US Masters - Help

[Robbie]

I am visiting my "real" home from 9th April for a week and have just realised the US Masters starts the same day !!! Now I enjoy partying and can be found most nights in some alehouse in the village but the Masters is different. It is a tournament I look forward to all year and I like to put my feet up and watch at home as I love the build up and all that goes with it and I would really Pi** off the others in my party if I were to head down the hill every night to sit and watch it. From what I know of Sky I can watch my full package on my laptop (I have broadband in apartment) including sports in Ireland or UK but no further afield. Can anyone tell me can I fool the system to make Sky think I am in Ireland or is there any other way I can get it in on my laptop. I don't think the system in the apartment will take my Sky card. I know there are some dodgy sites like frontrowsports but they are not great - HELP a call out to all you techies and probably also a few crafty ex-pats who have found a magic solution

[pickwick]

Have a look at Smartdns on Overplay.net

Pickwick

[bugsey]

What about www.filmon.com

[John1964]

I use www.my-expat-network.com

It is a VPN and I can watch Sky Sports via broadband in the villa. Costs about £5 per month on a month-by-month basis so you can cancel it when you are not abroad.

[pickwick]

The problem with a VPN is that is reduces your speed by 50% hence the better solution of Smart DNS.

Pickwick

[John1964]

Depends on your speed in the first place I suppose
Never had a problem with it.

[williew]

If you buy yourself a sling box and hook up your Sky box at home then you can control your Sky box from Carvoeiro and watch the Masters. Sling boxes available from Amazon and are very easy to set up.

Alternative is Hemingways the best bar in town!

[pickwick]

Hi

The problem with Slingbox is the same as VPN - you need double the speed as you create a tunnel of two way traffic. Of course if you have 10Mbps plus this is not an issue but lots of people only have 2 - 3Mbps in CVO.

Pickwick

[Robbie]

True Pickwick, we are up in Monte Dourado and although I think it is a little bit of heaven on earth the wifi is really bad. I have to go to the front room to pick up a signal of any kind most of the time and it seems to get weaker in the evenings. I have always put it down to people being out during the day and everyone logging on at night but I could be wrong. Another stupid question but is there any little toy you can buy that could strengthen the signal which I assume is coming from the mast at reception
regards
Robbie The Neanderthal who only last year was dragged kicking and screaming to Facebook

[williew]

Pickwick

Have you tried a sling box.

We have been using one for the last two years and never had a problem. It even works when our IPTV box goes off.

[pickwick]

Hi

Slingbox works perfectly as long as you have twice the minimum speed you need as it uses the same routing/method as a VPN. Nothing wrong with it but Robbie has poor speed so it is not going to be any good for him!

Pickwick

[SatRoger]

True Pickwick, we are up in Monte Dourado and although I think it is a little bit of heaven on earth the wifi is really bad. I have to go to the front room to pick up a signal of any kind most of the time and it seems to get weaker in the evenings. I have always put it down to people being out during the day and everyone logging on at night but I could be wrong. Another stupid question but is there any little toy you can buy that could strengthen the signal which I assume is coming from the mast at reception
regards
Robbie The Neanderthal who only last year was dragged kicking and screaming to Facebook

You can get an Wifi extender. Like this one: http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WA850R ... e+extender (US Amazon site)
Put it where you get the best Wifi signal and it should extend the signal to the rest of the house.

[SatRoger]

True Pickwick, we are up in Monte Dourado and although I think it is a little bit of heaven on earth the wifi is really bad. I have to go to the front room to pick up a signal of any kind most of the time and it seems to get weaker in the evenings. I have always put it down to people being out during the day and everyone logging on at night but I could be wrong. Another stupid question but is there any little toy you can buy that could strengthen the signal which I assume is coming from the mast at reception
regards
Robbie The Neanderthal who only last year was dragged kicking and screaming to Facebook

I also at Monte Dourado (but on the apartments facing Rua do Barranco), if you visit regularly, it might be worth to invest in your own Internet/TV system. I order Cabovisao and I am paying 24,99€ a month for TV (more than 100 channels, including Eurosports) and 100Mb/s down 10Mb/s up Internet - It also includes a VOIP phone. Vodafone has some similar deals for around 20 to 25€ a month. If you visit often and want stable Internet and good TV (I know Monte Dourado already provides access to some English channels, but I live in the US and am Portuguese), I think that is a good option.