BajaNomad

Direct TV avail in BAJA???

mtnpop - 7-11-2013 at 01:54 PM

I have heard that the Direct TV signal can be accessed in BAJA. Does anyone have information regarding this... We also heard that you had to have a 1.8 meter dish to do so.
We have been using a slingbox to get our tv from our location in the U.S. which works thru the internet and usually works very nicely.. other than it uses a lot of bandwidth.
We are moving to a location w/o high speed internet so we would like to bring our reciever with us this year and use like at home. We will be at Punta Chivato just north of Mulege.
thanks for any help..

larryC - 7-11-2013 at 02:36 PM

Directv is available in baja. Check with your neighbors to determine what size dish you might need. I have a spare 1.8 meter dish that you can have, all you have to do is stop by and pick it up. I am in BoLA. I use a 1.2 meter dish and am able to receive the HD signal. Farther south you may not be able to do that.
Larry

mtnpop - 7-11-2013 at 02:51 PM

Larry,
thanks for the info... I will keep this in the file,, we will probably not head south until early fall now... also, the solar stuff at the bottom of your post, is that for sale.. we need to power up our place in Chivato..?
much oblige

BajaRun - 7-11-2013 at 06:07 PM

I have DirecTv and I took my dish on my roadtrip to Baja. I don't know the size,but it is a smaller round dish. I was able to get signal in BOLA easily. I left BOLA and stayed in San Ignacio, Bahia Asuncion, PT. Chivato, Mulege. I was never able get a signal after leaving BOLA. The locals that I talked to said my dish was too small and it would be almost impossible to get a signal with it. They were right. Get the biggest dish you can !!

Udo - 7-11-2013 at 06:11 PM

FYI...
I did see several oval HDTV Directv dishes in Bahia Asunción.

I'm bring a spare dish and one of my receivers on my trip in August.

BajaRun - 7-11-2013 at 06:15 PM

This is the dish I have. it's 18" http://pimages.solidsignal.com/46DTVDE2_medlrg.jpg

Bob and Susan - 7-12-2013 at 04:46 AM

direct doesn't work in chavito...or...mulege any more
they spot beam

I have a BIG 6 foot dish and can get DISH TV but not ALL the stations...

Canadian tv works here if you are canadian

CortezBlue - 7-12-2013 at 07:04 AM

So let's make sure we are all on the same page.

DirecTV is not available in Mexico, legally.

DirecTV's signal is a CONUS signal and can be received in most of North America See Web: http://www.dbstalk.com/topic/200951-transponder-maps-domesti...

As far as Spot Beams, that is only for Local Channels and has no effect on standard programming. In San Felipe, with my Phoenix based receivers I can get local programming in SD and HD in the day but not at night.

The oval 5 LNB direcTV dish is a bit tough to setup and is very sensitive.

Bottom line, you can get DirecTV in Mexico, but not legally. In San Felipe there are some folks who rent direcTV boxes to full time folks who don't have a home in the USA to connect and pay their DirecTV services.

If you have a home in the USA and want to bring your receivers down,

DON'T: Buy the new DirecTV Genie, it supports small networked based cubes that will not work without the Genie being connected.

DON'T: Connect a telephone or internet connection to any of the receivers that are located away from the phone number or internet where you are allowed to have DirecTV

DO: Buy a DirecTV dish off of Craigslist or off the web and take it to Mexico. Setup the dish using DishPointer http://www.dishpointer.com/

Dishpointer will allow you to plug in your Lat/Long and get all of the setting alignment numbers to get the dish ready to point and enjoy.

Enjoy

monoloco - 7-12-2013 at 07:06 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Udo
FYI...
I did see several oval HDTV Directv dishes in Bahia Asunción.

I'm bring a spare dish and one of my receivers on my trip in August.
It's likely that those are dishes for Direct TV Latin America:http://www.directvla.com/

larryC - 7-12-2013 at 01:28 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by mtnpop
Larry,
thanks for the info... I will keep this in the file,, we will probably not head south until early fall now... also, the solar stuff at the bottom of your post, is that for sale.. we need to power up our place in Chivato..?
much oblige


Pop,
The solar stuff at the bottom of my post is the stuff I use to run my house. I built the system about 10 years ago. Solar is now one of my fun hobbies.
Larry

Cortez Blue's instructions

huesos - 7-14-2013 at 01:21 PM

Just to be clear, in order to bring down my Directv receiver, do I have to have an address in the US? I was planning on giving that up. My plan was to put my account on hold pending relocation and convert the billing to paperless. Upon establishing a habitation in Baja, I could simply reinstall the dish I have now and connect the receiver. Directv knows immediately when my receiver becomes active and begins billing. By paying out of my US bank account, I figured that they would not care where the receiver was located, but I may be way off base. I will only be a short distance from the border.

larryC - 7-14-2013 at 05:09 PM

Yes, you need an address in the US to continue your subscription. Directv will not know when your receiver becomes active unless you hook it to a phone line or to the internet, and you don't want to do that if you are in baja. I would put it on hold and then change addresses, preferrably to a San Diego address, so you get the local channels, and then through your online account let them know that you want the service turned back on. Good luck with it.
Larry

CortezBlue - 7-14-2013 at 08:54 PM

Yes, DirecTV cares about where you watch TV and in fact, it is illegal to have DirecTV or Dish Network in Mexico or Canada.

You need to have a setup in the USA. Once you have setup the account and still can use the same billing address, you are good to go. I have had my DirecTV since inception in the 80's. However, DirecTV is getting more demanding about installing your equipment when you move. They want to make sure you are really moving. With paperless bills and credit card payments, it would be easy to move but still pay for service.

Currently there is not a GPS device in the receiver, but I think in the future there may be. Also, DirecTV is pushing the Genie system. My cousin bout the Genie and the receivers are really cool. They are about as big as a package of cigarettes and they are networked over coax cable connections. However, they are not receivers at all. They are simply network boxes and are required to be connected to the Genie and will not work stand alone.

[Edited on 7-15-2013 by CortezBlue]

Directv omnipotence

huesos - 7-15-2013 at 07:38 AM

Not to put to fine a point on it but when I put my account on hold and flip the on switch a month later, every thing resumes including the billing. What is this program the Baja realtors are talking about, Directv latin america?

larryC - 7-15-2013 at 09:00 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by huesos
Not to put to fine a point on it but when I put my account on hold and flip the on switch a month later, every thing resumes including the billing. What is this program the Baja realtors are talking about, Directv latin america?



It is not too fine a point.
As Cortez said, and as far as I know there are no gps devices in the receiver. If they knew to start billing you again then I am guessing you had it hooked to a phone line or the internet. The receivers are one way communication only with the satellite, that is why they want you to connect to a phone line so they know when to bill you for a movie. I have used my recievers in baja for the last 15 years with out a problem. We pay our bill online and never hook the receivers to the internet. We have no phone service down here in Bahia so that is not an option.
Larry

I hate to complicate this

huesos - 7-15-2013 at 01:43 PM

For the thirteen or so years I have had my basic receiver, I have never had a phone line attached. It appeared to be redundant as far as I was concerned and Driectv seems to only want the money. That is why I think it is going to work no matter where I move it. I could be wrong or the box might fail to withstand the move.

mtgoat666 - 7-15-2013 at 02:02 PM

directv operates in latin america: directvla.com

larryC - 7-15-2013 at 03:07 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by huesos
For the thirteen or so years I have had my basic receiver, I have never had a phone line attached. It appeared to be redundant as far as I was concerned and Driectv seems to only want the money. That is why I think it is going to work no matter where I move it. I could be wrong or the box might fail to withstand the move.


You are right it will work where ever you move it, as long as you don't move it outside of the footprint for the 101 satellite. As you get closer to the edge of the footprint you will start needing a larger dish because the signal will be getting weaker and weaker. Do you know where you will be moving it to? In BoLA and farther north, you can still use the 18" round dish to get standard definition stations. If you go much farther south then you start needing a larger dish.
I never meant to sound like it would not work for you, just that there are some restrictions on where you can move it and how large a dish you will need. Good luck with yours.
Larry

larryC

huesos - 7-15-2013 at 04:54 PM

larry,
I plan to move just below the border North of Ensenada. What I may do is ask for a new receiver prior to any of this as mine must be fairly brittle by now. I think I can do the simple install when I move. I get the feeling the directvla is not even similar to my programing now.

CortezBlue - 7-15-2013 at 06:50 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by huesos
For the thirteen or so years I have had my basic receiver, I have never had a phone line attached. It appeared to be redundant as far as I was concerned and Driectv seems to only want the money. That is why I think it is going to work no matter where I move it. I could be wrong or the box might fail to withstand the move.


The same here. The only complication is ordering PPV movies. You have to order them online with a credit card

CortezBlue - 7-15-2013 at 06:51 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by huesos
larry,
I plan to move just below the border North of Ensenada. What I may do is ask for a new receiver prior to any of this as mine must be fairly brittle by now. I think I can do the simple install when I move. I get the feeling the directvla is not even similar to my programing now.


Larry
If you upgrade they will require you to have DirecTV come to your home to install a new dish and receiver.

larryC - 7-16-2013 at 09:58 AM

You are right, if you upgrade now they are going to want to install an HD dish. You could try telling them the house is already wired for it and maybe they won't bother.
Larry