Satellite TV/Internet

Wonder why truck stops don't offer TV channels in some fashion? What is Dish in tbe go? Streaming on your phone like Netflix?

 

Unless you have a show you can not live without just get a antenna for tv,s, they have small ones and in some cities you can get over a hundred channels. Being a slave to the cable/satellite outfits can be a bit expensive while broadcast is still free.

 

Direct TV Now is a streaming version of DirectTV that works via WiFi and cellular signal through your phone or tablet. Price varues. We have the ATT unlimited data plan anyway so the Directv Now is $10 a month and HBO Go is free. My husband streams anywhere he's located as long as he has a cell signal. Hulu and Netflix also work fine.

 

You can't use a normal dish to get internet access. There are special antennas for receiving satellite internet service, BUT it's extremely expensive. Like around $895 for about 100 gigs of data. Also the upload speads are very very slow with the download speads not much better

 

All the trucks with a "satellite dish" mounted are pulling in satellite television, not internet. You can buy a dome and a receiver and have the television service exclusive to the truck. But there's lots of other options available if you have a solid unlimited data plan with your carrier or can access good mobile hotspot locations where you operate and take breaks.

For me, too many breaks are spent more then 40 miles from a major markets [with numerous broadcast towers] to make relying on broadcast television an exercise in futility. Satellite TV with DVR is nice. Those little dishes don't do well during precipitation or stormy weather events, but you can still watch recorded shows until it blows over.

 

No, Dish Network and DirecTV do not have mobile internet via King or Winegard domes. The cell phone companies have lock on mobile internet infrastructure at this point.

You could by a traditional round dish cheap, but then have the struggle of setting in up and stowing it. With King or Winegard automatic finding domes now at the $300-$500 mark, (verses over $1000 a few years ago) most just go that way. Although you still do see the occasional person raising a dish on a pole.