I know it has been mentioned before, and it is theoretically possible to get it here with a VPN, but does it work well and how can you get one into France?
I confess that I have become quite addicted to UK TV via Freesat.
I’m moving from Cholet to Chars and I know Freesat will work there via satellite, but in the house I am moving to I am afraid the trees will block a satellite beam.
So looking to alternatives. Mostly interested in 5Select, PBS America and the Us which are all available on Freely.
I have just bought a freely box back from the UK. We are running it behind my UK directed VPN and it seems to work with no issues (so far). The downside is currently there do not appear to be freely boxes that can record (due i think to licensing) but it appears all channels have ‘watch from start’ and most seems to have links to series - current and old.
Strangely, the week before we went back to the UK, the old Freesat box decided to give up.
Thanks. I’m American and have no complelling reason to visit the UK at this point. I suppose I will have to think of an excuse to make a trip. I actually would like one of those Hisense TVs with Freely, but can’t imagine sneaking one of those in.
Freely is basically online streaming. Some of the FreelyTVs can connect to satellite or an antenna - but not all - and it’s really a short term fudge for some of the cheaper channels on Freeview/Freesat that don’t have streaming sites.
There are two Freely boxes out - Manhattan and a small Netgem puck - effectively replacing your sat box.
The problem is your VPN needs to be on your “router” for the boxes and a lot of the TV (some Freely TV still have VPNs in their app store …but it’s a geo locked product so not allowing VPNs is logical).
It means you really end up buying a router with VPN installed as well - if you haven’t already
Is this something one can reasonably DIY or is some alchemy required? I meam could I buy a router that is capable of hving a VPN added or is this a pro trick?
Astra will be gone by 2032 so freely will be the future way of getting all those channels. I use a small router (Gl.Inet ) with the VPN installed - using wireguard as it’s quicker than OpenVPN.
The freely i bought is the Manhatten Aero 4K (non recording one) - £70 from John Lewis.
I’m currently using a Manhatten Aero to obtain the Freely service (using a VPN of course). Works well, not sure if it has the same no of channels as. Freely tv though. It works quite well and I obtained from the UK , sent to me in France, all duties paid. Supplier was Chigwell satellite , through Amazon site. Amazon currently showing not available but you could contact them direct. on +44203 654 1804
Pls note the price quoted is considerably more than if purchased in uk but probably cheaper than a return trip.
I’ve just returned from a UK visit and brought a Freely Box from John Lewis (Manhattan Aero 4K). It cost me £89. I now having it working successfully via my VPN installed on my Unifi UDR router. I first tried with NordVPN but quickly found that ITV had detected the NordVPN Data Centre locations in the UK and blocked all of their channels. All other channels worked fine. Fortunately, I previously installed a private Wireguard VPN server on a RaspberryPI in my Daughters UK house and so I’m using this.With this setup all channels are working fine. Once I’m happy with the Freely service I will decommission my FreeSat setup. While there is no record capability the Freely box has iPlayer, etc installed and so you can catchup via these Apps.
There’s no contracts for Freesat (or Sky) beyond 2029.
However Freeview will continue to 2033 (ish) - there’s a feeling Freesat will limp on until the same date.
The better Freely does the easier the switch - but they’re still fudging how the final transition to online only works for those who don’t want internet or still have poor internet.
Sky will just dump satellite but the BBC (and thus Freeview) won’t be allowed to just switch to online until the transitions sorted
I have 2 pleio freely boxes which I was able to buy from Amazon France but they don’t seem to be available anymore. They work perfectly with a Liberty Shield Router. www.libertyshield.co.uk
It’s well known that Sky and Freesat are currently only contracted with SES up to 2029 although that may change. Some of the 28.2 satellites are also due to become EOL at the end of the decade but they may well last longer.
Edit : The three Astra 28 satellites are due to meet EOL between 2027 ( ) and 2030 and so it’s probably not feasible for SES to contract beyond 2029.
What annoys me about the Manhattan website is that there are no real product specifications just flash words and pictures. You get things like ‘there’s Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video and more’ when talking of extra apps. But nowhere does it give you a list of apps. It also doesn’t give you a list of live streamed TV channels or anything specific really. If you go to the Freely website it’s exactly the same.
Having previously used FreeSat I can confirm that Freely has all of the main channels - BBC, ITV, C4, C5, plus the usual such as Quest, Film4, U, etc. For catch-up there is everything we use except for AppleTV. More details here: Freely Channel List | Freely
) and 2030 and so it’s probably not feasible for SES to contract beyond 2029.