We own and operate a small destination park and are faced with an issue concerning our television service provider. We currently have cable service and offer it free to our customers. The cable company is upgrading to a fiber optics system and the new service will require a converter box for each TV. Currently, the campers just hook up a co-ax to the pedestal and use their TV to select channels. I am concerned about making the boxes available and keeping track of them, not to mention the hassle of temporarily connecting to TV's in the clients' RV's. I am looking for options to cable. We have 90 RV sites and 12 cabins. We currently pay +/- $600 / month for the cable service which is also how we access internet service. I know there are satellite options, but not very familiar with the details / features/ options. I would be interested in any thoughts on the matter. It is my intention to continue with a quality TV signal and be able to offer it at no additional charge for my customers. Thanks
Have you asked your cable company if they offer any options for a local "head end" setup? This is basically a panel that has a converter for each channel you want that then outputs the decrypted signal in analog format, combining all the outputs for distribution over your existing wiring. The satellite companies offer similar setups, although a bit more equipment is involved, such as the required multi-satellite dish, etc. In both cases, there are usually equipment leases available, saving you a fairly large initial cash outlay. Worth checking into...
Thanks for input. I have asked the satellite providers for quotes on a Head End system and may end up going that way. The down side is pretty high initial cost. I am hoping the cable company will have a similar option. Unfortunately, they are not known for great customer service in my location. Meanwhile, the search is on !
What kind of channels do you get ovet the air in your area? Depending on your location, you may get several local channels, and this would be sufficient for many people. Instead of investing in expensive cable/satilight equipment, what about putting the money towards internet service and a high quality wi fi setup. I read articles all the time that the trend is towards getting favorite shows via internet like netflix and youtube, and going away from cable/satilight. Chris g. FMCA: f3508-s
I think along the same lines as Fitzjohnfan. As long as I can pick up a news channel I'm happy. There is not much on regular programming that's any good anyway. Spend your money where it will count. I have not, nor will I every try to put a cable box into my rig. Darrell
I am looking into satellite and digital antenna options. The head end stuff isn't too bad as far as initial cost is concerned. I agree with a focus on Wi-Fi and internet access. I think TV programming via the internet will eventually replace cable and give satellite a good run for the money. My main reason for needing the cable now is for my internet access. Not many options right now but I expect that to get better. Thanks
Last fall we did a big trip through the Great Lakes states and had a lot of trouble with cable TV. (We don't have a satellite system.) According to quite a few park owners the cable companies in the area were requiring the converter boxes. They too were faced with the problems of hooking them up and how to provide the boxes to guests. One owner was particularly disgusted with the situation, and said he was losing business over it. He had tried to let his guests have a box but had run into all sorts of problems. After we listened to his rant about the cable company for about 30 min, he agreed to let us have a box and remote and a short length of cable ($20 refundable deposit) but did not guarantee it would work. He also gave us a set of instructions (from the cable company) that you would need a degree from MIT to understand. Fortunately we discovered it really was not that difficult to hook up, but we did not do it like the instructions said. If I recall (but it's been a while) we hooked up the coax from our coach to the pedestal as usual; then we took the coax that went into the back of the TV and hooked it into the box and ran the coax he gave us from the box to the TV. This worked fine, but we only did this with one TV because the back of it was easy to reach. The back of the other TV was not as accessible so, I can understand how that would be a problem for many people. Also with this type of hookup we would have needed another box for the second (and each additional) TV. We do not like having to do this to get cable TV, but it did work and was pretty easy to hook up. However, as far as we're concerned cable TV companies are already on the decline and anything like this that they do to make their services less accessible is just going to make it worse for them. We appreciate your efforts to bring TV service to your guests and we wish you luck in working something out.
Are there alternatives to cable for your internet access? Telecom options such as multiple T3 lines provide guaranteed, synchronous performance which can be significantly better than cable at prices that are comparable.
I own an RV Park also and I switched from Cable to satellite last fall for the same reason. I had a company install the headend equipment and connect everything to the sites. I'm paying a little more per month with the equipment lease, but I'm now able to furnish TV to every site, whereas before I could only afford to have cable at half my sites. Even though I dropped the Cable TV, I kept internet service with the Cable company. Can you keep your internet service if you discontinue Cable TV?
I'd like to add me 2 cents of support for Internet service as a priority, rather than cable TV. Different people like different things, but I really think the trend is toward TV through streaming internet, and away from cable TV. So many parks have crummy WiFi, but 60 TV channels! Maybe I'm to only one that doesn't watch television when I'm camping, but I do like uploading pics of my trip so the grammy and grandpa can see where the grand kids are camping - plus having good WiFi helps me do prep research for my next stop or touch base with the house sitter. TV doesn't do anything like that. If cable monopolies give you a hard time DUMP THEM, and beef up the WiFi capacity.
