Hi there. I don’t currently own/use Tablo but am interested in learning more. Please let me describe my situation and help me determine whether or not it could be helpful.
I live in a remote, rural part of far Northern Minnesota. My “neighbor” who lives 1.5 miles up the hill from me (200’ higher in elevation) has an antenna on his roof. With his vantage, he’s able to pick up TV channels from the Duluth, MN area. From my location, I will almost surely not be able to. We both have high speed Internet/WiFi at our homes. He’s willing to “share” his TV reception through our wireless Internet connections.
Will Tablo facilitate this? If so, will I be able to watch TV independent of him (i.e. different channels at different times)?
I apologize if these are stupid questions but I’ve been looking thru the Tablo website and can’t seem to find simple answers to these questions. I look forward to hearing back from some of you and would be happy to answer additional questions.
Again, I’ll remind you that we’re not close enough to share the same WiFi network… for what that’s worth. Thanks for your time!
Key follow up questions:
What is the upload speed of your neighbour’s internet?
What is the download speed of your internet?
Do you both have unlimited internet?
I am a little confused with what:
“He’s willing to “share” his TV reception through our wireless Internet connections.” means.
If you both have unlimited data cap. He has fast enough upload speed. You have fast enough download speed. He has the reception to allow for antenna splitter without losing signal strength. and is willing to house your tablo unit in his house.
It would probably be remote connection. Of course he gets to use your tablo.
I just conducted an online download/upload speed test. I’ve never done that and so can I trust its accuracy? If so, my Internet’s download speed is 18.5 M/s and upload is 13.1 M/s. My neighbor and I have our Internet through the same local provider. I assume his speeds will compare. We do both have unlimited Internet…
Was this helpful?
And yes, I would leave my Tablo up at this place. We’d have to use an antenna splitter then? Would that literally cut his reception in half? Again, do to our remote location, this could be a problem… I’m not sure he’s getting super strong signals already…
According to my local Internet provider, I’m at 60/60… or at least this is what I’m paying for.
Unfortunately, you have to determine if they are currently using a splitter, amplifier, and what the current signal strength and signal quality is. Splitters don’t reduce the quality by 50%.
Some TV’s have signal meters that provide some of the information.
Pay for 60 but only get 18.5. hopefully it’s the speed test tool being used
And the speed test is relative to the device’s connectivity and other activity from other sources at the time of testing
So…as others have said…you would need to split his antenna to plug the Tablo in…inside the Tablo is another splitter, either two way or 4 way depending on the model you get…so your signal would be further reduced. There are amplifiers and such that can be used to help with that stuff, but really, playing around is the only way to see if it works well enough.
On another subject, Tablo has the ability to be used remotely, but is not designed to be a 100% remote setup…what that means is that your ‘client’ needs to be on the same network to be able to connect the first time…once connected, depending on your client (Roku, Firestick, etc) you should be able to remote view for awhile, with the occasional need to re-put your client back on the same network to re-establish the connection…some clients don’t support remote viewing (I believe Roku is one of those, but FireStick does work)
Getting this working is dependent on a number of issues…can the splitting work, and if necessary, are amplifiers possible, is his upload speed and your download speed good enough…all important considerations, most of which can’t be answered until you have a unit, hook it up and check to see 
Many splitters have -3.5db drop. Generally this isn’t significant. It’s best not to use them in a series. If there’s already a 2-way, don’t add another, get a balanced 3-way, -5db each. 2 x 2-way is a 7db drop and each connection is an opportunity for interference/bad connection.
Tablo claims to use amplified splitting technology to mitigate for this loss, so it’s nearly negligible