Shaw Direct

Peter told me in a comment that there is an active discussion on the IRV2 Forum on receiving a Shaw Direct signal down south. It is a fact that SD no longer supports receivers taken outside of Canada but since they have not replaced the two old "Birds" (107 & 111), there is no reason we cannot still get a signal.

The discussion there suggests that the software/firmware update they did on receivers this summer will somehow prevent them from seeing the signal below the border. Here is my response to that discussion:

"I spend the winters in the south USA and Mexico, traveling around in the RV. My Shaw Direct has worked well for years all the way down to the Belize and Guatemala borders. I have the dual LNB on the larger dish.

I am now being told here on this thread that the software/firmware update to the receiver that was made this summer will somehow block me from receiving a signal south of the Canadian border.

Your receiver may have been turned off all summer and will not have received the update. However, as soon as you connect it down south it will automatically update itself. You have no control over this. You can press the "Download" button and download it right away or you can leave it to update itself on it's own. Either way, as long as it sees sufficient signal of 5.5dB it will update.

The receiver is a one way device so even if they programmed something into the receiver that determined my location without a built-in GPS, there is no way for them to get this information back to the Mother Ship. The only way for Shaw Direct to know where I am is if I tell them, either by phoning them and telling them or by ordering a PPV by phone so they can see where I am calling from by looking at my area code. If they do not know you are parked down south they cannot make changes to your account (ie. cancel it).

They have not made physical changes to the 107 and 111 birds so the footprint pattern is the same as it was last year. Certainly the new bird has it's own footprint and I am sure they have centered it on Canada only but as long as you have the old 2 LNB dish and are not looking at the new bird, I cannot see how they could stop me from receiving signals from 107 and 111 with my old dish, same as I always have. If I can see the signal in Canada, I cannot see how I could not see it down south as long as I am in the footprint.

People are starting to head south soon so I am sure there will be some real life reports coming in shortly."