Are you an Ex-pat and want to get Dish Network USA in Costa Rica?

How do you do it? How much does it cost?

General Information: Due to the weak electromagnetic satellite footprint from the North American satellites in Costa Rica, the first thing that you will have to do is to purchase a huge 240 cms (8 feet) offset antenna/dish to get an acceptable satellite reception. Therefore, the small 3 ft. dish from the United States won’t work. After that, everything is the same as in the U.S. where you install your big satellite dish on your roof top or you attach it to a ground pole, you will then run RG6 coax cable from the HDTV LNB to the house into the receiver. Also, you will have to purchase from us an activated satellite receiver provided by Dish Network. Once the 240 cm (8 feet) Big dish is properly installed and pointing to the satellite, and the activated satellite receiver is hooked up to the receiver, you will only need to pay the monthly fee for your Dish Network USA subscription to start receiving U.S. All-in-English speaking satellite TV programing in your household in Costa Rica.

In general, a professional DISH NETWORK Satellite TV installation with a 8 ft. Big Dish is around USD $2,400 anywhere in the Great Metropolitan Area.

Keep in mind that there is a more affordable Dish Network USA solution for less than USD $1,000 on this link, but using a big 8 ft. satellite dish will allow you to use all DVR features and get all the HD TV channels where as the small dish TV solution won’t.

8 ft., 10 ft. and 12 ft. in diameter – Big Satellite Dishes and Installation Costs:

• A BIG –  2.4 meters or 8 ft. Fiber Glass Satellite Dish Antenna – Only USD $1,400
• A VERY BIG – 3.0 meters or 10 ft. Fiber Glass Satellite Dish Antenna – Only USD $1,800
• A GIANT – 3.7 meters or 12 ft. Fiber Glass Satellite Dish Antenna – Only USD $7,000
• Basic full installation for Big Dish, Coax Cable, Receiver – USD $800 (Roof mounted) or USD $700 (pole mounted)
• Shipping Costs for Big 8ft. Dish from USD $100 to USD $400 depending on your location.

Receivers that we sell :

• SILVER COLOR – Dish Network Satellite Receiver HD/SD Dual VIP 222 – only USD $ 350 
• SILVER COLOR – Dish Network Satellite Receiver HD/SD Dual DVR VIP 722 – only USD $ 500 

If you would like a cheaper Big Dish, ask us, we might have a remanufactured or old used Big Dish that works great.

IMPORTANT : With big dish satellite TV installations like with DISH NETWORK USA on satellite positioned in orbital 72.7 West, we ONLY ASK TO PROVIDE the shipping costs (usually USD $100) up front. Since we do not know each other and we are just starting a new business relationship, we will arrive at your place with the big dish, installation materials and the satellite receiver. Once we arrive at your house/business, we will deliver the big dish and receiver for your thoroughly examination. After the examination, you will be asked to provide a first cash payment for the total value of the big dish and satellite receiver that were delivered to you. Once this first payment is done (usually this takes 10 minutes), we will proceed to dispatch the shipping truck (we do not need it anymore) and proceed with the professional satellite TV installation. At the end of the day, once the professional satellite TV installation is done and you are effectively watching American TV, you will be asked for the second payment regarding the labor/professional installation that was done at your home.

Dish Network’s HD/SD TV Channels with BIG DISH from Costa Rica:

These are all the SD and HD TV Channels that can be watched with a BIG 8 ft. satellite dish.
330+ SD TV Channels and more than 100+ HD TV Channels.
Updated December 18th of 2014. TV Channels and Pricing are subject to change.

Click on the image below, to download a PDF file with TV Channels and Pricing information.

The rain issue : 

It is a fact that when it rains, the electromagnetic waves get degraded on the 8 ft. dish antenna and thus, the satellite TV signal could go away for sometime.  It is important to know that even though you purchased a huge dish antenna that the already weak TV signals from the North American satellites (Dish Network USA) are not meant to be tuned in from Costa Rica. Said in other words, when it rains, your 8 ft. dish won’t help you but the 3 ft. dish will keep the HD Networks and SD TV Channels alive. If you want a more stable “anti-rain” solution with Dish Network USA (say you …work in a SportsBook or you are the owner of a Sportsbars, the bar is full of clients watching the Superbowl.. and you want the HD TV Channels to remain available during the rainy season.) then you will need to look at a 13 ft. or 3.8 mt dish antenna. This super huge dish antenna costs around USD 7,000 .

Also, it is important to mention that some clients have reported to have better performace with “Dish Network USA with small dish on satellite 121° West” and DirecTV Puerto Rico with small dish on satellite 95° West under heavy rain. Even though, both satellite tv packages from U.S. and Puerto Rico require smaller 3 ft. dish antennas, the electromagnetic footprint from both U.S and P.R. satellites is so strong that they can outperform a 8 ft. or 10 ft. dish antenna pointing to the american satellites from Dish Network USA. Said in other words, some people with a  3ft. antenna are watching ESPN under rain in Costa Rica while some other people with just a 8 ft. antenna are just turning their TV off.

Another way to understand this is the following:

• Satellite 95° West from DirecTV PR with 3 ft. dish can handle moderate rain.
• Satellite 121° West from Dish Network USA with 3 ft. dish can handle heavy rain.
• Satellites 72.7° /110°/ 119° / 129° West from Dish Network USA with 8 ft. or 10 ft. dishes can NOT handle rain. Sometimes Not even too cloudy conditions.

Image below shows a SILVER “Dish Network VIP222 “

You can hook up two Television sets with this VIP222 satellite receiver. One TV in HD (High Definition) and one TV in SD (Standard Definition)

All of our customers become “Account Holders” of the satellite receiver. You will get a Dish Network Account Number and Security Pin so that you can deal directly with Dish Network USA. Keep in mind that a VIP222 is one box with “two satellite receivers inside”. You control in 100% the satellite receiver all the time so you can fire us if we do not commit to certain level of quality of service. You truly are in the the driver´s seat when you purchase from us. All Dish Network receivers have a one month warranty with us…

Properly Grounded Home:

 All electronic equipment that we sell to you should be installed in a properly grounded home. The day of the installation, we will check with a “Ground Tester” that you home has the RIGHT hot-neutral-ground configuration in the 3 prong receptacle outlet where the installation takes place. If you would to get a professional whole house power surge protector for your home because the utility company is FRYING your kitchen appliances, and electronic devices, please go to this page. Whole house power surge protectors at the circuit breaker box will add a second layer of security when used in conjunction with power strips that have surge protection.

List of Geostationary Satellites, and TV Channels: 

What channels can I get? Are they in HD? Below, you will find list of Dish Network USA & DirecTV USA satellites and the channels that these providers offer in SD and HD. You can press on the link and then hit back in the web browser to check out what packages do you want.

DISH NETWORKS USA – EAST ARC – 3 GEOSTATIONARY SATELLITES

GEOSTATIONARY SATELLITES AT 61.5W

• Echostar 12 /Conus – LAUNCHED 17 July 2003 = Dish diameter size = 600 cm or 20 ft – IT IS NOW RETIRED…
• Echostar 16 / Conus and beams – LAUNCHED 20 November 2012 = Dish diameter size = 180 cm or 6 ft – Satellite footprint ONLY gets to half of Costa Rica…
• http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/dish61.html
• (Dish Antenna diameter size = 180 cm or 6 ft. and some people in CR in fact say they can lock into it with dish antennas of 180cm or greater size…)

GEOSTATIONARY SATELLITE AT 72.7W

• Satellite Nimiq5 with ONLY Conus at 72.7 W (Dish USA) LAUNCHED 17 September 2009
• http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/dish73.html
• (Dish Antenna diameter size = 300 cm or 10 ft. but some people in CR say they can lock into it with dish antennas of 180cm and 240cm…)

GEOSTATIONARY SATELLITE AT 121W

• Satellite EchoStar 9 with Conus at 121 W (Dish USA) LAUNCHED 29 September 2011
• (Dish Antenna diameter size = 65 cm or 2 ft.)

DISH NETWORK USA – WEST ARC – 3 GEOSTATIONARY SATELLITES

GEOSTATIONARY SATELLITES AT 110W

• Satellite Echostar 10 -> Launched Date 15 February 2006 – ONLY BEAMS.
• Satellite Echostar 11 -> Launched Date 15 July 2008 – ONLY CONUS. (Dish  diameter size = It is unreachable according to satbeams…but some people in CR say they can lock into it with dish antennas with a diameter of 180cm/ 6 ft. or greater in size…)
• http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/dish110.html

GEOSTATIONARY SATELLITES AT 119W

• EchoStar 14 ->Launched Date 19 March 2010. Beams and CONUS.  (Dish diameter size = It is unreachable according to satbeams…but some people in CR say they can lock into it with dish antennas with a diameter of 180cm/ 6 ft or greater in size…)
• Anik F3 launched Date April 10, 2007. Just CONUS. (Dish diameter size = It is unreachable)
• http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/dish119.html

GEOSTATIONARY SATELLITES AT 129W

• Satellite Ciel 2 -> Launched Date  December 10, 2008
• (Dish Antenna diameter size = 500 cm or 16.5 ft. …but some people in CR say they can lock into it with dish antennas with a diameter of 180cm/ 6 ft or greater in size…)
• http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/dish129.html

DIRECTV USA

KU BAND SATELLITES

2 Satellites at orbital @ 101 W (DirecTV USA) (All ESPN Full Court, NBA League Pass , NHL Center Ice Regular Season Games in SD definition)

• Directv 4S Conus with Dish of a diameter size = 150 cm or 5 ft.  (Guanacaste) (Launched Date November 27, 2001)
• Directv 8 Conus with Dish of a diameter size = unreachable?.  (Guanacaste) (Launched Date May 22, 2005)
• http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/directvusa101.html  

3 Satellites at orbital @ 109.8 W (DirecTV USA) -> No TV Channels as of June 24th of 2014.

• EchoStar 10 Only has beams … Not reachable (Launched Date 15 February 2006)
• EchoStar 11 has a Conus… Not reachable  (Launched Date 15 July 2008)
• http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/dish110.html
• DirecTV5 Satellite has a Conus with Dish of a diameter size = 450 cm or 8 ft.  (Launch date May 7, 2002) 

1 Satellite at orbital @ 119 W (DirecTV USA) -> All SD Channels. Networks in Spot beams and Latino Channels.

• DirecTV 7S has a Conus… Not reachable  (Launched Date May 4, 2004)
• http://www.lyngsat.com/DirecTV-7S.html

KA BAND SATELLITES

Satellite 102.8 W (DirecTV USA)

• Spaceway 1 Only has beams … Not reachable   (Launched Date April 26, 2005)
• DirecTV 10 (ka band) has a Conus… Not reachable   (Launched Date July 7, 2007)
• DirecTV 12 has a Conus… Not reachable  e (Launched Date December 28, 2009)
• http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/directvusa103.html

2 Satellites at orbital @ 99.2 W (DirecTV USA)

• Spaceway 2 Only has beams … Not reachable   (Launched Date November 16, 2005)
• DirecTV 11 (ka band) has a Conus… Not reachable   (Launched Date March 19, 2008)
• http://www.lyngsat.com/Spaceway-2-and-DirecTV-11.html . It carries MLB Extra Innings in HD.

OTHER DIRECTV AND DISH NETWORK USA SATELLITES

Satellite 121 W (Dish USA)
http://www.lyngsat.com/EchoStar-9.html 

Satellite 95 W (DirecTV USA) is Not reachable! International Programming.  
http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/directvusa95.html

For more information about this package, please contact Alberto Araya, Computer Engineer from Western Michigan University at +506-8701-0007 or alberto_araya@hotmail.com (English, Spanish and German)

Please send your message to both email addresses : alberto@satellitecostarica.com OR alberto_araya@hotmail.com