# DTV or Dish at vacation home



## terryc66 (Jul 30, 2015)

I am considering dumping cable tv and going with direct tv or dish. We own two properties and I have heard of people connecting at both as long as there is a dish at both locations. I do not want to move a box back and forth....can I rent or buy a second reciever box for this purpose? Is one or the other network easier to work with to do this? I know this is a common topic, so if there is a special forum for this please send me a link.
Thanks


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

There are only 2 acceptable scenarios:

1. Have a separate account for each location, if you want to leave active receivers at both locations. This means two bills.

2. Have a receiver that you move back and forth, and call Dish/DirecTV each time you relocate to the vacation home (and regular home of course) so that you do not have active service at both locations at the same time.

Anything else likely violates the terms of service you agree to with these companies.


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## ladannen (Oct 27, 2007)

There is a third option:
Get setup with Directv at your main home. When you go to your vacation home, self-pay pay for a satellite installer (or buy a dish and install yourself) to setup a dish. Then buy an actual owned receiver from a third party.
When that is setup, call Directv to activate that owned receiver to your main home account. Call again when you leave the vacation home to deactivate it.
One note: Directv doesn't currently allow two Genie boxes on one account so if you get a Genie box at your main home, you must get a non-Genie box to activate at your vacation home.

Edit: One other note: Under your agreement with Directv, this option is only allowed if nobody is using the TV service at both locations at the same time.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

ladannen said:


> Edit: One other note: Under your agreement with Directv, this option is only allowed if nobody is using the TV service at both locations at the same time.


You need to link to the language in whatever agreement that says that. I'm not sure such language was ever there.

There is clearly language in the Customer Agreement that says that you can't operate boxes at different locations.



DIRECTV Customer Agreement said:


> You agree to provide true and accurate information about the location of your equipment. If it is determined that the equipment is not at the service address identified on your account, we may disconnect the equipment or charge you the full programming subscription price for the equipment.


Obviously I'm speaking to the letter of the agreements, not how DIRECTV may or may not actually treat you.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

Basically, the letter of the "law" for vacation homes is... the customer is not supposed to be in two places at once, thus only needs service in one of the two locations at any given time... so you're not supposed to have people and active receivers at the location where you say you are not located.

So... you could leave a receiver at a vacation home... and deactivate it when you aren't there... as long as when you ARE at the vacation home and activate that receiver, you also have your home receivers de-activated. To be truly in synch with the letter of the law, you can't have active receivers at a location other than the one listed as your service address.

I don't know how DirecTV handles it... but Dish has allowed people to call and say "we're going to our summer home" and take their receivers with them... then call and say "we're going back home" and take the receivers back. Now, whether or not customers actually do this OR leave receivers in those locations permanently is an unknown... but if you are caught with active receivers at a different location, you could lose your whole account.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Stewart Vernon said:


> ... but if you are caught with active receivers at a different location, you could lose your whole account.


The stated penalty is being charged full price for active receivers not at the listed service address. In practice (when caught by the DISH Audit Team) receivers not at the listed service address are disabled.


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

In light of the above - it may be easiest to have dishes setup at both locations, and haul the receiver between the 2 homes. If you do this, I'd reccomend that you have the same dish type and LNBs / switches so your sites are identical - just a quick disconnect and reconnect at the other site.

If the 2nd home is not in the same Locals as your primary, you may have to call the provider to switch locations anyway if you want local stations..


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

scooper said:


> In light of the above - it may be easiest to have dishes setup at both locations, and haul the receiver between the 2 homes. If you do this, I'd reccomend that you have the same dish type and LNBs / switches so your sites are identical - just a quick disconnect and reconnect at the other site.


This probably isn't an issue for someone coming on board now unless the home and vacation properties are very widely separated.

If there are line-of-sight obstacles at either property, that may narrow (or even eliminate) the list of direct broadcast satellite choices.

Another thing to look into is whether you can receive your locals at both locations. Depending on spot beam distribution, one may be able to serve where the other cannot.


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