I can get it also at home on my little old DAB radio Like you I do. To feel the need to access it away from home. TBH I have it on just for the background noise especially since my husband died. Otherwise I hate the total silence in the house
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My neighbour had the sounds app on her phone and after I installed my VPN it worked fine until a couple of weeks ago. Now there is just an error page from the BBC saying that to access she must go to BBC.com. On my phone I still have a sounds app, downloaded in the UK many years ago and it still works fine with a VPN. I uninstalled her sounds app and attempted to re-install via the play store which proved impossible. What an opportunity missed by the BBC as there must be millions of expats all around the world who would pay a monthly fee for the privilege of having BBC Sounds.
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Agreed, we would happily pay to have BBC radio and TV. ITV and Channel4 are the same when I try.
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My Alexa thing that controls the Ring doorbell gives me all the UK radio channels with no problems and I am the furthest south in France you can get. I just call out loud what I want to hear and it comes on.
Download
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I simply bought, first one, then a second Karcher intenet radio from Amazon.fr. Gets programmes from all over the world, although I only listen to 3, Radio 4, Classic AM and UK Gold. 
The one next to my bed sends me to sleep to classic music and switches itself off according to how long I set it to.
The only VPN I’ve used is MullVAD and that worked last time I used it in France, though I am not bothered about accessing BBC stuff as I mostly watch YouTube. 
It’s a flat rate of €5 a month - that’s it, no setup fees or complicated pricing tiers, and you can buy it a month at a time or longer if you wish. And they have charged the same price since 2009. Nor do they record your email address or any other personal info.
Yes, live, but you cannot listen to a programme that has already been broadcast as you can with BBC Sounds - that is what most people want.
What is weird (and I say this with fingers crossed) is that we seem to be able to for programme we have subscribed to.
hello , after some hesitation , I don’t open a new thread , as mine is a similar problem . I am in brittany and get radio4 LW (!) loud and clear on my 1959 battery-operating small set . without changing frequency , I get r4 daytime and world service at night . but lw is going to be scrapped . has anyone in brittany ( I am near benodet ) owning a dab set being able to get any reception please ? buying one such device would not change my habits . but having to use an ipad would . plus , geopolitically speaking , it is difficult to know exactly who is using lw ; the chinese , any bigtech company etc , knows exactly who and where you are , listening to what , when you use internet . thanks
Hi Gab and I’m sure someone will be able to help you in this forum…
Probably too far south. Perhaps if you were in the north coast with a clear path from the channel Islands transmitter, but you have all of Brittany between you and them.
Unless anyone knows differently, of course.
Unless your listening is highly classified, I’m not sure why this would be a concern. If anyone really wants to know about you then they already do.
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@JohnH i’ll walk back this part of my thread .
@billybutcher I emailed the bbc . their reply only says , about dab : “it does not extend beyond the channel” , and about r4 , “listening online would be the only reliable way to access from france” .
What does this mean, please?
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well , what I need is advice about what would come closest to how I listen to radio4 and the world service at the moment on the same frequency , given that the long wave transmitter is about to close .
This is a very long thread indeed.
Like Gab we are still able to listen to BBC Radio 4 on our radio in Normandie It’s a Grundig radio.
However today the BBC announced that the long wave signal will be cut off a little later this year. So I am expecting not to be able to listen to Radio 4 on this radio in future.
Is this correct? We don’t have the internet in France and pick up a signal through the ether for using a mobile phone or a laptop. There seems to be no problem with using either device at present.
I am told that NordVPN works on my mobile phone so I should be able to continue listening to the BBC via the phone but presumably not the radio in the near future. I await answers from anyone who has any knowledge regarding this subject as, in the immortal words of the waiter in Faulty Towers, I know nothing.
Does this mean that we’ll be at nuclear war?
During their isolated missions, crews watch for signals that the UK still exists — and may launch a counter-attack if they believe their country has been destroyed.
One of these signs is whether BBC Radio 4 is still broadcasting the “Today” programme, Britain’s flagship news and politics show.
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Exactly JohnH
I did sign a petition to save long wave from being cancelled but for every person who was keen to keep it going others were dismissive about retaining obsolete, in their eyes, ways of transmitting during national security measures. Also the individual fishermen who rely on the shipping forecast to keep an open ear for bad weather
Not to mention The Archers!
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