Hi Graham,
I do understand the capabilities that SES Astra can deliver but during bad weather, birds on the dish etc. my broadband delivers a far more reliable and better quality picture than my satellite dish.
As for the original problem, I have read the complete thread and I even posted a workaround - perhaps it’s the fix that you’re using 
PS. sorry, couldn’t resist answering this argument...
Currently 971 channels, and you imagine that can be delivered to your home over broadband, Add up the total bitrate, the first 3 transponders add up to about 100Mb/second.
So you believe that to receive 971 channels via broadband, the bandwidth required would be the total: I’ll be generous so let’s say 2Mbs per channel x 971 would require a 2Gbs connection. Reality check, nobody watches 971 channels at once - not even ‘The Man Who Fell To Earth’ :-).
Here’s a simple analogy - when I watch a video on YouTube I don’t need the bandwidth to receive all 7 billion, just the one I’m watching.
grum - 11 hours ago »
PS. sorry, couldn’t resist answering this argument...
Currently 971 channels, and you imagine that can be delivered to your home over broadband, Add up the total bitrate, the first 3 transponders add up to about 100Mb/second.
So you believe that to receive 971 channels via broadband, the bandwidth required would be the total: I’ll be generous so let’s say 2Mbs per channel x 971 would require a 2Gbs connection. Reality check, nobody watches 971 channels at once - not even ‘The Man Who Fell To Earth’ :-).
Here’s a simple analogy - when I watch a video on YouTube I don’t need the bandwidth to receive all 7 billion, just the one I’m watching.
You might not need it but you aren't alone if all Sky subscribers and Freesat FTA users went on to IP delivery the internet simply couldn't cope.
There's a big difference in playing a selected stream from a distant server to being able to provide live TV access to all the channels you are capable of viewing.
I have Two Freesat + boxes, Two Freeview+ boxes, One Freeview Play unit and a twin tuner Vbox IP server.
That's the capability to record 12 HD streams at once and a grandson who uses Netflix all the time, plus watch on live TV channel.
Say an average HD channel bitrate of about 7Mbps.
That's a total of 13 x 7 (= say 5 for Netflix) = 96 Mbps.
grum - 12 hours ago »
Hi Graham,
I do understand the capabilities that SES Astra can deliver but during bad weather, birds on the dish etc. my broadband delivers a far more reliable and better quality picture than my satellite dish.
As for the original problem, I have read the complete thread and I even posted a workaround - perhaps it’s the fix that you’re using
If you lose the signal that frequently your dish is either poorly aligned or requires a larger dish. I have a Sky zone 2 dish in the midlands and have only lost the signal once since 2008, and that was due to 4" of wet snow on the dish face. A broom fixed the problem in 15 seconds. My broadband has failed many times, just had to have a 3rd new router from Virgin. Lost the internet for 2 days about 3 weeks ago due to road works cutting the cables.
Sky will be launching their IP only TV service in a few months time i.e. dish no longer required and are hoping/expecting to pull in at least another couple of million viewers (according to what their spokesperson was saying).
Faust - 23 minutes ago »
Sky will be launching their IP only TV service in a few months time i.e. dish no longer required and are hoping/expecting to pull in at least another couple of million viewers (according to what their spokesperson was saying).
That's a very long way from replacing the satellite service, as was suggested in this thread.
12.7 Million subscribers UK and Ireland in April 2017.
I don't think you will find anywhere a statement from Sky that they intend to replace their satellite service with an internet streaming one (I wait to be corrected on this). They have stated they will augment satellite by providing streaming for those users that want it. Satellite will be around for a long time yet.
grums' assertion (post #32) that a 2GB connection could match satellite might well be true. My current fibre connection is currently, 13:30pm, 42MB. I look forward to the 50x speed increase, whenever.
grum - 15 hours ago »
Hi Graham,
I do understand the capabilities that SES Astra can deliver but during bad weather, birds on the dish etc. my broadband delivers a far more reliable and better quality picture than my satellite dish.
As for the original problem, I have read the complete thread and I even posted a workaround - perhaps it’s the fix that you’re using
There is a simple solution to birds on the LNB arm - grease the arm.
If your picture is better on broadband then I suggest you change your units output, mine gives best results on 1080p.
I agree with the other posters that, from a U.K. location, you should have excellent rain tolerance, you did not post your signal quality, I would expect it to be a stable 100%.
grum - 1 day ago »
Hi Graham,
I do understand the capabilities that SES Astra can deliver but during bad weather, birds on the dish etc. my broadband delivers a far more reliable and better quality picture than my satellite dish.
As for the original problem, I have read the complete thread and I even posted a workaround - perhaps it’s the fix that you’re using
It used to be a reasonably regular occurrence that we lost signal during heavy rain storms or snow when we had Sky.
However, I don't know what has changed with Freesat other than we have only lost broadcast signal once in the last five years when we had the most tremendous rain storm from an unusual (for us) direction).
Satellite with Freesat has for us been pretty rock solid. We never have buffering issues which does sometimes occur with IP TV - despite our 65 Mbps connection.
Faust - 6 hours ago »
grum - 1 day ago »
Hi Graham,
I do understand the capabilities that SES Astra can deliver but during bad weather, birds on the dish etc. my broadband delivers a far more reliable and better quality picture than my satellite dish.
As for the original problem, I have read the complete thread and I even posted a workaround - perhaps it’s the fix that you’re usingIt used to be a reasonably regular occurrence that we lost signal during heavy rain storms or snow when we had Sky.
However, I don't know what has changed with Freesat other than we have only lost broadcast signal once in the last five years when we had the most tremendous rain storm from an unusual (for us) direction).
Satellite with Freesat has for us been pretty rock solid. We never have buffering issues which does sometimes occur with IP TV - despite our 65 Mbps connection.
Most likely reason is the replacement of the entire SES Astra complement of satellites at 28.2E with new ones with a very tight UK spot beams.
Guessing you watch the main UK channels, because the new satellites have a very tight footprint on the UK all the energy is concentrated into a smaller area (think of a torch you can focus, make the beam more concentrated it's much brighter. The torch produces photons, the satellite microwave energy.
All the UK spot beams give 100% signal 100% quality on my dish. The pan Europe beams are around 80% signal but also 100% quality.
I guess the observation re satellite reception are based on the the old fleet now replaced and likely to be based on Pan Europe beam transponders.
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