Second Sky box in other room

ice27 · 13-08-2003 9:05am #1

Someone told me that it is now possible to get a mirror subscription of your existing sub in another room for an additional €20.

Has anyone heard of this, or is it in the pipeline, or just a crazy rumour.

If you can get it done how does it work?

John R · 13-08-2003 9:19am

Call SKY, it is their scheme.

ShaneOC · 13-08-2003 9:27am

The details are in the Sky magazine. There is also an Irish number to call on the TV advert.

Basically you will need a second box (€159 from Sky), installation (probably €75) and then it €20 per month for the mirror sub.

freetoair · 13-08-2003 12:26pm

...and you MUST keep both boxes connected to the phone line at all times.

daithi01 · 13-08-2003 12:44pm

can you use your own extra box and save the €159and just pay the installation and mirror sub?

ShaneOC · 13-08-2003 12:49pm

Originally posted by daithi01
can you use your own extra box and save the €159and just pay the installation and mirror sub?

Yes, you do not have to buy a second box from Sky.

The reason they must be connected to the phone line is so that Sky can check that they are being used in the same household. Otherwise everyone would be getting a mirror sub for their friends and families.

ice27 · 13-08-2003 1:08pm

But surely u can take them out of the phone lines once there installed. How will they know?

ShaneOC · 13-08-2003 2:26pm

Originally posted by ice27
But surely u can take them out of the phone lines once there installed. How will they know?

They can send a signal to either box and request it to phone home. If the callback fails they can turn off the card. They will not turn it off straight away but will retry the callback and then contact you if it fails repeatedly to ask why.

Connecting it neatly to the phoneline is part of the install.

savemejebus · 13-08-2003 2:33pm

I was wondering, i've got a sky sub and a FTV version 2 card, would it be possible for me to get a 2nd hand box and use that for the sky sub and also run the FTV box just by splitting the signal, or do sky have a dedicated splitter/booster for this?

ice27 · 13-08-2003 2:36pm

I have a box which hasnt been connected for the last 3 years. I never had it on the phone line, and nobody from sky has ever contacted in that period. Is this because it was installed and never connceted from Day one. However I am still a subscriber like everyone else. I wonder how many people have ever been contacted and asked why there box is plugged out. Is it a myth that they know at all?

irishguy · 13-08-2003 2:44pm

is the €20 per month for there SKY+ offering? can you just get your own second digibox and get another card or clone the card you have instead of paying twice for the same service

ShaneOC · 13-08-2003 2:45pm

Originally posted by ice27
I have a box which hasnt been connected for the last 3 years. I never had it on the phone line, and nobody from sky has ever contacted in that period. Is this because it was installed and never connceted from Day one. However I am still a subscriber like everyone else. I wonder how many people have ever been contacted and asked why there box is plugged out. Is it a myth that they know at all?

The mandatory phone connect was introduced in June 2002 (I think). It states that you must leave the digibox connected to an active phone line for the first twelve months. According to the installers here Sky have become rather strict on this now. However I would imagine that Sky don't mind too much if it is not connected for a regular subscription as they are still receiving your money.

Before last June you did not have to have it connected to the phone at all which is why yours wasn't connected and Sky never bothered you about it.

The mirror subscription is different though. Without both boxes being connected to the same phone line you could subscribe to the full package for €60, get a mirror sub for €20 and then give the box to a friend and then both have the full pack for €40 each.

ShaneOC · 13-08-2003 2:52pm

Originally posted by irishguy
is the €20 per month for there SKY+ offering? can you just get your own second digibox and get another card or clone the card you have instead of paying twice for the same service

The Sky+ subscription is €15 monthly although there is talk of this being scrapped in October.

If you upgrade to Sky+ I think it is €25 extra to get your existing digibox moved to a different room. It is not possible to clone the card, and the mirror sub is what you pay to get a second card.

irishguy · 13-08-2003 2:52pm

couldnt you, sign up for the mirror sub then get the mirror sub and the box to a friend. then get another box and leave that connected to the phoneline in your house?

irishguy · 13-08-2003 2:55pm

so if i have a digi box at the moment [i have nerver subscribed to sky digital] so the only thing i can do if i dont want to pay the mirror charge is use the other box for FTV channels?

ice27 · 13-08-2003 2:57pm

Thanks for the info Shane, the mirroer sub seems okay value at €20 I guess, however it does add up if like me you are dishing out €60 for the full sub. I have no problem with it been connceted to the phone line, however I havnt got a dedicated line in the t.v room which does complicate things. Its easier for me not to have it connected , otherwise there an extension thingy lying around.

However I have a FTV card Mark2, and would hope I will get another while out of it since i had the first one for over 2 years. If I insert this into Box 1 which is what it is activated on and this would be connected to the phone line, would I be rumbled, or can they tell through the phone at all?

That would be my only concern.

ShaneOC · 13-08-2003 2:58pm

Originally posted by savemejebus
I was wondering, i've got a sky sub and a FTV version 2 card, would it be possible for me to get a 2nd hand box and use that for the sky sub and also run the FTV box just by splitting the signal, or do sky have a dedicated splitter/booster for this?

You need to get a quad LNB. This will allow you to run up to 4 boxes from the one dish. There are no twin LNB's made for Sky sigital dishes. Other than that there is no problem with running a Sub box and a FTV box. However if they are both in the same room you may have trouble with operating them with the remote as both will respond whenever you press a button.

See Tony's site for quad LNBs.

ShaneOC · 13-08-2003 3:04pm

Originally posted by ice27
Thanks for the info Shane, the mirroer sub seems okay value at €20 I guess, however it does add up if like me you are dishing out €60 for the full sub. I have no problem with it been connceted to the phone line, however I havnt got a dedicated line in the t.v room which does complicate things. Its easier for me not to have it connected , otherwise there an extension thingy lying around.

However I have a FTV card Mark2, and would hope I will get another while out of it since i had the first one for over 2 years. If I insert this into Box 1 which is what it is activated on and this would be connected to the phone line, would I be rumbled, or can they tell through the phone at all?

That would be my only concern.

I used to use my V1 FTV card in my Sky+ box and more often than not forgot to plug it out of the phoneline. Never had a problem with it. If it tries to ring out the call will fail as it is trying to dial a UK number without 00 44.

My V1 FTV card is still going strong in an old digibox with no messages about channels dissappearing as of yet.

My V2 FTV card has it's own box too.

ShaneOC · 13-08-2003 3:07pm

Just a point to note, once a FTV card has been activated it will work properly in any digibox. The only channels that were married from card to box were the BBCs and now they are all FTA.

ShaneOC · 13-08-2003 3:15pm

Originally posted by irishguy
so if i have a digi box at the moment [i have nerver subscribed to sky digital] so the only thing i can do if i dont want to pay the mirror charge is use the other box for FTV channels?

I am not sure what you are trying to do. If you have a digibox at the moment without a subscription to Sky then you can watch the FTA channels as you say. Why would you be paying the mirror sub?

savemejebus · 13-08-2003 5:49pm

Thanks for the info and the link Shane, will look into that,

Cheers

irishguy · 14-08-2003 2:22am

ShaneOC, sorry i was just getting confused dont mind me. if i wanted to watch FTV channels do i need any sort of a card?

watty · 14-08-2003 8:54am

Five options with a second Digibox....

* Full subscription, no phone line

* Mirror sub, BOTH boxes on phone forever, not just 1 year like a new sub (Forever = till you cancel Mirror sub).

* No card. It gets the Free To Air only, inc BBC. (This is not "Freeview")

* UK FTV or Cancelled UK Sub card. Same as no card but adds ITV, C4, Five.

* Point it at 19E or 13E and fill the 50 "Other Channels" easily with non UK programs in English, inc BBC World, Arriang, Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN, Sky News also many pop video channels.
Most of the German and many Italian, French, Polish, Arabic etc.

No-one knows how long the 59,000 type 2 FTV cards will work (except Sky). ITV has appealed to ITC arguing there is no need to to turn off the *ALREADY PAID* for type 1 FTV cards. Sky can run old encryption for Type 1 on FTV channels and new encryption on Type2 card for Pay channels and old encryption on new card for FTV channels. ITV argues correctly that Sky is oppertunistically trying to get new subscribers.

While ITV did not pay a penny for those cards, they *DO* pay a lot for encryption, which is worth much less without the nearly 1million FTV cards Sky plan to turn off. Those cards are fully paid for (probabily with 80% profit for Sky at £12 each.. look at adverts at prices of pirate cards) already by BBC (82%) and C4/Five (12%).

ShaneOC · 14-08-2003 9:31am

Originally posted by irishguy
ShaneOC, sorry i was just getting confused dont mind me. if i wanted to watch FTV channels do i need any sort of a card?

The short answer is no.

Long answer is that I do not think it is any longer possible to get a card for the FTV (free to view) channels. Basically there are only three such channels ITV1, Channel4 and five (although you can manually tune in all ITV Regions if you have a FTV card).

If you want to watch the FTA (free to air) channels you do not need any card. However the digibox remembers the EPG from the last card that was in it, so if it was an Irish Sub card you will get the Irish EPG. What you should do in this case is get any type of card (Tesco Club Card, etc.) and put it into the box. You will get a few error messages about inserting your Sky card. Clear these messages and you should get the FTA EPG. This is now the full UK (London) EPG with all of the channels listed.

Check this link for the channels you can view.

irishguy · 14-08-2003 12:18pm

cool thanx for all the help guys

alan01 · 26-10-2004 10:26am

ShaneOC wrote:

The mirror subscription is different though. Without both boxes being connected to the same phone line you could subscribe to the full package for €60, get a mirror sub for €20 and then give the box to a friend and then both have the full pack for €40 each.

I want to get another card for our office. What's the best way, and is the biggest risk that we'll have to pay full for the second card? My subscription is over one year old and I no longer have it connected to a phone line. Alternatively, can I simply get a second sky card?

Second Sky box in other room

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