Question about Prepaid service/FlexTV

[sxmfl]

Hi, all this is our first time posting, we haved looked a lot for an answer to our question, but haven't found an answer so here it goes

We are americans living in St Maarten/St Martin in the caribbean, we have been using an FTA box with a 4ft dish pointed at 119 to recieve american TV(we can get a dual LNB to point to 110 as well if needed, please say this if you think we may need it) We've been getting every channel, including New York, Denver, and California locals.

As some of you may know, we've been experiancing some problems......LOL
We need to find a better solution to have reliable TV that doesn't cut because it's not legal. We are willing to pay and there is a company that sells DishNet boxes and will set you up with a New York based address so we would recieve those channels but for a wonderful fee of $425 for the box and activation and $55 a month for the service. I found this to be a little outrageous.

Now, my question is, if we buy a DishNet box, say the 508 or 322 for instance, and we register this with flextv and just enter in a New York zip code as I've seen this is all that is needed to get your "locals", will this setup work out of the country? Will that get me the NY locals, even if I'm not really there?

Like I said before we are pointed at 119 an can be setup to point at 110 if needed with a 4ft dish. If anyone has tried this, or can say it'll work we'd love to hear your input

We found a reseller on Ebay selling the 322 with Flexpay service, can we call DishNet and set up this box and pay monthly with an american credit card??

Thanks for all your help in advance :

 

[Kb Cool]

This should be interesting. But, i think everyone's supposed to be nice now?

 

[sxmfl]

Sorry? I'm a little lost...... LOL What do you mean?

 

[Kb Cool]

Well, Hackers were really looked downed upon in this forum. But one of the site sponsers asked everyone to embrace them as equal and to help them get FTA legally. Have you thought about putting a linear KU LNB on your 4 footer and see whats available. Personally i dont know anything about Flexpay or receiving Dishnet outside of the United States but i'm sure it can be done.

 

[sxmfl]

Unfortunately it was our only option, no american cable, no sat providers legally are able to sell here. The company that "sells" it only does what we are intrested in trying, they set your box up with a NY address. As long as DN is getting paid from someone, I don't think they care where it's coming from. We are 110% willing to pay LOL We aren't "hackers" by choice, but try being stuck with boring as hell french TV 24/7........ trust me it ain't fun. We just want TV As for the FTA channels, we get Nasa and Ion, and I've just about had my fill of them Would like a channel that shows its programming before 5pm, thanks though. Trust me, I'd trade my island in paradise for your Dish network anyday LOL

 

[sxmfl]

Most of the businesses here have "Legal" Dishnetwork, we just don't know how they get it with out having to pay insane amounts of money to thieves

 

[sxmfl]

Anyone who can help with our problem ? Maybe experience in canada or bahamas ?? Maybe???

 

[Amiga]

Do you have an address in the States, such as a relative's place, where mail and parcels are sent? Is there a reason why you are leaning towards FlexTV? The original prepaid service was awesome, but it was discontinued, so I would tell you to just take the plunge and start a postpaid account. A normal (postpaid) account with DISH Network can be established with no commitment / contract if you buy your own equipment and don't sign up for any promotional offers.

As far as buying equipment off of eBay, you need to be careful. You have to find / get the receiver and card numbers from the seller, see this FAQ. The reason you need to do this is to see whether the unit can be activated or not. Used boxes may have been a leased receiver (not returned to DISH) or the previous owner didn't pay off their bill / balance. Even if the receiver is clean, the smart card may not be the new purple Nagravision 3 version. This is where your true USA address might be initially crucial so that DISH can send you out a new card. DISH charges $50 for the card, but I've read if you have their DISH Network Protection Plan (DNPP) at the time of the request / exchange, the fee will be waived. You can cancel the $5.99 DNPP after you get what you need done. Obviously, the best thing would be to buy a receiver that received the card swap / exchange. Oh, and if you want their old DVR without a monthly fee, make sure you grab a 501 or 508 and not the 510.

You may want to buy a 322 dual tuner receiver. This would get you reception on two different televisions. If you don't have it connected to a phone line, be persistent and make sure they waive the $5 second receiver / tuner fee. They did it for me. If you want to protect yourself from the DISH auditors and let the boxes phone home and have high-speed / broadband, get a phone number / DID from the same area as your supposed physical address on file. A great cheap VoIP company, like VoIP.ms, and an ATA does the trick. Somewhere, I believe on dishuser.org, are maps that show the real footprints of local markets and what geographic areas they leak into, perhaps Miami may reach your neck of the woods. If you are audited, I believe the spot beam for the locals you are supposed to see, per the address on your account, comes into play with the location ID they request during an audit. This is why I am suggesting you look into Miami for your locals. I'd also suggest a Puerto Rico address (spot beam should reach you), but I don't know if the locals there are in English or not, my gut says no and I'm assuming you want English. DISH can have two addresses, one for billing and the other for where the equipment is located. All of this may be a moot point if you only have one physical receiver, like a 322, as the auditors are less likely to call.

Here is a good thread on dish sizes for the Caribbean.

During all of your experimentation, you may just want to get the cheap Welcome Pack programming for $9.99 with $5 locals. Make sure you get the DISH Network CSRs ID and pound into their head that you want month to month with no commitment because your equipment is owned and already set up displaying channel 214, the NASA channel.

 

[dishratz]

Direclinks in Sint Maarten is your best bet. If you think they are thieves, good luck.

 

[Amiga]

After more thought, if you are going legit, make sure you have a physical address (not billing) in the Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico. I think the Virgin Islands would be the best because you might qualify for the English distant networks, but I'm not sure. Programming packages for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands can be found here. I don't know if the $10 Welcome Pack is offered in Alaska, Hawaii, or PR. The spotbeam footprints you need to see for the Caribbean, towards the bottom, is at this link.

As I stated before, if DISH' auditing Nazis ever contact you, you will be screwed if the right spotbeams aren't part of the equation / formula that makes up your location ID displayed on your receiver(s). If you have separate / multiple boxes (with only one dual tuner receiver you'll be safe), let the receivers call the mothership through VoIP from the same phone number / DID. Oh, VoIP.ms bills by the second (read their reviews) and the calls into the DISH mothership are toll-free I believe, so you won't be charged for them. You can set the outgoing Caller ID / Caller Display (make sure it relates to your physical address) through the VoIP.ms web portal to anything you want, saving yourself a few bucks if you don't want a monthly DID charge.

The problem with using Direclinks is they are a middle man and you are at their mercy, much like you've been with the FTA hobby you are getting out of. I'm assuming you are sick of problems and want a final solution. If you cover yourself with the right physical address for the proper locals and VoIP to call into the mothership, you should have several worry free years of television. Expats in Canada have to go through the same motions.

 

[sxmfl]

After more thought, if you are going legit, make sure you have a physical address (not billing) in the Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico. I think the Virgin Islands would be the best because you might qualify for the English distant networks, but I'm not sure. Programming packages for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands can be found here. I don't know if the $10 Welcome Pack is offered in Alaska, Hawaii, or PR. The spotbeam footprints you need to see for the Caribbean, towards the bottom, is at this link.

As I stated before, if DISH' auditing Nazis ever contact you, you will be screwed if the right spotbeams aren't part of the equation / formula that makes up your location ID displayed on your receiver(s). If you have separate / multiple boxes (with only one dual tuner receiver you'll be safe), let the receivers call the mothership through VoIP from the same phone number / DID. Oh, VoIP.ms bills by the second (read their reviews) and the calls into the DISH mothership are toll-free I believe, so you won't be charged for them. You can set the outgoing Caller ID / Caller Display (make sure it relates to your physical address) through the VoIP.ms web portal to anything you want, saving yourself a few bucks if you don't want a monthly DID charge.

The problem with using Direclinks is they are a middle man and you are at their mercy, much like you've been with the FTA hobby you are getting out of. I'm assuming you are sick of problems and want a final solution. If you cover yourself with the right physical address for the proper locals and VoIP to call into the mothership, you should have several worry free years of television. Expats in Canada have to go through the same motions.

We have a physical address we can use in Washington DC and Miami, but the only locals we get on 119 are New York, Denver and LA. I think if we hooked up 110, we would have some miami channels but I'm not sure. If anynes know if we'd need to be pointed at 110 also please let us know
We were looking at the prepaid because we were looking and saw that it was possible to set up the service with just a zip code and other small information, can anyone confirm this? Also I'm assuming the prepaid is less controlled.
Amiga, we've added you to skype so if you can help us out it might be easier to find a solution that way. Unfortunately don't know anyone in the USVI or PR :/


The company here that wil set you up with a box is actually Caribtech, and they wanted $400 for an FTA box that we ended up paying $180. So in my opinion, they are theives As for dishnetwork, they are asking 425 for the box and 50/mo. !


Thanks for all your help "Amiga"!!!

 

[dishratz]

DIRECLINKS

The problem with using Direclinks is they are a middle man and you are at their mercy, much like you've been with the FTA hobby you are getting out of.

What the hell do you know about Direclinks? When you know then talk. You know what is a middleman? You know what is a proper account with Dish Network?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Just beware, I am hearing that Dish is investigating Direclinks, dishnetwork-canada and other companies. What works today might not work tomorrow.

Just to be on the safe side of the DMCA I am going to close this one.