# How to get low cost tv package in an apartment



## Susie2017 (22 Nov 2020)

A relative has decided to leave Virgin TV and broadband because of their poor customer care. 

He lives in a second top floor apartment. The management company don't like satellite dishes. However he has a small enclosed proper balcony ie it is built in over the ceiling of the apartment below and has a solid front wall and a small dish might not be visible from the road if the location was suitable. He is wondering about the possibility of using a low cost combo receiver and a small dish. The balcony however is west facing. 

Alternatively are there other subscription based suppliers that he could switch to in an apartment setting? I have also heard about kodi boxes but have no experience of them. 

He has access to an attic that is both west and south facing but I gather dishes don't work great in attic spaces. Anyone know a company that he could approach in Kildare to assess or install a dish ? Also - is it possible to switch broadband supplier in an apartment ?


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## Sue Ellen (22 Nov 2020)

Sorry I can't offer any advice on above but one thing you need to sort out first is if your relative is still in contract with Virgin Media.  The penalties for leaving mid-contract can be very expensive.  A friend moved having been promised by another company that they would sort it but it went to debt collection agency and they were forced after a long and heated argument to pay €400.00.

Having reread your original post by agreeing to take a discount and new deal this would mean that he definitely has signed a new contract probably for another year so tread carefully before you do try to move. I know he has been treated disgracefully but so was my friend and despite their attempts to sort it out they still had to pay the fine as it was going legal.


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## Zenith63 (22 Nov 2020)

A satellite dish would need to be outside to receive signal, you cannot put it in the attic.

If the OMC do not want satellite dishes installed I think your friend should follow the rules.  Sitting on an OMC myself, it is annoying to see some owners ignore this and destroy the aesthetic of the building by stringing cables about the place and mounting dishes etc. Looks very messy when lots of balconies all have different setups.

It would be worth checking if Eir or SIRO have pulled fibre-to-the-home into the complex, they’re flat out doing it these days and target high density locations like apartment blocks.

I wonder if your friend could make one final push to overcome the service issues with VM? If fibre is not available, VM is a really good service, tends to be very reliable and you don’t hear that many complaints. I’d be hesitant to leave them and potentially be left with sluggish phone line based broadband and who knows what kind of TV service. That would be my 2 cents anyway.


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## Susie2017 (22 Nov 2020)

Points taken and yes it is difficult to find a reliable alternative. Let's see how the complaint is followed up. I have not heard of SIRO. I see EIR have their own complaints thread here. Might contact the OMC to see if there are alternatives.


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## Páid (23 Nov 2020)

Zenith63 said:


> VM is a really good service


Others have a different opinion. Their Horizon box is painfully slow.


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## Páid (23 Nov 2020)

Zenith63 said:


> Sitting on an OMC myself, it is annoying to see some owners ignore this and destroy the aesthetic of the building by stringing cables about the place and mounting dishes etc. Looks very messy when lots of balconies all have different setups.


Why aren't the satellite dishes on the roof?


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## Zenith63 (23 Nov 2020)

Páid said:


> Others have a different opinion. Their Horizon box is painfully slow.


I’ll rephrase : of the options we have for broadband/TV, of which there are not many if you want respectable broadband speeds, none are perfect and there will always be people who have issues and need to voice them, VM are certainly not the worst and I’ve used them for a decade or two in residential and business settings.




Páid said:


> Why aren't the satellite dishes on the roof?


No dishes were put in with the original build, I'd guess because the developers reckoned cable TV was sufficient and comes with zero cost to them (they just need to allow UPC pull a cable to each unit during the build, which UPC do for free).  If you're asking about owners adding them afterward, I'm sure it's because their options are to A: drill one hole out to their balcony behind the TV and mount a dish right there (€100 for a handy man?) or B: engage with the OMC to get roof access (which they're unlikely to be given for various reasons) then pay somebody to run a cable through their apartment to the riser then up to the roof and then get safe and insured access onto the roof to securely fit a mast and dish (specialist required for maybe a day's labour, couple of hundred meters of cable and mast etc).


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## shweeney (23 Nov 2020)

you can get disguised dishes but you need a view to the south-east for the Astra satellites that Sky and Freesat use.

There are companies that offer TV over broadband - AerTV and iBox are both legit AFAIK, there's obviously a load of illegal IPTV services as well, but by the sounds of things, you're stuck with Virgin for broadband, there's probably not a huge saving to be made by just getting rid of the TV package.


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## Leo (24 Nov 2020)

Páid said:


> Why aren't the satellite dishes on the roof?



Some developments accept incentives from certain suppliers to install their kit to the exclusion of all others.


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