Satellite tv/internet

[PHILIP THOMAS]

Are US channels available in Ecuador? Network, premium (HBO, Showtime etc.), sports channels? Also, is Internet available through satiellite?

[SUZAN HASKINS]

We have satellite internet at our home. and we have DirecTV which provides quite a few US English channels. However, we don’t get the networks, CNN or Fox News, so here’s what we do. We go to http://www.ustvnow.com — there we can access all the networks and PBS for free and wacth them over the internet. If we want to watch a football game or a political convention (which we are doing right now) we can get a 3 or weeklong subscription.

In fact, we’re thinking of dropping DirecTV and just using USTVnow – -there are a lot of websites like that out there now. I suspect the competition will bring much lower prices. (By the way, we’re also addicted to Mad Men, Sons of Anarchy and Breaking Bad. I order those from iTunes and can watch them at my leisure. Love that.)

[PHILIP THOMAS]

Thank you so much. Btw, I like your taste in tv shows. Great minds I guess..

[SUZAN HASKINS]

If you have any similar recommendations, I’d love to hear them Other favorites of ours include Game of Thrones and Downton Abbey — can’t wait ’til the next season of that one!

[ORAL KENZIE]

In Canada & the US we have free internet access at places like McDonald, Tim Hortons, Starbucks, etc. Is there a franchise there that has the same access? Also, it is routine to get free interent access when staying at hotels/motels here. Is this common in Ecuador as well?

[RICHARD STANTON]

For those of you that reside in Ecuador, can you give us an average cost of satelite service (Direct TV) for a medium level package?

[SUZAN HASKINS]

We pay $60 a month for our satellite internet and I think that’s pretty common — $50 to $60 a month in larger population centers and you may pay more in less populated areas. Friends of ours who live in the small beach town on Crucita pay $80 or $85 a month — the wife is a gamer and wants high-speed access. And yes, there are lots of places where Internet is free. That’s common in hotels — small ones, anyhow. Just like the States, which I don’t understand….the small B&Bs and chains like Holiday Inn give you access for free while the big ones (Marriott, etc) make you pay for it, along with a higher room rate. Does that make sense???

[PHILIP THOMAS]

Hi Suzan, you’ll like HBOs Newsroom if you haven’t already picked up on that one. BTW, are you watching those HBO shows on the Internet, iTunes or your direct tv?

[SUZAN HASKINS]

I download them from iTunes, because I am too lazy to remember what day and time some programs are on. And I like to watch several episodes at once. You can get an HBO package at ustvnow.com — and another way to watch all the programs you are used to is via Slingbox (www.slingbox.com). My brother lives in China and he loves his Slingbox even if, thanks to the time difference, he has to get up in the middle of the night to watch his college football teams.

We have friends here in Ecaudor, though, who have the full DirecTV package and they TiVo programs.

[Author]

Posts