Freesat feedback thread - Non Testers: what would you do with an extra £360 a year? You could win a Freesat+ box NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

This is the feedback thread for the 15 testers who have received a new Freesat+ TV box and who are currently trying it out in their homes.
Freesat say "Hello. We're freesat. We believe you shouldn't have to pay a monthly subscription to watch and listen to 180 channels of the best comedy, drama, sport, lifestyle, music and news. We offer free HD services from ITV, the BBC and Channel 4; freesat+ to record pause and rewind, BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4oD and Demand; and all subscription free."

Freesat launched last Autumn which includes a Roll Back TV Guide that allows you to watch programmes you've missed from the previous seven days across 21 channels, a new showcase section providing top TV picks chosen daily by Freesat's reviewers, on-demand services and enhanced recordings.

Freesat is a subscription free service and Freesat+ boxes are available to buy from a range of retailers - RRP from £226.


If you're not a tester, Freesat would love to hear from you. An average satellite TV bill (including On Demand services) is around £30 per month, if you could have Freesat what would you with an extra £30 per month (£360 per year). Everyone who adds a comment will be entered into a prize draw where one winner will receive a Freesat Humax box.

Testers: we'll be asking you to add feedback twice - we'd like your first impressions now and in a couple of weeks (or when you're ready) we would like you to answer the follow-up questions.

So, in terms of your first impressions. please....

~ give your overall impression when it arrived

~ describe the set up: did you set up your Freesat box yourself? If not, who did? How easy did you / your DH/DP etc find it to set up your Freesat box?

~ tell us which TV is it on/ in which room

~ share what you/ your family think the first couple of times you used it - what was the best feature and what, if anything, have you struggled with

Follow-up questions:
~ How long did it take you to understand how to use Freesat?

~ Has your child/children used Freesat? How long did it take them to understand it and get used to it?

~ Which programmes have you most enjoyed watching on Freesat so far?

~ Which of the following services have you most enjoyed so far? Live TV/ on-demand/7 day catch up

~ Who in your family has used your Freesat box the most?

~ What have you found Freesat most useful for so far? Catching up on shows you've missed? Entertaining the kids? Finding something to watch to pass time?

Thanks,

MNHQ

PS: Humax are offering a Mumsnet and Gransnet an exclusive discount code to purchase a 500GB Humax Freesat+ box for £199. Up to 199 MNers and GNers can buy a discounted box using the code FT30

[DifferentNow]

Non tester.

If I had an extra £360, I would get the big ugly damp patch

[DifferentNow]

I would not buy a big ugly damp patch if I had £360 . I might however get the one I've already got fixed though.

[mummyofcutetwo]

I'm a non-tester

If I had an extra £360 a year I'd annual membership to National Trust and a few local organisations (e.g. aquarium) so the family always has plenty of places to go to when times are tough.

Or I'd take the family to Legoland for a couple of days.

[Ramblings]

Non tester

I'd put the money towards swimming lessons for the children

[RachelHRD]

Non tester. I'd use the extra £360 for a few family days out to Chessington and Legoland and maybe a few bottles of wine for DH and I....... ;-)

[Raahh]

Non-tester

With a spare £360 a year, I'd finally get a haircut, and pay for a year's car tax instead of 6 months at a time so I didn't have to worry about it.

And I would re-new the passports- just in case

So next year's £360 could be saved towards a holiday....

[pickofthepops]

Tester .. Still got to find the catch up on a week. Unsure if this is separate from bbc iplayer and itv player .. Will investigate and update. Still v happy ESP with appearance of lurvely glossy box. And reliability of functions .. It just works so smoothly .. A billion times improvement on bt vision

[Littlemissexpecting]

Pick I think you just scroll left from the TV guide screen so it brings up shows you have missed that day, then the day before etc.
I think that's what you mean?
I've not had to use it much tbh because of the ability to record which I love!

[snowballinafryingpan]

I think that's right too with the scroll to the left thing.

I finally got around to reading the instruction book, it sort of memorises things on a 2 hour loop, so if you realised that something you had wanted to watch has nearly finished you can press record and it will record it from the start. That is a pretty cool feature and acts as a mini iplayer facility for other channels.

[mrscumberbatch]

Not a tester... But what would I do with an extra £360 a year?

It'd probably get swallowed up to pay other bills I'm afraid but it would definitely be one less bill to worry about!

[poachedeggs]

£360 a year would be £360 a year less debt, woohoo!

£30 a month would be lovely actually, I'd probably spend it on wine and chocolate. Or save it up all year and do some work to the house.

[DollyTwat]

~ give your overall impression when it arrived

It was a bit confusing as the engineer called to book an appt and I assumed he has the box. Which he didn't, so had to wait for it to arrive before booking. It was very well packaged, looks very smart and shiney.

~ describe the set up: did you set up your Freesat box yourself? If not, who did? How easy did you / your DH/DP etc find it to set up your Freesat box?

I think the engineer must have set it up, as he said he was finished and it worked! It took a bit of getting used to after the Sky box, but it all seems easy enough. I am used to setting stuff up though

~ tell us which TV is it on/ in which room

It's in the bedroom

~ share what you/ your family think the first couple of times you used it - what was the best feature and what, if anything, have you struggled with

We like it, the dc were very apprehensive about it replacing the Sky box (which we still have). We're so used to the pause live tv and recording functions that this was essential to us to think about replacing the Sky box. It has lots of channel which is great. The dc were disappointed at the loss of some of their favourites, the Comedy Channel was a big loss.
I quite like the channels available, and have found that I only really watch the big 5 anyway and the news channels so it's the dc that are the ones who notice any missing.

[Punkatheart]

A gardener.

[MikeLitoris]

~ describe the set up: did you set up your Freesat box yourself? If not, who did? How easy did you / your DH/DP etc find it to set up your Freesat box? I set it up. Very easy.

~ tell us which TV is it on/ in which room. Main tv, in the living room.

~ share what you/ your family think the first couple of times you used it - what was the best feature and what, if anything, have you struggled with. First impressions were good. Being able to pause is the best feature. Especially with young dc.

[MikeLitoris]

Follow-up questions:~ How long did it take you to understand how to use Freesat? It was pretty simple. Took a few minutes to get to grips with it.

~ Has your child/children used Freesat? How long did it take them to understand it and get used to it? Ds (12yo)has free view so he got it straight away. Dd was finding her way around it in minutes too.

~ Which programmes have you most enjoyed watching on Freesat so far? I've only really watched the soaps so far.

~ Which of the following services have you most enjoyed so far? Live TV/ on-demand/7 day catch up. I've only watched live tv. Ds has watched some stuff on demand.

~ Who in your family has used your Freesat box the most? Ds

~ What have you found Freesat most useful for so far? Catching up on shows you've missed? Entertaining the kids? Finding something to watch to pass time? As a sky user I dont think I would say I found it useful for anything in particular, no more so than any other tv.

[manyhands]

I'd take my kids to swimming lessons again.

[Lilyloo]

I would use it to put towards a very expensive school trip that d's wants to go on in 2015.

[Patilla]

Non tester here - I'd use an extra £360 a year to give us a family treat once a month that gave us time together whether it was a day out somewhere, a meal out together or even a day in our home city pootling together and coming home for a film together.

[DoItTooJulia]

Oh, an extra £30 a month is a lot!

I'd but the kids new books. Better than the tele anyway!

[JemimaMuddledUp]

With an extra £360 a year I would pay someone to do my ironing.

[bluebump]

£360 extra a year would be brilliant. I would put it towards a new sofa that we desperately need or just save it to put towards a holiday or some nice days out over the year for my DS.

[mrscog]

Non tester, I think £360 per year would be our holiday spending money sorted so we could really enjoy holidays without worrying about over spending all the time!

[SoftKittyWarmKitty]

I'm a non-tester, sadly. With an extra £360 per year I'd pay for DS to have a course of one-to-one swimming lessons as he's scared of water , group lessons didn't help him and one-to-one would do him the world of good, I think. I'd use the rest on days out for DS and my parents (they do lots for us and do my wraparound childcare while I'm at work), and would also be able to give DS a birthday party each year, which he'd love.

It's a lot of money to save each year .

[daisybrown]

Put it towards a short break to Disneyland Paris.

[JazzAnnNonMouse]

With an extra £360 a year I would take my kids on holiday.