Better way than DISH for 2 house service?

[Rfong]

One of my homes where I spend 2-3 months at a time is in San Francisco. My other home is in Honolulu where I spend the alternate 2-3 months at a time.

I have Dishnetwork at both homes and try to suspend service for one 3 month period per year in each home (limited by Dish’s pause policy of one time per year, no longer than 6 months)

San Francisco Home service:
Current condition with Dishnetwork:
All HD, 5 TV’s (Rooms – a. Theater rm, b. Kitchen, c. Bedrm, d. Bdrm 2, e. Study),
3 receivers, 2 DVR’s in a and d rooms. 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] receiver is in c Bedrm.

DSL with ATT

Phone with ATT

Total combined cost of TV, Internet and Phone is $164 mo.

Honolulu Home service:
All HD, 2 TV’s each with a receiver, one receiver has a DVR.

DSL with Hawaiian Telcom

Phone with Hawaiian Telcom

Total combined cost of TV, Internet and Phone is $140 mo.

In both houses we watch mostly live programming, live sports, no premium channels, no streaming of movies or TV shows, local network channels, mostly local phone calls - very little long distance calling. Internet used for two laptop computers, no online gaming.

Is there a better way to accomplish the services I currently have and reduce costs? I’m looking for a long term solution, not a loss leader get 6 months cheap and get hit with the big bill deal.

I thought about switching to Comcast in San Francisco (what is Infinity?)
Is it possible to have only 2 receivers, but with 5 remotes (one remote at each TV)
-One receiver with “watch in any rooms” DVR controlling 2 TV’s (rooms - a, d),
-Second receiver controlling 3 TV’s (b,c, e)

Thanks in advance for your patience for reading my post and for any replies.

 

[Stargazer]

You could use a slingbox to watch television at another location.

 

[boba]

Use a "SNOWBIRD" setup. For DISH take your receivers with you instead of pausing the service.

 

[garys]

I would go with the snowbird at this time, I do not believe there is a limit on how many times you can move in a year. If you go with the sling idea, you may have to change some of your receivers to have more than 1 independent feed.

 

[Tampa8]

You have an added consideration because Hawaii programming is beamed. With that in mind, it sounds like you are not using both homes at the same time. You can have one account, you can tell Dish when you are going to be at whatever home, and they will turn on those locals and give you whatever service you are paying for. I mention Hawaii because I'm not sure the packages there have all the channels CONUS does. But even if I am correct, you don't get those channels now either. So you would want the San Francisco account that has all the channels, for when you are in San Francisco, and you just will get whatever channels you now get in Hawaii.

You may have to work out the receiver issue - how many etc... to cut down on those monthly fees so you're not paying as much when you are not using them. But just cutting out the 2nd account will be big.

 

[R0ss]

Sounds to me like this is definitely an issue best discussed with a DIRT member.
Snowbird idea sounds like a solution but is flying with Dish receivers practical?

Ross

Ross

Sent from my rooted DROID RAZR Maxx using SatelliteGuys

 

[Rfong]

You guys are GOOD! So good I don't know some of the terms you refer to, but here's my best guess.

1. I already use Sling box but the reception is choppy and there is no HD, but when desperate, I use it to watch San Francisco sports on TV. How can I put my MacBook Pro's or Ipad screen image from the Sling box onto my big screen TV? Use Apple TV?

2. I assume Snowbird is transporting receivers between homes. Cancel the Honolulu account, just keep my San Francisco account, then keep the dish on the roof in HNL and tell DISHnetwork when the receivers are moving so they can activate them-correct?

3. What is Conus? I guess if I don't know I would not miss it?

4. "best discussed with a DIRT member" What is DIRT?

 

[rvvaquero]

You have a home in Hawaii and one in San Francisco, and you're worried about a few hundred bucks a year? Just kidding, I hate wasting money also.

Anyway, Conus is short for continental United States. DIRT is Dish Internet Response Team (or something like that). There are DIRT members on this forum, their names highlighted in red.

 

[dwarren2]

DIRT is Dish Inetrnet Response Team. The names are in red. Go to the very top page of the forum and at the bottom is a list of who is online. Their names arein red.

 

[navychop]

CONUS = CONtinental United States Generally refers to the 48 contiguous states.

DIRT = Dish Internet Response Team - Go to the forums page, look at the bottom for names in RED. Send a PM by double clicking on the red name. Off to the left you will see "Send Private Message" and click on that.

 

[garys]

I already use Sling box but the reception is choppy and there is no HD, but when desperate, I use it to watch San Francisco sports on TV. How can I put my MacBook Pro's or Ipad screen image from the Sling box onto my big screen TV? Use Apple TV?

I hook my mac directly to the tv using vga cable. I have seen new laptops with both vga and HDMI outputs, connect to tv accordingly and change to proper tv input works accessing recordings off the receiver using the DishOnLine website. There may be a way to use the Apple TV, I just know what it may involve.

 

[Rfong]

You guys got me thinking...
With the Snowbird idea, how about I cancel the Hawaii account, get an extra HD DVR receiver for the San Francisco house, then just bring and leave that receiver in Hawaii?

Then is it necessary to call DISHnetwork every time I go to Hawaii to activate that receiver, or is the receiver "ON" since it is part of my SF account?

 

[boba]

That is against the terms of service. But more importantly the Hawian package is not the same as your US package so you might have reception problems.