do you need a phone line for sky+/HD

gar1234

thinking of getting sky as above but have not got phone line in house
is it possible

VERYinterested

You don't need a phone line, they will charge you extra for the installation though, think it's €40 extra, but I could be wrong.

pistolpetes11

They wont charge you extra for the install but you will get charged extra for the box , When i was having mine put into the house, eircom had not yet activated my phone line and because of this the box cost me €250 rather than the €149.

Also I think if you want to get multi room they insist on a phone line

dlambirl

They charge you extra for the installation cos they have to manually tune in the channels through the dish and this could take anything up to an hour while if you have a phone line it tunes the channels in via the phone line and it only takes a few minutes.


A question: If you are signing up for sky and dont have a phone line could you give say your next door neighbours phone number who already has sky and when it comes to installation go into their house to tune in the channels??

John mac

They charge you extra for the installation cos they have to manually tune in the channels through the dish and this could take anything up to an hour while if you have a phone line it tunes the channels in via the phone line and it only takes a few minutes.

i don't think this is correct.

you don't have to manually tune the channels,

phone line is for interactive services and ordering box office films.

( maybe Tony or other installer could clarify)

i have never had one connected.

HarryD

dlambirl wrote: »

They charge you extra for the installation cos they have to manually tune in the channels through the dish and this could take anything up to an hour while if you have a phone line it tunes the channels in via the phone line and it only takes a few minutes.

This is not true, the channels on the EPG are automatically tuned via the satellite.

I didn't want sky drilling holes in my walls to route a phone cable to the TV,
so I put in a 'temporary' cable along the ground.
Told the installers I'll be getting it installed properly the following week.
As soon as they left I disconnected it and never heard anything since.
If you don't have a phone line you could try put in a fake cable - not sure it will work..

dlambirl

Our neighbours got Sky installed 2 weeks ago and this is what the Sky installer told them.

He plugged the sky box into the phone line, waited a couple of mins then put it back underneath the tv and left it unplugged. Said you'd only need to re-connect it to the phoneline if you needed to order box office films.

Tony

You are right John, the phone line is used to activate the viewing card, it is not used for tuning channels, making toast , boiling a kettle or any of the numerous other suggestions I have heard.

Guys people who read here are relying on factual information being posted, if you are not sure please do not post speculation or what your mate told you down the pub as fact.

John mac wrote: »

i don't think this is correct.

you don't have to manually tune the channels,

phone line is for interactive services and ordering box office films.

( maybe Tony or other installer could clarify)

i have never had one connected.

Tony

HarryD wrote: »

If you don't have a phone line you could try put in a fake cable - not sure it will work..

It will not work no more than a phone connected to it would

von Smallhausen

VERYinterested wrote: »

You don't need a phone line, they will charge you extra for the installation though, think it's €40 extra, but I could be wrong.

You are correct there. Standard €50 and €40 for not having a landline. The landline is used for activation of the card, interactive services (inc. Box Office) and Sky monitor the boxes i think its every hour.

von Smallhausen

dlambirl wrote: »

A question: If you are signing up for sky and dont have a phone line could you give say your next door neighbours phone number who already has sky and when it comes to installation go into their house to tune in the channels??

Quick answer....No because there is a record of your neighbours number on thier system.

Tony

Real answer : No because the phone line has nothing to do with tuning in channels as stated earlier in the thread.

gar1234

so basicly extra few quid on installation and thats it, no extra costs per month

dlambirl

Sorry Tony.

Tony

dlambirl wrote: »

Sorry Tony.

No need to be sorry , you only have to be sorry when a heavyweight Mod gets on your case:)

XXNikXX

you dont need to have a phone line to have one box wether it is sky+ or Sky+ HD but there is an extra charge of 40euro (once off on day of install) for not connecting to the phone line as in the long run you wont be spending money on box office films etc..

ive never heard that not connecting to the phone line makes install harder or take longer if anything it saves time..

at the minute both HD and Sky+ are half price at 74.50 and 24.50 (for new customers), however there is an extra charge of 15euro per month if you go for the HD. (personally i think the HD is waaay too expensive but each to there own..)

VERYinterested

gar1234 wrote: »

so basicly extra few quid on installation and thats it, no extra costs per month

That's right. It's a one off charge.

byte

XXNikXX wrote: »

ive never heard that not connecting to the phone line makes install harder or take longer if anything it saves time..

It can save time, depending on how long it takes on hold to Sky when ringing them to manually activate the card.

However, the card will take a lot longer to activate, unlike when using the Skybox modem, where after callback, the card is active more or less straight away and EPG has reloaded with Irish channels (maybe this was part of the confusion over "manual tuning" of box).

cmcsoft

Depends who you get to do the install but either way you don't need a phone line. The only sky package you need a phone line for is multi room as far as I'm aware