Considering SkyAngel

briansanders007

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Nov 24, 2003
295
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Well my choices are limited since I live in the country. Either Directv or Dish Network. I wont go with Dish because they ticked me off so bad in the past. Directv is starting to nickle and dime me to death. I lost my sat in a storm and really don't want to pay to have someone come out to give me a new one. So I have been living on OTA for the last couple days and I finally realized that I watch mostly the networks. However, I do not know if I can live without fox news. After doing some research it looks like SkyAngel has it and some cartoon type programs for my little one since OTA really doesn't have much after pbs goes to other programming. Wind is a major factor where I live so IPTV looks like a viable alternative. I have a 3meg dsl connection which is really solid and run voip without issues and netflix streaming. So I'm thinking about getting this service. Can I have more than one box? Are they still free or is the first one free then the second one is full price...etc. I plan to distribute one of them through out the house but want another one on a dedicated tv. I'm not sure about the whole religious part but it will get me fox news. I guess giving my money to a christian organization isn't all bad and I will never have to worry to much about the content. If I get another box what's the additional fee? how well do two boxes being on work? Is there an ethernet port or do I have to have them talk to my wireless router? I may have to get another dsl dedicated for tv only. I'm just tired of my dishes blowing away and having to pay fee's to get them hooked back up and all the nickle diming I get. Also how well has this service worked for you? I know a huge factor is how well your internet connection is but as far as the actual service...
 
I have had Sky Angel IPTV from the beginning, really love it. I have it on one TV only, with a wired connection. MY ISP is Comcast, which is considerably faster than your DSL. With mine, buffering problems are rare. My guess (and it is a guess) is that you would get good service with one SA box on one TV -- but I suspect your DSL might not support more than one box very well. I may be wrong, though, suggest you call and discuss all your technical questions with Sky Angel's tech department.

As for the service itself, I love it and use it daily. I added TIVO (also have basic cable on that TV) and an FM transmitter, which allows me to send Sky Angel audio to all my radios, even in my yard and garage.

My primary interest is in the Christian programming. You do have the option of subscribing to only the family package, which might match your needs.

Hope this info helps a bit.
 
thanks for the reply! It really sounds like a pretty good deal. The family pack has pretty much what I watch. How do the shows work...are they pretty close to the real tv channel. you don't have to pick a show and it ends... like fox news...how far behind the normal feed is it?

I have had Sky Angel IPTV from the beginning, really love it. I have it on one TV only, with a wired connection. MY ISP is Comcast, which is considerably faster than your DSL. With mine, buffering problems are rare. My guess (and it is a guess) is that you would get good service with one SA box on one TV -- but I suspect your DSL might not support more than one box very well. I may be wrong, though, suggest you call and discuss all your technical questions with Sky Angel's tech department.

As for the service itself, I love it and use it daily. I added TIVO (also have basic cable on that TV) and an FM transmitter, which allows me to send Sky Angel audio to all my radios, even in my yard and garage.

My primary interest is in the Christian programming. You do have the option of subscribing to only the family package, which might match your needs.

Hope this info helps a bit.
 
How do the shows work...are they pretty close to the real tv channel. you don't have to pick a show and it ends... like fox news...how far behind the normal feed is it?
There is no difference between the "real" channel and what you see on Skyangel. It is the same content. I checked a while ago and the signal was delayed about 25 seconds. Don't know if this has changed at all. Each box that is in use will need 1 Mb/s. That does not leave much left over for a computer to use. You may want to start with one box and add the other later if you are happy with the service.
 
Thanks for all the replies. pulled the trigger today. Hopefully I will get it this week. for $20 a month to be able to watch fox news and my kids to have some cartoons seems like a pretty good deal. That combined with my hd ota, hulu, I should be set.
 
Got my skyangel equipment today! setup was a breeze. picture quality is really good. The VOD channels are impressive. I don't have the faith package but the family ones supplement my hd locals I get over antenna really well. If skyangel got history channel that's all I would ever need. :) it's nice not to have to worry about a dish outside with all the wind we get in the country. seems to be a hit with the kid. My first impressions are that the streaming works really well. very instant. it might even change channels faster than when we had satellite. The remote feels a little cheap. it works fine though. I wish the component settings menu would have a zoom or be able to adjust the aspect ratio. my tv is an older hd tv and I lost its remote so I can't get rid of the letterbox buy that's my issue not skyangels. for a couple bucks a month this service is great so far. seems to work good with my internet connection. I was skeptical but seems like a great deal so far. cant wait to put it through all the tests.
 
Do you know what ports sky angel uses on the internet? I want to add QoS on my router so that it has priority. I guess I could always do it by mac address and have the device its self get full priority. When I have two pptp vpn connections, someone on the phone (voip) it does tend to buffer a little. but thats really using my 3meg connection to the fullest.
 
I put the mac address of the wired network port in my router and made sure it has priority over all other internet traffic and it seems to work quite well when using other applications like voip and vpn where they try to steal away from the skyangel box.
 

faith tv no more

FamilyNet and Educating Everyone Yanked From Dish.

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