Dish network & dish internet?

My dad works for RV Life magazine as a contributor, and he was talking about either Dish TV or Direct TV, not sure which, That had a little knowen program for RV's and Trucks that allow you to access both East coast and West coast programing at the same time, and that they have a "RV" mount that will keep a constant track on the sattelite. He did mention that you have to order it directly through them, not a subcontractor, and had to provide proof of owenership of RV or Rig. Biggest issue I see with it is the size of the dome at 3'wx4'high

 

It's an interesting concept developed by Qualcomm. It uses the cellular networks to broadcast about 20 channels right now. The coverage is "nationwide" in theory, but it can be equated to about the same as your 3G phone coverage. So that means that is mostly usable near your urban areas.

You have to own a Flo-capable device like one of those units you saw in the truck stop or a supported smart phone. So that means that you are viewing on a smaller screen than a full-sized TV.

Here's the biggie though: Qualcomm has press-released that there is some rockin N' rollin in the Flo division with this on the FloTV site:

"As we previously indicated in our July 2010 earnings call, we have been examining strategic opportunities for FLO TV. We have been engaging in conversations with a wide range of partners for both the network and the spectrum. We are seeing strong interest in using the FLO TV network or spectrum to capitalize on the growing imbalance between mobile data supply and demand, the growth of tablets, and consumer demand for high quality video and print content, and a richer user experience. While this process continues, we are suspending our direct to consumer sales of new devices. We anticipate we will maintain the network so that current direct to consumer subscribers will continue to receive FLO programming into Spring 2011. Service provided to handsets purchased through wireless operators is unaffected at this time. In the event of a discontinuance of service, FLO TV will make appropriate refunds, the details of which will be communicated prior to discontinuation. While we are working to redeploy impacted employees, we anticipate that there will be some layoffs."

Personally I see the mobile data market doing NOTHING BUT growing over the coming months and years, and Qualcomm certainly has the funds to be a major player. Right now this "TV over cellular networks" technology is still in its infancy. I think that if they had widespread coverage, lots of channels, and some kind of box that you plug into a bigger TV in your truck, then they'll really be onto something...

 

http://www.xconomy.com/san-diego/2010/10/05/qualcomm-ending-its-own-direct-to-consumer-tv-service/

 

They'll have to do some major upgrades to the cellular equipment before something like this ever works. They don't have nearly enough bandwidth as it is.

 

Or the coverage. Like I said, it's a novel idea and I think that it will grow as the country continues to install high bandwidth towers. Maybe when 4G gets any serious install base in the future, but even 3G has lots of dead spots still. In the mean time, we all have to decide between satellite, RedBox, over-the-air, Netflix, online TV, trading DVD's, or a combination thereof.

 

I bought a VC2000 portable and mounted it on my truck last year after googling "vucube" and finding the best price. I spent a total of 780 bucks on the cube and a mount, 25 bucks on sealtite conduit, and installled it myself. This is the same as a VC20 designed to rip off truck drivers. I just stop, start my APU (VC2000 and VC3000 and VC20 as well as VC30"s all require 110 v AC for power supply), turn on my TV and dish reciever, then press and hold the button on the VuCube remote for 3 seconds, and voila!! after about 3-4 minutes I have all sattellite TV channels! It's awesome!
I have Dish 500 service, so the Vucube locates both 110 and 119 sattellites when it searches, and the Dish TV remote is all I use to change channels! It works EXACTLY like my dish at home, and I don't have to get out of the truck and slip around on Ice and snow or get rained on to set it up when I stop. I really think it's worth the money it costs.