Satellite or Internet

Toffeecat

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Firstly may I apologise for my ignorance of anything techy other than a camera. You see we were to get a portable satellite system. Then I see some videos on YouTube saying Satellite is old hat and internet TV is the future. Now time to show my stupidity. What is MiFi, hotspots, how do you view internet TV, only on lap top, whats the costs, I use the motorhome once/twice a month, how much data etc etc.

From what ive seen I have a Cello TV that can do HD freeview and built in satellite tuner. I can get a decent satellite dish and cables for £30 on Gumtree so that's a decent system at little cost. But id need a contract for the mifi dongle thing. Which has the better reception? Oh im confused, I need a sit down.
 
To help with answers we need to know the type of touring that you do and where?

The needs for U.K. touring are different to those required for overseas. If you only use the motorhome once or twice a month can we assume that you tour the U.K. only?

Scotland and other areas of isolation can be problematic when using the internet and any form of mobile WiFi.

You have a Freeview TV tuner so are you having issues with this where you tour, hence thoughts about Satellite?

Do you wildcamp or stay on sites mainly? Low cost ground mounted satellite dishes are not ideal when wildcamping.

To avoid any doubt I am firmly in the internet mobile WiFi camp combined with Freeview for total flexibility and play DVDs or downloads if no signals are available. But there is a monthly cost however we spend more time in the motorhome throughout the year than anywhere else (in normal circumstances of course!)
 
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Thanks Moped. At the minute its all UK hols until I retire in 8 years. Mainly its Scotland. We do a lot of Wildcamping and an occasional camp site. The tellys great but we do have problems getting a signal a lot of the time. The satellite system we had on a previous motorhome was way better.
 
Toffeecat never had a problem anywhere in the uk including Scotland getting a TV signal either with our vision plus directional aerial or our mifi. if using a mifi you use a lot of data 2gb an hour for tv. So a package with unlimited data is best.. I use three and get unlimited data for £19 a month. A good mifi will cost around £100 but you can get cheaper ones. We have an aerial for the mifi but have never used it.
If you are going to rural campsites it’s may also be worth considering having a tv point fitted outside. Many campsites have tv aerial sockets on the hook up points.

I have a small portable satellite dish, I have never used it, but I have heard it might be needed on the outer Hebrides. The maxview remora 40. But you have use a tv with a satellite input such as an avtex, or by a separate satellite box.

Pardon our interruption...

www.ebay.co.uk
 
Thanks Fisherman. I had a look at the Remora, it looked good but is only 40cm but im assured it works fine in the UK. I think if we used the motorhome more which we will in the fiture when I retire, mifi is a definite. But as we use it much less, that's what puts me off a contract, a cost we'd not use much.
 
Toffeecat said:
Thanks Fisherman. I had a look at the Remora, it looked good but is only 40cm but im assured it works fine in the UK. I think if we used the motorhome more which we will in the fiture when I retire, mifi is a definite. But as we use it much less, that's what puts me off a contract, a cost we'd not use much.
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Some people do away with their landline and only use mobiles.
If that’s an option then you could use the mifi at home for internet access.
 
We watched a guy with a home brewed satellite dish on the Aire at Grau last year. He had it mounted to his wing mirror, first one side then the other. All we could hear was the whistling sound from his signal strength meter. He played around with it for hours. I nearly went over to tell him to shut the thing up when he finally went inside and stayed there. He must have worn a grove in the tarmac the number of times he was in and out. The other problem with dishes is they move unless on a very firm base. Next morning he was out again doing exactly the same thing. I have a Snipe2 on the roof. Pull up switch it on and let it get on with it. Takes it about 30 seconds longer sometimes if it doesn't get a good GPS fix. Clever really because it knows where to find the satellites and what angle to set the dish at depending on where you are in the country. Also works out the skew angle for best reception. We also witnessed a guy on a CL doing the same thing, only difference being he was looking through his caravan window and satellite dish was on a tripod frame anchored to the ground.. I talked to him later and he said by the time he got a watchable picture the match had finished.
 
This is what you can use for unlimited Internet when away in the van works off 12v while in the van its all we use now for internet no home wired for 2 years with no complaints but never took it to scotland

4G & 5G Home Broadband | Three

As well as offering 4G, we now offer 5G on our Home Broadband. Choose an unlimited plan on Pay Monthly and get it the next working day.
www.three.co.uk
 
In the UK, for a "standard" Sky or Freesat installation with cable run no more than 25m, south of Manchester, a Sky "minidish" will mostly be OK. As you head north of Manchester or West of Bristol, consider using a larger dish (60 cm or more). North of Carlisle and West of Belfast, consider 70 - 80 cm and north of Aberdeen, larger still
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From

Sky satellite dish size?

What size satellite dish do I need?
www.satcure.co.uk
Also the larger the dish the easier to locate the sat and buy a sat receiver with a easy find facility built in does away with the need for a separate sat finder
 
Roof mounted fully auto satellite system for me.
Park up, switch satellite and tv on job done. Never failed to lock on to satellite unlike my mobile reception in certain parts of northern Scotland.
Mind you im a tv / sport addict and must have my daily dose of cricket and football so have a sky box with me at all times lol !
 
If you are touring Scotland then a satellite dish may well be the best way to go. Check the mobile phone coverage maps. Once you are away from urban areas and main road corridors the signal basically is lost for all carriers with 3 appearing to be the worst and Vodafone the best.

We have a 85cm freestanding tripod mounted dish for France which gives us a signal down to Perpignan where the strength is 45% but that is enough for the main Freesat channels. We only use it on sites if we are stopping for more than say 3 nights and there is something we are desperate to watch. You do not get unlimited mobile roaming data when outside the UK hence the use of a dish. In the UK we are Freeview/mobile WiFi exclusive with an unlimited 3 contract and do not use the dish. We have a decent motorhome garage mind which for us and European touring is essential.

When using mobile WiFi we connect our Samsung phone to the TV with a C to HDMI connector lead and stream Netflix or whatever to the TV through the various entertainment apps on the phone.

We do have a fantastic satellite finder which cost us around £80 and once the dish is set up, within 2 minutes we inevitably locate Astra at 28.2E wherever we are in France. It takes around 15 minutes to set up the tripod, mount the dish and LNB to it, and feed the cable to the external socket. We use a compass and point one of the tripod legs in the approximate direction of the Astra satellite and line up the dish arm with this to give us an approximation, then use the finder.

It may be for Scotland you need 60cm dish for the far north. Now I am not sure but there may be a dish available that uses brackets or sucker mounts that fits to the side of the van. One issue is that it can get very windy in Scotland and this will affect the satellite signal as the dish moves with the van. Even with roof mounted self seekers but I am no expert here as we have not motorhomed Scotland yet, just Southern Europe.

A low level ground mounted dish all things considered may be the best option.
 
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I wind up the wireless and get out a book. I can watch TV at home and record anything I want to watch using the Virgin App for when I get home.
 
trevskoda said:
Im to busy watching the wife spend my money to bother about tv.o_O
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That’s the big mistake. Use a good TV set up to keep the wife glued to the seat in the van enabling you to go out and about spending your money!
 
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