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

I'd put the extra £30 each month into a high interest savings account so that there will be something to help the grandkids get through university or whatever career training they choose when they grow up.

I would save it up and use it to send something special to my family

Follow-up

It didn’t take us all long to understand Freesat.

My OH has used it the most while recuperating from major surgery, he likes the film channels and news channels.

Even my mother who is in her 90s found this easy to understand and has now set HER favourite channels on timer and series link for when she visits every week ;)

Me, I like a good choice of programmes and find the Freetime/ On Demand and record a god send, which I have used in-between hospital visits . I also enjoy the music channels while I do the housework.

We like Freesat and would recommend it to family and friends.

Whiskey lol

I have always wanted to do a writing course and write for TV, the money would cover it I think, but whatever I do with it, you can be sure it won't be on the bills!!!!!

Non tester

I would use it to get my dogs lumps removed.. vet keeps saying not to worry...but I still do !!

I would put it towards the utility bills and the rest I would take time out with the grandkids in the school hols when I look after them

I think i'd buy a new carpet for my bedroom... or some new bedding!

Follow up questions,
Like janerowena I find the remote very easy to use and well labelled.In general I found it pretty easy to use the TV guide and access programmes I wished to watch or record.I am the main user of the box but my Grandsons aged 8 and 5 have used the remote to access You Tube and have had great fun with it,mastering it very quickly.I have enjoyed the facility to choose to watch older programmes which I had forgotten all about.Also love the fact I can watch a channel whilst recording others.Have really enjoyed On Demand facility,probably using that the most.I have found it most useful to have such a large choice of channels to choose from.
I am disappointed I cannot get ITV Player but that may be because I am in West of Scotland.
I have had great fun trying out the services available via the Ethernet cable.I have paired my computer with the box and can now show my pictures and videos on my tv screen,just like home movies,brilliant. Whilst flicking through the settings etc I noticed that I should be able to pair my smartphone with the box,that's my next challenge when I have time to spare.
Overall I am very impressed with the variety of services available,including accessing radio stations.
I would recommend this box to anyone who wished for a varied choice of channels without paying a monthly subscription.

Follow Up feedback

I found it very quick and simple to learn how to use Freesat, children have not used it but I know it would be no trouble for them, DGC too young to use it.

I have enjoyed watching cookery programmes the most, OH has enjoyed re-runs of old programmes.

I have been very pleased to be able to record a new tv series for my soldier son based in Germany. He can watch the whole series when he is home on leave and he thinks I am very considerate!

Both myself and OH have probably used Freesat equally as much. Its in the kitchen so its on whilst cooking and pottering around.

I just like it whilst cooking but wonder if it might have been better in the bedroom.......no, on balance definitely well-sited in the kitchen.

I think I will enjoy recording series to watch when OH watching his stuff in the lounge, I can bake as I can multi-task tee hee.

Overall I am very pleased with the Freesat box and if I had bought one I would probably have not bothered with SKY.

Hello again, after reading what Gally has said about recording and deleting, I have to agree I cant find how to delete a programme or to cancel recording a whole series.

Also last night I found channel 119 which was ITV hd , I hadnt seen it before. I watched one programme on it then changed channel. Later in I tried to go back to channel 119 and said it was unavailable?

I am still very happy using this box, and wonder how I managed before I had it

deserving I find the remote much easier to use and better labelled than any of our previous remotes. DBH did find a way to make the tv guide larger but has forgotten how he did it! We would love to be able to pick a channel and view its guide for the whole day, but that is a minor consideration really.

I would save the money up and treat myself to a lovely weekend away somewhere every year.

I am still learning; Yesterday, for some inexplicable reason - and I didn't touch anything, promise - a notice came up on the screen saying that unless I pressed OK, the TV would turn off automatically in 47 seconds; well I pressed OK and guess what - it turned itself off in 47 seconds. I have also 'recorded' the whole series of a programme I didn't want to record and I still can't find out how to stop/delete it . I enjoy being able to listen to a selection of radio programmes but I mostly watch live TV and also have caught up with a few missed programmes. I find the TV Guide writing rather smaller than on Sky which I could read easily from my viewing chair. I wonder if there is any way to enlarge it? I have good long sight, so I don't think it is me! I am the only one who watches - hopefully DD will help me out on the few problems I have when she visits in November - until then I will just press on and I am sure I will figure things out for myself eventually. I am going to acquire the necessary Ethernet switches so I can connect to the router. Like Granny23, the engineers merely connected the box and then left. I really could have done with a preliminary lesson before being abandoned to my own devices - but perhaps it will help the grey matter if I have to do it on my own On the whole it is an improvement and I know once I have got to grips with it, I will really enjoy all that it offers.

I imagine this box is an improvement on the one I bought.My box is satisfactory, but, the controls are "jumpy" a delay then a rapid change, meaning I have to revert . My main problem is with the remote. The size of the , what I call the essential buttons, the ones most used. ie stop, pause, return forward, and Play. These buttons are so small, and in a darkened room, half the programme has gone before you can stop it.I imagine that these problems have been addressed, as to date I have read no complaints?

I'd spend it on curtains for the conservatory

I'd buy a season ticket for swimming at the Leisure Centre.

Been today to purchase a long Ethernet cable and an Ethernet switch which allows more then one connection to broadband. Instructions were clear as mud but a bit of logic and trial and error led me to a successful connection. Strangely there is a better picture on the on-demand channels than on the live channels, which still have a greed cast. I can navigate the channels well but DH who is a bit older and set in his ways, claims it is very complicated and that the channel numbers are wrong (i.e. not the same numbers as Sky). I shall report again when I get a chance to investigate all the options without interference help from DH.

Congrats to all of GNers who where lucky to win a Freesat Box,the saving we would make would go towards the cost of the Christmas Lunch that I organise for the residents here at our Supported Housing Development,many of who don't have family close by to them and to give them a day where they can all congregate together for a few hours as some of them are unable to meet up on a regular basis.

I would use the extra money to help my lovely daughter and her 2 children, lifes once again is getting tough for young mums

I would spend it save it and put it towards a holiday

I liked the look of the box from the outset, it's a nice neat size and is very stylish looking. Installation was quick and simple and using the box is so easy. We have paused live sports coverage which was great but for us as a family the best feature, along with easy broadband connection,is the simplicity of recording programmes and how easy they are to access once recorded. The HD stations are really good to watch as quality is noticeably superior. I have been able to record so many programmes for my 2 year old grandson which has been fantastic especially as CBeebies finishes so early in the evening but now he can watch some of his favourite programmes again and again. I find the only minor annoyance is the clicking noise that the remote controlled box makes but other than that I really can't imagine life without it now. It's been a real boon for myself and my family. A truly great box.

I already answered them way back too and it's hard to see the questions from here!

It only took minutes to understand freesat, I think due to having used things like teletext and ceefax years ago. The remote is very good too.
Children also found it very easy to use. 2 year old likes youtube and found peppa pig far too soon for my liking.
I have been watching films and thrillers, DBH has been watching sport and comedy and was very happy to find ancient Startreks.
We love the recording facility and being able to record future episodes and three programmes all being shown at the same time. Fantastic.
We watch it pretty equally, I am just about to go and catch up with Montalbano. After a few years of me only watching iplayer on the computer and no tv at all.
I love the pause facility, so does DBH. Son loves all the channel-hopping.

We love it, I have to say. The males miss Dave but that's about it.

I would book a week in Morecambe

Had my freesat box for a fortnight now. I was away last week, but set the box to record my favourite soaps, Strictly, and Downton
With trepidation I sat down to catch up on yhem all today, and hey presto I really impressed myself Evrrything I wanted had been recorded.
Also used catch up tv. Grandchildren love all thecchildrens programmes, most of them can use the remote themselves. I have been really delighted with evefything about the box, connection and facilities...all I had to buy was the plug in thingys one to go into box and socket in living room and one to go in router and socket in study. Cost be £20. Thank you Gransnet and Humax.