[Scorpio]

Following impending retirement of good lady (and wife) we are running away from this God forsaken administration in search of regular sun, sand and vino by means of a motorhome!

Thing is, for keeping up with my Sky Sports and Movies, should I take my Sky box with me and purchase a portable dish (pain to line up??) or should I invest in a Slingbox, connect it to my home AV kit and wireless router and rely on broadband abroad to stream (and control) my TV programs?

I guess there are many pros and cons to each solution, are there any Motorhoming AV nuts that can steer us in the best direction.

Many thanks,
Scorp

[Nigel Goodwin]

Use a dish, far better than a slingbox, and you don't require a broadband connection.

[Scorpio]

Cheers Nigel.

[platelet]

Not that I'm going to be able to comment myself but it might be worth you stating you destinations, as you'd have better luck with a slingbox if it's Australian Chardonnay your after and you really need to know what size of dish you're going to need

Also, as people will be jealous enough already you could clairify that the good lady is your wife, and your not actually retiring with the wife & mistress to drink vino and watch sports all day in the south of France ?

[Scorpio]

My darling wife is most certainly my good lady - no mistresses allowed (only a 2-berth van, lol!).
I am aware of the varying sizes of dish required the further south we go - actually doing a bit in the UK first to get used to the van etc, before drifting away through france into spain and then to Italy............it's a hard life........

What i didnt mention, was that we will be requiring some sort of internet access while we are away (DS etc!) but also for banking, comms, site and route info............

Not sure if we should rely on wifi hotspots or try some sort of mobile package. I'll do a bit of digging but any help on here is always appreciated.

Rgds,
Scorp

[chrisjr]

But I wonder if a Sky Sports/Movies subscription will actually work abroad long term? Under normal circumstances Sky won't let you move outside the UK/RoI/Channel Islands and take your service with you

http://www.sky.com/portal/site/skyco...icleId=4684810

So I wonder what would happen if you took the box away for a couple of weeks? Especially if the box is normally plugged into the phone line for service updates etc. I suspect they may catch up and you risk ending up on the wrong end of a cancelled subscription.

[edgexedge]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisjr

But I wonder if a Sky Sports/Movies subscription will actually work abroad long term? Under normal circumstances Sky won't let you move outside the UK/RoI/Channel Islands and take your service with you

http://www.sky.com/portal/site/skyco...icleId=4684810

So I wonder what would happen if you took the box away for a couple of weeks? Especially if the box is normally plugged into the phone line for service updates etc. I suspect they may catch up and you risk ending up on the wrong end of a cancelled subscription.

i think this could very well be the case, especially for the premium channels, ie sports/movies

they will have purchased the rights to broadcast that content to a certain market area, so they must have a system which allows them to enforce that.

could be through them checking the boxes from their end, or the box itself doing some sort of self checking.



there is a website where someone reckons they have sky working in a caravan
http://www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk/

couldnt see any immediate reference to premium channels though

[Scorpio]

connection to a phone line is only require for multiroom boxes to ensure they remain at the location where a 'reduced price' full subscription is taken.

Scorp

[Nigel Goodwin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisjr

But I wonder if a Sky Sports/Movies subscription will actually work abroad long term? Under normal circumstances Sky won't let you move outside the UK/RoI/Channel Islands and take your service with you

There's no problem whatsoever, there are MANY thousands of Sky subscriptions used outside the UK/ROI - you just need a valid UK address for the account to be registered at.

Within the first week of Sky HD been released there were already HD boxes working in Spain - Sky have no way of knowing, as long as it's registered to a UK address, it's fine.

Quote:

http://www.sky.com/portal/site/skyco...icleId=4684810

So I wonder what would happen if you took the box away for a couple of weeks? Especially if the box is normally plugged into the phone line for service updates etc. I suspect they may catch up and you risk ending up on the wrong end of a cancelled subscription.

Your entire premise is at fault, Sky don't do service updates (or anything else) via the phone.

The ONLY reason for the phone connection is contractual, there's no technical reason whatsoever - and it's only contractually required for multiroom, to proof both boxes are in the same house.

Sky have no way of knowing where the box is, unless you ring and tell them - caller-ID doesn't even matter, many other phone networks are wrongly reported as 'International', so they pay no attention.

Just don't ring and say "I'm calling from Spain about my Sky box that's got a problem".

[davebav50]

In my experience as a caravanner.

Mainland europe can access Sky on a 45 to 60 cm dish. As you get to the south of france it gets harder to get all the channels. Dont waste money with those tiny portable dishes if you are travelling to south Europe. They will receive "local" sats but not Sky.

If you only have a single Sky box at home, there is no need for a phone line so it will work indefinitely. If you have multiroom, you will get a warning letter after a couple of months if not connected to home phone line. If you still dont connect it up they will the subscription cost.

Mobile Broadband via 3G doesnt work in the rural parts of the UK where I camp, abd when it does work in Europe it costs a lot of money.

Broadband is not as widely available as you might expect, and certainly unlikely to be at slingbox lbandwidth levels.

BBC iPlayer and similar dont work overseas.

[edgexedge]

what about the specific point that the op was asking:

will Sky Sports & movies still work when abroad?

[chrisjr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nigel Goodwin

Your entire premise is at fault, Sky don't do service updates (or anything else) via the phone.

So what does this mean then?

Quote:

What are the benefits of having your Sky TV service connected to a BT compatible phone line that can be used for making and receiving calls?
We send software updates to your Sky box down the phone line, so it means all of your services will be fully up-to-date. And you can take advantage of Interactive services (like viewing your bill), Sky Games, Sky Anytime, and watch Sky Box Office movies and events.

From the link in my post.

[Scorpio]

I know interractive services like box office ordering require a phone line but i dont know of any 'updates' to software etc that happen over a phone line.

I may reduce my subscription while we are away, also trying the freeview route while in the UK.

Scorp

[maccy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by edgexedge

what about the specific point that the op was asking:
will Sky Sports & movies still work when abroad?

Yes. As long as the card and box are paired up and you're not connected to a phone line, Sky will not know from where you are viewing.

[Nigel Goodwin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisjr

So what does this mean then?



From the link in my post.

Sorry the quote disappears, but that's completely untrue, updates are received directly from the satellite - no phone connection required.

It's a deliberate lie from Sky to try and get people to connect the boxes to the phone and send Sky money.

[chrisjr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nigel Goodwin

Sorry the quote disappears, but that's completely untrue, updates are received directly from the satellite - no phone connection required.

It's a deliberate lie from Sky to try and get people to connect the boxes to the phone and send Sky money.

Why am I not surprised by that?

[Scorpio]

Quote:

Originally Posted by davebav50

In my experience as a caravanner.

Mainland europe can access Sky on a 45 to 60 cm dish. As you get to the south of france it gets harder to get all the channels. Dont waste money with those tiny portable dishes if you are travelling to south Europe. They will receive "local" sats but not Sky.

If you only have a single Sky box at home, there is no need for a phone line so it will work indefinitely. If you have multiroom, you will get a warning letter after a couple of months if not connected to home phone line. If you still dont connect it up they will the subscription cost.

Mobile Broadband via 3G doesnt work in the rural parts of the UK where I camp, abd when it does work in Europe it costs a lot of money.

Broadband is not as widely available as you might expect, and certainly unlikely to be at slingbox lbandwidth levels.

BBC iPlayer and similar dont work overseas.

Dave, very many thanks for the reply - we have just returned from our first foray into motorhoming, a week getting upto and back from J O' Groats to drop off our two intrepid cyclists (doing it for Alzheimer's charity). We found Freeview a bit hit and miss, so, as a Sky subscriber I think we will be going for a dish.
Any preference between roof fixed or portable (but sufficiently large)?
Rgds,
Scorp

[Scorpio]

One other point, re the pairing of box and card.........
Do i really want to keep disconnecting my sky HD (and card) to take with us, but if we got a 2nd box, the card wouldnt be paired and i guess it cant be p[aired to 2 boxes?
Scorp