TV help please - rural area

Madmel

We were with Sky for ages but the sky+ box kept freezing and then when we rebooted, lost all saved programmes. This happened many times and we tried hard and soft reboots. In the end, we were not using the TV that much and were looking to save money so we cancelled.

We still have the box (but it has no recording available), and obviously the dish. We live in a rural area with no cable. Furthermore, it's a very old house with stone walls and the wifi router is in a completely different part of the house. The signal does not reach the room with the TV in it and in any case, is too slow to support TV and someone else trying to use it for school or other work. The boxes I have seen advertised all require connection to a router, something that is not feasible with our current set-up.

My main question is would Freesat work? If so, what do I need to buy to "upgrade" my sky+ box so it gets more channels? We have a freeview box upstairs that can reach more channels than the sky one - I know I could just get another freeview box but would rather use the dish if possible since we're stuck with it.

Many thanks in advance.

[Deleted User]

Madmel wrote: »

We were with Sky for ages but the sky+ box kept freezing and then when we rebooted, lost all saved programmes. This happened many times and we tried hard and soft reboots. In the end, we were not using the TV that much and were looking to save money so we cancelled.

We still have the box (but it has no recording available), and obviously the dish. We live in a rural area with no cable. Furthermore, it's a very old house with stone walls and the wifi router is in a completely different part of the house. The signal does not reach the room with the TV in it and in any case, is too slow to support TV and someone else trying to use it for school or other work. The boxes I have seen advertised all require connection to a router, something that is not feasible with our current set-up.

My main question is would Freesat work? If so, what do I need to buy to "upgrade" my sky+ box so it gets more channels? We have a freeview box upstairs that can reach more channels than the sky one - I know I could just get another freeview box but would rather use the dish if possible since we're stuck with it.

Many thanks in advance.

There's some good information here: http://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Sky/Should-I-cancel-Sky-and-move-to-FreeSat/td-p/2357269#

Just ignore the idiot

teddysmum

Madmel wrote: »

We were with Sky for ages but the sky+ box kept freezing and then when we rebooted, lost all saved programmes. This happened many times and we tried hard and soft reboots. In the end, we were not using the TV that much and were looking to save money so we cancelled.

We still have the box (but it has no recording available), and obviously the dish. We live in a rural area with no cable. Furthermore, it's a very old house with stone walls and the wifi router is in a completely different part of the house. The signal does not reach the room with the TV in it and in any case, is too slow to support TV and someone else trying to use it for school or other work. The boxes I have seen advertised all require connection to a router, something that is not feasible with our current set-up.

My main question is would Freesat work? If so, what do I need to buy to "upgrade" my sky+ box so it gets more channels? We have a freeview box upstairs that can reach more channels than the sky one - I know I could just get another freeview box but would rather use the dish if possible since we're stuck with it.

Many thanks in advance.

If you have a Sky contract, the box will record and play Sky channels which arrive via the dish and its cables. This will work even if you don't have internet.


Internet provides catchup services (including on demand) plus film and boxed set downloads.


As you have noticed, Freesat does have different channels than Freeview. (My husband's beloved Dave is only free with Freeview).


To record without a Sky subscription, you will need a Freesat recorder (Or Freeview if you have an aerial. We used Freeview rather than Freesat, when Sky was off.) This will enable record, pause and fast forward/rewind.


The basic recorders are much cheaper than those with Youview etc, so paying for a more advanced one would be a waste of your money as the internet content cannot be accessed.

giraffe69

You might be able to improve your internet speed in the house by using a set of powerplugs with one plugged into the router and one plugged into the sky/freesat/freeview box. This will use the power cables to transmit and take the thick walls ad poor wifi etc out of the equation.

ripplyuk

I used to live in a similar house. Thick stone walls, middle of nowhere. Broadband speed of 0.5mb. I had sky tv for years and the box will work without any internet connection. I didn't even have a landline.

I think a freesat+ box might be the best solution so that you can still record. Mine was made by humax. It's not 'freesat from sky'. They are two different things. It'll give you many more channels than just using your old sky box without a contract.

I was put off freeview as there was hardly any channels available in my area. I didn't realise this until I did the postcode checker. But if you can pick up plenty of channels where you live, then a freeview+ box would probably be cheaper.

almillar

A Freesat box (nothing to do with Sky) will work just fine. Plug it in exactly where the Sky box was, leave the dish alone, and that's it. As long as you've got a satellite signal you're set, including recording.