Hello All, I live in France and would like to get TV and broadband. I have a TV but no channels as I’m not connected to the internet. Who is the best provider and/or is it possible to get UK TV? In best I also mean cheapest.
This thread does wander… but it also talks about dishes/boxes etc… so may help you.
If you do a Search for Broadband (using the magnifying glass thingy) … that does bring up various threads on the forum…
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For TV we have a satellite dish and a Humax box, the internet is via a 4G box (non contract). Never had internet via satellite which would obviously be cheaper however when we get high winds or heavy rain we lose the signal so not sure how reliable it would be.
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IIRC not so @tim17 If you can get it these days anyway. You would think so but - unless things have changed in recent years - there is a limit on bandwidth after which it becomes quite expensive.
If, on the other hand you are thinking about 4G, there are some good deals about see here
That’s the box we’ve got Graham, we’re lucky in that we have two masts close to us so usually have a good signal.
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Cheapest rarely equals best.
As Stella says - search the forum, it has been discussed several times. For internet start with www.degrouptest.com which will list your options and likely speeds, for 4G start with your phone - inside the house do you get a 3G or 4G connection and what sort of download speed does (eg) www.speedtest.net show.
For TV, many opt for satellite to get the UK channels but in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques you are well outside the Astra 2E UK spot-beam footprint and reception might not be straightforward. You’ll probably need a sizeable dish (80-100cm, maybe more depending on local conditions).
For UK catch-up services - iPlayer etc - you will need a VPN but the beeb do try to pin these down and block them from time to time.
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As an aside I hate this term (yes, I know, that’s a bit OCD) - there is, of course, a contract. You pay them money and they give you a service which is covered by a set of contractual terms.
One of which will be that you can terminate the service at relatively short notice - usually the end of the current monthly billing cycle rather than having 12 months notice written like the contracts used to have.
Looks promising, we don’t have a bouygestelecom signal near us, do orange have something similar?
Having a good 4G signal outside, I have bought a Bluetooth range extender and will try streaming from my phone via Netflix service. Our village is to be one of the last to get fibre some years away.
That doesn’t always work too well @anon88169868
In our case, the 4G signal to the pone is inferior to what we get from the Bouygues 4G box. I think the aerial in the 4G box is more powerful.
When we were looking at 4G to replace Orange the site suggested that we couldn’t get a signal but when we got the box and set it up, we got a good strong signal and now consistently get superior to 15 Mbps and sometimes as much as 30 Mbps (Orange was about 4 Mbps).
As far as I’m aware you can just return the box and the agreement ends there and then but I’ve not checked the small print.
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We did check the small print @tim17 and you are quite correct. The same applies for the mobiles too.
I did say start with your phone - if you get a good 4G signal and fast download to your phone then a 4G box should have no problems.
If not - as you observe it might still be possible to get a good service with one of the 4G boxes but just not quite so assured without trying it.
So, you terminate the agreement by carrying out a specified action and there is “small print” - sounds very much like a contract to me 
Of course there is a contract, but the Ts&Cs are “sans abonnement” so the contract can be ended without a penalty.
In the case of Orange and others - there is a minimum 12 month contract which they hold you to if you try to end early and IIRC 1 month termination period thereafter and a cost to cancel.
Internet via satellite is definitely not cheaper than a standard ADSL telco subscription. It also suffers from the following major disadvantages:
- capped data volume usage per month;
- contention ratio issues, especially during holiday periods
- unstable bandwidth
- weather dependent bandwidth
We had a satellite internet connection for over 2 years, it was quite simply crap. The only reason I would ever recommend one is if there is never any hope of getting a decent 4G signal, or a reasonable ADSL connection at some stage.
You don’t need the internet to get UK TV if you have a dish that is the correct size to pick up the broadcast signal and satellite TV box , e.g. Humax (specifically configured to provide a menu system for UK Freesat channels) or any other type of Freesat capable satellite receiver box. The biggest issue with satellite reception of UK channels in France is where you live, which will dictate whether you can actually receive any signal and which size dish you will need.
If you want to watch UK TV via an internet connexion, then you need a provider, which usually comes as a subscription offer via ADSL, or in some lucky locations, via a 4G radiotelephone signal for which you don’t necessarily need to be tied in to a long term contract. However, this will only get you so far. If the channel that you want to watch over the internet connection practises geoblocking based on your internet protocol address (which is the case for quite a few UK TV channels), then you will either have to set up your own VPN, or else pay a subscription to a company that offers that possibility.
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The biggest drawback (though Alex’s points are all very valid) is the latency which just kills some types of application stone dead - everything has to go up to a satellite in geostationary orbit (35,786km) and back again adding 239ms latency to every packet (and double that for “ping” times).
Forget gaming, forget VOIP, probably forget remote access solutions like RDP or Citrix, even ordinary browsing “feels” much slower than the bandwidth figures would suggest.
It’s really something to be considered only if there isno other option.
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Yeah, I forgot to mention those 
Even remote backup or cloud storage is a huge fail with domestic internet satellite connections.
Oh and phoning people was like talking into a well, with added noise thrown in…
Brittany Ferries has satellite internet these days - I’m guessing each ship has pretty meaty bandwidth given that you could have several hundred people trying to use it but - within the limitations mentioned - it seems fairly useable. It might be that technology has moved on a little since Alex’s experience - but I’m still tempted to only suggest it if there is no other solution.
You may not even need a satellite box, our TV has a built in satellite receiver - worth checking the back of the TV for an F Plug connector before buying an extra box.
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"I don’t want to have to do all this VPN business. "
Actually “this VPN business” is no sweat. I’ve used VPNs for several years, getting the UK TV territory-restricted channels. You download the VPN - a perfectly straightforward and familiar routine as per other websites or apps. You will have to choose a subscription plan. But - Beware! See below…
You either have the VPN set to load up on start-up of your computer, or load it up when you want to watch content. The VPN will either ask you which country’s servers you want to access [Usually the VPN shows you a map: you click the UK], or you can set it always to access a UK server, by default. The latter is obviously the choice if you only want the VPN for UK TV content.
The VPN accesses the server in 10-15 secs and tells you you’re now accessing the web - all of it - via that server. Go to the TV station website and click on your programme. All being well, you sit back and view but …
Here we break into The Downside Blues … The BBC and other broadcasters with territorial restrictions are constantly on the lookout for servers that are ‘transmitting’ their content.
When they find them, they block them. I have had a period of some months watching content. Then one day the dreaded message appears, “This content is not available in your location. This is a rights issue” and your subscription to that VPN is down the drain. I sign up to another VPN … This is why I have learned to take only a 12 month sub.
I’ve given up on VPNs now. The companies put in new servers but they still get rumbled too often. I’ve discovered the amazing output on You Tube.
By far the easiest way to get UK TV in Europe is FreeSat. The Astra 2E signal footprint [see here for a map https://www.ses.com/our-coverage/satellites/345] covers France and a good deal of Spain. The numbers on the contour lines are the diameter in cms of the dish you will need to receive the signal.
Size matters. Local conditions/topography will influence signal strength. Dishes are not expensive. The bigger, the better reception you will get. I bought the size recommended for reliable reception here in Valencia - 125cms - for £100 on Amz.uk.
Get a good sat box - the Humax range tend to be the default choice, with good reason - and call in your local TV installer.
I know people subscribe to Sky, using a UK address and tip the guy a twenty quid … "My brother’s an installer. Take the afternoon off… " and set the hardware up in France/Spain.