Page 1 of Sky or Freeview Abroad???? Help Needed?

Hi,

I have a bit of a query with having Sky or Freeview abroad.

We have a apartment out in Spain, and have been thinking about having better TV out there, rather than the usual black and white fuzzy version of BBC1 or the rest.

Does anyone know the best and cheapest why of getting say Sky or Freeview in Spain.

Do we just take a freeview box over and see if it works? or as we are already Sky customers , would Sky set us up with something over there?

Thought someone on this site may have dealt with a similar problem before.

Any help would be most appricated.

Cheers



"I don`t want to achieve immortality through my work... I want to achieve it through not dying."
Woody Allen

How the heck do you expect to pick up Freeview in Spain ? Freeview is the UK digital terrestrial service using Bands IV and V , UHF.
Your Freeview box will probably work but will instead pick up the Spanish TV stations on their digital (DVB-T) terrestrial service.
Now Freesat (£20 from $ky) could be used if you have a sufficinetly large dish as this is a satellite service ; you can look at the footprint (service area) for the appropriate beams on Lyngsat (www.lyngsat.com).
$ky themselves will not set you up for use in Spain as they only pay for screening rights for UK and Ireland.
A standard FTA (Free To Air) digital satellite receiver will receive BBC, BBC2 and ITV and can be picked up for around 60 quid new.
Again you need then to look at the BBC1 footprint or ask locals there what size dish they are using.

Chris Muriel, Manchester

It depends where you are in Spain but most of Costa Blanca & lower need at least a 1.8 dish, however a 2.4 may have to be used for continuos programming. They have the `microwave` service in a lot of parts of Spain (looks like a large ariel but pointed along the ground a la terrestrial). It`s a re broadcast of SKY & is illegal, SKY have shut some down & as people have paid £600-00 or more for these systems they`ve lost there money & are back having to go the Sky route, however there are more & more of these services setting themselves up. Me, I`d go the SKY route & get the card set up in the UK first.

As mentioned previously, Freeview is terrestrial (UK only). If you take a Freeview receiver to Spain, you certainly won`t get BBC1 on it.
Sky is possible if you have a large enough dish - a Sky minidish will not work. The cheapest method is to buy a secondhand Sky digibox from the UK and take it with you. 2nd hand Sky boxes are dirt cheap now that many people have upgraded to Sky+
You will only need a viewing card if you want Channel 4 and 5 - all the other non-subscription channels (BBC, ITV etc) don`t need a card. You can buy a card from Sky for a one-off payment of £20 but be warned - it is a breach of contract to use the card outside the UK. Only order it to a UK address and activate it before you go. Never tell them that you are using it in Spain or they`ll cut you off. If you want Sky`s pay channels, it`s a bit harder. You will need a UK bank account and have to ask for a contract that doesn`t involve connecting your box to a phone line (which you must never do in Spain, or they`ll know where you are!)
If you are already a Sky subscriber and are past your initial 12 month contract there is no obligation to connect your box to a phone line. You can take your existing box and card overseas - just don`t tell them you`ve moved. Make sure the bills will not go unpaid while you`re away (e.g. direct debit). Avoid phoning Sky from abroad - it`s possible they can identify people calling from foreign phone lines.
Alternatively, if you can live without Ch4 and 5 you can use a European digital satellite receiver instead of a Sky box, with potentially lots more free channels ;)

This item was edited on Monday, 17th July 2006, 18:21

I`m based in Germany with the Army, even though it`s ilegal to have sky abroad, this place is just dotted with Sky dishes. As long as the card is registered at a UK address then Sky don`t ask any questions. I`ve had Sky+ for 1 year, and 7 months of that I`ve been in Germany(not connected to a phone line). There is a box that can be bought on the internet which diguises your phone number (not the battery trick) and you can order PPV, but it`s quite expensive. Some of the guys get away with giving Sky UK mobile phone numbers, and then order prem plus etc. with them. That`s all you need to do is buy another Sat Dish in Spain and take your Sky box and card with you.

Problem is he said appartment. It may or may not be possible to errect a 1.8 or 2.4 dish on the building....it`s rather large. What actual programmes do you want. If you want footie then there is a smaller dish alternative but there`s no BBC etc.

Your answer was really helpful, we have a place in spain and want to take our old box with us (the card is not active so I may have to activate it again somehow) - the building has a community dish, so I imagine it is quite large. Not really sure what channels we could get - we are getting multiroom here with the box and only intend to take it with us while we are there for now.

Do you think it will work - the community dish is already set up for freeview and I know they can all get BBC etc as other owners have commented, but I wondered if any of the other channels we get here may be available, as we have movies & sports here on sky+ and dont have it connected to the phone line as it wont reach that far!

Any help would be appreciated

thanks

Quote:
You will need a UK bank account and have to ask for a contract that doesn`t involve connecting your box to a phone line (which you must never do in Spain, or they`ll know where you are!)
Quote:

Avoid phoning Sky from abroad - it`s possible they can identify people calling from foreign phone lines.

You could always set up a new Sky account here & have the phone line connected to a UK Virtual VOIP number (Sipgate) for free using something like a Netgear TA612V (£10 at Staples) & also use that to contact Sky.

Transplant all equipment & VOIP adapter to the continent & Sky would still see the box as connected to a UK phone. You would need a BB connection at the other end though for this to work.



I consider myself an optimist, albeit an optimist with cynical tendencies and a dark side that Lucifer himself would find a little creepy. (Perhaps you've noticed.) You don't normally associate cynicism with an upbeat pov. But I have exactly that combination and will defend it.

Todays goal is to exceed yesterdays record level of totally unverifable productivity.

I don`t understand why people knock ASBO`s, they are good things as for most of the recipients, these are the only qualifications they will ever have.

This item was edited on Monday, 15th January 2007, 09:53

You can receive all Frreview channels on your PC if you have broadband in UK and Spain.

Please send me a Private message for more details

Morgleman

Or you could buy a Slingbox.



I consider myself an optimist, albeit an optimist with cynical tendencies and a dark side that Lucifer himself would find a little creepy. (Perhaps you've noticed.) You don't normally associate cynicism with an upbeat pov. But I have exactly that combination and will defend it.

Todays goal is to exceed yesterdays record level of totally unverifable productivity.

I don`t understand why people knock ASBO`s, they are good things as for most of the recipients, these are the only qualifications they will ever have.