Sky with no phone line

Gabbo57

Is it possible to install sky if i've no phone line?

marwelie

yes, dont know how its done unfortunately, but our Sky+ is not connected to our telephone. As far as I can tell, the only downside is you cant order Sky Box Office on your remote or do any of the online features. Ill get back to you on how its done tomorrow.

larchielads

yes def possible think you have to pay an extra few quid after installation not to the guy who installs it but you have to give your credit card details to sky over the phone for this once off payment. but after that hey presto.

marwelie

larchielads wrote: »

yes def possible think you have to pay an extra few quid after installation not to the guy who installs it but you have to give your credit card details to sky over the phone for this once off payment. but after that hey presto.

You beat me to it.

Sky Irleand

.

Gabbo57

Rang them today, all good, ordered it just had to pay €37 extra for the installation, here on monday

NDJ4

Wait a minute... You have to pay an extra €37 extra to save the installer 20 mins of work and 15m of phone cable. I don't get it

I'm getting sky installed and don't see that I'd have the need for any of the extra services provided over the phone line. Plus I'd rather not see the cable! In fairness to sky their standard setup charge is really cheap but how can they justify charging extra to do less work?

murpho999

NDJ4 wrote: »

Wait a minute... You have to pay an extra €37 extra to save the installer 20 mins of work and 15m of phone cable. I don't get it

I'm getting sky installed and don't see that I'd have the need for any of the extra services provided over the phone line. Plus I'd rather not see the cable! In fairness to sky their standard setup charge is really cheap but how can they justify charging extra to do less work?

They don't want the phone line just to offer you services. It's to check that the box is at the address that you told them.Sky poll the box regularly to check.I think it's more a concern with multiroom boxes where box could be in another location at a cheaper rate.The fee is to waive that.

Also, when Sky come to install they do not run any telephones lines to the Sky box, you must arrange that yourself.

NDJ4

Ah right that makes more sense, I didn't realise you had run the phone line yourself. I still haven't ordered the installation yet but will be this week. Just have to find the time to cancel my chorus subscription, from what i hear this is not the easiest task...

NDJ4

murpho999 wrote: »

Sky poll the box regularly to check.

Just as a matter of interest, how do they do this do you know? Does the box dial out every so often or can they send in a signal on your line without causing your phone to ring?

Skerries

i had to get my phone connected to my box but i disconnected it, they kept sending me letters to say if i didn't reconnect they were going to charge me some ridiculous fee
i just kept reconnecting it for a few days until the letters stopped and haven't heard from them in 2 years

mailforkev

I have had Sky+ installed for a couple of years now without a phone line ever being plugged into it. The box has two cables going into it, one receiving the signal and one transmitting back to the dish.

So I still have full use of the interactive/box office features etc. So it can be done OP.

M5

mailforkev wrote: »

I have had Sky+ installed for a couple of years now without a phone line ever being plugged into it. The box has two cables going into it, one receiving the signal and one transmitting back to the dish.

So I still have full use of the interactive/box office features etc. So it can be done OP.

Nothing transmitted from your dish! Thats a second input so you can record one thing and watch another

mailforkev

M5 wrote: »

Nothing transmitted from your dish! Thats a second input so you can record one thing and watch another

There goes my shoddy presumptions. Shows how much I know about satellite boxes!

Speak Now

mailforkev wrote: »

I have had Sky+ installed for a couple of years now without a phone line ever being plugged into it. The box has two cables going into it, one receiving the signal and one transmitting back to the dish.

So I still have full use of the interactive/box office features etc. So it can be done OP.

Same as myself but i'd doubt you have full box office features. You wouldn't be able to order a movie etc without a line...Interactive for red button is fine.

Gabbo57

I'm not too fussed to be honest about not having box office facilities so it's not really a problem.

Optimus Prime

I heard you pay that fee because there is a way to hook up "something" which i wont go into here onto the back of the box that tricks it into thinking its getting a reply off sky when you book a movie or whatever on the interactive service and because its never hooked up to a telephone line they have no way of telling you did it, unless eventually you plug your phone line in the back. Now i havent done this myself but ive been told this by other people and it works apparantly.

John mac

keithgeo wrote: »

I heard you pay that fee because there is a way to hook up "something" which i wont go into here onto the back of the box that tricks it into thinking its getting a reply off sky when you book a movie or whatever on the interactive service and because its never hooked up to a telephone line they have no way of telling you did it, unless eventually you plug your phone line in the back. Now i havent done this myself but ive been told this by other people and it works apparantly.

Total bul****

Optimus Prime

Dont think it is to be honest, i mean im open to be proven wrong. It used to work alright but sky changed the cards and put a max of 50quid box office credit on it so it only works a few times on a viewing card. like a said though, ive never done it heard of people who have. A simple google search will tell you about it.

livEwirE

I have SKY SD multiroom with a phoneline plugged in upstairs and downstairs. I have no interested in using sky box office or any of their interactive services. So can I unplug my phonelines without any hassle from sky. I've been a sky customer for 3 years and REALLY want to ditch my €27 per month phone line rental with Eircom:mad: Its the only reason I have a phone line at all right now as I would move to cable broadband and VOIP tomorrow if I could!

Speak Now

livEwirE wrote: »

I have SKY SD multiroom with a phoneline plugged in upstairs and downstairs. I have no interested in using sky box office or any of their interactive services. So can I unplug my phonelines without any hassle from sky. I've been a sky customer for 3 years and REALLY want to ditch my €27 per month phone line rental with Eircom:mad: Its the only reason I have a phone line at all right now as I would move to cable broadband and VOIP tomorrow if I could!

They won't let you have multiroom without a phone line.
I'm sure you can try it for a while but they'll probably send you a letter eventually when they notice.
I assume it's because the extra card is not charged at full rate it's to stop people ordering a second card and giving it to a different household.

livEwirE

I'm sure I saw a post a while back about sky developing a device to monitor mutilroom boxes which would not require a phoneline, but alas I'm not sure if this is an 'myth' or based on fact and no one seems to have any details of such a device

whirlpool

I have a question about this.

(If I started a new thread, I could get given-out-to for starting a new thread on something that's already been discussed. If I dredge up this old thread, I could get given-out-to for dredging up an old thread. So excuse me for not being sure what to do. I'm going to go ahead and not waste a new thread on a topic that's already being discussed. Let me know if I made the wrong decision.)

I was living in London for a while and the Sky installer came out to install our new Sky+ HD box (with no multi-room.) He said that it has to be connected to a phone line. So, obviously in some (if not all) cases, even single (non-multi-room) boxes have to connected to a phone-line.

Anyway, back in Ireland, Sky came out to my house a few weeks ago to install a second box in the house.

Now, it was either the London installer or the Ireland installer (I can't remember which of them) who told me that all I have to do is connect the phone line up once every few weeks in order to avoid being charged the fee.

Does anybody here know how often exactly the phone line needs to be connected up, and for how long it should be left connected each time?

Cheers.

Speak Now

whirlpool wrote: »

I have a question about this.

(If I started a new thread, I could get given-out-to for starting a new thread on something that's already been discussed. If I dredge up this old thread, I could get given-out-to for dredging up an old thread. So excuse me for not being sure what to do. I'm going to go ahead and not waste a new thread on a topic that's already being discussed. Let me know if I made the wrong decision.)

I was living in London for a while and the Sky installer came out to install our new Sky+ HD box (with no multi-room.) He said that it has to be connected to a phone line. So, obviously in some (if not all) cases, even single (non-multi-room) boxes have to connected to a phone-line.

Anyway, back in Ireland, Sky came out to my house a few weeks ago to install a second box in the house.

Now, it was either the London installer or the Ireland installer (I can't remember which of them) who told me that all I have to do is connect the phone line up once every few weeks in order to avoid being charged the fee.

Does anybody here know how often exactly the phone line needs to be connected up, and for how long it should be left connected each time?

Cheers.

If you have one box it doesn't have to stay connected but it is cheaper to install if you let them do it this way. They charge extra for no phone line, i assume to make up for the fact you won't be pressing the red button for movies when you come home drunk !

The reason they want the second box hooked up to a phone is to ensure that you're not giving out the second card to someone else who doesn't want to pay sky the full whack for the package you're paying for.

I'd imagine they could do a check anytime, it would be pretty random.

whirlpool

Jerry Seinfeld wrote: »

The reason they want the second box hooked up to a phone is to ensure that you're not giving out the second card to someone else who doesn't want to pay sky the full whack for the package you're paying for.

Yeah, the London installer told me that that was the reason. I can't remember how he explained it for a single box installation, but he did.

Thanks for the rest of your info

cauliflower69

Jerry Seinfeld wrote: »

If you have one box it doesn't have to stay connected but it is cheaper to install if you let them do it this way. They charge extra for no phone line, i assume to make up for the fact you won't be pressing the red button for movies when you come home drunk !

The reason they want the second box hooked up to a phone is to ensure that you're not giving out the second card to someone else who doesn't want to pay sky the full whack for the package you're paying for.

I'd imagine they could do a check anytime, it would be pretty random.

Exactly what he said

Kristopherus

Sky will only check occasionally. If you disconnect they might notice after a while and then you may get a letter. All you have to do then is re-connect for say a week-end. The box will then send a message back to Sky and they wont bother you for a few more months.

whirlpool

Kristopherus wrote: »

Sky will only check occasionally. If you disconnect they might notice after a while and then you may get a letter. All you have to do then is re-connect for say a week-end. The box will then send a message back to Sky and they wont bother you for a few more months.

Cool, thanks for that

anxie

Hi folks. I have 2 boxes, Sky+ HD box in the main room and an older non plus box in a bedroom. Neither are currently connected to the phone line but were when we first got multiroom setup.

As with other user's experience I got some warning letters about failed call backs. Sky told me last week that I need to have the line connected for multiroom (not the main box).
In their recent warning letters that I received they give instructions on how to make a call back yourself. So, for anyone who has a land line but does not have it connected to the box, you can run a cable to the box and carry out the instructions given in the letter.
The first time I did this, it seemed to work fine. I was however charged 14 euro extra on my following bill (which would be an ongoing monthly charge), so I had to do it again. The second time I called them to be sure that it worked and they confirmed that it did.
They will also return the 14 euro.

For those of you who have multiroom and no phone line, or are getting rid of a line:
I told Sky after this was sorted that I am considering removing my landline to save costs and was advised in a robotic fashion that I needed to keep it for the multiroom and 'have we answered all of your queries today sir?'
I tried rephrasing the question a few times and kept getting the same answer.
Finally I ended the call and called again to get another person, he was more communicative but gave the same (perhaps scipted) answer.
So I said, 'well I would imagine that many people are using mobiles and VOIP and not installing a landline..' and I had the option of doing the same with UPC.
Finally he agreed that it is an issue and 'Sky would be doing something in the next year or so' and 'have we answered all of your queries today sir?'. We went off that topic and came back later and he said the same thing verbatim. So I am guessing that this is a fob off and/or a scripted answer as the conversation goes on and on without resolution.

Surely Sky need to do something else here given that having a landline is no longer the norm for 9 out of 10 cases?

steveon

As an installer I personally wish Sky would get rid of the phoneline requirement as I'm tired of turning work away as people dont have phonelines.

For years sky have promised to look into it but what they don't tell you is they want you to connect to a telephone line so you will use the interactive part of their package, lets your kids play games at 50cent per minute etc...

They could very easily get rid of the phone line by perhaps a wifi-paired card, already in existence...

Manc-Red

steveon wrote: »

As an installer I personally wish Sky would get rid of the phoneline requirement as I'm tired of turning work away as people dont have phonelines.

There is a fee of about €30 to pay if you don't have a phoneline & you want to have Sky installed.

Cantona's Collars

The 'no phoneline fee' is waived in Ireland at the moment but the geniuses in the UK call centres are generally unaware of this. Standard install is €30 at the moment regardless of whether you have a phoneline or not.
The need for a phoneline for multiroom is a pain,how many people actually have landlines in Ireland anymore?

cauliflower69

This is news to me. Any info on this so I can hit my supplier with this.

Thanks in advance

steveon

Manc-Red wrote: »

There is a fee of about €30 to pay if you don't have a phoneline & you want to have Sky installed.

The no phone line option is only available to customers who want one box, they must have a phone line for multi-room subscriptions otherwise the customer could possibly have to pay full whack for the multiroom card.

Manc-Red

steveon wrote: »

The no phone line option is only available to customers who want one box, they must have a phone line for multi-room subscriptions otherwise the customer could possibly have to pay full whack for the multiroom card.

The OP didn't ask about Sky with Multiroom needing a phone-line with all due respect.

steveon

Manc-Red wrote: »

The OP didn't ask about Sky with Multiroom needing a phone-line with all due respect.

If you read the thread properly you will see that people prior to me posting were talking about multi-room and I continued on from there...

Manc-Red

steveon wrote: »

If you read the thread properly you will see that people prior to me posting were talking about multi-room and I continued on from there...

Thanks will do that.

anxie

as SteveOn says above, the multiroom is where you get into trouble, in addition to the interactive elements, they need to know that the second or third box is in the right location, otherwise you could get a range of services on your main box and pass the second one on to a friend/neighbour or second address. Good point on the wireless connection, this would allow for a callback type function, but wouldn't verify the location, unless it supported GPS :-)

Rippy

steveon wrote: »

As an installer I personally wish Sky would get rid of the phoneline requirement as I'm tired of turning work away as people dont have phonelines.

For years sky have promised to look into it but what they don't tell you is they want you to connect to a telephone line so you will use the interactive part of their package, lets your kids play games at 50cent per minute etc...

They could very easily get rid of the phone line by perhaps a wifi-paired card, already in existence...

likewise Steveon.
Surely it should be possible for sky to develop a system that ties the boxes together. Wireless would be the easiest but failing that how about hard-wired using the redundant USB ports.
The boxes wired together- they work, disconnected- they don't .Would be simple.
(Don't like the idea of running the cable linking the boxes though....)

steveon

I heard a long time ago that Sky was developing some sort of system that would be linked via a fibre optic lnb that would generate some sort of serial number but that was over 3 years ago...

I do not understand why Sky don't realise they would wipe the floor of all there competition and generate loads of new business if they allowed people have multiroom without the phone line...

anxie

I thought that I was done with this business, but I realised a couple of months ago that I was being charged more by Sky than expected. I thought it was to do with a missed direct debit, so let it be, until I noticed it again.
Apparently they have been charging me extra because I didn't have the phone lines connected again. This time I received no warning letters, though Sky told me that they did send some out.

Anyway, I was a bit cheesed off and said I would cancel the account immediately if there was no refund.

anyway.... In the end they offered to come out and rewire the boxes for me, connecting both boxes to the phone line free of charge.
Seemed fair enough, so did that.

anxie