Tailgator by Dish Network:

[stonekeepers]

Originally Posted by Wayne M

That has to be a "one-way" ping and there is no transmitter in the "receiver."

I understand but that's what they told me and I have had to have my service reauthorized several times last year when we weren't camping often.

There has to be something in the receiver because you can order movies now without wifi or phone connections and they can reprogram your receiver from afar. There is a setting for what time you want to receive updates.

[Scarab0088]

Originally Posted by Cooperhawk

More good feedback, however they should have been knowledgeable enough to explain that to me on the phone. They seemed clueless.

You are SO right...most of the call center folks don't know much of anything about RV accounts. This might be a cultural thing, 'cuz you know they would understand "It's for my RV" if the service rep was in say, Virginia.

BTW, the RV phone number I mentioned above will reportedly roll over to the regular call center reps - sometimes

Very interesting that the OP's hometown locals worked last summer but not this summer in the same place. And I believe it, because I somehow received the SoCal local Fox channel in Montana this past spring. I don't really understand how a SAT floating 22,300 miles above the earth can "spot-beam" anything to a single subscriber...but I am not an electrical engineer either

Safe travels

[Scarab0088]

Originally Posted by stonekeepers

I understand...There has to be something in the receiver because you can order movies now without wifi or phone connections and they can reprogram your receiver from afar. There is a setting for what time you want to receive updates.

The phone call to "re-authorize" just puts your receiver's ID at the top of the list of THOUSANDS of ID's that are sent down as part of the signal from the SAT...just cuts down on your wait time to get activated.

Pre-ordering special events and getting software updates is possible without a receiver connection to Dish for the same reason...the SAT will beam down approved ID's before the event is broadcasted and software updates are sent down too...you are just setting when your receiver loads the update. BUT, you can't use "on-demand" without the connection, because your receiver can't "phone-home" to buy the event.

Just FYI, FWIW...black market receiver's have no limits and will decode anything sent down from the SAT. These black market receivers are common in the Caribbean where getting US SAT service is already not approved. On the down side, these receivers often have to be serviced by a Tech 1-2 times a month as the services change encryption (but just an on-line update).

No FCC = No problems
Know FCC = Know Problems

[Cooperhawk]

Had to leave the discussion for a while. First I took the DW out for BBQ for lunch, and now I am trying to get some concrete sealed as Winter is almost upon us.

Good feedback and info. Someone at Dish should have been able to fill me in on all of this.

So I do not plan to keep my Tailgater plugged in all the time so I will have to get it :Re-authorized quite often". Okay, I can live with that.

So if I get too far away from home I simply cannot get my local stations no matter what I do. That's kinda a bummer. DW has favorite programs she will have to watch online I guess.

Will certainly try to use the "Chat" feature next time to get it set up.

Will use the new number you gave me instead of the one Dish put in their instruction manual.

Thanks for all the feedback and any more that still may come my way.

[no3putt]

Most markets have ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and a few PBS stations. The hardest thing we have to adjust to is when on the west coast, the local news comes on at 11PM and here in MST usually at 10PM. We just have to adjust to the time zones and when the shows we want to watch is on. If you have pay-as-you-go from dish, you can have the system turned off when not using it and will not be charged, just have to go through the re-authorization process when you start it back up. The tailgater it self dosen't require re-authorization, just the reciever, but you have to have the satellite dish connected to get re-authorization.

[Paulc47]

Originally Posted by Scarab0088

You are SO right...most of the call center folks don't know much of anything about RV accounts. This might be a cultural thing, 'cuz you know they would understand "It's for my RV" if the service rep was in say, Virginia.

BTW, the RV phone number I mentioned above will reportedly roll over to the regular call center reps - sometimes

Very interesting that the OP's hometown locals worked last summer but not this summer in the same place. And I believe it, because I somehow received the SoCal local Fox channel in Montana this past spring. I don't really understand how a SAT floating 22,300 miles above the earth can "spot-beam" anything to a single subscriber...but I am not an electrical engineer either

Safe travels

We were in Bodega Bay last month and I called Dish to get local channels. She said based on where we were we would get SF Bay Area channels. A couple minutes later we were receiving locals from Reno(where we normally receive them since we live in Carson City.). Strange.

[VestaDave]

Originally Posted by Cooperhawk

You may be correct of course, but in July we were 400 miles from home and had our home package, so 200 miles isn't the limit then.

I'm not sure about the formula they use to determine local market access but I know it varies some. I've had Dish for years and yes I've been occasionally frustrated but never have been hung up by CW. You, as mentioned were trying to get something to which you were not eligible for!

[Cooperhawk]

[QUOTE=VestaDave;You, as mentioned were trying to get something to which you were not eligible for![/QUOTE]

Well, not so sure. WE had gotten that service in another location in July so it seems a little strange.

At the very least they could have explained that it was not available. They all said it was and all I had to do was unplug my receiver and wait ten or fifteen minutes.

[VestaDave]

No, really you will not get your local channels out of your viewing area. These areas are not geographically equal however. I agree, you could have been told by CS and that might have reduced your frustration. Be sure to inform CS that you are in a an RV and out of your local area when you call in.
BTW your first post was a little confusing, my first read was that you couldn't get tv reception but the tailgater was working fine.

[Cooperhawk]

What I meant was that it needed to be "Re-authorized" and they couldn't seem to get it done. I must have unplugged it and plugged it in again at least half a dozen times before they finally got that done.

Then the problem became trying to get the local channels which they said each time that they would and could do, but of course couldn't. I think now I was just talking to the wrong bunch of folks.

[lllkrob]

Originally Posted by Cooperhawk

What I meant was that it needed to be "Re-authorized" and they couldn't seem to get it done. I must have unplugged it and plugged it in again at least half a dozen times before they finally got that done.
Then the problem became trying to get the local channels which they said each time that they would and could do, but of course couldn't. I think now I was just talking to the wrong bunch of folks.

You also need to understand that DISH is rated one of the worst employers in the USA year in and year out. Their employee turnover rate is one of the highest in the nation, which leads to poor quality training and system knowledge.

[VestaDave]

Originally Posted by lllkrob

You also need to understand that DISH is rated one of the worst employers in the USA year in and year out. Their employee turnover rate is one of the highest in the nation, which leads to poor quality training and system knowledge.

Rated one of the worse employer by who? Do you have a citation?

[RVJeeper]

We've had Dish now for almost 2 years living fulltime and traveling all over the USA. We don't use a Tailgater but I don't think it makes a difference when dealing with the people at Dish. The key for me has been to ask to talk to someone in "RV Support". Yes, they have people who specifically deal with issues related to traveling and these people are sharp, knowledgeable and won't give you the runaround.

As for your locals, I think that 200 mile radius thing is kind of fuzzy. We've had them at 300 miles and not had them at 150 miles. By the way, we were in WI this past summer and our Dish system showed we were in a time zone about 1000 miles west. Weird.

[Cooperhawk]

First of all I told them each and every time we were in our RV miles from home. I'm not sure those ladies understand what an RV is.

Second, I sent the entire posting from this Forum to Dish. I got this reply this morning.

Dear James, Thank you for your email. We appreciate your inquiry and we are happy to assist. We are always looking for ways to improve our service and we appreciate your input. We will forward your comments and concerns to the proper department.

For additional assistance with this issue, please visit www.mydish.com/chat to start a live chat with a Customer Service Representative.

Thank you for your email.



Sincerely,
Bryan A. /2VJ
TID: OR – Chrysler
DISH eCare
Please include all previous correspondence when replying.

[AirMarv]

to reauthorize your RECEIVER:

1-Make sure you have receiver powered up and showing message on screen like "Programming not authorized".
2-There is a error code in the upper RH corner of that screen( like 005, 013, 014)-write it down.
3-Call 1-800-333-3474 and select TECH
4-When prompted by audio menu enter the error code from above (including 0's)- this will send a command to authorize receivers.

5-15 minutes later you should be operational

[gmpartsvet]

We have been using Dish in our house and rv for over 10 years. For a year we needed to switch our house to cable because we were not able to receive either of the HD satellites because of trees (according to the installer). We used Dish pay-as-you-go for the rv and after a year of frustration because pay-as-you-go does not work as advertised, I used a satellite finder app and found a spot on my house roof to pick up the 129 satellite, had Dish reinstalled back in the house, and bought a tailgater for the rv to use when trees were in the way. All works fine now, but I agree with the frustration one can go through with the poorly trained and outsourced dish network people.

Also agree with local network range. We cannot get them 150 miles northwest, but we do 300 miles north and south. If you have dish in your house also, you can get your locals anywhere if you have a dish hopper system, a good internet connection at the campground (rare), and a laptop. You can also watch them on your rv tv by cabling your laptop to the tv. With the hopper, the box is connected to your house internet and you access it with a laptop or tablet and watch anything you would watch at home without using a dish or tailgater in the rv.

[Davdeb1]

Please try and explain this to me. Why would you call up dish, get aggravated, when you can just crank up the antenna and get the "local stations? I would hate to have to make a phone call every time I moved. I'm anticipating that response will be no reception, but short of that, the reception on OTA in my experience has been very good.

[Scarab0088]

Originally Posted by Davdeb1

Please try and explain this to me. Why would you call up dish, get aggravated, when you can just crank up the antenna and get the "local stations? I would hate to have to make a phone call every time I moved. I'm anticipating that response will be no reception, but short of that, the reception on OTA in my experience has been very good.

You hit it on the head...reception. And a perk - if the OTA locals come-in, they are often on HD

Plus, with the ViP-211K receiver, the OTA channels will be read and added to the channel line-up in the guide (no switching the B.O.M.B.)

But for me clear reception of the local major market OTA broadcast just too often doesn't work.

Safe travels

[stonekeepers]

I am spoiled by the dish channel guide. Since all the OTA stations seem to air commercials at the same time you can spend all your time flipping stations to determine what the options are.

And you don't have to remember to lower the antenna when you leave.

[bdickson]

Maybe we're just lucky but..... in the last 2 months we have traveled from Oregon to Florida. Every two or 3 days on average I have called Dish on the Tech Support number 888-309-0370, told them I am an RV'er with a mobile pay as you go account, given them my current address and asked for local channels to be enabled. I have had 100% success rate at having the request understood and getting local channels within 15 to 20 minutes. Their call center people at that number, who are mostly based in Denver Colorado, have been without exception knowledgeable and helpful. I think the key may be in using the above phone number, since the main Dish Network numbers go to low level call center operators who may well not have heard of the concept of a Dish satellite received that can move.