FTA Demystified

While i agree that the prospects of fta are exciting i would say dstv are not thieves as you claim. They just like you had the information and saw a business opportunity @Meria Mata

This is why I love K talk, such valuable but free info

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Thank you so so so so very much @Meria Mata I can see the initial cost you put there comes to about 20k and thats pretty affordable considering I won’t need to pay anyone ever again.

Couple more questions please. That pic you attached with the dish which has more than one LNB to allow me to get me channels, roughly how much would it cost me to get that? Like do you charge extra depending on each LNB added? Also, is that the same dish which costs 7k? It seems really big!

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Head to aliexpress.com and get yourself a good meter. That’s where I bought my SatLink WS-6918P in 2012.

I already did the approximate costing here:

http://www.kenyatalk.com/index.php?threads/fta-update.5582/#post-77771

@Luther12 ty :slight_smile:

Given the difficulty in obtaining a 150cm and above offset dish, I’d say get yourself a 240cm pf before you make that attempt. 120/130cm haitoshi. Don’t believe me? Check appropriate dish size for your location on satstar.net

Careful before you get that STB. Ask around for opinions about it first, if it is what I think it is.

7k dish would be the 180cm (6’) pf diameter one. The 240cm (8’) pf will cost at least 20k.

Multi-LNB set-up costs depend upon you. If you have all of them during initial installation, well and good. If not, then labor costs will be higher.

Once again, LNB type (and therefore, costs) depend on the type of dish you use i.e. Whether offset or primefocus.

I must say i always take this information on fta with a pinch of salt. When people are selling you an idea, asset or liability they always give you the positives. Rarely will anyone give you the challenges or problems. First FTA seems great at least in theory. All those channels and no payment for a lifetime. However, you cannot fool economics. A few sticking questions always come up.

  1. Knowing kenyans and their love for free things how comes this fta thing is not popular and common. I personally dont know anyone who has it for all the people i know.
  2. With the popularity of football and the steep prices by dstv i would expect business owners (pubs) would have greatly taken adnvantage of this fta installation. However none i know of has.
  3. Is it 100% legal and if so why have the experts like @Meria Mata not seen and taken advantage of the great potencial by setting up businesses to do the installations and sell the equipment. Im sure many would be willing to pay even
    50k to instal if they know they will never pay a cent for a life time
  4. Is it technically efficient or is it something that keeps getting down times maybe signals disappearingw frequently, maybe you have to reset and keep searching for satelites etc

With all these sticking questions my hypothesis is that questions 3 and 4 hold the key as to why this technology is not popular anywhere. I do not think the problem is lack of information. I think point 3 and 4 are the key hinderances to growth of fta. Otherwise we would have dozens of companies offering the equipment plus installation at a profit knowing that the demand is immense. My challenge to the ‘experts’ is to disclose all info including the full disadvantages and not to refer us to forums. After all this is a forum. Over to you…

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@Dunya hush now

Of course they are ‘thieves’ (DiShThieVes as it were). Anyway the origin of the term is way back in an online forum where we didn’t want them to know that we were talking about them.

It’s worth noting that some of the channels they charge you for they get them for free. In one of our former online satellite forums someone once raised this issue with the French authorities, asking why ds had bundled some free French channels in their pay TV package whereas the said channels were offered for free since French taxpayers had already paid for them. Obviously the French authorities protested vigorously to ds which was then forced to withdraw the channels and this set off a series of events that eventually saw us kicked out of that forum. :smiley:

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Hehehe…hizi points ni mob. Let me switch on my comp nikujibu comprehensively.

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:smiley: :smiley: Uliza pia maswali yako.

I have seen these types of dishes in coast mostly popular with arabs. I always asked guys what was their use when they were able to afford dstvs days before this digital switchover.

@Luther12 :smiley: lol I was just askin’ him to simmer down in class. I need an installation some time next month so I’m kinda invested in this info.

Pink handles please give this @Meria Mata that warm cookie. He deserves it. Thank you

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Haiya!! Na Njata TV?

Seems very big dishes. Where do I place such dishes since I’m a tenant na huko juu kumejaa ma Roto tanks?

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Hamna. The problem with Kenyans is general disunity. Even in bradcasting, we still can’t agree on which satellite to use. as a result, Kenyan channels are scattered all over in different satellites such as Eutelsat 5 West A, NSS 12, Eutelsat 10A, Intelsat 902, Eutelsat 70B and Intelsat 22. The latter is what SigNet uses http://www.lyngsat.com/Intelsat-22.html but will require specialist equipment of the kind described here http://www.jamiiforums.com/tech-gadgets-and-science-forum/388522-african-satellite-world-and-sat-gear-2.html to nab. Contrast this with our Bongo brothers and sisters where you get all their channels on one satellite, initially Intelsat 906 http://www.lyngsat.com/Intelsat-906.html and now, Amos 5 http://www.lyngsat.com/Amos-5.html