Forums > Specific Focus > Technical Mexico

gringohombre

Mar 25, 2008, 12:39 PM

Post #1 of 17 (1577 views)

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Dish Satellite vs. Star? Also internet service?

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Hi,

Just returned to Cal. from my house hunting trip to Lakeside. Found and rented a beautiful home on the lake in San Antonio. Will be driving down in about 2 weeks. I have Direct TV here and would like the same type of programming there. Could someone suggest the best system. I will have a HDTV and prefer the timeshifting of both east and west coast programming. Also is it possible to buy a used dish somewhere or in signing up for the service do I have to buy new? Also do the satellite companies provide the cables for hook up or do I have to provide them since they were not included with my new flat screen TV (yes I will be paying the duty!). Is high speed internet available on satellite or is the better service on phone or cable? So many questions!!!
Also just a heads up. I have found that most customs brokers are not doing menaje de casas anymore. The claim there has been too many problems with customers trying to get new items across and avoid the duty. I have found one that says she will do it and I will give an update as to how this works out for me. Thanks again for all of your past help.

Dennis

bournemouth

Mar 25, 2008, 1:25 PM

Post #2 of 17 (1563 views)

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Re: [gringohombre] Dish Satellite vs. Star? Also internet service?

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Just a quick response - Direct TV does not work here but Dish does. Most expats seem to have either Dish or Star Choice, the Canadian system. You might want to hook up with Dish before you come down and bring the equipment with you. A slightly larger dish will be required. There are others far more technically competent than I am who will have more information.

johanson / Moderator

Mar 25, 2008, 4:50 PM

Post #3 of 17 (1536 views)

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Re: [gringohombre] Dish Satellite vs. Star? Also internet service?

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Most folks wont even consider DirecTV because so few of the channels come in Lakeside. Between DirecTV and DISH, DISH brings in many more channels, but not all. Lakeside, one needs about a 4 foot dish to bring in DISH Network programming from the satellite at 119 W and about a 2 meter dish for the stuff from 110 W. These are the two satellites with the most programming on them in standard definition. There are also a few programs in HD thereon, but by far the most HD channels are carried on the bird that is situated at 129 West which even with my 12 foot dish fades in and out.

The system I like best here is www.starchoice.com It gives me a lot of Canadian stuff but also Seattle, Spokane, Detroit or Buffalo US network stations as well to include some 32 HD channels if you speak both English and French or some 25 or so if you speak English to include HD feeds of ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, and PBS. The signals come from 2 satellites that are picked up by one smaller 33.5 by 26.5 in elliptical dish. I chose the Seattle-Detroit package so that I could watch US networks from both coasts.

There are numerous broadband options in San Antonio, to include cable, WiFi, ADSL and most expensive and least desirable satellite internet

RickS

Mar 25, 2008, 6:39 PM

Post #4 of 17 (1522 views)

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Re: [johanson] Dish Satellite vs. Star? Also internet service?

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Pete, what is the current situation with respect to DishTV and "local" feeds. If choosing Dish (or Direct) would not one have to make some decisions (or purchase some equipment) before leaving to assure network channels? Or just opt for only NYC or something?

(In other words, someone [Pete] enlighten Dennis on this 'recent' development with respect to spot beams, etc.) As I recall none of this is a 'problem' with Star Choice.

johanson / Moderator

Mar 30, 2008, 1:30 PM

Post #5 of 17 (1427 views)

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Re: [RickS] Dish Satellite vs. Star? Also internet service?

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You are so right RickS. Many network feeds on DISH are spot beams and only can be received within a few 100 miles of the intended target. My home town area which varies from Seattle to Vancouver and Victoria BC can not be viewed here in Mexico on DISH. However with with Star Choice I can watch channels from these cities. I was hoping someone else could go into better detail about the DISH network delivery of US network feeds.

S & C

Mar 31, 2008, 12:19 PM

Post #6 of 17 (1396 views)

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Re: [johanson] Dish Satellite vs. Star? Also internet service?

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Getting back to the original question on this thread, Pete mentioned Star Choice the best option. Although I'm not in your area of Mexico, I concur with that Choice.

But Pete, Since he isn't in Canada, wouldn't he need to buy his equipment from a broker in the US and also set up a link with a broker in Canada to start his service and pay the monthly rate? (You are supposed to be in Canada in order to have Star Choice.)
That is what I had to do to get the Star Choice system. The only thing I bought in Mexico was a .9 meter dish from the Sky people and cable to hook it up with.
Stan
http://CasaTropical.com

Prplbreeze

Apr 27, 2008, 6:13 PM

Post #7 of 17 (1315 views)

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Re: [gringohombre] Dish Satellite vs. Star? Also internet service?

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First post! We have just sold our house and have Dish Network here in Colorado. It sounds like we should bring our Dish equipment along with us to Ajijic. To all of you who have Dish: Did you originally purchase as opposed to lease the equipment from Dish in the US? Did you cancel your US service? And then sign up for service in Mexico using the US equipment? Do you still pay anything to Dish US for the equipment or did you just take it into Mexico and drop off the US Dish grid.

Any preferred suppliers for Dish service in Ajijic?

Rolly

Apr 27, 2008, 7:07 PM

Post #8 of 17 (1307 views)

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Re: [Prplbreeze] Dish Satellite vs. Star? Also internet service?

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Bring the receiver, but not the dish. You will need to buy a larger dish for good reception down here. Do NOT tell Dish you are moving. You cannot sign up for US Dish service in Mexico, you must let them think you are still in the USA. Let them continue to charge your credit card just as though nothing has changed.

Rolly

E-visit me http://Rollybrook.com
This is a good time to be living in Mexico.
A clean house is the sign of a broken computer.

johanson / Moderator

Apr 27, 2008, 7:27 PM

Post #9 of 17 (1304 views)

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Re: [Prplbreeze] Dish Satellite vs. Star? Also internet service?

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Don't bother to bring your satellite dish with you. It is way too small. You need much larger satellite dishes down here, at least a 4 foot and 2 meter dish for the satellites at 119 and 110 respectively. Also remember that chances are your local stations are being distributed to you in Colorado on a spot beam which can not be received in Central Mexico.

Also why not keep the account you have, perhaps transferring the account to the address of a like named relative, that way it doesn't matter whether one buys or leases the receiver which is the only item you should bring with you to Central Mexico. If you end up buying new equipment here, it's much more expensive

Be careful. There are several qualitfied satellite dealers serving Ajijic. The trouble is, for the same service one qualified dealer might charge 70% more than another.

Prplbreeze

Apr 27, 2008, 7:48 PM

Post #10 of 17 (1299 views)

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Re: [johanson] Dish Satellite vs. Star? Also internet service?

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Thanks for your responses. I guess we are still not clear. It would seem that it would be cheaper to buy the equipment here for $3-500 rather than keeping the service going through Dish up here for $60.00 per month. (In 10 months we could have it paid off.) About how much more would the equipment be if we bought it in Mexico? Don't we have to buy service in Ajijic anyway?

When we move we will spend 9 months in Ajijic and 3 months in Alaska, which does not offer the Dish service.

johanson / Moderator

Apr 27, 2008, 7:50 PM

Post #11 of 17 (1298 views)

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Re: [S & C] Dish Satellite vs. Star? Also internet service?

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I just noticed your March 31st post S & C. I can't figure out how I missed your post. Sorry about that. To answer you, yes your solution is good.

The one thing I would do differently would be to use the Star Choice E 75 satellite dish. this is an elliptical dish that picks up programming from the two Star Choice satellites which is necessary if you want to pick up some or all of the some of the 25 to 30 HD channels.

(This post was edited by johanson on Apr 27, 2008, 7:51 PM)

Rolly

Apr 27, 2008, 7:59 PM

Post #12 of 17 (1291 views)

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Re: [Prplbreeze] Dish Satellite vs. Star? Also internet service?

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No, PBreeze. You cannot have Dish service in México legally; they will not sign you up; it is forbidden. You have to let them think you are still in the USA. If you don't keep on paying, they will disable the card in your receiver.

Please, do as I said before -- bring your receiver, buy a new larger disk in Ajijic, keep on charging the service to your credit card.

Rolly

E-visit me http://Rollybrook.com
This is a good time to be living in Mexico.
A clean house is the sign of a broken computer.

(This post was edited by Rolly on Apr 27, 2008, 8:00 PM)

RickS

Apr 28, 2008, 8:48 AM

Post #13 of 17 (1264 views)

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Re: [Prplbreeze] Dish Satellite vs. Star? Also internet service?

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Prplbreeze, it depends on whether or not you 'own' outright your Receiver or whether that $60 is also covering a lease of your Receiver as well as programming. I have Dish (Colorado) and I own mine as it was 'given' to us for signing up several years ago. More recently they have gone to leasing the equipment, especially if it is one of the Receivers that has DVR built in. If I were leasing, I'd think twice before I 'ran off' to Mexico with their equipment.... just my opinion.

Either way, as you have been told that, once in Mexico, you are going to have to buy some dish equipment no matter. AND, you will NOT be able to receive the local Denver stations (4,6,7,9,12,31) there with Dish Network as someone has already suggested.... you'll get some network feed out of NY probably but of course that is not in the 'right' timezone. An option that many people choose is the Canadian StarChoice satellite system. Back up this thread Johanson talked about it and he could share more about it with you how to acquire that instead of Dish. I personally like it better and it is cheaper per month as I recall.

taltman711

Apr 29, 2008, 12:19 PM

Post #14 of 17 (1228 views)

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Re: [johanson] Dish Satellite vs. Star? Also internet service?

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Hi,

To add to the previous posts:

Regarding locals: Almost all SD and HD locals either have gone or will go to spot beams. One exception is the Denver locals. Why? Simply because the geographical area--the DMA-- where these locals can be legally subscribed to is so large that no spot beam can cover it. So, for the foreseeable future, Denver should remain on ConUS, or Dish will have to put those channels on 2-3 different spots. Even NY is converting to spot beams. The NY HD went spot a few days ago, SD is still ConUS, but who knows for how much longer.

I have looked, vainly, to find out if it is illegal to have Dish or StarChoice according to Mexican law. I know Mexico allows you to receive the signal, the sticking point is if it is illegal to de-encrypt the signal. A very fine, yet important, distinction. From the US point of view, it is not illegal for you to subscribe, but it is a violation of FCC rules and regs for Dish to give or maintain a subscription if they find out you are in Mexico. Nothing illegal for you. In other words, if you are found out, Dish will cancel your subscription. End of story. I had hoped that there would be follow up reporting to the raid that the Mexican Gov. made regarding the satellite dealers in the Ajijic area. At the time, there was speculation that they were either going after Dish, Starchoice, or pirate FTA receivers. As far as I know, it still is business as usual. Perhaps Pete knows if there was any follow up by the Guad Reporter.

Regarding the StarChoice dish, the recommended dish size south of Guad. is the 85E, and to have 2 dishes rather than 1. I know Pete uses 1 75E and locks both sats. with success. However, 2 slightly larger dishes would help greatly with rain fade, and to lock onto weaker transponders. Still much smaller than the Dish dishes.
http://www.global-cm.net/CAN/point/MEXCA.html

Tim

johanson / Moderator

Apr 29, 2008, 2:50 PM

Post #15 of 17 (1216 views)

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Re: [taltman711] Dish Satellite vs. Star? Also internet service?

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Hey Tim. I see you giving out one of Mike Kohl's web pages. He's a good guy and knows his stuff.

First I have a copy somewhere written in the "Globe and Mail" of (I can't remember which) City, which states that there is a treaty or agreement between Canada and Mexico about each being able to share their radio and TV signals with the other or something to that effect. One of these days I will find it, scan it, and then post a copy.

After your post I phoned up Star Choice tech support and asked what signal strength they recommended for this part of Mexico. The tech said she didn't know but that most of the snow-birds reported that they got about 50. She further stated that 50 is great most of the time, but during the rainy season, she would prefer at least 75 for good reliability.

She also reminded me that here in Central Mexico, we are slightly closer to the satellites than we would be in Canada, and that because we were slightly closer, the spacing between the two LNBs is a little greater than ideal on the Canadian setup, and therefore you can try to maximize the signal of one or the other birds or compromise and not quite boresite into either satellite.

Most of my programming comes from Anik F2 because I am into HD. I just did a signal strength test on 6 of the HD channels between 272 and 291 and got a signal strength varying from 81 to 83. And at that strength I can hardly remember a time when I lost signal due to rain.

Now the signal strength is lower on Anik F1R here in Mexico. Typically I get about 46 to 58 for a signal strength on those channels I have checked from that satellite. Yes during periods of rain, I've experienced rain fade for a minute or three upon occasions on the weaker transponders (channels)

Could I better bore-site this dish in? Probably. But I'm too lazy to do so. What size elliptical dish do I use? (Star Choice offers two, the 60E and the 75E.) I always use the larger one, it's about 36 by 26 inches. And it works just fine. That said, if Star Choice were to have offered a slightly larger dish, like an 85E I would have taken it. But I am too lazy to change now

RickS

Apr 29, 2008, 4:59 PM

Post #16 of 17 (1204 views)

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Re: [taltman711] Dish Satellite vs. Star? Also internet service?

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Taltman711 said: Denver should remain on ConUS as the geographic area is so large that no spot beam can cover it.......

Well THAT is good news! So, prplbreeze, if you 'purchased' your Receiver you can bring it down and still get Denver locals (of course you can bring it down if you are leasing it also, but.....).

johanson / Moderator

Apr 29, 2008, 6:36 PM

Post #17 of 17 (1198 views)

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Re: [RickS] Dish Satellite vs. Star? Also internet service?

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When it comes to DISH Network Tim is the expert. Yes upon research I see that DISH carries 11 Denver stations and 4 of them, ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX are on Conus beams and therefore visible in Mexico. Sadly the other 7 are not. The page below didn't copy very well but look for the word Conus after the first 4 listed channels. Those you shoud be able to get in Mexico. The remaining 7 channels have the word "Spot" beam in them and are not visible in Mexico

8200 22

KMGH-TV (ABC - Denver)

Nagravision 2
Nagravision 3
Conus Anonymous
060905 8201 22

KCNC-TV (CBS - Denver)

Nagravision 2
Nagravision 3
Conus Anonymous
060905 8202 22

KUSA-TV (NBC - Denver)

Nagravision 2
Nagravision 3
Conus Anonymous
060905 8203 22

KDVR-TV (FOX - Denver)

Nagravision 2
Nagravision 3
Conus Anonymous
060905 8205 12

KTVD-TV (My - Denver)

Nagravision 2
Nagravision 3
Spot 30 J Hotsenpiller
060426 8206 12

KRMA-TV (PBS - Denver)

Nagravision 2
Nagravision 3
Spot 30 J Hotsenpiller
060426 8207 12

KRMT-TV (Denver)
Nagravision 2
Nagravision 3
Spot 30 J Hotsenpiller
060426 8208 12

KCEC-TV (Univisión - Denver)
Nagravision 2
Nagravision 3
Spot 30 J Hotsenpiller
060426 8209 12

KMAS-TV (Telemundo - Denver)
Nagravision 2
Nagravision 3
Spot 30 J Hotsenpiller
060426 8210 12

KWHD-TV (Denver)

Nagravision 2
Nagravision 3
Spot 30 J Hotsenpiller
060426 8211 12

KBDI-TV (PBS - Denver)

Nagravision 2
Nagravision 3
Spot 30 J Hotsenpiller
060426

copied this from http://www.lyngsat.com/...ges/dish110_sid.html