morpeth

When I was in Philippines a 20 or 25 year age gap wasn't entirely uncommon, 40 years quite a lot though. As far as whether accepted or tolerated, in the end who cares ? If one does then why enter into such an arrangement ? Philippines is a third world country, people readily understand a younger woman making a practical choice. Or is it better the younger woman works overseas as a maid to support her family and drunken husband back home ?

The other issue is lifestyle, don't know that much about internet/cable business in Cebu, but of one can live more like a local, can be very affordable.

jeremyb4

She is from a small family, only one brother, so feels she would need to stay in the Philippines to support them, although it is not necessary for her to remain there in order to do that. The main reason for not considering bringing her here is the attitude in the West to relationships that are more than 5 years age difference are usually frowned upon. 40 years gap may be seen by some as near to being criminal.

quiltman

Cannot and will not comment on the personal side other than to say it's your life and if it makes you happy in the years left to you then fine.
Re TV/internet. I am in Cebu and have absolutely no need for any paid packages other than sky cable.( That will be terminated when the contract is up! We used to have Sky internet and got cable TV for relative peanuts as an add on, but gave it up due to unreliability) I get all the UK TV I want either from TVCatchup - Channels or via my android tv box. Due to the time difference I rarely watch live streams so record them , or download from torrents, transfer to USB and watch at my convenience on the TV. I do watch Andrew Marr on Sunday - 4.00pm here , plus sometimes UK breakfast TV via TV catchup and I have literally only once had a buffer in the last 3 years. My one son gets all the EPL via his android box and my other son gets all his motorbike races , also via his android box. I bought 3 boxes from Lazada for around £25 each and they all perform fine via wi-fi. We have PLDT 50mB Fiber.
The biggest problem I think you'll have is actually reaching the expats here. Most of them are not on BE or even Facebook - well, those I meet locally anyway.

scot47

TV is not, in my experience, as dominant in the lives of "expats" as it is in Metropolitan Britain or in the US. people expatriate themselves to places like the Phillipines to escape from TV.

Shard

Responses on this thread suggest otherwise!

scot47

Are there enough TV-using foreigners in the area to make a business out of serving their needs ?

jeremyb4

I am aware that free services are available using Kodi on the android TV box. Depending on where you source your stream or what addon you use will determine the quality of the video you receive. Regrettably, Kodi addon forums have been hit, by what i assume are Cease and Desist notices as a few of them have closed down. This looks like a trend set to continue. Go to sources for these services will reduce in number over time. it may be possible to retain what you have in a working order for many months. A subscription service at a much reduced cost than paying the originator, who are operating on a much lower scale than Addon forums/providers is a way forward. That is what I will be offering to those in Cebu and the Philippines as a whole.

I agree with you that my biggest challenge is to reach out to the expat community as a whole and any suggestions from members here will be most welcome. Are there active expat groups that have regular meetings or places where expats regularly congregate.

jeremyb4

I do not have the exact figures yet, but early indications would suggest there are. I am not looking to service thousands of customers there. I am coming to a time in my life where I would like to take things a bit easier. I can service my business in the UK from the Philippines as I have someone here in the UK who can do the necessary programming and undertake dispatches. So as a small scale business it should be sufficient. If it does take off then I have a young, fit and able IT operator and she is quite capable of helping out.

morpeth

That sounds idea earn revenue from UK, with Philippine budget.

morpeth

Have you been to the Philippines ?

jeremyb4

This coming trip will be my fourth time to the Philippines in 2 and half years. My first time to Cebu, previously to Manila.

morpeth

So I guess question I have is if you chose the Philippines , could you live in a place away from her family ? There is a thread on BE called something like " me and my Philippine family" you may wish to read.

quiltman

I agree with what you say, but like most expats here I watch relatively little UK TV and as I am not sports minded have no interest in footy, Cricket, Golf or Tennis. I don't use kodi on my android box, TV catchup has an android app which works well for my needs. Plus my son installed another app which gets me the few USA channels we watch. I get the news from BBC/ITV , daily and local UK papers on the web and UK radio.Anything else the torrents or youtube provide!Oh, and iplayer via VPN sometimes. doubtless there will be expats interested in what you offer - especially those less tech savvy. However, getting to them is not easy as there are few if any regular meet ups here in Cebu , most expats congregate in the bars to socialise and watch TV sport.(even at midnight!) The nearest to where I live is Eurohub bar in Talamban, the others seem to congregate in other bars such as Jokers and those ones in Mango Square.
I wish you well though.

Raffin

I would generally agree...except I wouldn't go so far as to say escaping from TV is a motive to relocate here! If it was it has backfired with a vengeance for some of us as we have to watch local TV at times!

Not so much for the US, but the quality of TV in Britain is something most British Expats will say they miss quite a lot. Unlike something like the British Countryside, one can make up for its loss here, to an extent. But, yes, it's less dominant.

There's the weather...much better here than in most areas of Europe and the US!

Also, the time differences for watching live...eg for the UK the standard EPL ko time is a bit late at 10 or 11 pm here. The late ko's are generally 2.45 to 3.45am! Only midday ko's are on here at a generally acceptable time.US evening starts are in the mornings here. F1 will vary and it goes on for longer.

And watching UK or US TV is just more bother here. If one is using the internet, as has been mentioned already, connections here can be slow and problematic. A few years ago I only had a broadband at 0.5MBps. I did manage to find some amateurish, small, streaming sites to watch EPL, but tiny screen size and with plenty of buffering. Now, with 2MBps better viewing on better quality sites, but still some buffering. At present there is no sign of these sites being blocked by the ISPs here, unlike in the UK.

So there's definitely a good,though somewhat moderated, level of interest from mainly male Expats for live sporting events streamed at high quality. But with many ways to watch other UK/US TV programmes through the internet, demand from those not so interested in sport will be much more limited. And, as Quiltman said, you just get more selective in your watching.

Of course replies to this thread are showing a high level of interest...the title is "Re: Internet TV......."!

Philosophical 11

JeremyB4,

If you are on fb, there are various groups you can join involving the Philippines. One is "Married to a Filipina"...you don't have to be married to join but in a relationship. I was thinking that could be a useful tool to reach out for further opinion on your relationship and to advertise your proposed business idea to the 6000 or so ex-pats on the group.

Best of luck

Pete