 66]

Duplicate thread.

Other thread HERE

Please post in the other thread.