FAQs need some help?

Mobile operators are upgrading their mobile services across the UK to enable mobile devices such as smartphones, laptops and tablets to access the internet at super-fast speeds.

Some mobile services and TV use parts of the radio spectrum (airwaves) to reach us. Mobile networks in the UK use different radio frequencies (airwaves): 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2.6 GHz, 3.4-3.6 GHz. The frequencies used by some mobile services are next to those used for TV received through an aerial. As a result, when mobile services are upgraded there is a small chance that your aerial, TV, or set-top box could struggle to receive a good TV signal.

If you notice new TV interference, please contact us for help.

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Typical issues include poor sound, blocky images (pixelation) or a ‘no signal’ message being shown on screen. These symptoms might be experienced some or all of the time. Only free to view TV services received through an aerial could experience problems; your viewing will not be affected if you watch cable or satellite TV. 

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You may be missing TV channels for a variety of reasons. For example, some TV services may move to new channel numbers. You may need to retune to ensure your list is up to date. 

The amount of channels you can expect to receive depends on where you live and which transmitter serves your address. You can find out more about retuning and check which channels should be available at your address by entering your postcode on the Freeview channel checker. 

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Cable and satellite TV services are not received through an aerial, mobile signals should not cause interference to either of these services. 

If you have cable or satellite but also watch TV through an aerial on another TV set, contact us and we can send you a free filter which will block the mobile signal being received by your TV equipment. 

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Mobile signals could affect TVs in caravans, campers and narrowboats. 

We can provide a free filter which blocks the mobile signal being received by your TV equipment. We are unable to provide engineer support for viewers who notice interference to free to view TV in mobile properties as resolving the issue will vary from location to location.  

Please contact us to request a filter.  

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Mobile handsets are unlikely to be affected. Mobile signals will not affect digital radio services operating as Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB) services or on satellite and cable platforms. You may see interference if you use your computer to watch TV using a USB tuner. 

Avoid placing other devices that use airwaves – such as mobile phones, WiFi routers, or laptops – in very close proximity (less than two metres) to your TV. 

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Ofcom has a mobile and broadband coverage checker.

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We identify homes that may experience interference to their free to view TV and send a postcard to them in advance of a nearby mast being upgraded. 

To find out if we have sent postcards in your area, please enter your postcode into our  postcode look up. If we haven’t mailed postcards to your area, interference to free to view TV is unlikely to be caused by mobile signals.  

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This may be because you live on the border of an area that might experience TV interference when mobile services are upgraded. Please be aware that the majority of viewers who receive a postcard from us will not experience any interference to their free to view TV. Of course, if you have interference caused by mobile signals, we will still provide support even if you did not receive a postcard from us. Please  contact us. 

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If you are responsible for your TV aerial, have received a postcard from us and experience new interference to TV received through an aerial such as Freeview, YouView, or BT, please contact us. We will assess whether the interference might be due to a mobile phone mast that has recently been upgraded in your area.

Find out more.

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If you have received a postcard from us, and experience new interference to your free to view TV, please contact us. We will assess whether the interference might be due to mobile signals that have recently been upgraded in your area. If we believe the interference might be due to mobile signals; you are responsible for your own aerial; we have already sent you a filter to fit yourself which has not resolved the interference and, if you are eligible, we may arrange for an engineer to visit your home, at no cost.

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All engineers have undertaken training and hold a valid Disclosure and Barring Services (formerly Criminal Records Bureau) check. They will always carry an identity card with a photograph and you can request the name of the engineer in advance of the visit.

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The key measure of how well we are doing our job is how quickly and effectively we restore free to view TV received through an aerial for households that experience interference as a result of upgrades to mobile services below 900 MHz.

If you:

● live in a house with its own aerial

● do not have satellite or cable television

● have TV interference which is diagnosed as being caused by mobile signals below 900 MHz

● have lost access to your main standard-definition TV services we aim to restore your TV service within 10 working days of booking your appointment. Where other channels are affected, you will be offered the next available appointment but the waiting time may be more than 10 working days. Our Code of Service explains more.

(Note: The 10 working days begin when your appointment is booked.)

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We work with the voluntary and community sector to ensure those affected by mobile signal upgrades receive support and advice from people they know and trust. This includes the provision of a chaperone to accompany a visit from a Restore TV engineer, if required. You are eligible for this additional support if you:

● are 75 years of age or over;

● are registered blind or partially sighted;

● receive any of the following benefits: personal independence payments (PIPs); attendance allowance; constant attendance allowance or War Pensioner’s Mobility Support.

If you are deaf or hard of hearing, we are able to provide assistance via email. Our email address is enquiries@restoretv.uk. In your email to us, please include your address details and advise us of your preferred way to discuss the issue. To understand more about the type of TV interference you have noticed, we will email you a series of short non-technical questions.

Click here to see our useful guide on the subject.

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If we sent you an at800 filter or if one of our engineers visited and fitted an at800 filter to restore TV service, this will need replacing as new mobile services below 900 MHz are upgraded in your area.

The at800 filter will not prevent any potential interference that could be caused by upgraded services. If the TV set-up remains the same, for example, you are still watching TV received through an aerial, and you notice new TV interference, we can send a replacement filter, free of charge. If the TV set-up has changed, for example, a cable and/or satellite system is now being used, these services will not be affected by mobile signals so a filter is not required.

If your household did not request the filter but one is fitted in the property, if required, this can also be replaced, free of charge.

Contact us

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A Restore TV domestic/household filter is a small device that is fitted between the aerial and the TV and blocks mobile signals being received by your TV equipment. Filters are provided free of charge. The filter is smaller than a pack of cards and needs no batteries or external power supply. It will normally plug into the lead between the TV and the aerial. If you have a TV signal amplifier or booster, the filter must be fitted between the aerial and amplifier. Filters supplied by Restore TV filter are tested by DTG to ensure they block mobile signals.

You can also download the filter fitting instructions here.

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If we believe the TV interference might be due to mobile signals and you are responsible for your own aerial, we can send you an indoor filter to fit yourself, free of charge. The filter will normally plug into the lead between the TV and the aerial. If you have a TV signal amplifier or booster, the filter must be fitted between the aerial and amplifier. Full fitting instructions are included and we can provide further advice online and by phone. In most instances, fitting the filter will resolve the interference.

You can also download the filter fitting instructions here.

Outdoor filters should be fitted by an aerial engineer.

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If you believe the interference to free to view TV is caused by mobile signals, please contact us. If you are responsible for your own aerial, and we have checked to see if a nearby mobile mast has recently been upgraded, we can send you an indoor filter to fit yourself, free of charge. Fitting instructions are included with the indoor filter and we can provide further advice by phone.

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The Restore TV filter connects between your TV aerial and your set-top box. Fitting instructions are provided with every filter we send out and can also be found here.

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Yes. However, if you have an indoor aerial with a built-in amplifier, the filter needs to be fitted before the amplifier; therefore, it may not solve the TV interference. If you have received a postcard from us, have had good TV reception in the past but experience new interference to free to view TV, please see our guide on indoor aerials for more information on how you may be able to improve your signal.

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If you require additional filters for multiple TV sets, we will provide these free on request. However, if you watch free to view TV on more than one TV in your house, you may have a single aerial and a distribution amplifier or splitter that sends the signal to different locations. If so, then one filter–fitted between the TV aerial and the distribution amplifier or splitter–should resolve any interference to free to view TV on all of the TVs in your home. It is only if you have separate aerials for each of your TVs that you may need additional filters.

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In the majority of cases, the Restore TV filter will resolve interference caused by mobile signals below 900 MHz and enable you to continue receiving and watching free to view TV as normal. For a small number of viewers, the filter may not restore an acceptable level of TV reception. If this does not work, we will look at other solutions such as re-aligning or replacing existing TV aerials; improving cabling; or, as a last resort, moving you to another service, such as free to view satellite television. Restore TV engineers are trained to provide advice on how we can best restore your TV service.

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We recommend that you leave your filter behind when you move house. If you are concerned about TV interference to free to view TV at your new property, or believe you may need a Restore TV filter, please contact us.

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If you are not responsible for your TV aerial (because this is the responsibility of your landlord or property manager or you live in a care home, for example), have received a postcard from us and experience new interference to your free to view TV, you should contact us.

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Commercial communal systems.

If you are responsible for your communal aerial and are a business, we can provide an outdoor filter. However, our remit does not extend to fitting filters at commercial premises. Properties with a communal system are generally maintained or under contract with an electrical or installer contractor who may have designed and installed the original system.

If the commercial property owner/landlord does not have such a contractor or maintenance contract we can provide contact details for CAI registered, security checked and qualified installers.

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Roof aerials located in the loft or in an attic rather than on the roof can often provide unstable reception. If you have previously had good reception, have received a postcard from us and notice new TV interference, contact us. If mobile signals are diagnosed as the potential cause of the interference, and you are responsible for your own aerial, we can send you a Restore TV filter to fit yourself. Filters are provided free of charge. Fitting instructions are included and we can provide further advice online and by phone.

In most instances, fitting the filter will resolve any interference from mobile signals. If it doesn’t and, if you are eligible, we can arrange for a Restore TV engineer to visit your home, at no cost.

Please note, our in-home engineer support is only available for individual households that solely rely on free to view services that are received through a domestic (rooftop or loft) aerial and have no access to cable and satellite services.

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Portable DVB-T TVs receive free to view services and therefore may be affected.

The main factor is the location of the receiver; any receiver located close to a mobile mast will have a higher risk of interference than one located further away.

In addition, if the portable receiver is connected to an omni-directional aerial it will tend to be more susceptible to problems than a directional aerial.

Unfortunately, a Restore TV filter cannot be inserted if the aerial is integrated into a DVB-T receiving device.

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If you have a weak TV signal, or several TVs, you may have a TV splitter, amplifier or booster in your loft or on your roof.

In this case, a Restore TV filter needs to be connected between the aerial and the amplifier. If you have a rooftop amplifier, a weather-proofed Restore TV filter will need to be installed. If you are responsible for your own aerial and, if you are eligible, we can arrange for a Restore TV engineer to visit your home and fit a filter for you at our expense.

Please note, our in-home engineer support is only available for individual households that solely rely on free to view services that are received through a domestic (rooftop or loft) aerial and have no access to cable and satellite services.

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Mobile signals may result in issues such as poor sound, blocky images (pixelation) or a ‘no signal’ message being shown on screen. These symptoms might be experienced some or all of the time. Only free to view TV services received through an aerial could experience problems; your viewing will not be affected if you watch cable or satellite TV.

‘No signal’ can often appear when there is a digital TV recorder (DTR) or other set top box (STB)connected but powered down or on standby, therefore, when you switch on your TV, it cannot receive the signals from the aerial that is first connected to the switched off DTR or STB. These units need to be powered up to pass on the output aerial signal to the TV.

Having too much signal strength, can also result in the ‘No signal’ message. Aerial systems which are unnecessarily amplified, show the same symptoms as too little signal. Some TV tuners can be overloaded with signals and then display no signal before shutting down to standby.

If you have a second TV in the house which has its own aerial and you get a good picture, the loss of signal on your main TV may be due to problems with your aerial. We have more information about this and other possible causes of interference in our useful guides section

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We identify properties that may experience interference to their free to view TV and send a postcard to them in advance of a nearby mast being upgraded. The postcard advises of the various ways to get in touch with us should they need to. Whilst we are not responsible for resolving this issue for businesses, we can provide advice and guidance.

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We identify properties that may experience interference to their free to view TV and send a postcard to them in advance of a nearby mast being upgraded. We also write to local authorities and social housing providers who have properties in the area advising of the help and support provided by Restore TV. A useful guide for local authorities can be viewed here.

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We identify properties that may experience interference to their free to view TV and send a postcard to them in advance of a nearby mast being upgraded.

It includes various ways to get in touch with us should you need to.

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Restore TV is an independent programme created to ensure that all UK viewers continue to receive free to view channels, such as Freeview, BT, TalkTalk and YouView, or are offered a suitable alternative, if new mobile services cause TV interference.  

Restore TV is a programme run by Digital Mobile Spectrum Limited. DMSL is owned by the UK mobile operators – EE, Virgin Media O2, Three and Vodafone. 

To ensure we deliver a high-quality service, we report into the Coexistence Technical Working Group chaired by Ofcom, representing consumers, broadcasters and mobile operators It monitors and advises on our performance to ensure free to view TV viewers interests are properly served.  

Restore TV was previously known as at800. Mobile services are being upgraded and our remit has been expanded to provide help and support to viewers who experience interference to free to view TV received through an aerial by mobile signals below 900 MHz.   

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Digital Mobile Spectrum Limited (DMSL) is a joint venture of the UK mobile network operators EE, Virgin Media O2, Three and Vodafone. Established in 2012, DMSLs vision is a disruption free digital life for people across the nations of the UK – England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. 

The company specialises in transparently delivering complex programmes with multiple public and private stakeholders. Utilising its expertise in radio modelling, customer experience and TV coverage planning, DMSL supports its stakeholders in achieving their shared objectives through our TV interference mitigation, spectrum clearing and rural mobile coverage programmes. 

Find out more about DMSL. 

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We identify areas which may experience TV interference when mobile masts are upgraded and contact properties in those locations. We know which addresses we need to contact, not which people. 

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Calls to 0808 numbers are free from UK landlines and mobiles. Our number is 0808 13 13 800. 

If you are concerned about call costs, we can return your call. Contact us. 

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The Restore TV contact centre is based in the UK. Our number is 0808 13 13 800. 

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In 2023, the BBC will make some changes to the SD versions of its channels delivered by satellite. In early 2024, the BBC will be closing the SD channels completely. This means viewers with older satellite set-top boxes that are not HD enabled will no longer be able to view BBC channels once the switch off has taken place. More information can be found on the HD Satellite Upgrade website.

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