# Do they sell temporary satellite TV/Internet service? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 4, 2006, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-sell-temporary-satellite-tv-internet-service/367291 "2006-08-04T05:25:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-sell-temporary-satellite-tv-internet-service/367291/1 "2006-08-04T05:25:10Z")
I just bought a small motor home. ([picture](http://fff.fathom.org/pages/dipmodern/Motorhome.jpe)) The wife and I are looking forward to using it for various mini-vacations across the mid-Atlantic with our kids, but I had a question. The motor home comes with a TV and a VCR, but nothing but a standard antenna. I was thinking that I could put a small dish on the roof, and when we set up at night, we would have full TV reception and internet service for my laptop, but this is obviously something that we would only need when we were camping in the RV, not all the time. I was wondering if there was any type of satellite service that sold time on an as needed basis, say, service that I could buy for a given week or weekend. Does anyone know if such a service exists? ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-sell-temporary-satellite-tv-internet-service/367291/2 "2006-08-04T08:48:44Z")
Don’t know about the sat/cable options, but a quick Google search brought up this option for Internet access: Rent an EVDO Card (for Internet access from your laptop, over the cellular network) > **[5Gstore.com, 4G/5G Routers, Antennas, Boosters, WiFi, IP Switches](https://5gstore.com/)** > > 4G/5G Routers, Antennas, Boosters, WiFi, IP Switches > [@](#): > > What are the costs? > > The costs are $35/day (3 day minimum) or $200/week. You pay for FedEx one way, we pay for return FedEx. Definitely not cheap. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-sell-temporary-satellite-tv-internet-service/367291/3 "2006-08-04T09:53:51Z")
> [@xash](#): > > Definitely not cheap. Not exactly broadband, either. FWIW, I think climbing up on the RV and manually repositioning the dish every night sounds like more trouble than it’s worth. They do make “auto-positioners” for RVs and busses, but they aren’t cheap either. If it were me, I’d just add another “room” to my dish network subscription and pay the $1,000+ for said “auto-positioner”, or say, “the hell with it” and deal with cellular internet and terrestrial TV. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-sell-temporary-satellite-tv-internet-service/367291/4 "2006-08-04T11:02:23Z")
> [@Eleusis](#): > > If it were me, I’d just add another “room” to my dish network subscription and pay the $1,000+ for said “auto-positioner”, or say, “the hell with it” and deal with cellular internet and terrestrial TV. TV through an antenna isn’t all that bad, if you know where to point it at. If there was someway to record HD TV, without going through someone, I would ditch my cable all together. I get HD broadcasts for free, something that would cost $70-100 per month. Granted I don’t get all the other cable channels, but I don’t want them anyway. I’m sure if you looked around you could find wireless internet at some campgrounds. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-sell-temporary-satellite-tv-internet-service/367291/5 "2006-08-04T11:54:59Z")
> [@Edward The Head](#): > > If there was someway to record HD TV, without going through someone, I would ditch my cable all together. > [@Tivo Community Forums](#): > > At the CES 2006 show, [TiVo](http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?threadid=151443) announced a standalone HD TiVo prototype with two CableCard tuners and Over-the-Air (OTA 8VSB) ATSC tuners. The unit was capable of receiving, recording, and performing all TiVo functions on local analog Cable and digital Cable and digital HDTV Cable broadcasts as well as digital HDTV over-the-air broadcasts. More information on this Series 3 TiVo, which will be released in mid-to-late 2006, will be made available in a companion FAQ. Soon, maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-sell-temporary-satellite-tv-internet-service/367291/6 "2006-08-04T14:08:23Z")
I haven’t had satelite in years, so this may no longer be true. People purchased a second unit, and moved the card between them. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-sell-temporary-satellite-tv-internet-service/367291/7 "2006-08-04T14:28:28Z")
> [@Harmonious Discord](#): > > I haven’t had satelite in years, so this may no longer be true. People purchased a second unit, and moved the card between them. That won’t work these days. The card, when activated, is “married” to the receiver. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-sell-temporary-satellite-tv-internet-service/367291/8 "2006-08-04T16:08:26Z")
If you have satellite service at home, you can get a portable dish antenna (with or without the expensive auto-aiming features) and bring your receiver from home with you when you travel. After positioning the antenna, you will receive all the channels you would normally get at home (including all your local channels–not the locals from where you are parked).