Cutting back UPC - switching to freeview kit

Flesh Gorden

I plan on cutting back my services from upc down to just the basic €25/m 12mb broadband

Currently I'm averaging around €97/m with the bundle I'm on, and want rid of it
Plus the only channels I watch are all on freeview, and even then I wouldn't be too pushed as the tv only acts as background noise when I'm online these days


I've a good few questions before hand though:


Cisco hd DVR

When I downgrade, do I need to send back the DVR?



Ross Freeview HD kit

I picked up the whole Ross kit in bits and pieces from a friend who works in a large retail store
where these are a "nil returns" item ( meaning they get no credit back and are only fit for the skip)


I seem to have 2 possibilities


1 - Feed off of neighbors sky dish

Years ago we aggreed to allow our neighbours to place their sky dish on our chimney as their's had been removed in place of a flew for the gas fire

there is a two way splitter with one unused output - the other going into their house - I reckon the installer did this on purpose incase we ever switched to sky

I have the Ross HD box ready and waiting to be used so this is what I would use unless the UPC/Cisco DVR would be of any use



2 - Set up the Ross dish in the back garden (I'd like to avoid this option)

The way the UPC cables are fed in would mean I'd need a lot of blind luck to feed the new cable through as-is, (they used one continuous cable from the roof down into the house)

I don't want to have to go chisling and drilling to lay a new line through the wall from a dish placed at the end of the garden and patching it back up again after

Plus I've no solid structure to fix the dish to so I'd need to buy a good few things to secure it at the back of the garden



Downgrading my UPC package online

Anytime I deal with the likes of UPC I feel I should take out the knee pads and vaseline an be prepared


the last change in contract (apart from januarys price hike >:(- was around may 2010

this was when I upgraded to the HD box and package



- Will they screw me over if I just purchase the €25 broadband package online?


In my mind it should be a smooth transaction that results in the tv/phone package ending and with me just paying for broadband only

But, I get the horrible feeling they will initially charge me for both, play dumb and then want me to write a letter stating my intention to cancel the tv/phone package sending me in circles


Any help greatly appreciated

Aquos76

If you only plan on taking the BB service from them, they will charge you an additional charge of €7.75 per month, for not taking their TV package. They may ask you to send back the dvr, however, if they dont, it will be useless as your viewing card will be switched off. Be aware they may charge you downgrade fees on each of the services you are cancelling too. Also make sure you are not in a contract still.

With regards to the Ross Dish, my advice would be to use a spare output on the LNB from the dish on your chimney, IMO the ross dish is a pile of ****e. Your Ross HD receiver will work fine with the Sky dish

Regards cancelling on line, I have never tried that way, but anytime I have rang them lately Ive found them to be much improved on say 12 months ago

icdg

OP this part is one for the satellite forum, but Freeview HD kit won't work with a satellite dish. Freeview HD is a DTT service only available in certain parts of the country where there is overspill from the UK. Since you mention a dish, do you mean Freesat? Which is a completely different service and is available nationwide.

Either way you'd be better off posting the satellite related questions in the satellite forum. If you really do mean Freeview HD, its Terrestrial you need to head to.

I'll leave this topic here as most of the other questions appear to relate to UPC.

Flesh Gorden

Aquos76 wrote: »

They may ask you to send back the dvr, however, if they dont, it will be useless as your viewing card will be switched off.

I only wanted to keep it to access the hours of stuff I've recorded, but in hindsight; even if it starts up without a valid card I probably wouldn't be able to get playback if I tried.

I had sky sports for a while and the matches I recorded couldn't be played back after I cancelled those channels

Your Ross HD receiver will work fine with the Sky dish

Unfortunatley it wouldn't receive a signal, according to the Ross Faq it means the dish is out of allignment to receive a signal

The LNB signal bar would be around 55% for Hotbird 6/8/9 and for Astra and Eurobird it would only flash between 20-45%

However the 'Q' bar stayed at zero and all I kept getting was a 'bad or no signal' on any of the channels


I can get a fairly new Samsung Sky+ HD box for around €20 so I might try and hook that up and see f it's just a compatibility issue with the ross receiver box and the sky dish.

icdg wrote: »

OP this part is one for the satellite forum, but Freeview HD kit won't work with a satellite dish. Freeview HD is a DTT service only available in certain parts of the country where there is overspill from the UK. Since you mention a dish, do you mean Freesat? Which is a completely different service and is available nationwide.

I meant Freesat, didn't realize there was a difference till I looked it up

Minstrel27

Flesh Gorden wrote: »

Unfortunatley it wouldn't receive a signal, according to the Ross Faq it means the dish is out of allignment to receive a signal

The LNB signal bar would be around 55% for Hotbird 6/8/9 and for Astra and Eurobird it would only flash between 20-45%

However the 'Q' bar stayed at zero and all I kept getting was a 'bad or no signal' on any of the channels


I can get a fairly new Samsung Sky+ HD box for around €20 so I might try and hook that up and see f it's just a compatibility issue with the ross receiver box and the sky dish.

If your neighbour is getting a signal then so should you assuming you are both using the same dish.

Flesh Gorden

Minstrel27 wrote: »

If your neighbour is getting a signal then so should you assuming you are both using the same dish.

I reckon it might be the box,

I did get the thing for free as they're a nil return in my friends workplace and it is one of the reasons a lot were returned

I'll know by Sunday if I can get a signal, getting a friend to bring up his unused sky box to see if it can pick up freesat before I buy the thing