tv or not tv? update 2

tv or not tv? update 2

by | Jan 7, 2019 | Lifestyle

When I ordered the SkyBox – the one that I thought would solve all of our TV issues – I hadn’t realised where it would be coming from. But early on Christmas Eve morning, I knew exactly where it had come from, as we’d brought it all the way back to England with us from Istria. To Heywood, in Oldham. About 10 miles from Didsbury. It was dropped off unceremoniously – I don’t think Tom wanted to engage with me about the problems we’d encountered, on Christmas Eve morning, when all he probably wanted to do was not be in his soulless office. However, prior to leaving for our Christmas roadtrip, we’d had a bit of a breakthrough and this time Mike helped us to access UK TV. From his base in Wythenshawe – yes, we come all the way to Istria and we’re still dealing with Manchester based companies – he used magic to get us connected. So, we do have a way of watching UK TV, which is brilliant, but it’s still not the perfect solution.

However, when we were back in England, we got a call from Mauro, the engineer from T-Com. Out here, you get the same guy coming out to you, so you do get to know them – and this does make things easier as you don’t need to constantly re-explain the problem. My understanding was that Mauro wanted to come and collect the redundant 4G router – we’d upgraded the 4G service prior to Xmas and a new router had been delivered, which we hadn’t had time to set up before we left. We arranged that he’d come out when we got back.

Our main issue stems from the fact that we still don’t have fixed line internet – depsite the fact that all of the infrastructure was all installed way back in April. We did have it for one day, and then the connection was “broken” and it has never been fixed. The frustration of the TV situation finally spurred me onto doing what I should have done months ago, and I emailed T-Com head office in Zagreb, copying in everyone, in the hope that my complaint would hit the right person. SUCCESS! Just after the call from Mauro, two emails pinged in from T-Com, one after the other…

Dear,

we are kindly asking you to write us back billing account number so that we can make necessary check of your technical difficulties. We advise you to register on the Moj Telekom portal for access to your accounts and current consumption and administration services. You can make a registration through a link.

Best regards,

Dear Ms. Corr and Mr. Ruane,

We apologise for the  inconvenience You  experienced  when activating our services. We are letting You know that we have reported a connection trouble at your location, which should resolve the inconvenience. As a contact number we have set the mobile number 385993333797. Please be patient until the above mentioned difficulty is removed.

Best regards,

To be honest, we had no idea what the implications of the emails were, but at least they’d replied. Which, for T-Com, is a massive result.

Fast forward to Sunday morning. Sunday 6th January – a big day out here as it’s The Epiphany and even though it fell on a Sunday this year, it’s still a public holiday. You know, the kind of day when no-one is working. Not Mauro, however, who rocked up with all of his kit and set about doing what he needed to do – to get our fixed line reinstated… Yep, that email to Zagreb had worked and he’d been sent out to resolve the problem! Almost ten months later, we have a glimmer of a hope that we can soon have normal internet access.

We’re not quite there yet. We now have a landline, with a Croatian number – and we are now awaiting, with bated breath, a call from Mauro’s colleague, who will assess whether this line can be upgraded to accommodate broadband. And if it can, that means that all of our TV problems are sorted! We’re trying not to be too excited about this unexpected situation, but we now have another router, and it has to be said, the lights all seem to be lit up correctly. To be continued…

tv or not tv? update 1

tv or not tv? update 1

by | Dec 17, 2018 | Lifestyle

So, nine days after ordering, and paying for it, the Sky digi box and viewing card arrived. The UPS driver went away with a bottle of wine and we oohed and aahed over the delivery. A very exciting delivery and a very exciting day…

Potentially, a box which will change our outlook on the world...

Potentially, a box which will change our outlook on the world…

Fingers crossed. The magic SIM card...

Fingers crossed. The magic SIM card…

Everything was connected, the card inserted, the screen changed to a Sky screen – all good so far – and then we saw the message which we did NOT want to see…

Your Sky+ HD box isn’t getting a signal…

Prior to making the purchase, I’d had numerous email exchanges with the company, ensuring that a) they did deliver to Istria, b) that we did NOT need fixed line internet for this service and c) that the satellite we had in place would enable this all to work. I was advised that the digi box we had would not work with this system, so we purchased their Sky box – an additional expense but one we felt was ultimately worth it, if it meant we got UK TV finally. I was assured that our current satellite set up was perfect as we needed the Astra satellite and this is exactly what we had. Online instructions – and reviews – all suggested that this was a total doodle to set up, and I had no reason to believe otherwise as I read the experiences of people all over Europe, who were sitting pretty, probably watching “Strictly Come Dancing”.

Still no luck, though. Online chat was initially helpful, but it soon became clear that things weren’t going to be as smooth as we’d been led to believe. It was helpfully suggested that we get a local satellite engineer to look into this, and Oli left the live chat, making it quite clear he couldn’t really be arsed any more with my issue in Istria. Let’s just say the night we had planned in front of the TV didn’t quite pan out that way…

However, next day we felt a bit more upbeat. It couldn’t be that hard, surely? Everywhere you look around here are satellite dishes, so it had be resolveable. We found a shop on the coast that seemed to be the answer to our problems – we’d found out we needed a coaxial cable as well as an LNB and this shop had them. Hurrah! Investigating a little bit more, the guy in the shop didn’t think we’d need these as he felt we had everything to make it all work. All we needed was his man, Leonardo, to come over and hopefully just change the direction of the dish so that the signal from the Astra 28 (and this number is significant!) could reach us.

When Leonardo arrived, it all started out so positively. He could speak perfect English – always a bonus as our technical Croatian hasn’t advanced too far – and he made the right noises about signals and receivers etc. Unfortunately it all unravelled when he went to check the actual dish and spoke to a colleague. We’d need a MUCH, MUCH bigger dish (as in 3 metres wide!) if we were to have any hope at all of the Astra 28 signal reaching us. And, even worse, the signal would only work on a bright, clear day. Any fog, low cloud cover, rain, wind or snow and we’d get nothing. Zilch.

To test if we had coverage, he searched online. And there was the answer. We could see an outer lilac band, on screen, *just* about covering northern Italy, but skirting over the top of Istria. Yep, proof that we weren’t going to be getting UK TV any time soon, as the coverage did not actually reach us! A quick internet search revealed that it used to, but the footprint had recently changed, meaning that people who had previously been able to receive a signal in Italy, the Balkans and Greece, no longer could. So a dish, no matter how large, was never going to help.

By this time, I was utterly despondent as we’d made a fairly expensive, but seemingly useless, purchase and were STILL no nearer getting the TV we were craving. (If you’re still reading and wondering why we don’t do it via fixed line internet, that’s a whole other story, which we’re currently pursuing with T-Com in Zagreb). So, it was back on the internet. I couldn’t accept that there wasn’t a solution. People must live in much more remote areas than us, without fixed line internet, and be able to access satellite TV other than the rubbish Croatian offering. And, seriously, I don’t say this lightly – it is appalling.

A day searching online was well worth it. By a process of elimination and dogged determination, I found an answer, through a company based – believe it or not – back in Manchester! And, on Friday evening, as if by magic, we were at last able to settle down and watch *normal* television – and the added bonus we even got North West Tonight so got to watch was going on in the NW…

At last! Actually watching the unveiling of the Emmeline Pankhurst statue outside Manchester Central Library, on BBC NorthWest, in northern Istria!

At last! Actually watching the unveiling of the Emmeline Pankhurst statue outside Manchester Central Library, on BBC NorthWest, in northern Istria!

The set up isn’t perfect just yet, but Christmas came early to Istria this weekend and I was able to gorge on Come Dine With Me, SCD Final and The Apprentice Final. And, in a new twist, our brilliant builder/electrician, who loves a challenge, has been investigating the satellite option and is on his way over. We think he may have a solution…

 

 

patience…

patience…

by | Dec 5, 2018 | Lifestyle

The one thing that we have realised since relocating to Istria, is that PATIENCE is a quality which we must have, at all times. Every waking minute. Because usually, nothing happens quickly. And never immediately. We are gradually shaking off our (*my*) impatient nature(s) and realising that things do not happen here, like they did back in England. And to think we would moan and tut and grumble about how bad systems were back in the UK!

The work on the wall in the Well Room started over two weeks ago. Previous to this, the room did resemble a room. We were using the concrete table, we had created a sofa on the platform and gorgeous navy blue velvet curtains had been hung, providing us with warmth and privacy. The work has involved fixing insulation tiles with insulating adhesive, plastering it, fixing a mesh barrier, plastering again and finally a layer of skim. Then building a ledge which will sit along the back of the raised ledge, with lighting. So, quite a bit of work and time is needed for the plaster to dry out – but it is taking forever. Because of the nature of our house – an old stone house that hadn’t been lived in regularly for some time before we bought it – we always have to factor in unforeseen problems. And, so we need to exercise patience.

The room that was so recently back in action, is currently again out of action...

The room that was so recently back in action, is currently again out of action…

But never mind, we almost have our lovely kitchen, which we have had to exercise much patience over. It took a good few months to get everything done prior to it finally being installed, but it’s still not quite finished. A couple of jobs still need to be completed by the company who installed. Another exercise in being patient, as we bat emails back and forth and we try to keep our cool so that they don’t just decide to go quiet on us. Other jobs are down to us, adding to the builder’s list – and again, as each job is added, another takes a bit more time to complete. Today’s job has involved installing the lighting for the shelving in the corner, meaning wiring all over the place again and everything having had to be moved from shelves and work tops. Still, at least it’s being done and I’m crossing my fingers that by tonight, everything will be back to normal and not looking like it currently does…

Back to a tangle of wires...

Back to a tangle of wires…

Never mind, it’ll all soon be put back together and our corner shelves will have lovely under-lighting. Hopefully tonight.

But, we are still having to exercise patience. And this time, it’s properly killing me! We have finally, we think (and we hope, as it’s cost quite a few pounds) found a way to at last get UK TV. We’ve not yet got fixed line internet – patience again, being key here – and our internet situation is reliant on 4G, so we have to have satellite. But, and here’s the rub, Croatian and Italian TV are both pretty rubbish. We tend to default to BBC World News or Kitchen 24 – yep, a channel of cookery programmes, 24 hours a day, which means that at times we can gorge on Jamie, Nigella, Nigel etc. A little bit of TV sanity. The TV situation has been driving us mad – and we haven’t been able to see the wood for the trees, but have now worked out a way that we just might be able to access everything we have missed on the TV. Next instalment coming up…

 

 

the saga of the internet…

the saga of the internet…

by | Sep 12, 2018 | Lifestyle

Initially, it seems that *everything* in Croatia is complicated and fraught with much dramarama. Getting utility bills put into your name, buying a car, finding where to buy paint and white goods and furniture, getting car & house insurance, knowing how to hop across borders, opening a bank account, arranging a mobile phone, getting residency status, understanding Croatian instructions when putting together flatpack furniture. But, once you’ve done something once, maybe twice, you get the hang of it and all of a sudden we’re coasting along, thinking we’re very almost Croatian. But then our nemesis raises its head and we realise that one thing has alluded us. One thing we just cannot crack…

That’s right. Broadband. In May of last year (2017!) the broadband cable was finally fitted and for about 12 hours we had super speedy broadband. Oh, how wonderful those 12 hours were! But it didn’t last as, after much harassing of our provider, we found out that the “box” which housed the cables to all of the other houses in the village was FULL and our skinny wire couldn’t possibly have fitted into it. Hence, a huge pole had to be erected, the villagers consulted re the wire crossing across different people’s land, and eventually the wire drilled into the house – only for a “fault” to rear its head. And no, no more work could be done because apparently the Internet Gods in Zagreb had allocated a budget to our project, which had now been spent, and nothing more could be done. Even blatant attempts at bribery proved fruitless. Showing at least, that our telecoms engineers are nothing, if not honest.

So, for a year and a bit, the solution has been a satellite dish for TV and a 4G router for internet access. We’ve managed – although designing websites has been a bit frustrating at times. TV is something we are still getting our heads around – and no matter what you think of the state of TV in the UK, be grateful. Very grateful. Croatian TV (apart from some UK imports – thank goodness for Midsomer Murders & Death in Paradise) is nuts. It’s on a par with Italian TV – which is our only respite when the Croatian programmes become too insane. We can stream & download, but the 4G internet is limited on a monthly basis – we’ve so far never reached the limit, but after being used to just having broadband in Didsbury, it is, well, a bit limiting.

Our problem is that broadband apparently cannot reach our house at the moment – although conversations with T-Com (the state provider), suggest that technological advancements are being made and we will eventually have it. But no-one knows when this will be. And, although there are new companies in Croatia who are offering the installation of broadband, like with BT, everything ultimately goes through T-Com, so we just keep hitting the same stumbling blocks.

However, after much investigation, I have found a UK company who can provide us with satellite broadband. It seems a completely bonkers way of getting fast internet to the house, but once we have this we can then investigate the TV set-up. God knows if it will work, but we have to give it a try.

And given that we’ve successfully cracked most things we’ve encountered, we think that very soon we’ll crack this too and that like the rest of you, we’ll soon be lapping up Strictly Come Dancing 😉