Using North America DirecTv in Cali

santiBOG says on Aug 26, 2005, 08:28:

I did just the opposite... I had a Colombian DirecTV box in my Florida home for over a year. It worked ok but often RCN would blackout shows (live soccer games). Curiously, the only DirecTV users that were blacked out where those in Florida (or elsewhere in the US). They later blocked Caracol TV alltogether (also to US users) . That tells me that DirecTV Colombia had a way of knowing where each user was located. By the way, when I bought the service I had to have it installed in my home in Bogota; if I had said that it was for 'export' they would not have sold it to me. So what I did after installation was leave the new dish on top of my building in Bogota and take the set-top box with me to Florida and I bought an extra dish on eBay.

That's what I suggest you do. Get the service (with local channels) for your home in NC and bring the black box to Cali. Get an installer to hook it up and aim it at the right satellite. there should not be any problem getting the signal. After all, (correct me if I'm wrong) aren't satellites on orbit right over the equator?

If you tell DirecTV USA that you want to hook it up abroad they will likely not sell it to you. Let me know how this goes please, I was thinking of doing just that, but with Dish Network (what can I say I miss Comedy Central).

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Crazy4Cali says on Aug 26, 2005, 08:46:

Sort of.... The birds are global, but the markets are local and the boxes are programmed by and for the local market. Also, some birds have their antennas focused on certain parts of the globe so if your set is tuned to the transponder/bird focused for one area (e.g. North America) you may not be able to receive that same transponder/bird in other areas (e.g. central/south america).

I'm not an expert, but I was looking into this for an RV application and most U.S. Sat. systems are focused for North America and won't get as good of signal (i.e. you'll need a bigger dish) as you move out of the signal area.

Also some sat boxes need to communicate via telephone lines to the "home office" for programming, updates, etc. If you give them a number that starts with 01157, they might catch on to the fact you moved out of the area.

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Michael_B says on Aug 26, 2005, 09:15:

Phone Number I know my Tivo will need to call in for updates but I will also be taking my Vonage VOIP adapter so I can still use my NC phone number as I will be working from home anyway

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santiBOG says on Aug 26, 2005, 09:37:

Right... I was going to say that, Vonage works beautifully here in Bogota with Cablenet.

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spigrimace says on Aug 26, 2005, 11:27:

would love to know if it works I´m dying to get some of the US Direc TV sports packagaes in COlombia that they don´t offer in Colombia

I´d be willing to foot my part of the bill if anyone with a Direc TV system in the US would be nice enough to ship it down here, we´ll see if it works in Colombia and then ship it right back.

If it works, I´d buy a US subscription and if not, oh well at least it didn´t cost a whole year´s subscription.

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santiBOG says on Aug 26, 2005, 11:47:

Another way would be to hook up a SlingBox ($200) somewhere in the US where there's cable Tv or a satellite dish (i.e. a friend's house) and a broadband internet connection. You can then log on to your Slingbox from anywhere in the world (again, with broadband) and see live US TV on your computer. I hear it works well even though image quality can't possibly be as good as the real thing. But what the heck, it's your favorite shows and US local TV, live.

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Mamey says on Aug 26, 2005, 21:14:

unfortunately a U.S. Direct TV packaged signal will not work in Colombia. The footprint of the U.S. beamed signal does not reach this part of the world.

I have talked to some technicians who thought that MAYBE an 18 meter dish might get a signal... but tha't MAYBE.

good luck

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larryste says on Aug 27, 2005, 00:28:

no signal I was hoping to do the same thing with directv. Tring to find out information is really hard. There web site that shows the sat footprint. You can get strong signal northern mexico. You see a some web pages about getting usa directv in mexico. The footprint go to soutern panama. It may be posiable get the singal if you have a big dish. Getting local usa channels may be a problem. They beamed to regions. You can not get tampa stations in new york. You have to have a usa addres

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santiBOG says on Aug 28, 2005, 07:29:

"a U.S. Direct TV packaged signal will not work in Colombia. The footprint of the U.S. beamed signal does not reach this part of the world."

That's what I was told about the Colombian DirecTV years ago (supposedly Florida was not inside the footprint of the satellite). It was a lie... hundreds of Colombians installed Colombian DirecTV in Florida and it worked fine, the signal was strong.

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Miguel says on Aug 28, 2005, 14:53:

Interesting Link Satellite TV Forum

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