Using a second hand Sky+ box

quad_red

Hi folks,

Grateful for a bit of advice. My folks have a standard sky box at home. Just picked up a second hand sky + box which I'll install for them when I go home for Christmas.

Is there anything I need to get or do I need to call sky to get anything sorted?

Will the box just start working once I plug it in and transfer the viewing card?

(they have a standard sky package with sky sports).

Cheers v much,
Quad

steveon

In order to have the full functionality of the sky+ box you will need to fit a Quad lnb to the dish and run a second cable from the dish to the room you wish to use the box.

You will then need to ring sky and inform them that you have upgraded to skyplus and they will ask you for the details of the box.

You can get these by pressing
Services
Option 4
then option 5

Without the second cable it will still work but you will only be able to watch whatever channel you are watching.

quad_red

Cheers Steve.

steveon wrote: »

In order to have the full functionality of the sky+ box you will need to fit a Quad lnb to the dish and run a second cable from the dish to the room you wish to use the box.

Crap. This isn't as simple as I'd figured. That's beyond a civilian's capability really. I'd need a sky engineer for that. And that would exceed the cost of just paying sky for the sky plus box.

I see you're an installer - do you mind me asking how much do you charge to hook up a sky plus box to an existing standard set up?

steveon wrote: »

You will then need to ring sky and inform them that you have upgraded to skyplus and they will ask you for the details of the box.

Right.

You can get these by pressing
Services
Option 4
then option 5

steveon wrote: »

Without the second cable it will still work but you will only be able to watch whatever channel you are watching.

If I did just directly replace the existing box with the new box would it function straight away or would I have to call sky anyway?

manutd

quad_red wrote: »

If I did just directly replace the existing box with the new box would it function straight away or would I have to call sky anyway?

You will still have to call Sky to pair the card to the box.

mickdw

Its a simple job to fit the quad lnb and run the second cable. You could try it yourself.

Also dont be so sure that it would have been cheaper to get new sky+ box off sky. for existing customers, they want something like €300 to upgrade.
I recently bought a secondhand plus box and Im delighted that I did it that way and not paid sky a fortune.

quad_red

mickdw wrote: »

Its a simple job to fit the quad lnb and run the second cable. You could try it yourself.

Mmmm. If it was my own I'd give it a try. But they would murder me if I robbed them of the telly over Christmas by accidentally messing up their dish!

mickdw wrote: »

Also dont be so sure that it would have been cheaper to get new sky+ box off sky. for existing customers, they want something like €300 to upgrade.

That's good to hear. Not that they screw customers but that I haven't thrown money away!

mickdw wrote: »

I recently bought a secondhand plus box and Im delighted that I did it that way and not paid sky a fortune.

Did you fit the quad lnb and fit the second cable yourself?

monkeypants

quad_red wrote: »

But they would murder me if I robbed them of the telly over Christmas by accidentally messing up their dish!

Who wouldn't?

quad_red

monkeypants wrote: »

Who wouldn't?

Well, even moreso mine. Christmas without Corrie and Emerdale etc. etc.

DEATH!!

quad_red

Anyone have any advice on how difficult it is to fit a quad lnb to the dish?

I've seen a variety of instructions online.

My main fear would be screwing up the dishes alignment and stopping it picking up signal.

norbert64

quad_red wrote: »

Anyone have any advice on how difficult it is to fit a quad lnb to the dish?

I've seen a variety of instructions online.

My main fear would be screwing up the dishes alignment and stopping it picking up signal.

maybe it was just old or a strange type, but we ended up having to use some brute force to remove our existing lnb.
Then after putting on the Quad, you guessed it, we did indeed screw up the alignment.

We then had to get a local installer to fix it, who would have done the whole job for a reasonable price anyways.

muffler

quad_red wrote: »

Anyone have any advice on how difficult it is to fit a quad lnb to the dish?

I've seen a variety of instructions online.

My main fear would be screwing up the dishes alignment and stopping it picking up signal.

At a guess I'd say its an hours work at the most - probably less. You should probably be able to do it yourself but if you are unsure or haven't the time then why not try and get some local guy who fits aerials/dishes and get him to do it. Someone like that would be glad of a few extra euro at Xmas time.

Even if you went through Sky officially they wouldnt have it done this side of Xmas.

quad_red

norbert64 wrote:

... but we ended up having to use some brute force to remove our existing lnb.
Then after putting on the Quad, you guessed it, we did indeed screw up the alignment.
We then had to get a local installer to fix it, who would have done the whole job for a reasonable price anyways.

muffler wrote: »

At a guess I'd say its an hours work at the most - probably less. You should probably be able to do it yourself but if you are unsure or haven't the time then why not try and get some local guy who fits aerials/dishes and get him to do it. Someone like that would be glad of a few extra euro at Xmas time.

Yeah, someone who knows what they're doing is probably the best idea. Anyone recommend a decent installer in or around Tralee?