# Cancelled my DirecTV service- is the dish good for anything?



## davidyal (Jan 7, 2007)

Apologies if this is a FAQ...I couldn't find an answer.

I just cancelled my DirecTv service in favor of UVerse. So far, I'm enjoying UVerse tremendously.

I still have a 5LNB dish mounted on the side of my house. Is the dish capable of doing anything without the associated service? i.e. can it be used for regular OTA like rabbit ears? how do I test?

Thanks,
David


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## JoeTheDragon (Jul 21, 2008)

davidyal said:


> Apologies if this is a FAQ...I couldn't find an answer.
> 
> I just cancelled my DirecTv service in favor of UVerse. So far, I'm enjoying UVerse tremendously.
> 
> ...


Have you hit the u-verse two HD + two SD at one time limit? also $7 per box is high.


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## bakers12 (May 29, 2007)

I'm sorry to tell you but where you're located, the dish isn't worth a thing. If you were up north like me, you might be able to pull off the mounting brackets and use the dish to scoot down snowy hills on your butt.

Assuming that's not practical, you've got some recyclable aluminum there.

You can pull the dish and mast off the mounting bracket to cut down on eye clutter. If you want to take the mounting bracket and all, put some good sealer in and around the holes to prevent leaks.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Or sell it on eBay or Craigslist.


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## bcrab (Mar 7, 2007)

Bird bath


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

Do be sure you return your receivers properly (assuming they were leased which most are), or you will find a hefty bill from DirecTV for the full retail price for them.

The dish however is not returned. You can do with it as you please. You might find a local buyer on craigslist. Probably not worth trying to ship it anyplace.


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## djrobx (Jan 27, 2009)

> also $7 per box is high.


Considering you don't have to buy the equipment, and that they are automatically "Total home DVR" clients, $7 is a good value. Time Warner and Comcast charged me a FORTUNE for secondary boxes.


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## wingrider01 (Sep 9, 2005)

djrobx said:


> Considering you don't have to buy the equipment, and that they are automatically "Total home DVR" clients, $7 is a good value. Time Warner and Comcast charged me a FORTUNE for secondary boxes.


as mentioned 2 HD streams IF you are lucky is a killer, the "total Home DVR" is basicly lacking with recording time, have multiple HD units (more then 2) here and multiple SD units, the total time available on that dvr would be eaten up in about 2 days at the max.

We have UVerse here, as I tell the sales weasels that hit my door, when you get rid of the 2 HD limit, allow me to have 4TB add on drive space, and drop the cost of the extra units then come back to talk to me, until then I will stay with Directv and save money.


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## davidyal (Jan 7, 2007)

Thanks for the dish info.

Re: Have you hit the u-verse two HD + two SD at one time limit? also $7 per box is high. 


I only have 3 TVs in the house, so didn't hit the limit. I think $7 is reasoanble, since DTV was 4.99 itself. The catalyst for me was I had just upgraded 2 TV to HD. On DTV, it would be expenseive to buy new equipment, plus it would also force me to restart a 2 year contract. UVerse was much simpler.


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## PCampbell (Nov 18, 2006)

Keep it then you can go back, I have uverse and dumped the TV. There HD PQ is not very good and you will not like the two HD limit over time. It is easy to want to record two shows and watch sumthing else at the same time once fall gets here.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

bakers12 said:


> Assuming that's not practical, you've got some recyclable aluminum there.


There are no aluminum parts in any DirecTV dishes. All of the metal parts are steel, with a powder-coated (i.e., bake-on plastic) finish.


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## kaszeta (Apr 8, 2008)

I've got two round dual LNB dishes and a Wildblue dish that I no longer use. I should make a fountain out of them.


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## william8004 (Oct 6, 2006)

Bird Bath
http://i.ehow.com/images/GlobalPhoto/Articles/4436245/Image004-main_Full.jpg

Smiley Face
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1208/800444435_2438348730.jpg

Death Ray/Cooker
http://www.alt-eng.com/Energy/Solar/SolarCookers/SatelliteDishCooker/SatDishA08L.JPG

Garden
http://www.thefunctionality.com/storage/wordpress/images/satdish.jpg

Art
http://www.notempire.com/images/uploads/turkishdishsticker.jpg


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## LOCODUDE (Aug 8, 2007)

Now, that's dishing it out....:lol::lol::lol:


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## DarinC (Aug 31, 2004)

Some excellent suggestions so far. You could also strap it on your head and start your own news network.


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## Ken S (Feb 13, 2007)

DirecTV would like you to leave it on your home. It serves as another billboard for them and should you move the house would be ready (at least to some extent) for a new customer.

Personally, I'd suggest taking the dish down (leave the mounts to prevent leaks) and either ebay, craigslist, recycle or chuck it.


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## JayB (Mar 19, 2007)

I think it'd make a nifty Wok over an open flame for camping trips - you could use the LNB arm to hang the tongs from.


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## hasan (Sep 22, 2006)

You can actually make a radio telescope out of it. For less than $90 (for an interface and some small parts), you can be plotting galactic noise on your laptop in a few minutes.


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## newsposter (Nov 13, 2003)

kinda on topic, if you get an upgraded dish (5lnb to 3lnb), will they take your old one away or let you keep it


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

They normally do not remove or take away your old dish (even if asked to). You can do with it what you want.


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

If D* comes out to replace it, they usually take the old dish. My parents had issues with 119 LOS and D* came out and replaced the 5LNB with a 3LNB.


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## jefbal99 (Sep 7, 2007)

Wish you were closer to the north, i'm looking for a spare SL3 or SL5


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## joed32 (Jul 27, 2006)

newsposter said:


> kinda on topic, if you get an upgraded dish (5lnb to 3lnb), will they take your old one away or let you keep it


They left mine lying on the ground. I put it out by the curb and the next day it was gone.


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## techntrek (Apr 26, 2007)

carl6 said:


> They normally do not remove or take away your old dish (even if asked to). You can do with it what you want.


Not always. When we moved up to HD I had my wife tell the tech to leave the SD dish in front of the garage, because I wanted it. Just before he left she noticed our old dish in the back of his truck, so she grabbed it. He must have really wanted to ebay it, first he told her it wasn't hers to keep (umm, yeah, we paid for it), then told her "you know you aren't allowed to put that on ebay". :nono2: (whatever). Her responses in parenthesis. He wasn't happy as she walked away with our dish in her hands.

I wanted it because a year before that our dish was struck by lightning and we didn't have any service for over 2 weeks. If that happens again, at least with the old dish I can rig up a temporary SD connection!


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## newsposter (Nov 13, 2003)

joed32 said:


> They left mine lying on the ground. I put it out by the curb and the next day it was gone.


i only ask because i do need the 5lnb until the mpeg2s get turned off, but after that i'm thinkin about the switch since no 119 LOS anymore and i'm tired of the 'no guide data' error message....which i think i did temporarily solve the issue though.

as long as no new stations come up on 110 or 119 i'd be ok


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

techntrek said:


> Not always. When we moved up to HD I had my wife tell the tech to leave the SD dish in front of the garage, because I wanted it. Just before he left she noticed our old dish in the back of his truck, so she grabbed it. He must have really wanted to ebay it, first he told her it wasn't hers to keep (umm, yeah, we paid for it), then told her "you know you aren't allowed to put that on ebay". :nono2: (whatever). Her responses in parenthesis. He wasn't happy as she walked away with our dish in her hands.


That's pretty unusual, as most installers (and the companies they work for) don't get charged for dishes, so they have about zero value to a tech. Retailers have to buy dishes (they get reimbursed when the system is installed), so maybe it was a retail installer.


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## techntrek (Apr 26, 2007)

BattleZone said:


> That's pretty unusual, as most installers (and the companies they work for) don't get charged for dishes, so they have about zero value to a tech. Retailers have to buy dishes (they get reimbursed when the system is installed), so maybe it was a retail installer.


It was whomever DirecTV sent out, I didn't use an aftermarket installer. I don't know why that guy wanted our dish so badly, but he did...


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## wildbill129 (Dec 22, 2006)

You could turn it into a barbecue......


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