IPTV and poor provider

You can try asking for a refund but as the service they are providing is not legal I wouldn’t have too much hope, you can get the same service with an Amazon firestick and a subscription from eBay for £30 for twelve months but it’s not certain that it would last twelve months even then. 

Was thinking I was up a creek without a paddle.

Everyone please note DO NOT USE SMARTIPTVHOSTING.CO.UK and warn your friends to stay well clear of them  unless they want to throw their money down the drain. 

Hi SnowKatt57

Sorry to hear of the dreadful service you have received, its not surprise when I hear of bodget&scarper types of folk in Spain, sadly there are too many.

First things first. BEFORE you give up on your boxes. Most IPTV services utilise the MAC address of the box. Think of it as being the address of the box, its unique on every box, a little bit like an IP address. If the instructions you have been given include anything like resetting the box then there is every chance that the MAC address is now duplicated and the IPTV provide consider this as if you are trying to use the MAC address on another device and trying to get double the service... if you follow me and it makes sense?

So, perhaps contact your provider again and tell them about the instructions you were advised to carry out and specifically advise them of your MAC address.

As for your problem with no coloured buttons, IF you have F1, F2, F3, F4 etc buttons then these usually correspond to the colours also. Just try them and see what happens.

Can you let me know what boxes you purchased? Are they MAG boxes?

Finally, IF you want to continue with a reputable IPTV provider then send me a private message and I will advise you of the people I recommend who offer fantastic service, almost immediate email response and are constantly updating their channel offerings, movie club and tv box sets etc.

You know where I am if I can be of help.

Hopefully you will get sorted if the provider sorts out your MAC address

We might be able to unblock/ reset box or review existing situation.

It may well be the IPTV provider, though also have to be a little careful with speed tests as they are borderline fraudulent! 

The issue is the ISP can see the speed test on their system, usually send out a data burst, which they send a 'favourable' response to. Secondly, speed test takes a 30-second snapshot of the internet, which as you are aware, you do not watch TV in 30-second snapshots, you watch continually - the speed test does not measure stability, which is a MAJOR point. It does not measure if your internet drops off at any point, which can cause interruption of service or box issues.

Lastly if the ISP has resource issues, IE lots of users online and they are stretched resource wise, they can throttle the specific portal the box is connected to - so your speed test says 20meg, but the box sees 1meg, which is enough for it to fall over. Your only measuring tool is the speed test, the ISP's know it - so you need to make sure, that it is the TV service and NOT the internet provider, throttling or offering unstable service.

We usually recommend at first sign of problems, turn the box and router off at the mains and reboot everything. If problems continue, take one of your boxes and try it on a friends internet connection & make sure it is the service and not your internet provider causing issue with the TV service - process of elimination.

If you need a free test on another service to try, we can offer this, so you can see if the issue is with the internet or the service itself. Always good to have a trial first if you have your own box (MAG?) or initially take out a shorted subscription period, until you know all works ok.

Having said all of the above, Eurona have been known in the past to not be that great, so would definately take into consideration they may well be part to blame with this - Eurona do much business in the expat areas where the tourist/transient population can changes as much as 50% at certain times of year, they may well get the odd issue - does the box work or work better mid-morning, but fail miserably in the evening? Looks for patterns in performance or lack of, as this timing wise can be an indicator - we find often people report more issues in the evening, just as the internet providers can be at their busiest, network resources being used the most.

Paul

[email protected]

www.facebook.com/televisiontechnology

+34 865774055

All these iptv providers are supplying an illegal service, so don’t expect anything in the way of customer service. 

I've just come across your post while browsing and can understand how you are feeling. I too got a mag box with Smart iptv thinking it was all above board as it was advertised in Spanish expat newspapers. The man that came out was a John Robinson and everything went well for the first few days. The mag box is a 320/322 and it just packed up. The box itself was overheating so much that it was almost red hot to touch. Despite several phone calls initially there was no reply, until I phoned using my wife's number when it was answered immediately. Several e mails later and after threatening to go to the Police he stated that he would sort it out. I wasn't returning to Spain until a month later and on my return when I contacted him, his excuse was that he's in the UK, got my address and will send out an engineer, but after all the e mails and messages on WhatsApp, it's obvious that the man's a crook and I've been duped. Five days later he's still not sorted it out. Still no contract despite me asking on several occasions, that in itself is suspicious when he refuses to give me a contract. I'm not that good with computer related things and so when someone suggests trying to reboot it or something and asks what server/portal etc, I haven't a clue. I just needed something to plug in and for it to work. I tried to research this before going with this man but there wasn't really any help out there. Someone posted on one of my topics along the lines of consumer rights and laws to assist you don't really exist in Spain. That's the best advice that I've had so far .I spoke with another agent who sells these mag boxes who told me that although the 320/322 is the most recent model, it is prone to all sorts of problems. So, I've encountered a few problems including this in the last two months since moving to Spain and it appears that I've just got to "take it on the chin" and accept that I've been ripped off and throw money at these issues hand over fist to resolve them. I've now drawn a line in the sand and am leaving Spain, don't think I'll return, I've got a REALLY bad taste in my mouth the way that I've been treated.For someone like me, moving out and not knowing the system, I've been taken advantage of by several parties and I would include lawyers. Just for the record, these dealers in mag boxes that are duping people are allowed to continue advertising in the ex pat newspapers, the papers state that they are not responsible for the credibility of the adverts and continue to advertise them. They've got to make money I suppose.

Hi Alistair,

I know the MAG boxes well, as part of my job is support/tester.

The MAG 322 is a decent box - i've not seen many issues with these in 6 months - we've seen the 250, 254, 256 & now 322 (though there is others).  They all get hot, but only the 256 had known issues - the 322 seems or what i've seen of it, pretty solid (for what it is) - there is no known heating problem with this model.

The issue with dealing with adverts in local rags, is they do not as you state, bother to check - even though they now what is being advertised is questionably legal. Many of these people that advertise - like your bad experience are not real companies - they are people who have re-invented themselves overnight, here today, gone tomorrow -we've seen it all before.

Lawyers in Spain, as you have spotted may well be the biggest crooks, in fact, we once used a lawyer, to sue another lawyer. No one admits liability to anything!

You can use your existing box, it just needs some settings changed within. What's happened is your guy has had his service turned off, which in turn then causes your box to read 'blocked' - this can be reset, it may be as simple as following a step by step guide (below).

Rather than the odd jobbers that advertise in the dodgy newspapers, why not ask around local forums - this one, others neatby to you -  i'd avoid local facebook groups as there's always far too many start ups appearing day on day with their mickey mouse hacked android sticks and such like.

If you can unlock your box (if below doesn't work, there are further steps which can be taken), then you can enter a different companies settings in - most reasonable companies I would expect will offer a trial & then if wary (of course) take the minimum period available. Try and find an established company.

To change portal settings

Settings from main menu

Select 'Go to inner portal'

Select Settings within inner portal

System settings

Servers  (here you put in for new company)

Hi,

Thanks for your suggestion but I cant get into it at all, the settings or anything as the Mag box just won't go on.

Thanks anyway I appreciate it

No problem.

Your other option is to contact informir - who are the manufacturer - perhaps advise them your retailer went bust, the manufacturing date should be on the underneath label.

Here's the link to their support for returns - with a little luck you can return the box and get a new one, may take a few weeks - if they give you an RMA number, your good to go.

https://www.infomir.eu/eng/support/form/warranty.php