werlynne

I am unable to get any form of economical Internet apart from an expensive 3G dongle which we use for internet. I have been told about a company called Smartsat TV which is some sort of re broadcasting system that does not require internet. My local satellite engineer who to be fair is very reliable has quoted me 534Euro for Installation of the kit and a permanent charge of 25Euro per month. This sounds quite expensive especially as we are not here for about 6 months of the year.
I am also unsure about the quality of TV service, has anyone any experience of the system and is the pricing reasonable?
Any help or advice would be appreciated.

olivefarmer

You don't say in your profile what area you are in when you are in Spain.

There are plenty of systems available to obtain some or every UK channel. If you google Intelsat907 you will pick up threads on Expat forums for that. It may well be that this is what your local sat engineer is referring to. If so the monthly charge seems a lot. People around here manage their own for free with a lower install fee assuming it is a simkple instal.

Some areas can still recieve Sky broadcasts with modest dishes.

Hope that helps. If you have a look back through this or other Expoat forums there are plenty of Brit TV threads. You could go native and have Spanish dig TV through a simple aerial. Help you with your Spanish and some of the programmes are broadcast in English and Spanish.

The Guy

If you are in an area like the Costa Blanca, Valencia area, the freesat - offering the main uk tv channels should be available with a one off installation free of about 400 euros... no monthly charge.

other area like CdS, that is when things get tick. as the "Freesat" signals require a very very large satellite dish.

but the "intelsat" system mean you are hacking into encrypted feeds (ie read illegally gaining access to). access depends on codes to access the system. these codes change about every 2 or 3 months (at the moment). codes which are available for free if you know where to look on the internet. if someone provides a system where they charging 25 euros per month for this system is, to be honest, taking the piss...

but some companies offer a rebroadcast system where you connect to their own "private" retransmission system. where they offer channels, that may be available for free on satellite (if you can receive those signals), but I not then you rely on their "third party" offering.

Fred James

Strangely the codes haven't changed for over 6 months now - that of course could change. Maybe they have given up as the outage is usually a few hours before someone cracks the codes and posts them on the Internet.

I agree, if anyone is charging for monthly access it's a real rip-off. Even on the CDS, where it is the only viable system for the UK PSB channels, the usual TV crooks don't seem to have the nerve to charge - they do front load the equipment and install charge to make up for it though.

werlynne

Thanks for the info so far.... I am in the Costa Del Sol near Mijas in the Campo.

big wheels

25Euros per month for something that is freely available is a rip off.

The Guy

last code change was on 12/12/14....

mikelincs

If it is a private rebroadcast from something like SKY, then it's almost certainly illegal, and will be closed down at some time, perhaps the day after you get it. Usually in these cases they are raoded and all their equipments seized, so you then get nothing. This was rife on the Costa Blanca a few years ago, some started again, others didn't and spent time in jail. We switched our TV on every night not knowing whether we would get a signal or not.

Fred James

I checked, and you are quite right, as usual!

I had forgotten that one as it went off at 3pm and my supplier emailed me the codes at 5 pm so apart from a couple of hours losing Radio 2 I hardly noticed it!

wilsman77

Werlynne, firstly do you have wireless internet? if so you just need apple TV plugged into your smart TV you can then mirror your i Phone to your TV Simples and just watch filmon using your i phone free APP as a remote comntrol. Its the chapest way. When i am in spain the inertnet costs me 18 Euro's or 7 when i am not there for a whole month. Thats the total cost........

Dondurma

Wilsman what provider do you use?

wilsman77

I have a holiday home in the Costa Blanca (Cabo Roig Nr Torrevieja) i use Telecable. They installed 4MB internet for me at a cost of 59.00€ and 18€ per month when in use 7,87€ when not in use.

Fran is brilliant and speaks/is English arranged the istall for the day i arrived highly recomended. E-mail address below.

[email protected]

Dondurma

Thank you very much