My Freesat has failed, it’s probably the LNB that needs replacing and I have ordered a replacement. But while investigating this issue I have learned about Freely TV, and I have also learned that Freesat will be discontinued sometime fairly soon.
I’m not great at technology so I’m looking for some basic advice on how to make this work for free in France.
I understand that I can buy a Freely box the next time I’m in the UK for around £80, but when I plug it in in France it won’t work without a device that will make it think it’s in the UK. I believe this device is called a VPN, how does that work? does it plug in to the Orange Livebox and then plug in to the Freely box, or is it done by wifi? do I buy the VPN and is there a yearly subscription?
I use a firestick and BBC iPlayer, You need only a DNS proxy service to make this work from France. I use smart DNS proxy. You need to make some manual changes to the Fire TV Stick config which is documented in their FAQ. Best -Ian
A VPN is software. There are free and paid for versions. You can load it directly onto a firestick which is currently on Amazon Prime Deal for only 22 euros. My personal choice for VPN is Express VPN. A VPN fools the media source into making it look like you are accessing from a different location.
You cannot put a VPN directly on your freely box. It goes on the source of your Internet connection e.g. a router so is a little more complicated
Thanks for your reply Ian. Would I be right in thinking that a firestick is a device that plugs into an hdmi socket on the telly, what’s a DNS proxy? is this something that plugs into the Orange Livebox?
Thanks for your reply Mik. I presume the Orange Livebox is the router, if I connect a VPN to it do you think it would interfere with our Orange TV box? My wife and kids watch french TV.
As far as I am aware you can’t put it on a Livebox. You will need to put it on a router and I found it a bit of pain. It is much easier to buy a firestick today for 20 odd euros then you just load the VPN app of your choice from the app store. You will need an Amazon UK account but the apps like BBC Iplayer, ITVX, VPN, are free.
There is a lot of info in this technology section which is worth wading through.
I am sure orange Livebox will not take a conventional vpn app. I have no experience of DNS stuff. The firestick solution is reasonably straightforward for non techies like me
I have a Livebox and it’s fairly locked down. Orange doesn’t want you playing with many of the settings, presumably because they don’t want to have to fix it if someone inadvertently breaks something.
What I’d suggest (and what I’m considering doing) is leave the Livebox as-is so my Orange TV box can connect to it and still work as normal, and I can use it for working from home, etc… like I currently do.
I’ll then buy a second router that I can install and configure a VPN on directly. This router will be connected to the Livebox via an ethernet cable, so it will have access to the internet, but importantly it will broadcast a second WiFi network. Any devices that connect to this new network, such as the Freely device, will have their internet traffic go through the VPN. To be honest it’s probably the only thing that’ll connect to this new network.
It’s a bit of a faff but my missus says my current setup is too complicated for everyday use.
But you can use Smart DNS using the freely box with no router. I’m watching the cricket on the BBC now on iPlayer with my LG TV without any special software on my router or TV. Any device where you can set a custom DNS server can work with Smart DNS.
This is exactly what I did and ran NordVPN on it. It works well, but you do need a second router. With NordVPN Smart DNS you can watch UK TV without the router and without a VPN, just by changing the DNS server on your device (I checked that you can do this on a freely box)
Thanks Hairbear. What is NordVPN Smart DNS, is it a device, and if so where does it go? or is it an online account that then gives you an ID number to enter into the Freely Box, and if so is there a subscription fee?
It’s a service from NordVPN. Not any sort of physical device. You register your ISPs IP address with the NordVPN SmartDNS service (it detects this automatically) and you bet an email back with two DNS server addresses. The device you want to use to stream UK TV or catch up (Freely box in this case) has a selection in the network setup that allows you to set one or two DNS servers. You set the DNS server(s) address in the setup using the values sent to you in the email and then you can use the box as if you are in the UK. Theres no extra devices, no extra cables or anything like that. You need a subscription to a service that supports Smart DNS and a streaming box. You do have to pay for NordVPN but you also get a VPN. There are other providers of Smart DNS, some of which will be cheaper and I believe some free ones.
@Corona thanks, mate. Hadn’t seen that service before. It might be simple enough that it would keep the missus happy… Apparently having to switch between 2 IPTV solutions or Stremio or Jellyfin or iPlayer with surfshark VPN, etc… is too cumbersome
@hairbear, thanks… I’m going to consider this too. Do you know if you can buy a Freely device on Amazon in the UK? My sister got me Amazon vouchers for Xmas but bought them in the UK and I can’t use them here in France. I thought maybe I could use them to buy the box in the UK though.
