upc or sky?

boxermad

Having had the free view box i think its time to get in the decent channels. Having looked on both websites i seem to prefer upc as you get espn and setanta included in the price and most of the channels are the same as sky. im just wondering what would ye do? also do ye no if there is an instulation fee with upc and if so how much as sky charges 30 quid and 49 for the box.

Bandscan

Sky all The Way,once you change to Sky you won`t look back,UPC is just handy if you live in an appartment and can`t get Sky. Upc Still Suffers from freezing.

chuckles30

I'd say Sky......you get the benefit of interactive which you don't get with upc. You can also connect up a second tv to the sky box which you can't with upc.......ok so both tv's have to be on the same channel at the same time, but works for me.....

blues2

Was thinking of doing the opposite. I thought free view had most of the same channels? Sky has been a real pain for us. Have had to get engineer out and pay 100 euro because out of warranty

dunworth1

chuckles30 wrote: »

I'd say Sky......you get the benefit of interactive which you don't get with upc. You can also connect up a second tv to the sky box which you can't with upc.......ok so both tv's have to be on the same channel at the same time, but works for me.....

you can do that with upc via video sender which means no wires around the house

or you could get multi room and watch a different channel in another room for half the price sky charge


if you want phone and broadband deffo go with upc as they are good and the cheapest

i have upc and i have no problems never heard of this freezeing thing a posted above is talking about might have the odd pixalation every now and again which you also get on sat.

another benfeict of upc is that if the box breaks they replace it Free where as sky charge you for a new box.

check out there website for more info on prices and channels www.upc.ie

you can also talk to them on twitter http://twitter.com/WeAreUPC

djimi

Sky without a shadow of a doubt. Better equipment, more channels especially HD channels, better service (interactive being one of the main ones). If I didnt live in an apartment I wouldnt even consider UPC for television.

dunworth1

djimi wrote: »

Sky without a shadow of a doubt. Better equipment, more channels especially HD channels, better service (interactive being one of the main ones). If I didnt live in an apartment I wouldnt even consider UPC for television.

oh i forgot to mention sky are increasing their changes in September.

the only reason sky have more hd channels and interactive is because they are a**holes and wont share them.

djimi

dunworth1 wrote: »

oh i forgot to mention sky are increasing their changes in September.

the only reason sky have more hd channels and interactive is because they are a**holes and wont share them.

Why should they share them; they are their channels and its the one trump card they have over their competitors? Im not condoning it, but I can understand their motives.

And they dont own all the HD channels; what about all the non-Sky HD channels that we dont get on UPC?

And UPC charges are also going up soon as well.

dunworth1

djimi wrote: »

Why should they share them; they are their channels and its the one trump card they have over their competitors? Im not condoning it, but I can understand their motives.

And they dont own all the HD channels; what about all the non-Sky HD channels that we dont get on UPC?

And UPC charges are also going up soon as well.

most of the hd channels have deals with sky that why upc are in talks to get them

djimi

Ill be honest with you; I dont care why they dont have the HD channels or interactive or anything like that, all I know is that as a former Sky customer and a current UPC customer I think the level of service you get from Sky (albeit for more money) far exceeds what you get from UPC. Im aware a lot of it is beyond the control of UPC, but at the end of the day if I want to watch cricket or football in HD then Sky have it and UPC dont, and thats the bottom line.

gin_and_tonic

UPC is far better value for money, you just can't deny that.

I did look at switching to Sky in the past, during the NTL days, but even value for money then, for TV alone, was better with cable.

Now, if you have phone, broadband and TV with UPC, you save a fortune on what you'd pay with sky and eircom and get a superior service.

UPC is cheaper if there is a problem too - if there's a technical problem and you need a call out, they're brilliant and they don't charge for it. The UPC equipment I have - the HD digital receiver, the modem - is all Cisco Systems equipment, which is top of the line equipment and it's probably why I haven't any technical faults/problems with UPC's equipment.

The only problem with UPC is their customer service - they are terrible to deal with. After upgrading to the three packages a few weeks ago, I had to phone them so many times because of problems with the bill and having to tell them to switch on channels which were included in the package but not showing on my TV. UPC customer service don't seem to have a clue and don't seem to have the authority to deal with and fix problems with billings, services etc.

So, while I find, one phone call is all it takes to fix a problem with service companies like 02 and even Eircom, expect to make about 6 lengthy phone call's to UPC to fix problems with the bill or the service before you reach a competent employee.

Rule of thumb: if you call UPC and the person on the phone has a Limerick accent - you're probably wasting your time. Rant over. Sky might have a better customer service than UPC, there is truth in that, but you are paying extra for it.

To be honest, I don't really consider Sky much of a competitor with UPC anymore because they don't offer the three services which UPC offer. Hopefully Sky will offer tripple play in the future because competition would be good.

As for "Why should they share them; they are their channels and its the one trump card they have over their competitors? Im not condoning it, but I can understand their motives."
- It doesn't quite work that way. UPC have to pay to air Sky channels, they're not getting them for free. Also, John Malone, the man who owns UPC's parent, Liberty Global, also owns Liberty Media, DirecTV and Discovery - so he's as big as Rupert Murdoch and Sky Digital air a lot of channels owned by UPC's sister companies, including Biography, all the Discovery Channels,etc

dunworth1

djimi wrote: »

Ill be honest with you; I dont care why they dont have the HD channels or interactive or anything like that, all I know is that as a former Sky customer and a current UPC customer I think the level of service you get from Sky (albeit for more money) far exceeds what you get from UPC. Im aware a lot of it is beyond the control of UPC, but at the end of the day if I want to watch cricket or football in HD then Sky have it and UPC dont, and thats the bottom line.

i agree with you there

i would love to have sky1 hd and living hd etc to watch all my program in hd
but i suppose i never had them in hd so i dont know any better.

if i had them in hd before i would considering switching to sky over the hd channels because of the quality of them is simply amazing.

but we must also take into account that the op has not stated wehiter or not he has a hdtv

boxermad

yes we do have a hdtv but to be honest i couldnt be arsed to pay the extra for hd as we are students, we will only be goin foe the value + non hd

dunworth1

boxermad wrote: »

yes we do have a hdtv but to be honest i couldnt be arsed to pay the extra for hd as we are students, we will only be goin foe the value + non hd

just to note you only get espn free with the select extra and the max packs

campo

boxermad wrote: »

yes we do have a hdtv but to be honest i couldnt be arsed to pay the extra for hd as we are students, we will only be goin foe the value + non hd

If you are a student you get a student offer with UPC think it is the last 3/4 months free of your 12 month contract....

My sis got it last year when she started college

dunworth1

campo wrote: »

If you are a student you get a student offer with UPC think it is the last 3/4 months free of your 12 month contract....

My sis got it last year when she started college

here you go http://www.upc.ie/studentoffer/

boxermad

dunworth1 wrote: »

just to note you only get espn free with the select extra and the max packs

yes its actually the select extra pack i made a mistake, as of the student offer does that for the tv iswell, its just i was told it was for broadband

campo

boxermad wrote: »

yes its actually the select extra pack i made a mistake, as of the student offer does that for the tv iswell, its just i was told it was for broadband

Nope my sis got it again this year and she says it was for TV aswell last 4 months free

boxermad

campo wrote: »

Nope my sis got it again this year and she says it was for TV aswell last 4 months free

i just checked out the website but it only does student deals for both tv and broadband package, has the months may june july and august. I ring them up and see if they offer me without the broadband as i still have 8 months left on my broadband contract i dont see why i should pay for another connection

icdg

gin_and_tonic wrote: »

Rule of thumb: if you call UPC and the person on the phone has a Limerick accent - you're probably wasting your time.

You might lay off taring everyone in UPC customer service from one particular county with the same brush...

Runs Cold

the student deal ois not the last 4 months free it is specifically may june july august 2011 FREE...

Nelly73

Hi all you experts in all matters. We have just moved into our new house in Galway - (self build board thank you) and want to get in the channels sooner rather than later. Only problem is don't know what provider to go with. The price difference doesn't seem to be that much but the service is what I'd be interested in finding out about for this area..... Any advice greatly appreciated....:D

djimi

If price isnt that much of an issue then Id recommend Sky over UPC any day in terms of TV service.

dunworth1

if you want broadband phone and tv i would go with upc
the value you get is amazing and it will be cheaper then getting broadband and phone with eircom or similar

if you just want tv

it would depend on which channels you want

for intense you get espn and setanta ireland free with upc (select extra or max packs only) where you have to pay for them on sky

you get interactive (red button) with sky upc dont have it

if you want multi room upc have it for half the price of sky 8.50