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If you need any assistance, then feel free to drop me a line via the private messaging facility and in the mean time I will check out the PBS when I get home.
Also installing a VPN client on the fire stick is quite a task so you might need to use another device for now as a VPN client.
You can get PBS in Europe via a sat dish - I used to get it, then they dropped the signal strength...! My grandson has pointed out that there are hundreds of PBS docs available on YouTube...anyway, let me know if you get PBS in the UK - and is it through a dish..?
Ok, I will see how I get on and let you know.
kingn wrote on Wed Feb 15, 2017 12:37am:
Just out of interest....
So, I live in the uk and have a place in Mojacar where we holiday quite often. I use Next as my ISP with the vacation package although not perfect, I have no issues with Internet TV.
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I installed a VPN in my house in the UK about 2 years back (cost about £30) and with absolutely zero cost/year I am able to watch any UK TV program I want as if I was in my house in the UK. I use the Amazon fire stick straight into the HDMI port and it's perfect.
If I run an IP Locator app on a device connected to my VPN, it says I am in my home town in the UK.
It's good for other stuff as well, like doing the UK Lotto and making out I am on my UK Internet address when paying bills as some companies don't like it when you change IP address.
The way I view this as far as watching TV re the TV licence, is that I pay my UK licence fee and I am sort of watching TV from my home address in the UK!!!
So, my advice is, if you either live in the UK and holiday abroad or work away on business or have family and/or friends in the UK, then get a VPN hosted in the UK, buy an Amazon fire stick (which beats the pants off these Andiod based things), install Kodi as well and you have free UK TV for ever where ever you are in the world.
Hi we also have a house in Mojacar and are wondering about who to got to for internet holiday package. We dont have phone lines . What is VPN, im just looking at this for the first time. If I buy a Firestick, does it come loaded ,im not very techie minded if not how do you do that.Dont worry about answering if its too big a question but any advice welcome Thanks Trudi
Trudi, several internet companies do what they call 'Vacation deals' where you only pay when your there. They put an antenna on your roof to get the signal from a nearby mast (got to be line-of-sight - in other words, you can see the mast from your roof!) This gives you both internet and British TV. Get a Smart TV if possible, which you can then plug into your internet and also get something like Amazon Fire which is, I think, a USB you plug into your Smart TV or a laptop with an HDMI connection - I would advise you not to go for one of these expensive set top boxes which you have to buy upfront and then pay a monthly fee.
Also if you haven't got a 1.9 metre sat dish on your roof already, get you TV from the internet. I have a 1.9 metre dish on my roof and I still get all the British channels I want - but overnight the BBC or ITV can weaken the sat signal and they start then pixillating - or worse...
I think British TV through the net is the way forward...but there are a lot of doubtful deals for this out there as well...
Struan
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douglie wrote on Tue Feb 28, 2017 11:08am:
This topic is not right you dont need a VPN to get english tv in spain and a Firestick is one of the worse ways to get it.Android boxes are more user friendly than a Firestick.
The firestick (and fire TV) uses Amazon's streaming facility which I have to admit was floored the other day when one of their major hubs in the USA went down.
The Android box is a very loose term for a piece of kit that can receive streamed data, my Samsung phone is good but it's not a sreaming device.
Both run the Android operating system but the Firestick is a dedicated streaming device.
At the end of the day, it depends on:
In the early days, one could get away with a small satalite dish and get uk tv. Then in about 2005/2006 we had to get a bigger dish and then it died. Some companies were offering solutions but none were cheap and I dont believe any of them were particularly sustainable.
A few years later along comes the Internet and with that what they call 'Geolocation'. Put in to context, if you are not in the UK for example your not going to get UK streaming without other methods.
To overcome the Geolocation whilst using the Internet you need to 'fool' the other end that you are in the country of origin ie make out your IP address is English when in fact you are in Spain. If you can't do that, then you will not be able to get for example the BBC iplayer or the ITV hub.
It's the providers that block their content from being viewed by someone who has a foreign IP address and not all providers do this. Of course Bexit isn't going to help matters either as this has probably reversed dropping the geolocation restrictions.
To achieve this on a personal level, you will need to use a VPN (You can spoof your DNS, but that's not 100% fool proof). There are many companies/organisation out there who will provide a good VPN but it will cost and in some situations the VPN will just disappear.
At the same time the big organisations like the BBC or their regulators may try to shut these down. One reason is because in their eyes you are flaunting the TV licence charge, bearing in mind, that the UK TV licence isn't just for watching BBC programs. It's for watching any live broadcasted program, including those broadcast by say Sky!!
So, this is a solution only and as douglie rightly says in a previous post you don't need a VPN and you most certainly don't need to use the Amozon fire stick (Trudi/Stuan, I am sorry if I lead you to believe it was the only way).
What I have done is this:
Thanks KINGN YOU are very techy im useless. Ive got Kodi on my laptop its great, I just dont have internet at my house in Bedar. I have never taken a laptop over but Im over on Tuesday and I think I will take it with me and I will ask at Next or the one next to Beachcomer in Mojacar for a holiday internet connection, ive got a 14yo 1.2 sat dish picks up a lot of Sky as I take my card with me. and in the evening I can pick up STV ! and Chan 4 just depends on the weather....
kingn wrote on Thu Mar 2, 2017 11:46pm:
The firestick (and fire TV) uses Amazon's streaming facility which I have to admit was floored the other day when one of their major hubs in the USA went down.
The Android box is a very loose term for a piece of kit that can receive streamed data, my Samsung phone is good but it's not a sreaming device....
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...
Both run the Android operating system but the Firestick is a dedicated streaming device.
At the end of the day, it depends on:
What you want to doHow much you want to payYour technical ability
In my situation I have got a solution that gives me English TV in Spain (Well any where in the world for that matter) for an initial outlay of approx £60 and nothing to pay ever again.In the early days, one could get away with a small satalite dish and get uk tv. Then in about 2005/2006 we had to get a bigger dish and then it died. Some companies were offering solutions but none were cheap and I dont believe any of them were particularly sustainable.
A few years later along comes the Internet and with that what they call 'Geolocation'. Put in to context, if you are not in the UK for example your not going to get UK streaming without other methods.
To overcome the Geolocation whilst using the Internet you need to 'fool' the other end that you are in the country of origin ie make out your IP address is English when in fact you are in Spain. If you can't do that, then you will not be able to get for example the BBC iplayer or the ITV hub.
It's the providers that block their content from being viewed by someone who has a foreign IP address and not all providers do this. Of course Bexit isn't going to help matters either as this has probably reversed dropping the geolocation restrictions.
To achieve this on a personal level, you will need to use a VPN (You can spoof your DNS, but that's not 100% fool proof). There are many companies/organisation out there who will provide a good VPN but it will cost and in some situations the VPN will just disappear.
At the same time the big organisations like the BBC or their regulators may try to shut these down. One reason is because in their eyes you are flaunting the TV licence charge, bearing in mind, that the UK TV licence isn't just for watching BBC programs. It's for watching any live broadcasted program, including those broadcast by say Sky!!
So, this is a solution only and as douglie rightly says in a previous post you don't need a VPN and you most certainly don't need to use the Amozon fire stick (Trudi/Stuan, I am sorry if I lead you to believe it was the only way).
What I have done is this:
Built my own VPN serverSet up a Dynamic DNS so I can always find my VPN serverInstalled the VPN client on my streaming device (in fact used to be an Android box!!)Connect to my VPN server and watch my UK streamed programs
This solution is 100% in my control, as I said, I live in the UK. This means I have a UK based ISP which is currently BT. If I request my geolocation I am in my own house in the UK, even though I am in Spain.
I could also argue that I have a TV licence that covers my house in the UK and I am sourcing my streaming content from my own UK residence.
Why the firestick? Well, I started off using some thing called the RaspberryPI which was ok but I wanted more stability. Then I got hold of an android box, which was ok but it was not as good as the RaspberryPI, the picture quality wasn't good and that's when I relised I should try a dedicated streaming device and I went for the Amazon fire.
So, what about using Kodi to achieve this I hear you say? Kodi (which is another topic) is absolutely fantastic and I can't fault it and the latest release candidate is out of this world. Using Kodi will work and lets you watch live content and the BBC iplayer etc, but if it changes, which it will, all of a sudden it will stop working and you will have to fiddle to get it to go again.
What I will say is that there are 101 solutions to watch UK TV. I would run with the Internet for sustainability.Mojacar ForumPost a message
This is by far the most comprehensive reply and answer. I suppose it all depends on your individual TV tastes. I don't find much to watch on UK to anymore and my grandson showed me how to get most of what I want (have a Smart TV). Netflix and YouTube - it's full of documentaries...!
Anyway, thanks for your intelligent and detailed reply - might now get a Firestick although the signal for UK sat telly seems to be better recently - getting more HD channels...!
L181SKY wrote on Fri Mar 3, 2017 12:09am:
Thanks KINGN YOU are very techy im useless. Ive got Kodi on my laptop its great, I just dont have internet at my house in Bedar. I have never taken a laptop over but Im over on Tuesday and I think I will take it with me and I will ask at Ne...
Read more...
...xt or the one next to Beachcomer in Mojacar for a holiday internet connection, ive got a 14yo 1.2 sat dish picks up a lot of Sky as I take my card with me. and in the evening I can pick up STV ! and Chan 4 just depends on the weather....
Hi L181SKY,
Sorry about the 'tecky' stuff in the last post, it was meant to show that there are many many options here and if you have a clear idea of what you want, then by getting some good advise you will get a solution that is sustainable and doesn't blow the budget.
Before getting in touch with one of the ISPs in the Mojacar area I think you should try your laptop on a friends or in one of the bars.
Kodi works here in Spain but you will find that some of the streams might be missing and others might appear. It's all to do with this geolocation stuff.
Also, Next are a 'line of sight' so I guess it depends where you are in Beda as to whether you can use them.
L181SKY wrote on Fri Mar 3, 2017 12:09am:
Thanks KINGN YOU are very techy im useless. Ive got Kodi on my laptop its great, I just dont have internet at my house in Bedar. I have never taken a laptop over but Im over on Tuesday and I think I will take it with me and I will ask at Ne...
Read more...
...xt or the one next to Beachcomer in Mojacar for a holiday internet connection, ive got a 14yo 1.2 sat dish picks up a lot of Sky as I take my card with me. and in the evening I can pick up STV ! and Chan 4 just depends on the weather....
Hi L181SKY,
Sorry about the 'tecky' stuff in the last post, it was meant to show that there are many many options here and if you have a clear idea of what you want, then by getting some good advise you will get a solution that is sustainable and doesn't blow the budget.
Before getting in touch with one of the ISPs in the Mojacar area I think you should try your laptop on a friends or in one of the bars.
Kodi works here in Spain but you will find that some of he streams might be missing and others might appear. It's all to do with this geolocation stuff.
Also, Next are a 'line of sight' so I guess it depends where you are in Beda as to whether you can use them.
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