The Satellite Dilemma

We are satellite junkies. We have DISH for television reception, and we have Starband for our internet access. These two providers work well together, as the Starband dish provides a mounting bracket for the DISH LNBs, meaning it's just one setup for both.

We like having internet access while we are on the road. Prior to buying the Starband system in May of 2006, we used our Verizon cell phone for the internet. This worked, but was relatively slow, did not work in some areas where there is no Verizon network, only one of us could use it at a time, and if we used it during weekdays, we used our minutes for data transfers. That plus the fact that Verizon is discontinuing access to the Quick-Link service when customers upgrade to new phones prompted us to spend the money for Starband.

The Starband system is not perfect. We have been in a number of places where we did not have a clear look to the southwestern sky, so we could not get either internet or TV from the satellites. This problem is compounded the northern part of the country, and especially in northern New England, as the Starband satellite, at 129 degrees west, is down to about 13 degrees above the horizon. We also encounter occasional outages from heavy rain, either where we are or where the Starband network center is in Georgia.

The photo at the left is our setup in Bethel, Maine. The elevation was about 14 degrees, and we had trees and powerlines in our field of view. To get around the trees, I put the tripod as far into the road as I dared. Even so, we had internet access, but the DISH satellites were behind the tree, so we had no DISH reception. The campground had a good cable system, though, which provided for our TV viewing. Of course, Thumper is able to catch her tether on the cables, or the tripod, but so far, she has not caused any difficulties.

So far, I've only set up the Starband system about a dozen times. My proficiency is improving, and I can generally get set up in about 30 minutes. We purchased a Bird Dog meter with the system, and is saves a lot of time, compared with the setups I used to do with just the DISH antenna and an analog meter.

We also need to be careful with our Starband bandwidth. Our download speeds are about 300 Kbps peak, and upload is about 1/2 of that. That equates to about 1/2 of a DSL line, as I figure it. We are allowed about 900 MB in any one week period, and if we exceed it repeatedly, we get downgraded to dial-up speeds. This has not happened yet, though when we were looking at real estate in Maine, we did get a warning. But we need to be careful not to download huge videos, software distributions, or lots of pictures. We occasionally allow other RVers to use our wifi to access the internet, and when we do, I watch the byte count to make sure we don't exceed our limit.

This is our setup in Augusta, Maine. We were parked on a hilltop behind the Elks Lodge, and had a clear view of all the satellites, even though our elevation was only 13 degrees.

We also don't even try to put the dish up if we're staying in a Walmart parking lot, or other place when we'll just be overnight. One consideration is the amount of power that the DISH receiver consumes. We have a model 625 dual receiver DVR, and I figure it consumes about 125 watts (there's a hard disk inside that runs continuously when the receiver has power). When we're camped without an electrical hookup, 125 watts is too much for our batteries and 2 solar panels, though sometimes we'll fire up the receiver so we can watch movies and other shows that we had stored on the disk. Alternatively, we have a DVD player and some discs, or we can read a book.

The Dilemma. Technological progress often requires changes or reinterpretation of the laws that govern our society. For example, the advent of compact discs enabled the liberal copying of digital music, and required the passage of new laws to protect copyright.

In the case of satellite TV, laws are in place to protect the local TV stations from outside competition and perhaps to conserve precious broadcasting bandwidth. Such laws were designed to prevent the possibility of NBC acquiring all the TV station allocations in a given city, as well as preventing stations from delivering their signals outside their market area. Such laws did not envision the development of delivering broadcast TV signals from the sky.

So the law was changed to allow DISH and DirectTV to deliver distant network signals (DNS) to customers under certain conditions: 1. The customer could not receive off-air signals with a reasonable antenna; 2. The customer was mobile, such as RV and truckers; 3. The customer obtained a waiver from the local TV station (few are granted). We qualify under #2, and we have file the appropriate paperwork with DISH to enable reception of the major network stations from New York.

Unfortunately, DISH was not scrupulous in their enabling DNS for customers in categories 1 and 3. They were sued successfully by the National Association of Broadcasters, as well as the major networks. The judge in this case has issued a permanent injunction requiring DISH to discontinue ALL DNS transmissions as of December 1, 2006, even the legal ones like ours. DISH is appealing, and is also lobbying congress to modify the law. Neither is likely to be successful, based on my reading of the issues, though they might get an extension of the date from the judge.

I've been exploring this on the web for whatever information might be useful.Escapees has contacted the Texas legislators on our behalf. I have sent an email to the president of the NAB. DISH also provides local stations for about 95% of the country. This means that DISH customers in, say, Phoenix, get the Phoenix stations on their DISH system. We are enabled for the Houston local stations based on our Livingston TX mailing address, but because they are transmitted using "spot beams" from the satellite, the signal is only available in a relatively tight radius around Houston. When we signed up for the service, I was told we could not change this. There have been some discussions suggesting that DISH will change our "physical" address as we move, so that we can get the local broadcasts from the satellite based on where we are. This will provide us with network coverage (and perhaps some other locals we don't get now, like WB and CW). But we will need to call DISH every time we change locations outside a spot beam, a bit if a hassle given the long wait times on the DISH customer service lines.

We also can sometimes receive off-air signals using our regular TV antenna. The signal is almost always worse than satellite, and we may have to turn the antenna when we change stations. We're also spoiled by the additional service we get with DISH: the ability to get "info" about any show on the schedule, and of course, the DVR which doesn't work with the off-air antenna.

We're kind of accustomed to watching the local news from New York. Since my son TJ lives there, we have some affinity to the area.

The Future. Of course, the technology is not standing still, either. Broadband internet is making video on the cable more practical, and cable's triple threat of TV, internet and phone service are making the offerings of satellite broadcast service less attractive. In addition, high definition TV (HDTV) is complicating every one's TV choices, including RV satellite customers. HDTV is being embraced by first adopters, but broadcasters are reluctantly coming on line with HDTV signals and programming. Local HDTV transmissions are up and running but remote ares, now served by transponders rather than the originating signal, are not being upgraded to HDTV. Consequently, even more customers in fringe areas will be disenfranchised by the advent of HDTV. Cable has a chance to provide more and better HDTV than does the broadcaster.

Satellite is providing HDTV for some cable channels, premium movie channels, and network transmissions. Since the broadcasters have less market penetration with HDTV, satellite can provide more customers, at least initially, with HDTV.

RVers can utilize HDTV, too, and we have seen some RVs with huge HDTV screens. This further complicates the hardware problem, though. In addition to different receivers and TV sets, the satellite signals for HDTV are being transmitted on different satellites, requiring more equipment and more complication at the dish itself. Our current DISH 500 signals are on the 110 and 119 satellites, and we have 2 LNBs on our dish, one for each of these satellites. DISH HDTV signals are being distributed from satellites at 61.5, 118 and 129 degrees west. Since our Starband satellite is also at 129, it would be impossible to have a single dish setup to receive both Starband and DISH signals at that location. Even adding 61.5, while possible, complicates the hardware and cabling.

We will just have to wait and see what is the best path for us to go down the road with hardware, dishes, and entertainment and internet services.