Foxtel Advice - Please Help The Elderly!

spacebanana on 18/07/2021 - 17:33

Hi all,

Sorry to bait you in with the title but I am trying to help my grandparents out of a pickle.

They have just moved to Melbourne from Sydney, midst lockdown this was pretty stressful for them and they are just settling into their new "lifestyle community"

When in Sydney they had Foxtel in two rooms and were quite happy, not worried about the $145 bill per month which pained the ozbargainer inside of me.
Now I am connecting all their services and Foxtel is being a real pain.

If they want to get normal foxtel with IQ4 etc they are saying as it is a commerical residence, they have to join a commercial plan, absolute nonsense. I escalated through few people on the phone and they all gave me the same answer. Was pretty annoyed.

Now I see the option of Foxtel Now, an online version of Foxtel, looks fine and seems like it will do the job for regular viewing and most content can be watched on demand, GREAT, problem solved…

Well, not quite. They really want to be able to "record" now that is not an issue for shows on Foxtel but they wont be able to record free to air, and the Foxtel Now Box doesnt support all the FTA apps like Google Chromecast Home does.
Google Chromecase Home also doesn't support Foxtel now…

Any suggestions at all? It is really bothering me that I can't get them what they had before, in an interface they are familar with.
Unfortunately casting from a device is not an option as they can't really use their phones.

TL;DR Are there any smart devices like fetch, Foxtel Now Box, Telstra TV that you can record FTA tv from or at least get all the FTA apps in a way that can be browsed through a remote on the TV?

Thanks so much in advance for any tips :)

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Comments

  • SBOB on 18/07/2021 - 17:41

    most channels would have apps for on-demand tv/replays etc…
    Just bought my mum a Google tv with chromecast. Pretty easy to setup and was under $100.
    Could possibly also side-load kodi and install a foxtel now plugin and play foxtel via it, if you were technically able.

    Can do same via many android based boxes (old Vodafone tv box, plenty of chinese brand ones etc), but the new google seems like a pretty safe locally available option

    • spacebanana on 18/07/2021 - 18:36

      Yeah it is the foxtel part of the Google TV that is holding me back there unfortunately

  • Nalar on 18/07/2021 - 18:21

    The Telstra TV (Roku) device is a good setup as it has all the on-demand FTA apps as well as a live TV tuner built in AND Foxtel Now button on the remote.

    Can be had for ~$50 on FB marketplace.

  • oO0Dam0Oo on 18/07/2021 - 18:57

    Do they own the lifestyle community home or is it a privately rented/managed closed community?

    • spacebanana on 18/07/2021 - 21:19

      They own it but it comes with a considerable body corporate, it is an different setup.

  • Quantumcat on 18/07/2021 - 19:19

    All the free to air channels have apps that let you watch a large variety of shows. No need to record.

  • Randxyz123 on 18/07/2021 - 21:21
    +1

    Since you are talking about commercial it sounds like Foxtel is managed internally in their community like it would be in a hotel for example.

    Is joining a commercial plan more than $145 a month? Or are there more costs than that to get everything setup?

    As a first step I'd try and get in contact with the facilities manager and see what the actual set up is.

    What do they like about Foxtel? Range of channels and content? Movies? News in a certain language?

    The other thing worth considering is that for TTV3/Google Chrome Home etc is that they will require some sort of internet connection. Not sure if they previously had that in Sydney?

    As others have said there are other options to recording shows. FTA apps are pretty decent and have the shows for viewing after.

    Since a lot of the apps like you having accounts for the FTA apps. I'd probably get what ever device shipped to yourself and configure it with logins for each app. Then ship it out to them and all they'd need is to connect to wifi which hopefully someone in their community can assist with.

    • oO0Dam0Oo on 19/07/2021 - 06:01

      Since you are talking about commercial it sounds like Foxtel is managed internally in their community like it would be in a hotel for example.

      This was my thought too.

  • BobD on 19/07/2021 - 07:29

    they are just settling into their new "lifestyle community"

    Is that "lifestyle community" www.lifestylecommunities.com.au ??
    If it is then your parents should be able to get Foxtel IQx as a private subscriber.
    I live in one of these villages and have Foxtel.
    Note that they also have Foxtel in the village management centre (aka The Clubhouse).

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