# UPC TV or Satellite Dish?



## IsleOfMan (19 Jan 2014)

I have the basic TV package from UPC. It is so basic it is not advertised anymore. Basic channels provided through the old cable system. Two other room viewing TV points charged at €85 per annum for the two. Suits me I don't need 50+ stations

My bill for 2014 with UPC has increased to €415 for everything. (broadband + phone line paid separately with Eircom). 

I assume that if I put a satellite dish on the roof of my house I should be able to capture all the regular TV channels plus many more for free? Am I right in thinking this or can some of these be blocked?

There will be an upfront cost but thereafter free TV?

Are there any receivers out there that can be placed in an attic space rather than on a roof?

I would welcome first hand information from those who have installed their own dishes and recommendations.


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## jdwex (19 Jan 2014)

Satellite (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_free-to-air_channels_at_28°E) + saorview will give you what you need. In some areas of the country (Wexford/Dublin/Border) you can pick up Freeview (http://www.freeview.co.uk/whats-on/channels) with a suitable aerial.
The family house in Wexford has Freeview+Saorview+Astra


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## JohnJay (19 Jan 2014)

sounds like you are paying way too much for your UPC service. Their current basic bundle is about €55 which includes TV, Phone and Broadband. I dont know what they charge for extra TV points, but it cant be that much. You should phone UPC, ask to be put through to the customer loyalty section, see what offer they can give you.

Freesat is a good option also. It will give you a lot of rubbish, but will also give you BBC, UTV, C4 etc. As the last poster says, you will also need Saorview via an aerial to get RTE, Tv3, etc.

remember, if you want the satellite channels in your other rooms you will need a satellite decoder for these TV's also.


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## AlbacoreA (20 Jan 2014)

Freeview is only available in limited areas in Ireland.

Saorview gives you the Irish Stations (aerial + Saorview Tuner)
Freesat gives you the Uk stations. (sat disk and decoder box)

But its not as slick or combined as it is with Sky or UPC. Though you might have or get TV or box with combine a Saorview and Freesat decoder, or just one of them. 

Consider though, if you get broadband with UPC, you might find enough on say netflix or now TV, or the internet not to need a lot of other stations.


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## DrMoriarty (20 Jan 2014)

Also, if you sign up for phone and broadband only with UPC, you can still get 17 stations (BBC1/2, UTV, C4, RTE1/2/Three/TG4, and a half-dozen others like Sky News and e4, all in analog admittedly) by simply putting a splitter on the cable to connect it both to the router and to the back of the telly. They don't advertise this either.

I pay about €40/month for phone and 50Mb broadband and between these few channels and the likes of Netflix/Filmon.tv the critters get more than enough choice of dross. Anything I want to watch can usually be found online, and I have an old Sky box connected to a satellite dish to fall back on.

Head over to bonkers.ie and see what's available in your area. Even if you want a wider range of digital channels than are available between Saorview and Free-to-air you should be able to save a fair bit of money compared to your current spend.


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## michaelm (20 Jan 2014)

DrMoriarty said:


> I pay about €40/month for phone and 50Mb broadband . .


UPC have recently tweaked their pricing, so you should be able to get that now for €37.


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## DrMoriarty (20 Jan 2014)

€37.50, to be precise... God bless those loyalty discounts!


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## IsleOfMan (21 Jan 2014)

DrMoriarty said:


> Also, if you sign up for phone and broadband only with UPC, you can still get 17 stations (BBC1/2, UTV, C4, RTE1/2/Three/TG4, and a half-dozen others like Sky News and e4, all in analog admittedly) by simply putting a splitter on the cable to connect it both to the router and to the back of the telly. They don't advertise this either.
> 
> I pay about €40/month for phone and 50Mb broadband and between these few channels and the likes of Netflix/Filmon.tv the critters get more than enough choice of dross.



Just to clarify. You have a phone and broadband service only with UPC. No TV service but who/how do you connect a splitter to effectively get 17 free stations?


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## jdwex (21 Jan 2014)

ParkLane said:


> Just to clarify. You have a phone and broadband service only with UPC. No TV service but who/how do you connect a splitter to effectively get 17 free stations?



It's not usually worthwhile for UPC to physically disconnect the cable, and this carries an unencrypted analogue signal.
You need something like






and


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## DrMoriarty (21 Jan 2014)

...and a couple of these, plus a metre or two of extra cable, to connect to the back of the telly:




Your local Maplin store (or any TV/electrical dealer, including www.satellite.ie, from whose website the pictures are linked) should have one for a few euro.


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## Delboy (24 Jan 2014)

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/...harges-for-second-time-in-12-months-1.1666815

Prices going up again by up to 14% on the basic package costs and sports/movies.

I've reached the end of the line with these guys....time to downgrade to free TV before the kids get older and used to all the channels!!! It'll be tough without sky sports but Man U are on the way down, so I'll not miss it!!!


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## lowspender (24 Jan 2014)

Anyone know where to get a reliable company to supply and fit dish and aerial?
 I think U.P.C. are now too expensive for basic channels.


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## RainyDay (25 Jan 2014)

lowspender said:


> Anyone know where to get a reliable company to supply and fit dish and aerial?
> I think U.P.C. are now too expensive for basic channels.



Good question - recommendations for Dublin area would be most welcome.

Only problem would be wall-mounted TV in kitchen with NO visible cables at present. I really don't want to spoil the look with cables running to a new box. Any recommendations for wireless connnections to/from a box would be most welcome too.


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## Firefly (27 Jan 2014)

Hi ParkLane,

We ditched UPC tv about 18 months ago and went with a combi-box which has all the Irish & UK channels in the one box (otherwise you would have 2 separate boxes which would be a pain when switching stations). As we had a Sky dish previously we were able to use that as our dish. All in it cost approx 300e fitted. The box we have lets you pause & rewind live TV (you need to add your own external hard drive for this) and also play any xvid/avi/mp4 files you download from the internet.

The pluses for us are obviously cost - no bills. Also, some of the UK channels at HD and the quality is better than what we got on UPC.

The downside is the inability to add the Sky stations, such as Sky Sports for the Heineken Cup.

For us, the pros far outweigh the cons. 

We still have our broad-band with UPC as nothing really compares to be honest. 

Firefly.


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## Delboy (27 Jan 2014)

Firefly....did you just use 1 of the TV companies that advertise these type of installations in the likes of the Southside echo for example?

Also, is there a cheaper broadband option than UPC/eircom/Sky? I'm no expert on the technology but could you use mobile broadband and just plug it into your home laptop/PC for much cheaper if you were'nt into heavy internet usage such as gaming or movie downloads?

It sickens me to see adverts on English TV for the likes of BT broadband for £10 a month incl free BT sports. We really are ripped off on that front in this country


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## monagt (27 Jan 2014)

Firefly, can you DM the supplier of your box?


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## pudds (27 Jan 2014)

Delboy said:


> Also, is there a cheaper broadband option than UPC/eircom/Sky? I'm no expert on the technology but could you use mobile broadband and just plug it into your home laptop/PC for much cheaper* if you were'nt into heavy internet usage such as gaming or movie downloads?*
> 
> It sickens me to see adverts on English TV for the likes of BT broadband for £10 a month incl free BT sports. We really are ripped off on that front in this country




That is my situation, so got rid of sky and got a combo box arivia 120, soarview aerial in attic and kept using my meteor mobile BB which gives me fairly good 3g signal in my area so fairly reliable.  Also got a student rate in September, of only €10 per month, billpay, for 20gb allowance, I don't even use 3gb a month.  They offer this every september in their shops, its not advertised as such, aimed at students but all comers welcome.


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## Delboy (27 Jan 2014)

thanks Pudds, thats the kind of thing I'm talking about. Will look into it when the soccer season is over in May and I ease myself off of sky sports!!!


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## Firefly (27 Jan 2014)

I used Signal Solutions in Cork and they were very good. The box I have is called TRIAX - don't have the model # I'm afraid and I've pulled it out to take a look just now but can't see anything. 

We're paying about 37 a month for BB from UPC but it's 50mb. I have one of those mobile BB things also that I use for work. Find the reception a bit patchy though.


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## IsleOfMan (28 Jan 2014)

jdwex said:


> It's not usually worthwhile for UPC to physically disconnect the cable, and this carries an unencrypted analogue signal.
> You need something like
> 
> 
> ...



So is there still a TV signal running through the old analogue cable in to the house. If I notify UPC that I no longer wish to be a customer they will disconnect my service from their end but I will still receive a signal that I can pick up or enhance using some sort of equipment at my end?


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## jdwex (28 Jan 2014)

yes, by pass the upc box and connect the tv directly to the upc cable that was going into the back of the upc box (uhf socket).


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## RainyDay (28 Jan 2014)

ParkLane said:


> So is there still a TV signal running through the old analogue cable in to the house. If I notify UPC that I no longer wish to be a customer they will disconnect my service from their end but I will still receive a signal that I can pick up or enhance using some sort of equipment at my end?



Worth remembering that there is no guarantee as to how long such a service may continue to be available.


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## Leo (28 Jan 2014)

monagt said:


> Firefly, can you DM the supplier of your box?



Please keep all posts on the thread.


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## Leo (28 Jan 2014)

ParkLane said:


> So is there still a TV signal running through the old analogue cable in to the house. If I notify UPC that I no longer wish to be a customer they will disconnect my service from their end but I will still receive a signal that I can pick up or enhance using some sort of equipment at my end?



There's usually a distribution box locally, often fixed to the eaves of the house. If they're working in your area, they might physically disconnect your connection.


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## IsleOfMan (29 Jan 2014)

Leo said:


> There's usually a distribution box locally, often fixed to the eaves of the house. If they're working in your area, they might physically disconnect your connection.



All the cables running in to our house for every service are underground. I often wondered where the UPC distribution box is located.


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## Leo (29 Jan 2014)

ParkLane said:


> All the cables running in to our house for every service are underground. I often wondered where the UPC distribution box is located.



In that case it'll be in a cabinet somewhere at ground/underground level.


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## Paulk (29 Jan 2014)

If this worked in my apartment it would be perfect. I will try it out.


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