As the title suggests, I need some help from our Aussie fans who watch Palace at home on the TV.
At my home address, the only internet connection I can get is wireless - I cannot get a broadband cable or ADSL connection.
I have my mobile phone with Optus and signed up for the EPL deal. I explained to Optus - at length - that I only have wireless, and that I want to watch the games on my big TV, not just on my phone. I could have got a satellite dish account with Optus, but didn't want to.
They suggested I get a mini Fetch TV set top box, tether my mobile phone to it (where the EPL is data-free), and watch it on my TV that way. I got the box a week before the season started, set it all up, and it worked fine, until the day before the season started.
Then I started getting the message on the live Optus Sport channels that "you can't tether data from a mobile device to watch this content". I could still watch their preview programmes, but not the live stuff.
My wireless broadband account was with Telstra, not Optus, so if I watched the game via that, it chewed up my data. But I was able to connect the Fetch STB wirelessly to my Telstra mobile broadband and watch the game, without that "you can't tether data..." message, albeit it was not data free.
But my plan with Telstra was crap - only 8GB for $65/month - so basically after 2 games that was that. Having looked around I could get 200GB for $60 with Optus, so I spoke to Telstra about a better plan, but the best they could do was 50GB for $150, and they refused to deviate from that, despite me explaining what I could get from Optus. So I switched to Optus although on this plan the EPL isn't data-free, but with 200GB there is no issue over the amount of data the games use anyway, so I can live with that.
BUT... now I can't connect the Fetch STB to the Optus mobile broadband, as I get that same message about "you can't tether data..." etc. Even if I connect it to the Optus router via an Ethernet cable I get the same message.
I've called the Optus technical support line, and they keep saying the mini Fetch STB won't work wirelessly. I keep telling them it DID work wirelessly via my Telstra internet, and to stop telling me it won't work wirelessly when it offers me a connection either wirelessly or by Ethernet cable when I switch it on.
Ultimately this means I can't watch the games live, only "on demand" 12 hours later. On the one hand, that means I don't have to get up at stupid o'clock in the middle of the night to watch the games, but I WANT to watch them live; I'm HAPPY to get up at 2am to watch them, and watching it later just isn't the same.
The sales people at Optus basically mis-led me re the tethering to mobile info, but as the box only costs $5/month and means I can watch the game "on demand" later, I thought I'd just bite that bullet, as without it I couldn't watch anything other than on my mobile phone.
So my questions to any Aussies who watch at home: is there any way round this? Do I need to get a full size Fetch TV box? Is there a way I can connect the mini Fetch STB to my Optus wireless broadband box?
Any help appreciated! :(
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