This is a little rant I'm afraid. I know it's basically my fault BUT!!!!!

Sometimes when at clients premises, I have to use a series of rescue/installation discs to resolve an issue.

Sometimes, it can take quite a few hours to sort out the multiple problems people allow to accumulate on their computer before seeking professional help. A lot of which is helped along by the 'bar room fixers' who know absolutely sod all in real terms about much at all.

They don't know what the real problem is because they've not seen it and clients rarely know how to describe the problem fully anyway - not that there's anything wrong with that, I don't expect it.

The client then goes and mis-follows the wrong advice they've been given and make an even bigger dogs breakfast of the whole thing and after they've totally screwed their computer, they call me.

Now to the point of my rant.

After I've spent hours sorting out the cock-up, I put my things back in my bag (or so I think) and head off home. Some days, or even weeks, later I open my bag looking for the discs to find that I've accidentally left at my clients.

The annoying thing is the client, who now has a full set of service and recovery discs that I've paid for, and doesn't have a clue in hell how to use them, hasn't had the decency to ring me and let me know I've left them. This has happened every time I've done it.

I now have to go through the time and expense of getting a new set of dics together.

ONE THING YOU GET FROM ME IS HONESTY, IF YOU CAN'T RETURN THE FAVOUR THEN YOU DON'T DESERVE THE SERVICES I OFFER.

​I will work out where I left them and that person will have a heavy bill next time they call me!

It just goes to show, there's a lot of really dishonest immigrants out there.

From Jon after moving in to Gran Alicant this week:

"Thanks Clive for your excellent services in setting up internet, phone and TV. Would recommend you whole heartedly to anyone moving to the area."  

Whilst I didn't quite set up his internet, we had a long chat and discussed the best options in his area for his circumstances. Jon originally contacted me for internet but I didn't have the right package for his intended usage pattern so after talking things through, we chose his local provider who have some good deals going and will hopefully be reliable.

I supplied the phone system which he will be able to alternate between Spain and Switzerland as he wishes. Anyone ringing his number will be able to get through to him regardless of where he is in the world without any call forwarding charges to either party.

Jon can also get his free calls wherever he is in the world. Try getting that anywhere else!

I was also able to source an IPTV box, from one of my colleagues. That gives Jon all the UK channels he wants and can also be equipped with UK catch-up TV as well.

The bottom line is, I endeavour to provide a good customer experience wherever possible. Many have tried to copy my work ethic and many have failed.

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I'm getting more and more calls from people asking me to supply them with 20M internet.

Why?

Because they've bought one of these stupid IPTV boxes and it doesn't work on their current internet providers 6M connection.

More and more people are falling for the IPTV box scam. I've been asked by one of the 'budget' phone suppliers to sell their products including ................. IPTV boxes.

Guess what I told them to do with the boxes. Yep, stick 'em where the sun don't shine. They don't believe me when I tell them they'll never work until they sort out the internet and the contention ratios (how many people who share an internet connection at the exchange) but my concerns are proving to be fact.

Current contention ratios are such that you share your 6M with 49 other people for domestic clients and 24 others on a business connection (that's why business internet costs a lot more).

When there's only a few of you streaming mountains of data through your IPTV boxes, it'll just about cope but as those numbers increase, the system will either collapse or your internet provider will put the brakes on your streaming, which in turn means your IPTV boxes won't work.

Because the ex-pat fraternity are so obsessed with watching TV, hundreds of scammers have sprung up selling IPTV boxes for obscene amounts because they know you're going to pay it.

It costs them money to pay for servers to keep your boxes running and it takes a bit of technical know-how to set them up. These people have neither. They pay the deposit for the server, sell loads of boxes (making nearly €100 a box) then disappear and move on to the next town.

One hour watching live TV through the internet consumes around 700Mb of data - enough to supply an 'average' household for at least a week.

Data has to be paid for by somebody. Your internet provider sets their systems and prices based on the 'average' household. As more and more of you become 'abnormal' users, only two things can happen. Their network collapses and/or the price goes up.

What I see to be one of the biggest issues here in Spain is the ex-pat communities EXPECT to get the services they would get in their home countries at the same level of pricing. Wake up, it aint ever going to happen. The majority of Spanish networks were never designed to be used as they are now and upgrading them costs many many millions.

This is Spain, stop expecting something for nothing, accept that legitimate traders have small fortunes to pay in taxes and other fees and have all sorts of hoops to jump through to stay legal. I'm not suggesting that paying €600 for €200 worth of satellite TV kit is acceptable, what I am saying is that, as with all things in life, you need to carry out due diligence checks.

Use your legal, registered traders as you have recourse if they sell you a pup. All these illegal IPTV scammers don't give a fig once they've got your money. You can't get a refund and you'll never find them once they've moved on as they use false details.


All opinions in this article are those of the author.

Well, just to show how gullible we all are (well, not me), I remember reading a story not long back in the Costa TV Times and it went something like this.

Somebody bought one of these obscenely overpriced IPTV boxes from a company called UK TV Solutions in Benalmadina on the Costa del Crime, sorry, Costa del Sol.

It worked OK for about week or so and then stopped - ho hum, no surprise there then. This is where the fun starts.

They tried contacting the company and guess what - no answer. Phone, email - the well was dry, that is until they were threatened with exposure on various social media websites.

Promises were then made that an engineer would call to sort out the problem. This incident was last year and they're still waiting.

What I find astonishing is that people actually buy blind over the internet from a company advertising with a Spanish address, a phone number in Bulgaria and a hotmail email account. Ding dong - alarm bells ringing.

So, if you've got something like €240 burning a hole in your pocket, you too can give it to uktvsolutions.com, also known as homeserve.es and get a worthless piece of junk and abuse in return. Absolutely a good deal.

I've just returned from a meeting with some of my peers and I find I'm taking issue with some of their working practices.

What made my blood boil was how one of the attendees thought it acceptable to make huge amounts of profit from selling illegal card sharing IPTV boxes to expats. He also thought it acceptable to remove cards from noticeboards posted by his competition.

Nothing wrong with that you might think. I do!

Why?

It is not only disrespectful it shows contempt. If his product is good, it will sell on its' own merits regardless of the competition.

It's disrespectful. Somebody else has had to spend their money having cards printed and spent their time and effort in posting the cards in the first place If he can't stand competition he shouldn't be in business.

Making in the region of €100 per box is ripping people off. It shows the contempt he has for you, his clients. It also shows the contempt he has for the law. Stealing premium paid for content and charging you to view it is highly illegal as he does not have the rights to rebroadcast the programs.

Watching Freeview satellite TV, on the other hand, is not illegal.

Satellite Internet providers are being falsely accused of being overpriced and a rip off when in actual fact, you're really being ripped off by the IPTV/card share merchants.

It also shows how TV is valued above all else. You're quite happy to pay €700 to install a €150 dish and a €50 card share box that is illegal but unwilling to pay €169 to install satellite internet equipment that is legal.

What does that say about peoples morals. I'm not being judgmental, I'm just exposing the sad truth that is out there. The worst thing about it is you seem to enjoy being ripped of just so you can watch TV.

If you all told these profiteerers to stick their grossly overpriced products where the sun don't shine, you'd soon see the prices come down. But you won't, you'll just go on paying whatever they ask and they know it.

All brands and registered trade marks acknowledged.

Has anybody noticed the latest craze doing the rounds at the moment - internet TV boxes, no dish required.

Well, if you ask me, no internet TV box required either.

How does that work then?

Easy. The internet TV box is a small Android computer running some free software that allows you to scour the internet for videos, films, tv ....... and so on. All you need is a laptop, or a tower system and plug it in to your TV.

Even easier, if you have one of these smart TV's, you've already got the internet TV box.

What are you talking about?

Your smart TV is an Android computer, just like that little internet TV box. All you need is the free software, set it up and away you go.

No need to pay anyone €130 for a €75 box but if you really must have one, I can sell you the box for €75 and show you where to get the free software from. All you need to do then is have fun setting it up.

Hello everybody.

Please be advised that we are starting to get booked up for April, so if you think your PC has a problem, or you're considering taking up one of our other services then please contact us now or we may not be able to get you sorted before we go.

You might even miss out on our FREE telephone install offer available for this month only if you don't get in now! Check our Special Offer page for more details.

Please don't leave it until the last minute and miss out.

Over the past few months, I've been extolling the virtues of a wonderful website that allows all us ex-pats to view live UK TV without the need to do anything special, and without the need for satellite TV installations. This website is www.filmon.com. It seems that Filmon are now only able to offer live UK TV in the UK. This is probably down to licencing regulations and the fact that to receive licenced UK TV broadcasts, you should be paying for a licence.

This issue does NOT affect any of our Satellite Internet clients as they all have a UK Internet address.

Currently, anyone residing outside the UK should not be able to watch live UK TV. Scream and shout as much as you like, that is how it is. So why can other nationalities get away with it then - you ask. Well, that's because they don't have the same licencing regulations as the UK so as to provide you with honest and impartial reporting of world events (for most of the time, that is).

So, you don't live in the UK BUT, you want to watch live UK TV (shame on you ;-) ). How do you go about it?

You can always fork out for a satellite dish and receiver and buy a forged sky card, you can pay for an illegal card sharing setup, you can pay one of the many illegal re-broadcasters who pop up all over the place - and disappear just as quickly with your money or you can watch live UK TV through the Internet, either directly from the broadcasters website or from an aggregators website such as www.myiplayer.com.

When I try to watch TV on the broadcasters website, it tells me it's not available in my region. Of course it does, because it's illegal to watch it outside the UK - because it's licenced for the UK only! Please pay attention, I'm getting to that.

OK smart a**e, how's it done? I'll tell you. You use something called a VPN (Virtual Private Network) that fools the website into believing you are in the UK.

How can I get one? There are many free one available along with some relatively cheap ones (5.00 GBP a month). I have personally used a 5GBP one from www.my-private-network.co.uk and it works fine, and they give you a full setup guide with pictures. We have also used the free "Best UK VPN Service" and find that works very well also.

What I do find a lot of - and have to uninstall a lot of - is Expat Shield. Whilst Expat Shield may be free, it's backed by advertisers, it also installs a 'handy' toolbar. Anybody who knows me knows how I feel about third party 'handy' toolbars. They're very handy at breaking things (as many of my clients can testify) and should be banned.

To get the "Best UK VPN Service", it is available from the myiplater.com website on the "catchup" page.

In my opinion, the only thing handy about Expat Shield is the ability to click a few buttons and it installs itself, along with the c**p it comes with. I used it for a couple of days then got rid of it and it will never darken my PC again. Not to be totally negative about this product, I do have customers who think it's marvelous, brilliant and all sorts of other positive adjectives.

Oh, I forgot to mention this option - Slingbox. An ideal option for those with relatives in the UK with a Sky/Cable subscription.

How does that work then? Well, it's intended for people on holiday who would normally be paying for their UK licence but they're not currently using it because they're on holiday and no one is in the house watching TV. That way, you're not breaking your licence agreement and it's legal.

It works by connecting a Slingbox to a Sky/Cable TV box in the UK. You then connect the Slingbox to your internet router. Whilst you're (ahem) 'away', you can watch your Sky/Cable package on your laptop or you would take something with you called a Sling Catcher. Sling Catcher is like a set top box that plugs into the Internet and the TV you're going to be watching. It then transports all your programs from the UK to where you are.

If that all sounds like black magic then when you've got the kit from Currys/PC World, just drop Sling Media support a line from their website and they'll set it all up for you. So that's the Slingbox in the UK, and SlingCatcher over here.

If you would like any more info, please feel free to drop us a line or comment below.

I have no connection to any of the products mentioned in this article.

All brand names and registered trade marks belong to their respective owners - not me.