hey satellite dish guys need some help

[rfuerst911sc]

So last week the wife and I purchased our retirement home . It's out in the country and from what I have been told and research I have done online we will get very limited if any stations via an antenna .

The only internet available in the area is Windstream and EVERYONE I have talked to said it is garbage . Overpriced and poor performance . So this weekend was our first camp over in the new home . My wife noticed that there is a satellite dish mounted to the side of the house . There is no visible name on it but it is a dual LNB . I traced the two coax wires down from the dish and they just end at the house . The sellers of the home ( not the original owners ) had a satellite dish mounted to a pole in the ground .
So not knowing ANY history on the dish mounted to the house what would my path forward be to determine if it works ?

It didn't take companies long to find out we are new in the area , received a flyer from Hughes talking about their 5th generation service for satellite internet ? Is it any good ? I have nothing tied up in this dish so if it can't be used no big deal . But if it can be used maybe that is a path we can use for internet and then we can continue to do streaming for TV like we currently do .

I will do some internet research but nothing beats Pelican wisdom

[fintstone]

Can you get a cellphone signal there?

[fintstone]

Hughesnet is not a good choice for streaming...or much else IMHO unless you have no other choices. Can you get a cellphone signal there?

[KFC911]

30+ years ago, I was involved with satellite (VSAT) technology in my corporate life as a networking/systems guy....everything back in those daze was Hugh's tech and equipment regardless of the name on it...that's probably changed as I am a dinosaur . I had Direct for many, many years, but went to just OTA probably 10 years ago....happy! So why am I replying to this thread you ask....cause I had Dish service put in my parents' house about a week ago . First they put in a DVR servicable equipment (though I explicitly told them my parents didn't want that) which had a dish with 3 LNBs on it...saw it later, and said NOPE, they're not gonna be charged 15/mo for something they'll never use so Dish agreed to come back out two days later and swap the equipment out....I figured 15 minutes to swap their two TV boxes....nope . Guy was there all morning swapping out the 3 LNB thingy on the dish with another that looked just like it, and replacing the coax to inside the house. I've said all that to say this....do not reuse anything. Have them put in ALL new equipment, dish, coax runs, etc., and do NOT mount the dish on a pole....only as a last, VERY last resort....pole dish mounts just ask for reception issues. Mount it to the house...mine used to be on my roof, theirs is on the eave board beneath the roof. Hope this helps....enjoy your new place !!!

[rfuerst911sc]

Yes we do get cellphone reception but according to the bar meter on the phones the signal is not the strongest .

[fintstone]

For me, this works better than Hughesnet (if you have an 4G LTE signal).
https://www.att.com/cellphones/att/wireless-home-phone-and-internet.html#sku=sku7130587

If you want to use it as a home phone, you can keep your number (or get a new one) and use the same telephone you’re using now. Free caller number ID, call forwarding, 3-way calling, and voicemail. If you lose power, it has 1.5 hours of talk time and 18 hours of standby time. Probably work well from a hotel room or car as well. Comes with the phone line capability and 50G of Internet a month for about the cost of 20G internet from Hughesnet and you can take it with you. If you have direct TV, you can stream whatever you have on your home receiver through that or to your AT&T Iphones for free (no additional Direct TV charge or data charges).

[KFC911]

There is NO one size fits all solution...it just depends on your location. Ask your neighbors what they are currently using and their results. I don't live in the boonies, but cell service at my house absolutely sucks....always has despite all the changes of providers and tech over 25 years....supply verses demand in layman's terms....too many users . Ask around....NONE of us know your answers .

[stomachmonkey]

Windstream?

Only if no other option and the Corleones' were "motivating" me.

Try the cell option first.

Look into an antennae and booster system for cells.

Anywhere from $150 and up.

[fintstone]

The AT&T thingy above gives you 50G data per month if you get the one with the phone jack (even if you don't use the phone) for $100. If you get just a hotspot without phone jack, it is $335 for 50G. Go figure.

It works good for me and I am very rural. AT&T site has coverage map.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by fintstone

....

It works good for me and I am very rural. AT&T site has coverage map.

Again, I am not rural....have AT&T fiber backbone down one side of my street and local phone co. fiber doen the other side, live in a VERY high traffic cell area however....my 4g service is virtually worthless (at my house) during peak cell traffic times. Maps don't even begin to give an accurate analysis of the cell service you might receive in a specific location....driving I-85 in Atlanta is fine at 3 am .

[id10t]

Funny, I've never had a single issue with Windstreams DSL *as long as* you don't use their DNS servers. Point to google's public 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4 or run your own caching server...

[rfuerst911sc]

Originally Posted by id10t

Funny, I've never had a single issue with Windstreams DSL *as long as* you don't use their DNS servers. Point to google's public 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4 or run your own caching server...

You're speaking a foreign language can you dumb it down for me . And if it matters we are using Google cellphones and their FI service .

[rfuerst911sc]

Originally Posted by KC911

There is NO one size fits all solution...it just depends on your location. Ask your neighbors what they are currently using and their results. I don't live in the boonies, but cell service at my house absolutely sucks....always has despite all the changes of providers and tech over 25 years....supply verses demand in layman's terms....too many users . Ask around....NONE of us know your answers .

From what I can see every neighbor and most houses heading to our house have some brand of small dish .

[fred cook]

Originally Posted by rfuerst911sc

So last week the wife and I purchased our retirement home . It's out in the country and from what I have been told and research I have done online we will get very limited if any stations via an antenna .

The only internet available in the area is Windstream and EVERYONE I have talked to said it is garbage . Overpriced and poor performance . So this weekend was our first camp over in the new home . My wife noticed that there is a satellite dish mounted to the side of the house . There is no visible name on it but it is a dual LNB . I traced the two coax wires down from the dish and they just end at the house . The sellers of the home ( not the original owners ) had a satellite dish mounted to a pole in the ground .
So not knowing ANY history on the dish mounted to the house what would my path forward be to determine if it works ?

It didn't take companies long to find out we are new in the area , received a flyer from Hughes talking about their 5th generation service for satellite internet ? Is it any good ? I have nothing tied up in this dish so if it can't be used no big deal . But if it can be used maybe that is a path we can use for internet and then we can continue to do streaming for TV like we currently do .

I will do some internet research but nothing beats Pelican wisdom

I have Windstream internet here in south Georgia. No real problems, good speeds and only the rare system outage. For what it's worth, I am pretty sure that alll Windstream remote switches and towers are now on fiber with plenty of bandwidth. I retired from Windstream about 6 years ago and at that time, they were building fiber routes just as fast as they could. I use Directv for my tv service. They have also been very reliable over the years. The only problem with using satellite service is that heavy clouds will block the signal. Good luck with the new house!

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by rfuerst911sc

From what I can see every neighbor and most houses heading to our house have some brand of small dish .

Just my two cents we have been on Dish Network for years and are very happy with it.
For $63.42 for the 120 channel HD with DVR but no preimium channels (HBO, etc.), if you catch them at the right time you get free instalation.
I think it is $40 for minimum package with no HD and no DVR