Streaming in the UK

[RobinE]

With the nights drawing in thoughts are returning to getting some decent tv entertainment.
I know there are many posts on here, but most focus on what works best in Europe. Our European touring days are past us now, hence this post.
I know its old tech, but we do have Freesat that works perfectly as very rarely get right under trees, but it is only real time TV. which is somewhat limiting these days. Also seems BBC maybe planning to stop supporting Freesat?
Also have a 4g/5g router with a Three unlimited data sim which provides basic Internet for browsing etc. but very rarely enough bandwidth to stream Netflix etc or catch up. (via Firestick) Works fine on my drive, but not out in the areas we tend to visit. Also have EE on our phones and coverage does not seem any better, although not benefitting from the mifi aerial and signal booster.
Can't justify Starlink, maybe when / if costs come down, as we average one week in four away.. Our home citilink fibre only costs £30 per month.
Any other solutions I am not aware of? Maybe using the satellite dish although it only has one LNB.
Wouldn't want to to pay much more than the £20 a month that the Three sim costs.

 

[Jev88]

Netflix only requires 3mb/s

 

[RobinE]

Must admit I haven't measured the speed, Netflix is better than anything else, but mostly get unnaceptable buffer.

 

[namwaldog]

On the few occasions we want to watch UK TV whilst in the UK in the MH, we use a 10" tablet on the respective catch up apps.
If we want to watch something together, we get out the TV, power it up, select HDMI from SOURCE options, attach the cable below to the HDMI port on the TV, the other end of the cable goes in the charging port of one of our phones and then, on the phone, go to the catch up app you want, (BBC iplayer etc.) And it will play through the TV.
I think one of the apps doesn't allow this - perhaps ch4 but not sure.

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We have a Firestick which will get you all the catch up channels + lots more but very rarely use it !

Good Luck

 

[monzer]

First thing I would do would be to speak to Three. No reason why that shouldn't be providing with you with the capabilities to watch Netflix etc. Same with EE. EE in my 4GEE device is all I use and that's Netflix, iplayer, live TV on IPTV....

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[RobinE]

First thing I would do would be to speak to Three. No reason why that shouldn't be providing with you with the capabilities to watch Netflix etc. Same with EE. EE in my 4GEE device is all I use and that's Netflix, iplayer, live TV on IPTV....

Thank you, I will do that, have been assuming that the coverage is too weak in the areas that we visit. Last week that was the East Anglia coast, Sandringham, Cromer, Lowestoft.

 

[Coastal Cruiser.]

Tried a data sim on 3 network when away a few places in the UK and even with my Netgear it struggled to pull in enough to stream without buffering, luckily only paid £10 for the month then cancelled.
Best sim I have had for home and all around Europe was EE only got rid of them because they were over £30 a month and as I only use the data sim when away it worked out to expensive.

RWG was good but nightmare trying to cancel them and get a refund

 

[Langtoftlad]

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[scotjimland]

Thank you, I will do that, have been assuming that the coverage is too weak in the areas that we visit. Last week that was the East Anglia coast, Sandringham, Cromer, Lowestoft.

exactly correct..

we live on the Suffolk coast and coverage is diabolical.. non-existent, patchy at best

 

[Bolti]

Must admit I haven't measured the speed, Netflix is better than anything else, but mostly get unnaceptable buffer.

Do you have your fire stick set to a lower picture resolution this saves a lot of data. But 3 is non- existent where I live anyway.

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[RobinE]

Thanks everyone for helpful responses which have encouraged me to do some more research. I have decided to ditch my Three SIM in favour of EE which reportedly has the best download speeds on 4g in the more rural areas that we visit. But over £30 per month on a 24 month contract..
Scancom sell a prepaid unlimited data EE sim, valid until June 2025 for £240. That's a bit of a bargain. It has downsides
Fair use 600gb per month, but should be ample for our needs only 1 week in four and then max couple of hours a day streaming?
UK only, but that suits us. And if we do need a week or so in Europe we can use our phones or purchase a different SIM.
Anyone on here got experience of the Scancom EE sim?
Thanks

 

[seasideBill]

I think you’re wise to get rid of Three. In recent times I’ve struggled to get a decent signal wherever I am, UK or abroad.

 

[Headrush]

I have ee (sim only) and for around £30/month I get 200gb data, unlimited minutes and texts. However, I also get bonus add ons, such as free bt sport(now discovery +), or unlimited streaming of online services such as Netflix, prime, iplayer etc where the data used is not counted against your quota.
I've not experienced many situations where the signal was too weak to cope with streaming, although you do have to wait for the buffering process at times.

 

[Mark and Mindy]

Download in advance. If I can be organised enough then before going away just in case there is bad mobile reception at our destination I download a stack of stuff like movies and whole seasons to my notebook computer. Netflix and BBC iPlayer allows downloads and I expect a couple of other services do too.

Advanced downloading can fill the gaps between mobile reception areas.

 

[chesterfield hooligan]

One of the things to l look at is your download speed check what your allowed I had plenty of different allowances when on Vodafone my mate had unlimited data I had 100gb his was limited to 2mpbs not enough but unlimited!!!!!! I had whatever was available I'm now in idmobile which runs on 3 network but I haven't had a problem anywhere also Vodafone have joined up with 3 as they couldn't get 5g to work with the cheap crap the bought from China so Vodafone and 3 combined should improve no end

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[Jev88]

You can get EE network Simms and euro compatible from RWG network.

 

[Lenny HB]

Netflix only requires 3mb/s

Not in my experience. I find it needs a minium of 20mb/s, 10-12mb/s constantly buffering.

 

[AndyPK]

Also seems BBC maybe planning to stop supporting Freesat?

Standard Definition (SD) channels only, in 2024 - the HD channels will remain.

‘With the BBC beginning to phase out its SD channels on Freesat, a help scheme has been launched to support affected viewers. The “Eligibility Checker” tool, which is now live, allows customers to obtain a discount voucher for a new Freesat box – or even qualify for free installation assistance.

In 2023, the BBC started to finally roll-out BBC One’s local news in HD across the country and on all devices. In light of that, the BBC has also started a gradual, multi-phased process of removing the SD versions of all their channels from both Freesat and Sky.

Therefore, when the BBC’s SD channels shut down in 2024, viewers with older boxes won’t be able to watch any of the BBC’s channels anymore, and they would need a new device.’

 

[Cush]

We found an ee payg data sim great for when we are in the uk. Does all the streaming and internet needs we have. Stick it in a little ee Mifi box

 

[Jev88]

Not in my experience. I find it needs a minium of 20mb/s, 10-12mb/s constantly buffering.

I was surprised too, but then i did fiddle with all settings to reduce down from the HD to a lower quality (not that we really notice on our small screen).

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[starquake]

Thank you, I will do that, have been assuming that the coverage is too weak in the areas that we visit. Last week that was the East Anglia coast, Sandringham, Cromer, Lowestoft.

If it helps we have a 3 unlimited sim in the van on a ZTE wireless + roof antenna (the motorhome wifi RUT rebrand). In Cromer (CACC), and in White sands CAMC site in Lowestoft (both) we got acceptable for streaming service -> I was watching the cricket on nowtv during the ashes in Cromer and White Sands at Kessingland using it!. Also at YArmouth CAMC and St Neots (on latter two we got better than home, 80 down, 40 up). It's not coverage weak, it's lack of good antenna to pickup the coverage. Please don't assume your phone is better, it rarely is -> Cromer CACC site we had 0 coverage on our (also 3) phones and when tethering to those phones in rare periods of signal we got around 0.5Mbit, the roof antenna got "acceptable 5Mbit" at the worst of the above, so roughly 10x better than a phone or the ZTE dongle when not connected to the roof antenna...

TLDR, spend some cash put a good antenna on your roof, your problems in above areas should go away and you should have TV in your van via wifi. We use freeview for live stuff, and have managed to get signal on all of above sites too -> just the standard comes with Bailey motorhomes antenna worked well at all of above except Kessingland, where we couldn't get bbc2, but we could get all other channels (it's a site that provides an enternal aerial hookup because of this).

 

[starquake]

Not in my experience. I find it needs a minium of 20mb/s, 10-12mb/s constantly buffering.

Netflix depends on the device. 4k is a minimum of 10-12Mbit. 480p which is their lowest level is a min of 1Mbit. Most devices fail to the lower without interruption. You can set your netflix account to non-HD mode in settings to limit bandwidth use if you don't have an unlimited plan, as streaming at 10Mbit is a rather expensive mobile bill if not unlimited (about 4.5Gbyte an hour).

 

[Lenny HB]

I was surprised too, but then i did fiddle with all settings to reduce down from the HD to a lower quality (not that we really notice on our small screen).

You can't do that on all devices the software works differently on different devices, I can only alter the download quality on my Android TV box.

Also found if I download in lower quality, on playback the recording breaks up and pixilated so it's unwatchable. I don't have any problems with Prime.

 

[starquake]

You can't do that on all devices the software works differently on different devices, I can only alter the download quality on my Android TV box.

Also found if I download in lower quality, on playback the recording breaks up and pixilated so it's unwatchable. I don't have any problems with Prime.

It's very hard to find but it's per "profile" to setup the netflix streaming limits. We have a second profile for the van now with a lower quality setting set for use if the internet is particularly bad. We set our "home" profile to "High" so it never drops below HD. But basically under profiles in your account (use browser to configure) you can setup one profile with "High" and one with Auto or "low" and it'll basically mean you can stream on rubbish links without much/any buffering on netflix.

Download quality is different, and wierdly lower than streaming in some cases. (My ipad downloads a lower resolution than it will stream at), so in that case I'm better NOT to download unless getting on a plane.

 

[gus-lopez]

Last week that was the East Anglia coast, Sandringham, Cromer, Lowestoft.

Yes I could never get any signal in suffolk/norfolk on 3 & another no go area was mid up to North devon. no internet or phone signal either.
Whereas travelling across spain & France it never had a problem. soon as you arrived in the Uk it was useless,

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[Jonno1103]

The issue could well be your router rather than sim provider. We have a Netgear Nighthawk router, nothing special, still using their M1 as the missus needed oxygen when I talked about the price of an M5 or M6! We don't even connect to the puck antenna with the TS9 plugs. Missus has done TEAMS meetings using it on the Norfolk Broads & around Hunstanton... all along the south coast & Cornwall too. It will even allow us to watch and download on the the likes of Arran using either an EE, Lebara, or Vodafone sim. One of the best bits of kit we've bought for a motorhome.

Jailbreak Firestick which is mainly used at home plus all the usual apps on the tablets & laptops, Sky go, Prime, Netflix, Disney+, TNT Sports etc.

 

[starquake]

Yes I could never get any signal in suffolk/norfolk on 3 & another no go area was mid up to North devon. no internet or phone signal either.
Whereas travelling across spain & France it never had a problem. soon as you arrived in the Uk it was useless,

As per Jonno's point, it's almost certainally your kit, not 3. I've been to all the same places literally no issues, where the van next to us (friends of ours) with a standard router with no antenna (well an internal one on a Huawei device) got zilch using a smarty sim - a standard dongle will work "poorly" in north norfolk, in parts of Wales and in parts of Devon. I did invite my friend over to watch the Ashes with a beer as good friends do. Suffolk/Norfolk are one place where a cat6 device is required to have service in some places as when I looked into the technicalitys of it, I was using 2 bands simultanously, where friend was using a cat4 huiwei, and was stuck to the "poor" 3 band 20 coverage. (ie, 800mhz), which stuggled to even provide voice coverage.

Will admit the worst service in terms of throughput we have had has been in Cromer though, but this was probably exhasperated by fact we went during school holidays when the sites were fully booked, but it still was plenty for cricket watching on sky sports - I will admit it did fail to blocky vision at times, but for 98% of the time it was perfectly legible coverage.

A nighthawk (ie, cat12+) device or a motohomewifi, or another solution with cat6 or more dual band antenna on roof will make more difference than anything else. It's also mildly amusing listen to others complain about non-working wifi and inability to watch tv when you visit sites where you are able to get acceptable service and be watching tv whilst others are struggling to even make a voice call.

 

[starquake]

Tried a data sim on 3 network when away a few places in the UK and even with my Netgear it struggled to pull in enough to stream without buffering, luckily only paid £10 for the month then cancelled.
Best sim I have had for home and all around Europe was EE only got rid of them because they were over £30 a month and as I only use the data sim when away it worked out to expensive.

RWG was good but nightmare trying to cancel them and get a refund

If you havn't seen EE sims can be had for £9-12 a mo when prepaid for a year via scancom. (Unlimited with a fair use policy of 600 ish Gb a mo).
Three can be had for £5/mo via Three business if you have a Ltd co for unlimited, scancom also offer some deals but usually best dealing with Three direct for unlimited data (no fair use policy).

Both wont be that price for EU, but we use both deals and keep both sims for use in the van. We usually use the Three one as it's more consistently good in bad signal areas, where EE is more congested in same places. The static caravan we use has an antenna pointed at BOTH networks and I've configured them with auto-failover to the best performing link -> which is why I know all this as we can't even get regular ADSL above 2Mbit installed in that location -> mobile is all we can get.

 

[POH]

exactly correct..

we live on the Suffolk coast and coverage is diabolical.. non-existent, patchy at best

That must be great not to get corrie down there

 

[Norfolk Nige]

The issue could well be your router rather than sim provider. We have a Netgear Nighthawk router, nothing special, still using their M1 as the missus needed oxygen when I talked about the price of an M5 or M6! We don't even connect to the puck antenna with the TS9 plugs. Missus has done TEAMS meetings using it on the Norfolk Broads & around Hunstanton... all along the south coast & Cornwall too. It will even allow us to watch and download on the the likes of Arran using either an EE, Lebara, or Vodafone sim. One of the best bits of kit we've bought for a motorhome.

Jailbreak Firestick which is mainly used at home plus all the usual apps on the tablets & laptops, Sky go, Prime, Netflix, Disney+, TNT Sports etc.

coverage for most networks is very patchy in Norfolk and Suffolk as well. Overall 3 is the worst. Vodafone and EE tend to be the best but they vary within a mile or two of each other. I use Vodafone for Moho, home and business. It gives me the most consistent coverage.