Sky+ and a telephone line

adox

I was just on the phone to Sky to enquire about upgrading to Sky+ with the new broadband €35 off.The price was fine and I was going to order.I explained that I dont currently have my Sky decoder connected to a phone line and that it wouldnt be practical for me to connect to a phone line if I get Sky+.

The reply I got was that I must have Sky+ connected to a phone line or else it wont work! He told me that you cant record without it connected to a phone line,which I immediately dismissed as a load of nonsense.I asked about a waiver fee so that I wouldnt have to connect to the phone line and he told me that there was one but it only applied to the standard box,not Sky+.

So it ended up that I told him I wanted to order there and then but I wouldnt if I had to connect to a phone line,so I ended up telling him to forget about it as he wouldnt budge.

Is he telling me porkies?Can you not get Sky+ without a phone connection?

I`ve had Sky around 5 years and have never had it connected to the phone line.

byte

Sky+ will work perfectly well without a phoneline connected. However, you will not get a subsidised box from Sky without having it connected to the phoneline.

The line's main purposes is for making PPV ordering easier (and making sky richer), and for other stuff like email (is email still there) and games on the Interactive menu.

adox

byte wrote:

Sky+ will work perfectly well without a phoneline connected. However, you will not get a subsidised box from Sky without having it connected to the phoneline.

The line's main purposes is for making PPV ordering easier (and making sky richer), and for other stuff like email (is email still there) and games on the Interactive menu.

Thanks byte.Yeah I`m aware of what the phone line is used for(thus why Sky are so keen for you to have it connected)but I was wondering if I can order Sky+ without connecting.If its not subsidised then I`m sure its probably double the price,but the guy didnt give me any options,it was more or less connect the line or you cant have it.:(

adox

I e-mailed Sky to ask if there was any way around the phone line connection and got this reply:



"Dear Mr Dooley



Thank you for your email regarding Sky+.



Your Sky+ box must always be connected to a working telephone line. This will enable you to use the full function of the Sky+ Box.



It is a requirement of the providers of this service, that you are connected to a telephone line in order to make bookings through your phone line. The service does not take priority over your regular phone use and calls would be made at low call or possibly free phone rate, dependant on the service provider you have booked from.



I trust that this information is of assistance. Should you require any further assistance please contact the above address or alternatively our customer services line on 08702 40 40 40.



Yours Sincerely



Darren Baigrie

Customer Relations"


So I`m a bit snookered really.It would be such a pain to try and connect the Sky+ box as I only have one phone point(which already has a dsl filter and extension lead hanging out of it) in the kitchen and its a long way from where the decoder will be.

Bluefish

I am no expert in these matters, but have a similar problem. I was thinking of getting around the need to have a lead from my one phone socket to my sky+ box by the use of this:

http://www.oneforall-int.com/index.html

Product: SV-1500 - "#Turns ordinary electrical sockets into telephone outlets (no extra wiring required) through Phone Line Carrier technology.
#These can be used to connect computer modems, video set-top-boxes, Internet appliances, phone of fax machine and other data oriented devices to the phone line."

byte

Yes, one of those should work with a digibox. I think the max data rate of one of those is about 32kbps, which is suitable for digibox, or maybe fax.

Michael Collins

byte wrote:

The line's main purposes is for making PPV ordering easier (and making sky richer), and for other stuff like email (is email still there) and games on the Interactive menu.

In this situation the main purpose of enforcing the telephone line connection, as far as Sky is concerned, is so that you don't get a box on a Multiview subscription for €15 and then rent it to your neighbour for €30, for example.

adox

Michael Collins wrote:

In this situation the main purpose of enforcing the telephone line connection, as far as Sky is concerned, is so that you don't get a box on a Multiview subscription for €15 and then rent it to your neighbour for €30, for example.

Yeah,which I can understand,but I`m not looking for multi room.

muffler

I got the sky+ installed about a month ago and never connected the telephone line. So far so good

adox

muffler wrote:

I got the sky+ installed about a month ago and never connected the telephone line. So far so good

Did you get it directly through Sky muffler and did you connect the phone line on installation and take it back out straight afterwards?

Sky are quoting me a very reasonable price of under €200 for Sky+ including installation.

I`d prefer to order through a local dealer but I`ve got some quotes and they are charging double the price as I`m already a Sky subscriber.

Dr. Nick

adox wrote:

Sky are quoting me a very reasonable price of under €200 for Sky+ including installation.

How does one get this offer?

adox

Dr. Nick wrote:

How does one get this offer?

I called them up and asked for a quote,giving my viewing card as reference.

It was €149 for Sky+ and €75 for installation.I mentioned the Sky+ broadband discount offer of €35 which they deducted.

Dr. Nick

adox wrote:

I called them up and asked for a quote,giving my viewing card as reference.

It was €149 for Sky+ and €75 for installation.I mentioned the Sky+ broadband discount offer of €35 which they deducted.

Nice one. Thanks.

muffler

adox wrote:

Did you get it directly through Sky muffler and did you connect the phone line on installation and take it back out straight afterwards?

Sky are quoting me a very reasonable price of under €200 for Sky+ including installation.

I`d prefer to order through a local dealer but I`ve got some quotes and they are charging double the price as I`m already a Sky subscriber.

From memory the guy who installed it advised connecting the phone line but Im not sure if he did or not. I had it set up for him but I cant be sure if he actually connected it. He rang Sky from his mobile to activate the box or something like that. The line was certainly not in the digibox when the installer left and hasnt been since. The installer did say that it is likely that I will receive a letter at some stage telling me to connect the phone line again. He said to stick it in for an hour and it does something or other on its own and then take it out again.

Regarding the installation cost: I got it for €129 but the installer needed another 20 as he said it was non standard so €149 total. I was a sky subscriber at that time and I booked it directly with sky. As I said the charge was €129 but they had a €20 discount offer on a few weeks ago. So the normal charge is €149. Check the online details if they are quoting you more.

An independant local installer actually quoted me €400 and said that I could then get €100 cashback from sky.

I got the multiroom at the same time. Nothing extra for that other than the extra monthly charge of €15

Edit: just found this. It is €149

Dr. Nick

muffler wrote:

Edit: just found this. It is €149

...but that's with multi-room / new customer.

YoYOPowder

I refuse to answer this as you might hex me and then they might switch me off. Does that answer your question? He he!!

muffler

Dr. Nick wrote:

...but that's with multi-room / new customer.

As per my post - I was (am) existing sky customer at the time

It doesn't matter if you take multiroom or not as that was never mentioned.

adox

muffler wrote:

As per my post - I was (am) existing sky customer at the time

It doesn't matter if you take multiroom or not as that was never mentioned.

Excately.I used my viewing card number for the guy to reference my account so he obviously knew I was an existing customer.

To follow up,I sent them another e-mail last night complaining over the line issue and asked what procedures I needed to follow to cancel my account!

I`ll check my mail tonight when I get home.
Having said that,I`ll probably bite the bullit and order Sky+,figure out some way to have telephone cable running the length of the house so I can connect when it is installed and then promptly remove all the cable again!

Dr. Nick

Dr. Nick wrote:

Nice one. Thanks.

Rang them today. €189 incl. discount. I asked how much it was without installlation (already have quad lnb) but he said offer wasn't available without installation.
So, an easy installation for someone (one wire, one hole in the wall), wonder if they'd re-locate my spare box elsewhere in the house instead?
Otherwise would ebay be a cheaper option for a self-upgrade? Must check those Sky+ box prices again.....:)

adox

Dr. Nick wrote:

Rang them today. €189 incl. discount. I asked how much it was without installlation (already have quad lnb) but he said offer wasn't available without installation.
So, an easy installation for someone (one wire, one hole in the wall), wonder if they'd re-locate my spare box elsewhere in the house instead?
Otherwise would ebay be a cheaper option for a self-upgrade? Must check those Sky+ box prices again.....:)

Did they say how long it would take?

I`m really considering it now.My digibox(5 year old Grundig)is a piece of crap.I reckon its nearing the end of its life(it doesnt even output a stereo signal anymore)so a replacement would be nice.

In fact I was out looking at my dish earlier on and its rusted very badly as has the bracket holding it to the wall.I wonder if it would be possible to get a new dish too?

Greds

Ordered Sky+ yesterday, coming to install it on Thursday (Cork) which is grand. Do I take it that they will install a quad lnb when installing it and run two cables for the sky box. If so then I will have a spare quad lnb if anyone is interested. only got it about a month ago.

muffler

Greds wrote:

Ordered Sky+ yesterday, coming to install it on Thursday (Cork) which is grand. Do I take it that they will install a quad lnb when installing it and run two cables for the sky box.

Yes, thats what they did for me a few weeks back

adox

I finally went ahead and ordered Sky+ today.Its provisionally booked in for Thursday,although I`m waiting for a call back from them as they said they were having a problem with their system.:rolleyes:

I`m going to buy a telephone lead extension cable and have it ready for the installer in case he insists on connecting it.If he does I`ll take it out again when hes gone.:D

€189 including installation and €35 discount.

muffler

adox wrote:

I finally went ahead and ordered Sky+ today.Its provisionally booked in for Thursday,although I`m waiting for a call back from them as they said they were having a problem with their system.:rolleyes:

I`m going to buy a telephone lead extension cable and have it ready for the installer in case he insists on connecting it.If he does I`ll take it out again when hes gone.:D

€189 including installation and €35 discount.

Good idea to leave the tel. lead ready for the installer.

Im not sure you are getting the best price from them. Are the taking the 35 off the 189 or is the €189 the total after the discount? Either way its still dearer than they are advertising it for online.

In any event the sky+ is great. I dont think you could ever go back to the ordinary stuff after using it

adox

muffler wrote:

Good idea to leave the tel. lead ready for the installer.

Im not sure you are getting the best price from them. Are the taking the 35 off the 189 or is the €189 the total after the discount? Either way its still dearer than they are advertising it for online.

In any event the sky+ is great. I dont think you could ever go back to the ordinary stuff after using it

Its €189 after the discount.SHould it be cheaper? I`m not taking the multiroom option so the installation is €75, +€149 for Sky+ less €35 for the broadband promotion.

I know the installation is free if you opt for multiroom but I think(I hope:D ) I`m being charged the correct price.

Btw the girl I spoke to can was pretty thick.I was on the phone for 22 minutes talking to her trying to order.

I`m still waiting for a call back to confirm everything.I`ll ring again later tonight if they dont call back.
It should be a huge improvement for me anyway.My current receiver,a Grundig one is a real piece of crap and as I think I`ve mentioned already its stuck on a mono sound feed so I`m not even getting a stereo output.

I cant wait to hook up the Sky+ box to my Pioneer receiver with the optical link and try out the DD on some of the movies.Even DPL2 will be great to have.

adox

muffler wrote:

Im not sure you are getting the best price from them. Are the taking the 35 off the 189 or is the €189 the total after the discount? Either way its still dearer than they are advertising it for online.

Just looking on their website and its £149 for Sky+ without multiroom which is roughly €218.Less €35 = €183,so there or there about.

rash0001

Whats the monthly extra for Sky+? will you be paying the €15 extra or do you have 2 or more premium channels!? Isn't it possible that we just opt for the Sky+ for €189 and not subscribe to it!? that way I wont have to pay the monthly extra and then maybe even flog the box on Ebay!? any ideas???

muffler

adox wrote:

Just looking on their website and its £149 for Sky+ without multiroom which is roughly €218.Less €35 = €183,so there or there about.

I did get both but Im fairly sure that the €149 for the sky+ included installition.

The catch with the multiroom is that they set it up for free but then you have to pay the €15 per month extra. Apparantly the multiroom installition is only free if you are an existing customer.

Im not 100% sure about the sky+ installition fee but I think it is free. As I said earlier i got it for €129 as they had a promotion running in June with €20 off. It doesnt say one way or the other on the website but I would give them a call.

When I booked it they charged me the €149 which I only noticed when I checked my credit card statement. I had to ring twice in 10 days but they did refund the €20

adox

muffler wrote:

I did get both but Im fairly sure that the €149 for the sky+ included installition.

The catch with the multiroom is that they set it up for free but then you have to pay the €15 per month extra. Apparantly the multiroom installition is only free if you are an existing customer.

Im not 100% sure about the sky+ installition fee but I think it is free. As I said earlier i got it for €129 as they had a promotion running in June with €20 off. It doesnt say one way or the other on the website but I would give them a call.

When I booked it they charged me the €149 which I only noticed when I checked my credit card statement. I had to ring twice in 10 days but they did refund the €20

Yeah the installation is free if you take multiroom so if I had gone for that option I could get the whole lot done for €114.

muffler

rash0001 wrote:

Whats the monthly extra for Sky+? will you be paying the €15 extra or do you have 2 or more premium channels!? Isn't it possible that we just opt for the Sky+ for €189 and not subscribe to it!? that way I wont have to pay the monthly extra and then maybe even flog the box on Ebay!? any ideas???

Nothing extra to pay for sky+ after it is installed - not sure but you might have to subscribe to one of the premium channels if you havent already done so.

The mutiroom costs €15 per month but is essentially a stand alone sky digital system with access to all the channels you are sunscribed to. Peace and harmony when the footie is on

adox

What boxes are they installing over here?Are they the Pace boxes?
I hope the Amstrad ones arent being rolled out over here as I`ve heard plenty of horror stories about them.

muffler

I got a Pace model

_Kaiser_

Does anyone here actually use the Interactive stuff at all? I used to order Box Office films occasionally but that was at least 3 years ago.

Sky just don't offer value for money anymore (and haven't in a long time).

Dr. Nick

Sky+ boxes are going on ebay at around €100 delivered, which is a saving of ~ €80-90 if you alredy have a quad lnb and a drill with a long bit.

byte

I don't think Amstrad's are distributed in the RoI at all (all Pace), unless your installer is coming from NI perhaps.

rash0001

Sky+ boxes are going on ebay at around €100 delivered

!!!?????

Can you post a link to that!?

I have been looking around for a Sky+ but can only find standard Sky Box for that price! Sky+ is going for nothing less than €180-200

Uuuh Patsy

Will a VOIP line suffice for Sky+?

byte

Good question. As far as I'm aware (I read it somewhere before), a VoIP connection is not suitable for Sky+ or any other sky box. Something to do with the VoIP being incompatible with dialup modems or something.

Maybe some here has first hand experience.

watty

SOme VOIP systems are adaptive and switch to a different codec for modem tones. non-adaptive ones won't work on fax or modem.

As a rule of thumb if it supports fax a Sky box modem might work.

adox

I`m still waiting for confirmation of my booking as there has been a problem with their booking system since Sunday:rolleyes:

Everyday I`ve been told it will be sorted by the next morning.


Sky....you gotta love `em.:D

watty

I have had it confirmed that Digiweb Metro Wireless Broadband phone connection (a kind of dedicated VOIP) is adaptive and works with 56K modem and Sky box. No physical phone line used at all.

adox

Well they finally got their booking system sorted out today and of course they never rang me back,and of course when they rang my initial attempt at a booking last Sunday had been cancelled.:rolleyes:

Anyway I re-booked today and amazingly I am down for the install on Friday!

I`m keeping my fingers crossed.

adox

adox wrote:

Well they finally got their booking system sorted out today and of course they never rang me back,and of course when they rang my initial attempt at a booking last Sunday had been cancelled.:rolleyes:

Anyway I re-booked today and amazingly I am down for the install on Friday!

I`m keeping my fingers crossed.

Surprise surprise I got a call at midday today regarding my installation.They had to cancel it as they didnt have an installer available!They gave me the option of going for next Friday.

I just cancelled the order with them.I`m going to get a local installer to do it instead.It will cost double the price but at least I will have somebody reliable that will do the job properly.


Thanks Sky.:mad:

adox

Have someone coming to install on Monday.
€60 dearer that Sky so not as bad as I thought.:)

muffler

Something similar happened to me when I booked through sky. The girl told me on a Friday when I confirmed the booking that I would have the installition carried out the following Wednesday. I got a phone call the following Tuesday from some firm about Mullingar or somewhere like that saying they had the contract for installing and it would be done by a local guy in Donegal and that he would be there the the Wednesday after that. Basically 7 days later than sky had told me.

The guy arrived on the day and all sorted

adox

adox wrote:

Have someone coming to install on Monday.
€60 dearer that Sky so not as bad as I thought.:)

Well the good news first:

The installer arrived as promised and did a great job.

The bad news:

He rang Sky to update the card and told me to check it when I got back from work to make sure it was working.He also left me a number to call in case it hadnt updated.
Guess what?It hadnt updated.I called and they tried to send out the signal,put me on hold for about 10 minutes,came back and said two of them tried to activate it on my account but couldnt so they were going to hand it to a supervisor to sort out and the signal would be sent shortly and to allow another 2 - 4 hours for activation.

That was at 18.45.They will ba getting another call shortly.

They really are useless.:mad:

muffler

adox wrote:

Well the good news first:

The installer arrived as promised and did a great job.

The bad news:

He rang Sky to update the card and told me to check it when I got back from work to make sure it was working.He also left me a number to call in case it hadnt updated.
Guess what?It hadnt updated.I called and they tried to send out the signal,put me on hold for about 10 minutes,came back and said two of them tried to activate it on my account but couldnt so they were going to hand it to a supervisor to sort out and the signal would be sent shortly and to allow another 2 - 4 hours for activation.

That was at 18.45.They will ba getting another call shortly.

They really are useless.:mad:

My installer had the card activated/updated before he left but this may well vary from one installer to the other

adox

muffler wrote:

My installer had the card activated/updated before he left but this may well vary from one installer to the other

He rang them with all the details and they said they would activate it.He checked before he left but said sometimes it takes up to 4 hours and he left me the number just in case there was a problem.

I still dont have any Sky+ features and as a result it seems,I have no movie or Sky sports channels.

I tried to ring them a few minutes ago but they are closed.

watty

It can take up to a day...

adox

watty wrote:

It can take up to a day...

Thanks watty.

Unfortunately still no Sky+ features(or premium channels)I rang twice today,firstly first thing this morning when the guy told me it would be sorted within 4 hours:rolleyes:

The second time at lunchtime I spoke to a girl who was the first one who seemed to know what she was talking about.She took some details from me,sent a signal to the Sky box but an error kept appearing.She tried a couple of times but the same thing happened.

She looked further into it and found that there had been an e-mail sent to their tech department last night with regards to my account.She told me they would sort it when the e-mail got to the top of their list and to give it 24 hours before calling again.

Its still the same at the moment.I`m away early tomorrow morning and wont be back until Thursday night so fingers crossed it will be sorted.

Although its really annoying that I dont have the Sky+ features yet and am missing all my premium channels the real postive is the picture break up I was having on some channels has disappeared so obviously it was the old receiver.

Also my signal strength now is between 90-100% with signal quality around 80% whereas before the stregth was 75-80% with quality around 70%.

watty

70% quality even is OK, dish /LNB alignment fine must have been faulty box.