GNers needed to try a Freesat+ box (RRP £226) and share their thoughts on site NOW CLOSED

Wish my name was Angelie!

application all filled in xx

Angelie really wouldn't suit you, J08. However, I think it would suit me, if I try very hard to live up to it. VERY hard.

I can't believe how fast this freenet thingy went. I only applied last week, got an email two days ago, the enginneers rang yesterday and are coming on Monday and the box arrived today! Very exciting. As long as I can figure out how it all works...

Snap janerowena,

got e-mail Tuesday, phone call yesterday, box today and engineer Monday, what service........... hope freestat + is good.

Excited, a call from the engineer yesterday, satellite dish being fitted Monday. Box arrived today, looks lovely, looking forward to getting it all set up. Thank you gransnetter and freesat for picking me for this review.

It's only 10.45, mine is all fixed and working! Son now miffed that he is off to uni at the end of the week, 194 channels instead of what we can find on Freeview. At first view, I love it and it's very easy to use.

Is this the thread where we are meant to do feedback?

Good to hear that Jane. Someone is due here tomorrow to 'put up a dish' but as I already have one, I'm not sure what that means. I hope he installs the actual box too - I am hopeless with wires [pathetic emoticon]. Excitedly looking forward to better telly options - at 4 in the morning all I seem to get are those dreadful shopping channels....

I have had the box since middle of last week but no call from the engineers so far. We already have a dish so not waiting for that - should we try to set up ourselves? I note that the original post says that the feedback thread is on MUMSNET. Think I am still registered so will have a look there.

Got email last week,box delivered Friday,engineer here this morning all fitted and recording first program. Good looking box,not too big,fits perfectly in tv stand.First impressions very good.Looking forward to using and reviewing this service.Thank you Gransnet.

Granny 23,I had a satellite already,engineers ran cable from satellite to box,set channels etc,all done and dusted in under half an hour.

Brilliant, satellite dish all fitted, the engineer even hoovered up after himself, box all set up and working....brilliant thank you gransnet.

Our engineer put ours on too, maybe to check that the dish was working? Anyway, if you already have a dish then I assume you are meant to start yours up yourself. The only thing we need is a longer cable to the router so that we can use the record/iplayer facility, we shall get one this weekend.

I missed the old teletext and ceefax when they went, it's nice to have a replacement for those. I also love the search facilty. I wonder if we are meant to be popping onto Mumsnet? YOOHOO ADMIN! Mumsnet takes forever to download on my ancient computer, but I can't add any more memory so would prefer not to go on there if i can avoid it.

If so, could someone please provide me with a link to the relevant thread, as I can download individual forums but not the whole site. Thank you!

Thank you, Angelie.

'engineers' have just left - 5 minutes flat to set it up and show me (!) how to work it - huh, time will tell. Will sit down later and try and work it out

Engineers phoned at last. Not able to come until a week on Wednesday. Will have to twiddle our thumbs till then.

Mine is all set up now, but didnt know you had to provide a box to get catch up if your tv is in a different room from the router. Luckily we had a box in the house , brand new and the engineer fitted it for me. So far only the the mains light is on and catch up wont work. The engineer said it usually worked right away but it could maybe take longer , so I am waiting!
We have a strong enough broadband signal to cope, and catch up was one of the reasons I wanted to try Freesat.
Everything else is good

Milkflake I don't know if you have ever had a break in connection and when tinternet comes back on, it doesn't recognise your router id? well, the engineer said that it sometimes happens, so unplug your cable and plug it back in again and see if that works. Also, some of the homeplugs aren't strong enough to cope with the freenet output, when I was looking at reviews. So we are going to buy a hub instead and just use longer cables. We have routers, hubs and cables shooting off in all directions as it is, why not just add more.

thanks Janerowena, the box I have should work remotely and when I spoke to my Son last night he gave me a few things to try to get the box to connect! Otherwise I will be like you and trying cables running around the house

Mine arrived on Friday, the engineer was very good but whilst I was keeping dogs and DG under control in the lounge, all was explained to DP and engineer left. (I am a person with a brain but blame DP, he likes to be helpful)
However, first impressions - the box itself is sleek, not overly large and pleasing to the eye. The remote control has legible controls - better than some I have used. The Programme Guide is better than SKY and is easy to use. I do want to use Catch-up but also have the same issue as others ie, the router is in the hall and Freesat box in kitchen. However, DP is quite techy and whilst I could do it, I will let him feel superior sorting it out whilst I do something I want to do - tee hee.
I am very happy with the picture quality, I think this is because box is connected to SKY dish but to be honest, even with a proper ariel box in the kitchen, I never bothered with tv in there because the picture was awful. Now It is excellent, really excellent.
So - first impressions are very good and it has exceeded my expectations. I had considered buying a Freesat box before I gave into the SKY tv monster but had concerns it might spoil picture quality, I had bought a hard rive recorder and it ruined picture on tv in lounge so it now gathers dust. This Freesat box is far superior to HDR .

Thank you, I am so pleased I was not the only one who was a little concerned over where to post!