Sky Conway?

bk

Does anyone know who Sky Conway are and what type of service they deliver and using what sort of technology?

Anyone got a website for them?

I was looking at some new apartments over the weekend and they seem to have this Sky Conway crowd installed in the apartment, they had adds up saying that the building was a "satellite free zone" which confused me as I had assumed that Sky Conway was some sort of community sat setup.

L1011

I would guess they are the company who own the communal dish on the roof. Either that or its some dodgy cable system - I know someone who's moved in to a new apartment that has ~15 channel "cable" for bugger all a month - 9 euros or something - but its clearly completely illegal - seems to be collated off a block of Sky boxs in a shed on the roof.

"No satellite" clauses in contracts, etc, are a violation of your human rights in EU countries, btw. Legal right to have a satellite dish is enshrined in law.

bk

MYOB wrote:

"No satellite" clauses in contracts, etc, are a violation of your human rights in EU countries, btw. Legal right to have a satellite dish is enshrined in law.

Unfortunately not much help if you live in apartment.

Mossy Monk

maybe you will be fortunate enough to get 2 satellite feeds into your appartment. thats what i got, handy for Sky+ but not so good should you want Hotbird or Astra 1

JDxtra

Get a direct feed of them for your own Sky box. I've been in two apartment complexes they setup and it wasn't great to be honest (poor, and slightly odd, channel selection - plus not great reception either).

The "Sky" part in their name is misleading and confusing people into thinking they are actually getting Sky Digital - when in fact it's just ropey analogue cable TV.

Our man in Havana

Would they be in breach of the trade descriptions act for misleading people into thinking its sky? Sky should sue them for inproper use of their name!

Moorsie

.... I'll bet those apartments are in Sandyford.

Sky Conway are basically installers. They offered us the standard Sky box but couldn't do sky plus and I assume won't be able to do the HD for the moment.

gibo_ie

Yup,
I know them well, unfortunately they were the "exclusive" provider in our building in Dublin 1, the service they provide is terrible, all free channels which they make you pay for (no sky one by the way), set up fee of €60 and if you want a sky digital package through them they charge 15 per month on top of skys charges!!!!

I was rightly peeved off with this, complained to the competition authority, complained to management company and now we are getting NTL into the building and we are allowed erect satellite dishes!!

Dont let anyone tell you what to do, know your rights and speak up, ours was a danninger building and i know they done this a lot in the past. It is illegal and you can stop it. I am not saying NTL are better than Conway but at least we have a choice now of who to choose.
M

JDxtra

gibo_ie wrote:

Yup,
I know them well, unfortunately they were the "exclusive" provider in our building in Dublin 1, the service they provide is terrible, all free channels which they make you pay for (no sky one by the way), set up fee of €60 and if you want a sky digital package through them they charge 15 per month on top of skys charges!!!!

I was rightly peeved off with this, complained to the competition authority, complained to management company and now we are getting NTL into the building and we are allowed erect satellite dishes!!

Dont let anyone tell you what to do, know your rights and speak up, ours was a danninger building and i know they done this a lot in the past. It is illegal and you can stop it. I am not saying NTL are better than Conway but at least we have a choice now of who to choose.
M

Excellent, good work!

byte

Fair play to ya gibo_ie

You've just shown what can be achieved by making a stand!

gibo_ie

thanks guys,
If anyone needs the contact in NTL for new developments etc just let me know.
As the management company were under the wrong impression by Sky Conway -- NTL do not charge the management company or builders whatsoever to provide a service, including manholes cables etc ZERO charge!! Sky Conway will not have you believe this though!
Thanks again!
Gibo

zuma

gibo_ie wrote:

thanks guys,
If anyone needs the contact in NTL for new developments etc just let me know.
As the management company were under the wrong impression by Sky Conway -- NTL do not charge the management company or builders whatsoever to provide a service, including manholes cables etc ZERO charge!! Sky Conway will not have you believe this though!
Thanks again!
Gibo

Fair fNcking play on you!!!

Thats the sort of attitude which might stop those cowboys screwing over people who pay far more for their Broadband/TV due to brown envelopes and such

Good work!

Rambo

bk wrote:

Does anyone know who Sky Conway are and what type of service they deliver and using what sort of technology?

some kind of rf moduler to get 15 channels from the sky digital box
no teletext and most of the channels or in mono

Anyone got a website for them?

yes http://www.skyconway.com that only a redirect to geocities site
which is free

I was looking at some new apartments over the weekend and they seem to have this Sky Conway crowd installed in the apartment, they had adds up saying that the building was a "satellite free zone" which confused me as I had assumed that Sky Conway was some sort of community sat setup.

You can get sky digital a link of sky conway dish and get REAL sky

gibo_ie

Rambo wrote:

You can get sky digital a link of sky conway dish and get REAL sky

Correct, BUT as i said they charge you €15 extra per month for the privelage!!
E.g. Sky charge you 10.50 and Conway charge you 25.50 in total!!!
Great service ehh...

Also our channels keep going with them, flick to Sky Demo channel for five minutes to two weeks randomly!! They were nothing but a pain to deal with.

watty

Actually Sky charge 21.95 approx something the half price is only 3 months.

gibo_ie

thanks watty!!
E.G. --> Means for example, the charge still applies.

Rambo

watty wrote:

Actually Sky charge 21.95 approx something the half price is only 3 months.

I am now paying 30 Euro from sky which is connected to a skyconway dish

The price appears to be the same as anyone that has a dish on there house
I was paying 15 Euro for the first 3 months

DMC

gibo_ie wrote:

Yup,
I was rightly peeved off with this, complained to the competition authority, complained to management company and now we are getting NTL into the building and we are allowed erect satellite dishes!!

gibo_ie, fantastic news for those who live in apartments. Could you tell us the details of who you contacted in the CA, how long it took to get this done, and what did the management company did to prevent this happening (if anything)?

Gegerty

Yep I fell for the "satellite free zone" BS myself. I pay Sky Conway approx €13 per month to get basically FTA channels with the exception of RTE, TV3 and Channel4. The quality is good but they keep taking away channels and swapping them around without any notice. They provide our Sky Digital as well using a communal satellite dish, can't complain about the quality of that. Perfect signal 100% of the time.

I've been using their sh!te cable channels (the FTA channels) as a kind of sky multiroom but I recently decided feck this I'm going to cancel it and get proper Sky Multi room. They told me if i cancel their cable service then my Sky signal goes with it, but I'll still be held to my 12 month sky contract and will have to arrange with them to get a sky satellite dish. I'm going to ring sky later but I've a funny feeling they're going to charge me for the dish.

btw, the "satellite free zone" lark is complete BS. There are satellite dishes popping up all over my estate. Along with conservatories which are also "banned". Can't believe i fell for that. Actually now that I think about it, it was actually Sky Conway who posted the "This is a satellite free zone" flyer in the doors...d'oh!

L1011

Any form of contract that attempts to remove your planning permission rights - satellite dish, conservatory, etc - isn't going to stand pissing time in court. Also, can you see the builders caring enough to try and take a claim anyway? (I'm assuming you're in a housing estate - they'll care a bit more on an apartment block if you build a conservatory!)

chris sky

Hi All,

I know of them they provide basic tv stations and digital satellite signal to homes. They are not illegal at ALL they have a basic package of BBC 1 ,BBC 2 , UTV , Channel 4 , Rte 1 , Rte 2 , TV3 , TG4 , CNN , Living tv , Mtv , E4 , National Geographical , Setanta and Nickelodeon they charge only €15 per month and they will not charge you extra for 2 , 3 , 4 tv points not like NTL and they charge €19.99. They also provide broadband and this service is €30 for a 1Mb line. All new apartment blocks are wired for sky plus sky and vod in each room. As the technology is moving so quick in this area it is hard to plan so give them a break !

gibo_ie

chris sky wrote:

Hi All,

I know of them they provide basic tv stations and digital satellite signal to homes. They are not illegal at ALL they have a basic package of BBC 1 ,BBC 2 , UTV , Channel 4 , Rte 1 , Rte 2 , TV3 , TG4 , CNN , Living tv , Mtv , E4 , National Geographical , Setanta and Nickelodeon they charge only €15 per month and they will not charge you extra for 2 , 3 , 4 tv points not like NTL and they charge €19.99. They also provide broadband and this service is €30 for a 1Mb line. All new apartment blocks are wired for sky plus sky and vod in each room. As the technology is moving so quick in this area it is hard to plan so give them a break !

Hi Chris,
(anything to Sky Conway -- surname perhaps )
Anyway who said they were illegal? But funny you mention this as i spoke with Sky and they said that while Conway have a locense to resell Sky in the North they do not have one for the south and are not the authorised reseller in Dublin. You seem to be getting more for your money that the rest of us (MTV, National Geo, Setanta for example are not included for us) nor is broadband and wires used in cabling building are not high enough quality for proper sky plus signal i am told!
Just spoke with New Development manager in NTL this evening and they confirmed a number of complaints against Sky Conway directly to Sky in the Uk, Sky have now sent over a person to check up on Conway and a few other installers who are not installing as they should. Sky news and MTV should not be allowed be rebroadcast without a sky license but they seem to be doing so anyway. I have been in constant contact with Sky Conway and they are totally unprofessional, the signal is pathetic to say the least and the stations still *magically* change themselves mid way through programmes (and that is when the station is even available -- lost C4 for two full weeks!!)
But of course if your building has no problems yet then great and i hope you dont either, just that you are the first to say this!
M

chris sky

Hi Gilbo,

I know for a fact MTV is an independant and not a Sky channel for start. We where having problems at start but they got their act together and i am very happy Stations are perfect. Regarding the cabling it is up to electricans to install 2 cables to the main room maybe your in an apartment block NTL pulled out of!

watty

You get banned for pushing your own service without paying Boards Advert rates.

Don't dig a bigger pit

bk

chris sky wrote:

Hi All,

I know of them they provide basic tv stations and digital satellite signal to homes. They are not illegal at ALL they have a basic package of BBC 1 ,BBC 2 , UTV , Channel 4 , Rte 1 , Rte 2 , TV3 , TG4 , CNN , Living tv , Mtv , E4 , National Geographical , Setanta and Nickelodeon they charge only €15 per month and they will not charge you extra for 2 , 3 , 4 tv points not like NTL and they charge €19.99.

But no Sky One, C6, Paramount Comedy, Sky News and Discovery is far better then NatGeo, also NTL don't charge for extra analogue points, only an extra €5 for digital mirror sub.

NTL offer 120 channels digital for €30, far better value then these shower.

chris sky wrote:

They also provide broadband and this service is €30 for a 1Mb line.

Whooppie!! NTL give you 3m for €30 or 6m (really 10m) for €40

I think I'd rather get NTL or even Sky direct any day over this crowd.

L1011

chris sky wrote:

they will not charge you extra for 2 , 3 , 4 tv points not like NTL and they charge €19.99.

Neither do NTL if you're not stupid enough to ask them to install them for you....

Anyone who pays for analogue cable TV or analogue phone extra ports to be installed by the communications company :rolleyes:

gibo_ie

chris sky wrote:

Hi Gilbo,

I know for a fact MTV is an independant and not a Sky channel for start. We where having problems at start but they got their act together and i am very happy Stations are perfect. Regarding the cabling it is up to electricans to install 2 cables to the main room maybe your in an apartment block NTL pulled out of!

NTL defo did not "pull out" as you say as i have been in constant contact with them as i have friends working in the company in different sections. you are also wrong about the electricians as SkyConway's big thing is that they install the cables themselves and therefore *own* the cables in your apartment (Crazy!). But if you want to send one of your engineers chris i dont mind...

chris sky

If you do not want Sky Conway Basic channels they can switch them off and just give you digtal satellite signal I think!!!

gibo_ie

chris sky wrote:

If you do not want Sky Conway Basic channels they can switch them off and just give you digtal satellite signal I think!!!

Unfortunately no! They say that because you must pay "maintenance" on their dish on the roof you must continue to pay for the basic channels if you get sky digit al through them end of story! I have had this conv with them numerous times!

Mossy Monk

chris sky wrote:

If you do not want Sky Conway Basic channels they can switch them off and just give you digtal satellite signal I think!!!

please dont make claims like this unless you actually know for certain

Tony

chris sky wrote:

Regarding the cabling it is up to electricans to install 2 cables to the main room maybe your in an apartment block NTL pulled out of!

Nonsense, it is up to whomever is given the task to install correct cabling. Perhaps you could tell us what your real motivation is for all of your 3 posts?

watty

Indeed I like Electricians to install cable for Electricity and specialists to install any other cable.

lawhec

Looking at their website, they seem to be based in Cookstown, Co.Tyrone. A bit strange that they are trying to ply trade like this in Dublin!

Electricans 95% of the time should be the last people to install TV coax as they tend to think unshielded "TV" cable will do just about everything, including satellite signals. :eek:

Gegerty

chris sky wrote:

If you do not want Sky Conway Basic channels they can switch them off and just give you digtal satellite signal I think!!!

You'd think wouldn't you! Especially since Sky provide communal dishes and installation for free. But no, if you cancel Sky Conway then they disconnect you from the communal dish and you lose your Sky signal. I'm now stuck in this situation and to top it all off Sky will not install a minidish for me because I am not a new customer. Not even if i pay them :mad:

Mossy Monk

tell Sky to stick their service and that you want to cancel and see what they say

Gegerty

Mossy Monk wrote:

tell Sky to stick their service and that you want to cancel and see what they say

I will as soon as my contract is up in August. I've no alternaitve though, Sky Conway have obviously been handing out brown envelopes because I rang NTL and they said that they're not allowed into the estate. Sky Conway and the management company are in cahoots.

byte

Gegerty wrote:

I will as soon as my contract is up in August. I've no alternaitve though, Sky Conway have obviously been handing out brown envelopes because I rang NTL and they said that they're not allowed into the estate. Sky Conway and the management company are in cahoots.

God, that's a ridiculous situation to be stuck in.

Can't say I think much of your management company, never mind SkyConway!

jdc78

I am so fed up with Conway and this whole no satellite crap. I am going to call SKY directly and get a dish set up on my balcony. I figure since I live on the top floor I shouldn't have a problem with neighbours complaining, etc since (I hope) the dish wouldn't even be visible. Conway is the most unprofessional group I have ever dealt with.

I wrote the Competition Authority but since they don't reply to complaints, I have no idea what progress, if any I have made.

Goosey

Has anyone tried hooking up a TV Tuner card such as http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/pages/products/data_novasplus.html
to their pc, when using the Sky Conway cable feed to their apartment?
That is without a subscription to Sky Conway for TV channels ...just hooking up to the wall socket?

I would be very interested if any one has tried this. If it works then you more or less get the sat. fta channels for free and stuff SC and thier attempt at a monopoly in the apartment complex.

Cheapest card I can find is 80 yoyos : http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=122098

watty

Unless they are very stupid (I doubt), if you don't subscribe you don't get anything on the wall socket. This is the case in my daughter's apartment that is fed by Chorus.

They use a set top aerial.

A PC card of any flavour wont do anything a TV or Satellite receiver will do.

Sponge Bob

Conway seem to have the exclusive contract from a large apartment builder , formerly Zoe now Danninger, to run the system in this docklands development in Dublin . Watch out for Zoe/Danninger in future.

http://www.castleforbessquare.com/

Goosey

watty wrote:

Unless they are very stupid (I doubt), if you don't subscribe you don't get anything on the wall socket. This is the case in my daughter's apartment that is fed by Chorus.

They use a set top aerial.

A PC card of any flavour wont do anything a TV or Satellite receiver will do.

Most likely the case but ya don't know till you try
If that's the case then you may be able to use the connection that leads to nowhere as an aerial ??? In that case maybe there is a chance to pick up DVB-T transmissions??
Not my area of knowledge but I'll try almost anything once

watty

There is no DVB-t on Sky Conway.

Goosey

watty wrote:

There is no DVB-t on Sky Conway.

So true if your getting a feed from them but if you not ...may you could use the co-ax. socket as a big long aerial???

You would need a DVB-T reciever.

Goosey

Sorry about the extra reply ...browser appeared to timeout???/

paddymacwack

I just saw a link to this forum from AAM - I live in an apartment block where Sky Conway have provided the TV wiring. I pay €40 per quarter for around 18 channels, some of which were changed recently but a couple of crap channels still there. The name did confuse me too when I first rang them, but the only real problem we had with them was that UTV would sometime become a sky digital menu so they were feeding it from sky, sometimes it would stay like that for hours.

We got in Sky digital too, but couldn't get plus or multiroom since there isn't enough cabling from the dish on the roof of the block to each apartment. Apart from the problems with UTV I haven't had any real problems with them, 1 of the times I was working from home I noticed the "cable" signal was gone but the channels still worked on the Sky digital

byte

Hi paddymacwack, and welcome to boards!

Just curious, what's AAM?

watty

www.askaboutmoney.com guessing from searching google for AAM and Boards.ie

byte

watty wrote:

www.askaboutmoney.com guessing from searching google for AAM and Boards.ie

Ah, good ol' Google!

Glenbhoy

Also here via AAM

Can we assume therefore that management company contractual conditions such as no-satellite dishes in apartment blocks are not enforceable? (even though the apartment owner signed said contract - under the assumption that the likes of NTL would be providing cable).

watty

Many contracts that people sign willingly have parts that are not enforceable.

More parts may be invalid if it can be shown there was duress.

Many aspects of Irish Law are based on pre 1922 UK law. Since 19th centuary it has for example been a principle that "Pre nuptual" marriage contracts may be void as you can't even willingly be allowed to barter, negate or sell many basic rights by contract.

Only local council planning permissions on location and size regarding erection of aerials and dishes may be enforcable.