Apologies in advance if this has been covered before - I know various comments about UK TV has, but........
I'm on Costa Esuri, and have no Wi-Fi, internet, or telephone connection to my apartment, and currently that is not likely to change from either a community or personal perspective.
I used to get all the usual UK TV/Freeview stations via a Sky box (no card) / Satellite dish positioned on the roof (2nd floor level), but since the main satellite movement, get very little, to the extent that during a recent visit (March2017) now get nothing but a message telling me I have no satellite coverage – partly because I believe one of my neighbours may have now hijacked my cable to dish connection!!, although even with it, I’m looking to find a better longer term solution, without Wi-Fi, internet, or a telephone connection .
Towards the back of "The Portugal News" - the free paper you can pick up from Faro airport, there a company called Skynet,who advertise all sorts of communication solutions, and I have contacted them and they appear to be able to offer me a solution via a new dish & digibox, along with all the cables/fixings/installation etc.
My question is, has anybody ever used them or have any experience of them - I would welcome any feedback, good/bad/indifferent.
I have no connection of any kind with this company.
Thanks in advance.

You will probably need permission from your community ie Block to put a dish up and if its going direct to the satellite it will need to be massive

The Sky pay channels still run off the old satellite so if your block Dish is still pointing that way and you have Sky in the UK bring out a Multiroom box

I don't have any form of Sky at home, so that's not a an option, and Skynet have suggested and quoted for a 1m dish.
My main concern at the moment is Skynet, does anyone know them, used them, can recommend them (or not ?).

There is a satellite which carries the backup of all the UK TV channels (can't remember its name off the cuff). The signals are encrypted but the codes are freely available when they change (usually every 3 months or more) Strictly speaking you are hacking into a private TV signal which is arguably illegal.


It doesn't need a big dish and a standard freesat box will do for the processing. This is most likely what Skynet are offering.
There is no guarantee how long this satellite will stay there and you may end up with a wasted investment. Without internet then that is your only solution, I'm afraid.
There is the priinet option of course. Wireless broadband from a local supplier - many in Costa Esuri have the service (including me) It has the advantage that you only pay full price when you are there (in monthly blocks) and a maintenance charge when you are not. There are a number of different packages depending on the capacity you want. email [email protected] or visit their website www.priinet.com


BTW fibre optic to Costa Esuri is on its way.


For more info on the satellite I know that TheGuy and Fred James have posted a number of times. You could search for their posts.

I would go with prinet and smartydns

priinet (two eyes)

Mike, the system you mention is from the Intelsat 907 satellite. It requires a particular receiver, a Freesat box will not work. The system is encrypted but the codes have not changed for more than two years.

Typical hardware and installation costs are around €300 with no ongoing cost.

Ken, I have sent you a Private message which might help you on this subject.

Many thanks Keith, very helpful - I will PM you over he weekend.

The communities often have a sat dish. Will this have to be repositioned, please, to hit the 907 satellite? Then we can do your solution.

Im guessing that this should not be a problem, as they are pretty defunct now (unless there is a eg Spanish satellite) broadcasting in that direction.

Thanks
Jon

If you can find a way to get decent/unlimited internet the link below might be of interest...... I appreciate the article focuses on Portugal but the solutions will probably be very similar in your neck of the woods:

I've got no commercial link with the company but do find them very helpful & useful.

Hope it helps.

How to watch English TV in Portugal | FelizTech

Thanks to everyone for your help & feedback.
It does sound as though my best option will come from the internet/Wi-Fi - neither of which I have at present, so I think I will hold off of a potentially contentious dish install option, and wait for an internet/Wi-Fi option, which I believe could be coming to my portal soon'ish !?. Thanks again.

The dish needs to point about 90 degrees to the west of the existing Astra setup.

The Astra sat is certainly not defunct as it still carries almost all of the Sky transmissions which can be received fine in Southern Spain. It is only the UK PSB channels such as BBC, ITV (and just a few others) that are no longer received because they are now on the spot beam whereas the Sky channels are on the broader beam.

You can get the i907 channels on an 80cm dish which is pretty easy to fit and is quite cheap. I have both dish types.

There was a request in our Manzana to realign towards the Intelsat and Gesprosur canvassed opinions but I believe there was a significant number of users of the Sky channels who didn't want it.

Thanks Mike and Fred.. it looks like this option needs a separate dish and there are problems where we live to install one - needing permission etc.

Others would benefit from this though - so very interesting. I'll stick to internet TV

Thanks

Jon