Our lack of English television

[tonicha]

We've been asking friends, both here and in the Alentejo about it.

Yes, we can have a box for 200 euros, here, which will enable us to watch the tv, when the speed is good enough - if not, it freezes As more and more people use either the internet into our village, or the television, it will get worse

And it wouldn't work in the Alentejo, where we're thinking of anyway, as they don't have fibre optic stuff up there.

So we'll be sticking with Portuguese and Spanish teleivision for now.

And do you know? We really don't miss it

[Kaz]

[Paddypix]

Tonicha, I've just got back from Spain on holiday. Last time we stayed there we could get BBC1 on the TV in the hotel plus various other English channels like Sky News and BBC World, but this time the hotel has abandoned all that and we could only get Sky News and Spanish programmes. I found this site tvonholiday.co.uk which sets up a VPN for you which enables you to watch all the UK channels. I asked my son to have a look to see if it's safe and he was happy enough with it. It costs £2.99 a week which you pay through Paypal and you can cancel at any time.

I don't know what a VPN is or how it works, but my son said I could set one up myself for free but that it would probably be beyond me, so for a couple of weeks I was happy to pay the £2.99. The tvonholiday people responded very quickly to any queries and cancelled immediately I asked them to.

I'm sure if you are interested either WM or Suff could tell you all about VPNs and how to set one up for yourself.

[Workingman]

We have looked at it Liz, it is not really worth it unless you go for one of the commercial VPNs that already exist. The problem is that you need a decent speed and unlimited downloads. In some regions this is either not available or wildly expensive.

Filmon.com, or similar, are OK to keep up with 'must watch' programmes, but as an alternative to proper TV there are few options until the satellites are sorted out.

[Paddypix]

Makes sense Frank. I found it very handy for the two weeks, mainly because I didn't come home to hours and hours of recorded programmes because I was able to watch them while I was in Spain during the times when we were crashing out in the hotel.

[Applecheeks]

I agree with Frank, Ton.

http://www.filmon.com/tv/bbc-one
Sometimes the channel drops for a bit, but usually it is o.k. I can't do it, but G, when she wants to watch something puts the laptop on to the t.v. with some leads (all Chinese to me) I just watch it on the computer.

[Diflower]

I wouldn't bother either when it's a fair bit of hassle and no doubt would go off just as you wanted to watch something!
Obviously the Tv's the same here, there's a Bbc news channel and that's about it. We didn't bother setting anything to record, I love masterchef but can probably catch up with the last of it next week

[Kaz]

If we'd had great weather in Corfu, the lack of English telly wouldn't have bothered me in the slightest! It certainly didn't last year, or the year before....................

Who wants to watch telly when you can be enjoying a sunny afternoon in the sun, or an evening on the terrace with a bottle of wine....................*sigh*