What are my options

degsy70

Hi,

Currently I have a 'non smart Samsung TV', with BT broadband, phone and BT vision. All in it is costing me £54 and i'd like to reduce this. I don't need a particularly fast broadband and I don't need 100s of TV channels however I do want the ability to pause live TV.

Could anyone recommend the best/cheapest approach to take in terms of internet/phone/tv? I have looked into Freeview but I think I would need a freeview box in order to pause live TV and they are circa £200 one off fee. I'm also open to the idea of getting a smart tv but it's not a priority.

Many thanks in advance

Neil_Jones

There are only really three options to pause Live TV:

SkyQ

Virgin Media via its Tivo box

Freeview recorders, or some Freesat boxes, but Freesat requires a satellite dish installing if you don't have one already  BT Vision is just a glorified Freeview receiver with streaming capability built in

Bear in mind a lot of live TV is available on catch-up so you may want to make more use of that.  You can use the likes of a Firestick to provide access to the catch-up services

You need to determine what channels out of the Vision line up you watch.  If they're all or mostly Freeview its pointless paying for them, since they're all on Freeview.  Unless your TV is more than about 12 years old its probably got Freeview already built in.

Sky will probably give you a good all in one deal but it will involve a lengthy contract.  But you'll have the pause you want and more channels than you probably know what to do with.

degsy70

thanks for the prompt reply.

I'd rather avoid having a dish on the exterior so that rules out Sky. Freeview would be the better option I think. My TV does not have Freeview but I'm assuming if I bought a Freeview Recorder it will work with my older TV?

There is no fibre in my area so from what I can see there is a John Lewis broadband/phone offer at £19 a month. The challenge is then how best to get my TV channels. A freeview box would be circa £170 but they don't seem to have netflix and amazon prime apps on which I use regularly....

Neil_Jones

hhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00Q38S9BU might be an option.  You can record/timeshift to a USB stick (sold separately).  Bit more clumsy but you'll only have the one tuner so you can't watch something and record something else, which is one of the benefits of Sky/Virgin.  But if you don't want to spend a fortune you have to scrimp on something.

That's £38, a decent size USB stick is about £15 (this stuff is cheap for a reason, so get at least a 128Gb), then for everything else a Firestick (c. £40) and you can use your existing TV. for less than £100.  The firestick will double up as the catch-up functionality for iPlayer and friends and will let you use Prime, Netflix, Disney... whatever you want.

Of course when the TV does eventually pack up, a new one will have Freeview at the minimum built in, will almost certainly be Smart and probably support USB recording too.

Bigphil1474

OP, you can get a brand new YouView box for under £70. Quick search took me to this:-
https://www.amazon.co.uk/BT-078930-YouView-Box/dp/B00PRVCNQG/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=youview+box&qid=1629357058&s=electronics&sprefix=youview,electronics,250&sr=1-2

Not a recommendation, just an example. You may find that BT don't want their box back when you cancel the TV package anyway. I don't know what Box BT provide, so it may or may not continue to work afterwards. We still have our YouView box from when we were with Plusnet. Still works the same, we use it occasionally. According to reviews it works with Netflix. Worth double checking. 

I'd be surprised if your TV doesn't have the freeview channels. Normal TV? 

Rosa_Damascena

Bigphil1474 said:

OP, you can get a brand new YouView box for under £70. Quick search took me to this:-
https://www.amazon.co.uk/BT-078930-YouView-Box/dp/B00PRVCNQG/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=youview+box&qid=1629357058&s=electronics&sprefix=youview,electronics,250&sr=1-2

Not a recommendation, just an example. You may find that BT don't want their box back when you cancel the TV package anyway. I don't know what Box BT provide, so it may or may not continue to work afterwards. We still have our YouView box from when we were with Plusnet. Still works the same, we use it occasionally. According to reviews it works with Netflix. Worth double checking. 

I'd be surprised if your TV doesn't have the freeview channels. Normal TV? 

How would this work without an aerial? (My situation).

I'm not paying over the odds for a monthly subscription but would like something I can stream from my tablet / phone because my Apple TV devices are now obsolete. Is there a stick option for a one-off payment?

Neil_Jones

No aerial, no Freeview.  Simple as.  Doesn't matter if the TV has it built in or not (if not, Freeview boxes are cheap).

You can get indoor aerials (but be not surprised if they pick diddly squat up) or have an external one put in and stuck on your roof.

knightstyle

We have Virgin, £29.99 a month for 18 months, TV, phone and BB100 which gives us around 50Mbps. Good for places with poor TV signal and/or poor BB.

Rosa_Damascena

knightstyle said:

We have Virgin, £29.99 a month for 18 months, TV, phone and BB100 which gives us around 50Mbps. Good for places with poor TV signal and/or poor BB.

You must have been a new customer. I trimmed my package to the bone and eventually went to Talk Talk a year ago because Virgin weren't budging, such was the reward for 20 years of loyal service. I was paying for 100Mbps and routinely receiving <35.


I think a basic Netflix subscription might be the easiest option for me.

knightstyle

Yes, new customer, we moved earlier this year and were with Sky at the old house but they could not offer decent BB here so looked at others and Virgin came up with the £29.99 deal. They had to put a cable in, digging up the pavement and a bit of our drive so don't think they are making much profit at the moment.
They say if the BB speed drops below 54Mbps for 3 days they will fix it or you can leave.
This offer is still available, so perhaps existing customers should switch to TT or BT for a while and then come back?
Of course I will look again as the 18 months draw to an end.