How can you receive TV in the MH by wifi?

SimonM

SimonM

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It has been suggested that to fit a satellite dish to the roof of the MH in order to be able to watch Sky TV, using the HD box like we have done for several years, is now a big ‘old technology’ and why not do it by way of wifi and a SIM card?

can this be explained to me in a simple way as I’m a bit hard of thinking these days with techie stuff

I realise that having a form of motorhome wifi is a better way of receiving internet, rather than having to hotspot from phone to iPad or suchlike. Can this be used for TV, to somehow get the info across to the screen?
 
The original "motorhome wi-fi" would connect via a public Wifi Hotspot, such as BT Fon, O2 and various other public hotspots. And you would point an antenna in the direction to get the signal.

While there are still public wi-fi Hotspots, Mobile Data has very much taken over and it is much easier and simplier to just have your own setup. You can set a phone up to be a Hotspot, or get a Mobile Router and a dedicated SIM card for that and just leave that in the van to use. That is the easiest and simplest option and then with Sky, you can use Sky Go to watch Sky channels (not all though), and the various other on-demand apps via a PC, Tablet, or maybe a Firestick on a TV.
Sky Go cannot be used on a Firestick though unless it is hacked.

I have the same kit as the stuff Motorhome WiFi used to sell. It is good, but of its time. And that time has passed.
 
There’s a couple of different ways. First would be a smart Tv that connects to Wi-Fi and a small separate dongle that holds a data sim the tv then picks up signal from the dongle. Second is if Tv is not a smart Tv then an Amazon fire stick with the apps for Tv download on to it running of the Wi-Fi dongle. I use a fire stick and a dongle but you have to be able to get a wi Fi or phone signal. I’ve never been anywhere yet that this system hasn’t worked for me including France I was able to get all the British Tv. BBC i player Netflix and many others are easy to download to fire-stick and there are others that you pay a yearly subscription for that give you hundreds of channels like iptv smarters.
 
Spot on I use my big I pad pro 90% of the time for when out in the van.
 
We take our home EE router with us in the MH for use in the UK. We are on unlimited data so its only a poor signal that stops us. We watch live TV, Netflix etc on the laptop then rather than the TV. The laptop has a 17.3" screen and is sat on a high table nearer to us so the picture is big enough. Bluetooth to an Anker speaker and jobs a good 'un.

Abroad its hot spotting as suggested.
 
RichardHelen262 said:
You can get a lead to connect your I pad to the tv, so that you can then watch whatever is on your iPad on your tv
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I tried that with our Avtex at the front of the MH and couldn't get it to work with either a USB or HDMI lead. The MH and presumably TV is a 2017 vintage so perhaps it works on newer versions?
 
If you do go down the roof antenna/modem/firestick route and you already have a contract with sky then they do excellent data packages for existing customers and best of all any unused data is carried forward.I’m currently in Spain and still have 170gb of data to use up saved over my phone/modem/ipad SIM’s, they do charge £2 a day roaming but over 3 devices that’s not bad. It could also be possible to bring your existing modem from home as it’s probably 12volt and use an external 4G antenna but I’m only guessing.
 
In our Sprinter we have a smart tv with freeview ariel and a mobile router with a wifi ariel supplied by Solwise, when we go to Europe we buy a data only sim so we have plenty of data to go at. In UK the Sprinter has built in wifi but not sure what limit there is.
 
i’m normally behind the ball on these tech items but i have a mobile data sim and firestick for the amount of tv i watch this is more than adequate! i’m sure the big pro i pad with firestick is cheaper than a full satellite system and a 100gb sim card also cheaper than a sky subscription, an hour of jan catching up with soaps over in france only used 1.5 gb on our normal i pad
 
Worth remembering that unless you already have a contract for loads of data you will be paying for any TV watched through wifi or cast whereas a Satellite tuned to freesat is completely free for hundreds of uk and foreign channels. Also works at least halfway down France.
 
Glandwr said:
Worth remembering that unless you already have a contract for loads of data you will be paying for any TV watched through wifi or cast whereas a Satellite tuned to freesat is completely free for hundreds of uk and foreign channels. Also works at least halfway down France.
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Very true. My Oyster3 80cm we can get full Sky in 95% of France, petering out at the edges. All down central Germany last month it was patchy, but mainly lost the BBC channels (so no loss there then) coverage was quite good up in Denmark when I tried, but was non-existent in Norway, Sweden and Finland - as would be expected.

in reality while away I don’t actually spend much time watching TV, it tends to be in in the background while I’m engrossed reading the Kindle on t’iPad, ditto memsahib.

I think it’s more a case of “we’ve always had it, we should get it again” but should we really bother?
 
SimonM said:
I think it’s more a case of “we’ve always had it, we should get it again” but should we really bother?
Click to expand...
since Astra reduced their coverage we've just used the Fire Stik when out of coverage works fine
 
witzend said:
since Astra reduced their coverage we've just used the Fire Stik when out of coverage works fine
Click to expand...
I must confess my lack of knowledge of the FireStik as I’ve been so used to the ease of plug and play Sky box. Is there an idiots guide I should look at so I can see what to do?
 
Wully said:
There’s a couple of different ways. First would be a smart Tv that connects to Wi-Fi and a small separate dongle that holds a data sim the tv then picks up signal from the dongle. Second is if Tv is not a smart Tv then an Amazon fire stick with the apps for Tv download on to it running of the Wi-Fi dongle. I use a fire stick and a dongle but you have to be able to get a wi Fi or phone signal. I’ve never been anywhere yet that this system hasn’t worked for me including France I was able to get all the British Tv. BBC i player Netflix and many others are easy to download to fire-stick and there are others that you pay a yearly subscription for that give you hundreds of channels like iptv smarters.
Click to expand...
I've been in enough places in both France and Scotland where there was either no mobile signal, no data connection, or the data connection was too slow for web browsing not to rely exclusively on mobile data for streaming TV. There's even been the occasional spot where mountains have blocked the satellite signal as well. Always good to have options!
 
I must admit to be stuck in the past when it comes to watching stuff in the MoHo.

a) Download stuff onto the hard disc on my Sky Box
b) Copy it from Sky to the hard disc on my DVD recorder
c) Copy it from the hard disc on the DVD recorder to a DVD
d) Use the DVD in the Moho 12v TV

So much easier than using VHS.
 
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