Terrible TV reception

[Par10]

We have the TV Box Pro and a Mini box, the mini box is working fine, no complaints and it is connected via our internal wi-fi because it was a better signal than the EE wi-fi.

The problems are all with the TV Box Pro.

We have had an engineer come in to check all my tv ariel connections and the free view signal to my outlets is excellent, watching free view SD or HD channels is faultless. We have also had all of our personal computer equipment IP addresses changed so that there is no conflict with the EE equipment.

However when watching the free view HD channels through the TV Box Pro the picture quality can be very pixelated.

We have the NOW tv sports package and it is a disaster trying to watch anything in SD and after just a short time the HD channels just disappear, a black screen with occasional messages about reconnecting the box to the server. 

I have had a few sessions on the phone with the engineers, rebooting the broadband coming into the house, rebooting the server and rebooting the TV Box Pro.

Nothing has worked to improve the TV reception that I should expect.

I have been a SKY customer and Virgin customer and have to say that I never had a complaint about the TV quality with either company, just their customer care, unfortunately EE are proving to be way worse than than we were expecting.

[Par10]

We also have the TV Box Pro and a Mini box, the mini box is working fine, no complaints and it is connected via our internal wi-fi because it was a better signal than the EE wi-fi.

The problems are all with the TV Box Pro.

We have had an engineer come in to check all my tv ariel connections and the free view signal to my outlets is excellent, watching free view SD or HD channels is faultless. We have also had all of our personal computer equipment IP addresses changed so that there is no conflict with the EE equipment.

However when watching the free view HD channels through the TV Box Pro the picture quality can be very pixelated.

We have the NOW tv sports package and it is a disaster trying to watch anything in SD and after just a short time the HD channels just disappear, a black screen with occasional messages about reconnecting the box to the server. 

I have had a few sessions on the phone with the engineers, rebooting the broadband coming into the house, rebooting the server and rebooting the TV Box Pro.

Nothing has worked to improve the TV reception that I should expect.

I have been a SKY customer and Virgin customer and have to say that I never had a complaint about the TV quality with either company, just their customer care, unfortunately EE are proving to be way worse than than we were expecting.

[Christopher_G]

Hi @Par10 

Welcome to the community. We have some fantastic TV experts here, who may be along to offer you some advice.

My recommendation is to continue to speak with our EE TV technical support team, so they can continue with the troubleshooting and try to get to the bottom of what is causing this.

Keep us posted on what happens please.

Chris

[Par10]

EE have yet to contact me to try to resolve this problem, from what I have read on the community, the problem probably is not resolvable therefore EE will not be in a hurry to get in touch.

I have a 4K fire stick and have been watching various ROKU and Amazon content these last few nights without any problems, the average wi-fi download speed is showing as 85 - 100 mbps, so the reception is very good and the picture quality is perfect, no drop outs, buffering or pixelisation.

I am paying for the NOW sports package with EE but have found that I can get this through my fire stick, so I will be cancelling this part of my package with EE because I just cannot watch the golf or football games that I want to.

[Michael_D]

Hi @Par10 

If you've not heard anything yet, I would recommend getting back in touch with our tech guides so they can see if there is any further update for you, and if not, chase it for you.

If you aren't happy with the way it is progressing after speaking to the team, you can raise a complaint online, and a member of the dedicated team will come back to you to look into it further.

Michael

[Par10]

So, EE contacted me yesterday and we went through the problems, they did an online check of all of their equipment and everything was OK down to the set top box.

The facts that the broadband signal is stable and the minibox works perfectly leads them to believe that the set top box is faulty so they have sent out a new box.

One huge surprise, EE do not guarantee a stable TV signal unless the set top box is connected by ethernet cable directly to the server, they do not guarantee a good wi-fi signal neither do they guarantee a good signal when using the TPLink plug in extenders, even though I have told them that I have a wi-fi signal next to their set top box of between 80 and 110 mbps, which should be more than adequate for streaming TV.

We will see what happens with the new set top box.

[Timbo45]

@Par10 

Are you getting your Freeview channels via ethernet (IP Mode) or via a terrestrial aerial?

If by aerial then check in settings for the signal quality and strength for any affected channels. These boxes tend to have weak tuners that are easily overloaded by strong signals which causes pixelation. Signal quality should be 100% and strength in the 80-90% range.

The mini boxes use IP Mode so would be unaffected by signal strength.

[Par10]

Thanks for the information, I have set the box to terrestrial aerial because the signal is good, certainly in the ranges you have stated but some stations are less but not lower than 80%.

This would not explain the pixelation on the sports channels and the complete black screen on some of the HD sports channels, although the mini box is not having any problems at all on any station SD or HD.

[DarrenDev]

If you launch the Netflix app on the affected TV Box, and then go into the Help section, there's a network speed tester - this will give you a good idea of the speed that the box is achieving (which may not be as fast as a device held near the box).