Accessing UK TV from overseas

AnthonyUK

If you live in Europe, can pick up the Astra2 satellites at 28.2degE and go thru Sky,you must have a valid UK home address for subscription or get someone in the UK to subscribe for you on your behalf, then you can have it on the continent. Depending on where you are in Europe dish sizes will vary all over the continent;
Astra 2A/2B/2C North beam covers Northern Europe at high power ignoring southern parts with a sidelobe to SW Greece while Astra 2A/2B/2C south beam covers nearly all of the continent, but if you are after UK TV, you may be interested in the Astra2D satellite which is focussed tightly on the UK and part of NW Europe but can be got be got further with bigger dishes. Check out www.astra2d.com for details of reception reports and dish sizes required.

Inactive

AnthonyUK wrote: »

If you live in Europe, can pick up the Astra2 satellites at 28.2degE and go thru Sky,you must have a valid UK home address for subscription or get someone in the UK to subscribe for you on your behalf, then you can have it on the continent. Depending on where you are in Europe dish sizes will vary all over the continent;
Astra 2A/2B/2C North beam covers Northern Europe at high power ignoring southern parts with a sidelobe to SW Greece while Astra 2A/2B/2C south beam covers nearly all of the continent, but if you are after UK TV, you may be interested in the Astra2D satellite which is focussed tightly on the UK and part of NW Europe but can be got be got further with bigger dishes. Check out www.astra2d.com for details of reception reports and dish sizes required.

Indeed, but be prepared to pay out up to a £1000 for a 2.4 meter dish, that will still not bring in all channels all day, in places.

Yes, some channels can be received on small dishes, but the main channels BBC etc. usually cannot, unless you are in places like France.

Axotyl

I appreciate the information on satellite services, but I was looking for an internet solution to access TV services.

Slingbox is a possibility, but I don't want to fork out for the hardware, or a Sky subscription, or be tied to Sky's services, or have a digibox running in the UK.

I still feel that a VPN is the obvious path to take, especially as I need access from various countries and would appreciate hearing from anyone using a reliable service. They're common to find via search engines, but I'm looking for the best.

Having access to both US and UK servers means a VPN can also be used for downloading software, music and ebooks at US prices, rather than the (usually) inflated UK versions.

scotsbob

Proxyblock is your friend here, you can download it from the sites that people who wear eye patches frequent (if you catch my drift)

A word of caution don't try to use it in the Gulf States, the Internet is strictly monitored there.

Axotyl

scotsbob, thank for this.

But I'm slow on the uptake here. Proxyblock seems excellent for blocking access to a site to anyone using a proxy.

In other words, ideal for a restricted UK-only service (say BBC iPlayer) which wants to block access to users from abroad.

How does it help anyone, abroad, who wants to access a geographically restricted service?

Re the Gulf States, that's maybe why users prefer a secure VPN - no nonsense with monitoring causing a problem - it's how journalists report from Iran, for example; bloggers as well.

Moneymaker

Axotyl wrote: »

Thanks, I know about Slingbox. Unfortunately that means leaving a TV and computer running while I am away, unless I've misunderstood how it's used.

You have indeed misunderstood. You need to leave only the Slingbox and ADSL router running. I got a "Slingbox Classic" with built-in Freeview tuner for £76.60 from http://www.expansys.com/d.aspx?i=170005
(Cheapest I could find.)

I can access it from my iBook anywhere there's wireless broadband access.
See review: http://www.coolsmartphone.com/article709.html

If you want Sky then you'll also have to leave the Sky Digibox running. Personally, I'm not that addicted to pay TV!

Axotyl

Thanks, Moneymaker, that's really useful.

Is there any advantage in using Slingbox over a VPN service (from zero to £6/month, say) which offers the user UK, US and Canadian TV (in practice another 9 countries on one service) both live and watch-again?

For instance, does it have any recording facilities? Or time-shifting? One downside might be inconvenient time-zone differences.

Using Slingbox of course, could also dent one's ISP download allowance, if it exists.

I'll probably end up using Slingbox, but so far I can't see why it wins over a VPN, and I want to learn why!

Moneymaker

Current Slingbox software unfortunately does not support time-shifting or recording, although a fast enough computer could probably create a movie by screen-grabbing.
Any form of streaming TV will dent your download limit at the viewing point. Slingbox will also dent your upload limit at the home base, although it won't affect downloads.

The main advantage is that, if you can park your Slingbox on an existing ADSL line, it's effectively free (capping excepted). One hopes that you won't be chain-watching to the extent that your "fair usage" cap is exceeded. If it is then perhaps you need to re-think your lifestyle!

Axotyl

Moneymaker, you're very patient with these questions.

Surely one major restriction with Slingbox is the upload speed on your 'home' broadband connection?

Most ISP services have a 450kbs (?) upload limit. Surely that's going to cause a serious downgrade on the quality of uploading video content? And it would certainly mess up the continuous remote backup we use on our home network.

So I still don't see any advantage of using a Slingbox over a reliable VPN, which doesn't need anything besides a reasonable broadband connection to access almost any TV service from almost any country (using something like zattoo), both live and play-it-again. Also you have to have dedicated software to pickup your Slingbox, so you'd be tied to your own laptop.

And with a VPN one can also access geographic-restricted software downloads (US-originating software can be cheap compared with European sources). I'm told it's also useful for Skype (though I don't use it myself).

Moneymaker

My upload limit is around 350kb/s and the picture is "watchable" with the sort of artifacts you'd expect from on overcompressed jpeg. Frankly that's all I need from TV when I'm abroad. As long as I can catch up with the news, watch the "X-Factor" or whatever, I'm satisfied. I don't need high definition. If you want better, you have to pay for it.

I could pay my ISP an extra £10 per month for a business account and get 850 kb/s upload speed but I don't really want to fork out £120 a year.

The Slingbox software can be downloaded to any computer where you have admin rights.

Banana VPN is said to be good for BBC iPlayer access but you have to pay for it. I have a friend who tested it for me when he was in Thailand.

BTW I'm not trying to sell anyone on anything. I'm simply providing what information I can so you can make an informed choice. Feel free to give all your money to Sky or whoever. My replies are aimed towards MONEY SAVING.