4G and Freeview Problems Explained
Faster mobile Internet with 4G sounds like a great idea, but not if you watch your TV via Freeview. We look at your top ten Freeview 4G interference questions.
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Listen to FrequencyCast Show 85 - Freeview Interference and 4G Explained
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4G Interference - Top Ten Questions:
From May 2013, many home may be hit by interference on Freeview. Here's the transcript from Show 85:
Transcript continues from Kelly Amateur Radio Foundation
Pete:
So well done Kelly, yopu're a fully-licensed amateur, and of course it has plenty of benefits for FrequencyCast, especially when it comes to news stories like this one, and this one is all about Freeview interference. Now, we've talked about this lots in previous shows, but it is about to start hitting people, and potentially quite a lot of people. What I've asked you to do, Kelly, is help me out with your ten top questions relating to this Freeview interference.
Kelly:
I've been hearing a lot about 4G interference generally with TV. What is actually going on?
Pete:
OK, so what this is all about, your mobile phone - you surf the net when you're out and about, don't you?
Kelly:
Yeah, a lot.
Pete:
OK, you're doing that on the 3G network, but the new iPhone 5, and some of the new phones, will support 4G, which has already been launched by Everything Everywhere, but in the coming months, the 800 megahertz band, of course which you know well?
Kelly:
Oh, of course, I do very well.
Pete:
Is that VHF or UHF?
Kelly:
That's UHF.
Pete:
Very good. Well, that band is being sold off to provide the new 4G mobile network, but it also happens to clash with where Freeview used to be. So the difficulty there is, if people have a Freeview TV aerial, it will receive and bring in signals from the 4G masts that are going up. Effectively, that means you're going to get interference into your TV.
Kelly:
Yeah, that's not very good. So who's actually going to be affected?
Pete:
The current best estimates are one in ten households in the UK will be affected. That's up to 2.3 million households. It only affects digital terrestrial TV, better known as Freeview, so if you've got satellite or cable, you won't be affected by this.
Kelly:
OK, so it's going to be me, then. So when are these problems going to start?
Pete:
Well, it's expected that the first 4G service operating on this frequency will be in May, so not far away. But the network is going to be slowly built out over the coming years, so not everyone will be hit in May - it'll be a gradual thing. As new base stations go up, more and more people will be affected, and of course, the mobile phone networks are going to be put up where the people live, so it will be in the more populated areas first of all, and I know London is expected to be quite badly hit, because there'll be a lot of cell bases going up in London.
Kelly:
OK, so what can I do, if I get interference?
Pete:
The current plan is, if the mobile phone companies expect that you're in an area where you will get interference, they will offer you one of these, that you know all about from your amateur radio training.
Kelly:
A filter.
A Freeview interference filter
Pete:
This has a TV aerial socket on it, and it plugs into the back of your telly, and into that you plug your TV aerial, and that should filter out the interference from the 4G network, and we'll stick a picture of that up on our website. Would you like a hold?
Kelly:
I can do. I feel I've been holding this all weekend, though.
Pete:
Bless you! And that filter is designed to plug into your TV between the aerial and the TV socket, and it will stop signals over a certain frequency.
Kelly:
OK, so can I install this myself?
Pete:
Yes, the plan is, these will be posted out to effective people, and it is literally a case of unplugging your TV aerial, plugging the filter in, and then plugging your TV aerial into that filter. There are certain people that will be given extra help - that's particularly those over 75, those on certain types of benefits and allowances, the registered blind or partially-sighted, and some people in care homes, so there will be help available.
Kelly:
OK, do you have to pay for them yourself?
Pete:
Yeah, that's a bit of a weird one. If you've got one TV, they will supply you a filter. If you've got two TVs, you'll get one free filter, and you have to buy other filters for other TVs, so as part of the help scheme, you'll get one filter for one TV. For the rest of your tellies in your house, you're on your own.
Kelly:
Ah great, OK. So there's not many houses that actually just have one TV, so ultimately it's going to be an expense for quite a lot of homes really. So what happens if you live in a block of flats?
Pete:
Well, that can be handled slightly differently, because typically they'll use a communal aerial, so you can get a filter that is actually at the aerial point before it's distributed to all the other flats in the building. So in theory, the landlord should be responsible for fitting a filter to the aerial, so that everyone in each flat doesn't have to worry about it separately.
Kelly:
OK, and if the filter doesn't work?
Pete:
Yes - there are a few people for whom a filter will not solve the problem, particularly those that live very very close to a 4G base station, and also those that have a masthead amplifier - that's an amp up on the aerial itself, before it gets into the telly. So if you have a masthead amp, that may need to be removed, which is normally something you can't do yourself. In some cases, if you are very, very close to a cell base, a filter is going to do nothing, and what you'll have to do is switch from Freeview to satellite TV, or to something like Virgin Media, but that will normally be paid for by the 4G companies, not you.
Kelly:
Ah, well that's not too bad then. At least you kind of get a resolve without having any expense.
Pete:
And talking of expense, installing all of these filters and making all of these changes is expected to cost £180 million.
Kelly:
Whose money? - just the companies', or government money?
Pete:
This is the companies', so Everything Everywhere, 3, O2, Vodafone, all of that lot, are going to be paying into a fund to support this process, ultimately because it's their fault that there's going to be interference with Freeview.
Kelly:
Oh dear - you can just imagine how much they're actually making out of this.
Pete:
Yeah, they'll be making their money out of it. It's certainly true to say that the mobile companies, the prices they'll charge for 4G will include money to recoup this cost, so yes - no such thing as a free lunch.
Kelly:
No, there never is.
Pete:
OK, thank you for your amateur radio help there - that certainly made it a lot clearer, and you understand all this - the megahertz and the kilohertz and everything?
Kelly:
I do, see - there you go! I'm now fully involved.
Pete:
It was worth it, wasn't it?
Kelly:
Oh, definitely.
Transcript continues: Echostar Interview
Listen to FrequencyCast Show 85 - Freeview Interference and 4G Explained |
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