Switching from Sky to Chorus/NTL

peejay1986

We've been with Sky for over 10 years now but the price is just getting too much to be honest. I was looking at Chorus/NTL and they seem much more reasonably priced for the channels they offer.

What I'm wondering though is are there services I'd be losing by switching? Is there anything i should be aware of?

I'm currently being charged €56 by Sky for 5 Mixes and the Sports Channels. Is there a big price increase like at Sky when you add the Sky/Setanta channels to the package. Realistaclly what price would I be looking at? Because if its not a decent saving then I may not bother.

Also, do Chorus/NTL offer HD? i love the idea of getting HD service but Sky's is added money


Any info would be great! Especially from anyone who's changed from Sky to Chorus/NTL in the past.

watty

No HD on Chorus / NTL
basic channels on Satellite free if you cancel. No free Cable.
Picture quality poorer, espc. on analogue.
Re-evaluate what you want. Basic Sky is abour 22 Euro. Get rid of mix packs you don't watch. Add free ITV & BBC channels via other channels.

Setanta can be subscribed to on Satellite with no other sub. Sky Sports and Setanta line ups not the same on UPC cable and Sky/Satellite.

Sport is what pushes up the cost on all pay TV. UPC (NTL/Chorus) has to buy the sport channels from Sky.

There are free HD channels on Satellite.

If you compare like with like UPC is not cheaper. About the same price with no free channels. (At least 40 decent free channels even if you cancel on Sky).

You could get UPC Digital cable + Sport & broadband and just have free channels on Satellite.

Most people change from Cable to Sky, esp. MMDS customers. Some the otherway due to attractive broadband bundle. It depends exactly what channels you want and how fussy about quality. If you have LCD or Plasma, esp larger than 32" you may be unhappy with cable quality.

abraxas01

Comparable pack from NTL/Chorus is Digital Select pack, which is €26. You get the first 2 months half price if you're a customer. Sky Sports is €28 extra and Setanta Sports is €15 extra, compared with €28 and €19.99 on Sky.
Channel-wise, you win some, you lose some. You gain E4, More4, BBC3, BBC4, Film 4, Fashion TV, UTV and other channels. Don't know what you lose, but most of the Sky branded ones.
Big difference is multi-room viewing. €8.50 a month with NTL/Chorus, €15 a month with Sky (though they have some special offer on at the moment).
As far as I know, you don't get HD with NTL/Chorus. Obviously, you can get with Sky, but think you need to buy the HD box at €299.

Guess it's down to what you want to pay for.

paulm17781

UPC are meant to be adding HD this year. That said we've heard this kind of talk for years.

watty

E4, More4, BBC3, BBC4, Film 4, Fashion TV, UTV are free on any satellite system. On a Sky Irish sub you may have to use other channels feature for some.

Ah-Watch

for the "pigiron" I rang sky the other day and told them I was moving to Chorus as it had become too dear and Chorus were cheaper, I wouldnt really move to chorus as my neighbour has it and the service is desperate at least once a month the service is down and you have to contact chorus. as i write this i remember that sky rang a few days later and offered sky sports for 3.50 for 6 months if we stayed with them, and an upgrade to sky+ for 69. I reckon this isn't bad at all. They were very nice and though I wasn't moving it was well worth the call and considering I'm only connected since 2003 and on a basic package for €30 a month this is great value from sky and I never ever had a problem with them. I'd be enclined to stay away frm chorus.

murpho999

For the sake of your health my advice would be to stay with Sky.

UPC is not really cheaper.

Sky Have HD....UPC don't and no sign of it coming.

Sky have Sky+ which is HUGELY superior to UPC's DVR.

Sky have more channels.

Sky Menus are more logically laid out and easier to operate.

UPC's customer service is APPALLING. You cannot get them on the phone.

I have never had Sky's service break down, but I have had it regularly with UPC.

I'm an ex Sky customer who was forced to switch to UPC as I live in apartment.

I would switch back to Sky if I could.

In fact I feel so strongly about it that I have written to the Competition Authority and Dept of Communications about the monopoly situation.

Ah-Watch

murpho999 wrote: »

For the sake of your health my advice would be to stay with Sky.

UPC is not really cheaper.

Sky Have HD....UPC don't and no sign of it coming.

Sky have Sky+ which is HUGELY superior to UPC's DVR.

Sky have more channels.

Sky Menus are more logically laid out and easier to operate.

UPC's customer service is APPALLING. You cannot get them on the phone.

I have never had Sky's service break down, but I have had it regularly with UPC.

I'm an ex Sky customer who was forced to switch to UPC as I live in apartment.

I would switch back to Sky if I could.

In fact I feel so strongly about it that I have written to the Competition Authority and Dept of Communications about the monopoly situation.

I'm with u 100% murpho! Sky is far superior, try what i did and see where it gets you!

bk

Sky and UPC are exactly the same price (€56) for what you are currently getting and as others have said, Sky TV service is of a better quality.

However where UPC can end up cheaper is if you bundle TV with their Broadband and phone service and if you want multi room. This is where UPC are very competitive.

One thing you gain with UPC is the 17 analogue TV channels, which you could pipe into different rooms, not great picture quality, but grand for small kitchen and bedroom TV's.

Ah-Watch

bk wrote: »

Sky and UPC are exactly the same price (€56) for what you are currently getting and as others have said, Sky TV service is of a better quality.

However where UPC can end up cheaper is if you bundle TV with their Broadband and phone service and if you want multi room. This is where UPC are very competitive.

One thing you gain with UPC is the 17 analogue TV channels, which you could pipe into different rooms, not great picture quality, but grand for small kitchen and bedroom TV's.

offer sounds good, I still rather pay for a quality service to sky that is uninterrupted in comparison to chorus' service going down! you could try tell sky its too dear and that you are going to leave them if they dont give you money off once and a while for being a loyal customer! its worth a try??!

Infoanon

Price of UPC for Digital and Sky Sports is €60 - €4 more expensive than Sky ! - I have the Bills to prove it.

In Dublin UPC reception of BBC 2 is wiped out if you are in line of 3 rock.

Customer service is dire

Line up of digital channels is weak compared to Sky eg no ESPN Classic, No Eurosport 2,ITV2,3,4,Living 2,FX etc etc and hardly any radio services on UPC

Channels disappear with no explanation and the price still goes up
EPG hardly ever works
NO HD
NO Interactive services eg BBCi
And they have Buzz TV - the greatest waste of space

Do UPC have any pluses - bundled services ie broadband are good value....
But of course Freesat is on the way.......free BBC HD & ITV HD !

bk

Infoanon wrote: »

Price of UPC for Digital and Sky Sports is €60 - €4 more expensive than Sky ! - I have the Bills to prove it.

As the OP mentioned that he is only getting 5 mixes on Sky (rather then 6), then a fairer comparison is with UPC Digital Select service, which would make it €4 cheaper and therefore equivalent.

If he got the full 6 Sky mixes, then Sky would also cost €60. Just shows how little competition there really is.

I have to say, that when I had UPC * I never once had a problem with their digital service, it works just fine and PQ is almost (but not quite) as good as Sky. Maybe it depends on the area you are in.

* Unfortunately I'm now trapped on the SmartVision IPTV service, after that I'd take back UPC any day of the week and forgive all. You don't realise how lucky you are until you lose it.

Infoanon

BK - Sky is €58 for all mixes plus Sports - ie €2 cheaper and far more channels.....



Only reason why more don't change to Sky is laziness and having to get a dish BUT as the tiger economy dies more and more people are going to look at saving money on eg TV packages

UPC need to up their service or lose out long term

Infoanon

Also with Sky you own the equipment...

bk

Infoanon wrote: »

Only reason why more don't change to Sky is laziness and having to get a dish BUT as the tiger economy dies more and more people are going to look at saving money on eg TV packages

I hear this sort of BS all the time and it bugs me, things aren't that bad.

People aren't going to change from Sky from UPC to save just €2. They might change for a whole variety of other reasons:

1) Better TV PQ
2) More channels
3) Better EPG
4) HD

If people want to save money they are far more likely to go BBC Freesat, that is where the real savings are.

Also if folk are worried about money, staying with UPC and going with their BB and phone bundles would save them a lot more money then going Sky.

For €85 per month you get 12m/1m BB, unlimited phone calls anytime, DVR, Digital TV and analogue TV.

The same from Sky, with BT* for BB plus phone would cost:

€95 and would only give you:
- 3m BB (versus 12m from UPC)
- Unlimited calls
- Sky full mix €28
+ another €150 for Sky + box

So Sky isn't exactly cheap, specially if you want multiroom (€15 Sky versus €7.50 UPC)

* I picked BT as they are Eircom resellers, so they should be available to most people, but at least they aren't a complete rip off like Eircom, which would have made the comparison even more ridiculous.

BTW UPC have all sorts of cheaper bundles, with still excellent 6m BB, less phone calls, etc., this is just their top tier package.

Solair

Unless you're interested in bundling in UPC broadband there's very little advantage to moving over to UPC digital from Sky.

As previous posters have said, perhaps your best bet is to ring sky and disscuss it. Tell them you're considering moving and you want to look at removing some channels / optimising your package to reduce the price.

I've just moved apartments and had UPC Digital cable and have now got Sky and there are a few major differences of note.

Despite what I've read on here, I've never had any issues with UPC Digital, perhaps it's more a case of those who have had problems tend to post while a silent majority of people are kinda happy enough with the service and never write anything about it.

The UPC Service was reliable and reasonable enough. It was nothing amazing though. We had one billing mess up, but they were reasonably quick to resolve it and apply credits. Other than that, nothing at all controvertial.

The downsides of UPC Digital compared to Sky:

1) The picture quality's not as good, there's no question but it's more pixilated. I'm not sure if that depends on the age of the infrastructure in your area, or if it's just more compressed than Sky Digital in general. It's not bad or really blocky, but it's just not as crisp as it is in Sky Digital

2) The DVR (their equivilent of Sky+) lacks the ability to series link.

3) The channel line up is a little more restricted than sky.

4) There are currently no interactive services, although the system does support them. They're not rolled out yet.

5) Service reliability and signal quality is dependant on local infrastructure, while they're making strides to re-build the old NTL and Chorus networks, they're still very flakey in some areas. So, I'd consult with your neighbours before making a move. E.g. if they're suffering from regular outages I wouldn't go near UPC with a barge pole. However, in most urban areas the service is decent enough.

6) No HD, although again, we got Sky HD and have a decent TV and to be honest, it's not really worth the money. I have found it a complete waste of time / money and half the time I can't tell the difference between standard definition channel and 1080i HD even on a 40" screen. Maybe it's better for sport or something, but I wouldn't go lashing the extra money on it at this stage anyway.

The plus sides of UPC:

1) The EPG has vastly improved compared to the old NTL and Chorus Digital menus. It's now well able to hold its own against Sky Digital. NB: The new EPG is only on UPC branded boxes i.e. newish ones. If you are looking at an NTL or Chorus box it still has the horrible old menus.

2) You can bundle high speed broadband and telephone in many areas and they're very compeditive.

3) The EPG is more logically arranged i.e. the Irish and UK channels are in sensible locations rather than in weird locations on Sky's EPG.

4) The BBC Digital channels, ITV and real Channel 4, not the specially editied down version, are available on UPC Digital and are in the EPG without having to go through convoluted extra channel menus.

5) No sattelite dish required. Although, if you have on already, it's not really a big deal!

6) UPC's multi-room viewing options are a little cheaper and, other than in Cork you get a basic bundle of 16 analogue channels that can just be tuned into any TV without the need for a box. Although, I wouldn't be surprised if they close that service in the short term.

I would say there is major room for improvement on UPC, but it is shuddering forward and they have finally launched some interesting products in the last few months.

All that being said, I wouldn't really make the leap from Sky unless you're really interested in getting cable broadband and phone.

Perhaps their offerings may be more attractive in the future!

On the plus side, if you do switch you can keep your Sky equipment and if you're sick of cable after 12 months, you can chuck it once the minium period is up and go back to sky without an installation fee.

WhizKid:)

NTL is crap. It randomly cuts outs and and updates to provide "better service". better service my arse. Also the Channel Guide which tells you about upcoming programmes stopped working 2 weeks after i got it, and has not worked since. im currently in the process of changing from NTL to Sky. NTl costs me 75euro a month(i do not pay for any subscription channels shy sports, sky movies etc.) i just changed to sky online and my bill will be 53euro a month and that includes sky movies 1+2. Sky is cheaper because it allows me to cut the crap channels that i never watch and pay for what i want. It also provides better service and is more reliable.

Freddie59

WhizKid:) wrote: »

NTl costs me 75euro a month(i do not pay for any subscription channels shy sports, sky movies etc.)

I'd say you meant every two months.;) What did you actually subscribe to?

WhizKid:)

Yes your right, my mistake. I didn't notice that . I am paying 106 per 2 months with sky or 67 every 2 months for crappy NTL. I think I'll give Sky a try.
Thanks for pointing that out!

Freddie59

WhizKid:) wrote: »

Yes your right, my mistake. I didn't notice that . I am paying 106 per 2 months with sky or 67 every 2 months for crappy NTL. I think I'll give Sky a try.
Thanks for pointing that out!

At twice the price?

WhizKid:)

I'm fed up with NTL. Random updates that take 2hours +. Programme guide not working. Sometimes while watching the TV it freezes for a few seconds and then starts again. I have no problem with paying extra for a better service.That price is including all the Sky movies channels and Sky Premium.