Aerial Image basemap: Problem with QGIS QuickMapServices Plugin MapQuest Layer

Question

I need a areal image or satellite Image as a basemap for some maps. Since I have read that the OpenLayers plugin is no longer supported here, here and here (just to name a few), I changed to the QuickMapServices plugin.

However, now I'm trying to get a high-resolution areal / satellite image as a base map and therefore I chose the MapQuest Aerial layer. Yet, this plugin does not work. I am getting the error message

QuickMapServices: Failed to download all xx files. - MapQuest Aerial

I checked the CRS. It is set to EPSG:3857 (WGS 84 / Pseudo Mercator) and I also tried others.

Do you know how to solve this error? Or is there another plug-in that provides high-res basemap imagery?

Answer 1

MapQuest no longer provide a tile server for free: https://developer.mapquest.com/forum/mapquest-open-tiles-being-discontinued

Thus it cannot be used in QuickMapServices anymore.

But the plugin can load in Google and Bing aerial imagery see: Google Maps not Showing in QGIS 2.12