Sky Multiroom

HomelessMidge

My mother got sky multi room for one extra room. She got it and they then gave her an extra bundle as supposedly you can't have it without a phone line, so they managed to get her to sign up for a phone and basic Internet on top of the multi room.

They told her it was not possible to get multi room without having a phone line and then that it was cheaper to get the Internet too as a bundle.

That was 3 weeks ago and still no multi room. They came out but their ladder was too short to reach the dish so they said they would be back.

They also left the Internet modem there saying just plug it in and off you go. He said the phone line was fine no need for a new one, but when I tried to plug the modem in there was already a connection broke off and stuck in the line.

So she rings them and they say we will ring her back, this happens 3 or 4 times and just today they would be sending someone out soon.

I'm just wondering whether she could cancel it altogether? Firstly she has paid for a service which has not been given.
Secondly I don't believe that you need a phone line and the Internet to get sky Multiroom in one more room of your house.

Can she cancel the Multiroom, Phone and Internet and just have it the way it was?

Her bill went from like €50 a month to €97!

Doom

Its almost as good as the sky installation guy telling a neighbour of mine that her walls are too thick for sky+... one extra cable

Bepolite

Sky deliver services via satellite, they've no way of locating where a box is other than the phone line. Do you ever wonder why you can go to a country where Sky have no rights to broadcast and Sky Sports is on?

The Broadband can be canceled within 30 days of order, or at least that was the deal recently. Just cancel it down if you're getting no joy.

HomelessMidge

Bepolite wrote: »

Sky deliver services via satellite, they've no way of locating where a box is other than the phone line.

What box are they trying to locate?

HomelessMidge

Doom wrote: »

Its almost as good as the sky installation guy telling a neighbour of mine that her walls are too thick for sky+... one extra cable

Yeah I'm pretty sure she was taken advantage of to be honest. Someone on the sales team chancing their arm and it paying off!

Bepolite

HomelessMidge wrote: »

What box are they trying to locate?

Both of them. They need to be sure both boxes are on the same premises. It makes no difference if it's one box, if you want to give that to your mate all well and good, but if they can't locate the multiroom boxes whats to stop you signing up to 4 boxes and giving them to your friends.

Bepolite

HomelessMidge wrote: »

Yeah I'm pretty sure she was taken advantage of to be honest. Someone on the sales team chancing their arm and it paying off!

If you're suggesting that she didn't consent then make a complaint to the Comreg ref the Broadband and guards ref the fraud. Either she's too batty to be left on her own or she's an adult who made a decision. Why do people insist on patronising people once they pass 60? More to the point why do elder people let it happen. If Sky are messing you about cancel it... simples.

My father is 74 and would negotiate with the best of them.

HomelessMidge

Bepolite wrote: »

If you're suggesting that she didn't consent then make a complaint to the Comreg ref the Broadband and guards ref the fraud.

No I believe she was talked into it. And she's 50 with no mental health issues. Just can't barter for the life of it! I keep telling her anytime she needs something like this done let me ring them. All well and good if she needed phone line but then the Internet too?

goz83

I wasn't aware that a phone line was needed either. I have only one sky box and its not connected to a phone line. You certainly don't need the internet on top of it, but its actually possible for the bill to be cheaper if you have three services bundled instead of 2. This is certainly the case with UPC, where adding a phone line made my bundle cheaper than just having tv and/or broadband.

HomelessMidge

goz83 wrote: »

I wasn't aware that a phone line was needed either. I have only one sky box and its not connected to a phone line.

Yeah this is the case at the moment, one in the sitting room but she wants another in the kitchen. And the dish is on the same wall as the kitchen side of the house, so I reckon it would be easier to make a new connection in the wall of the kitchen? That's what upc done for the Internet and that's through the TV lines also.

And I realise bundles can be cheaper but I just don't think that we needed the phone line, so I'm sure just multi room with no phone and broadband would be cheaper in the long run.

All those bundles are cheaper for a period of time then the price increases. It's €97 now I can only imagine what it will cost in the long run.

HomelessMidge

Just done a quick search there and found out you do indeed need a phone line for the multiroom (sorry sky).

But it says that the box must be near the phone line. Our phone line is in the sitting room and we want the other box in the kitchen. So they must need to put a phone line in the kitchen.

green123

multiroom will of course work without a phone line connected, but sky wont give it to you without a phone line connected.

they insist on the phone line so they are sure both boxes stay in the same house, otherwise you could give 1 box to a friend and it would be a cheap way of sharing the cost which sky dont want.

yes, you will need to run extra phone line cables to the boxes

green123

she wouldnt be happy with the same picture on both tvs ?

it would be very easy and cheap to connect a cable from the current sky box to the kitchen or maybe even use a wireless video sender.

edit

or another idea would be to get a cheap satellite box and saorview in the kitchen.
since she already has a satellite dish this would also be very easy and cheap and she would have all the irish channels and bbc / itv in the kitchen. this option would be free to run after the small install costs

does she need multiroom ?

HomelessMidge

green123 wrote: »

she wouldnt be happy with the same picture on both tvs ?

it would be very easy and cheap to connect a cable from the current sky box to the kitchen or maybe even use a wireless video sender.

She doesn't really need multi room if that's the case. A wireless video sender seems the way to go! She wouldn't want cables all over the place.

green123

HomelessMidge wrote: »

She doesn't really need multi room if that's the case. A wireless video sender seems the way to go! She wouldn't want cables all over the place.

video senders can be a little bit hit and miss with some suffering from interference, just something to be aware of if you do choose that option.

most of the reviews seem to be happy enough with this one :
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003KVMYA0/ref=s9_simh_gw_p23_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1410XG1AJD3G00ZVHMV2&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=430153987&pf_rd_i=468294


best option is a saorview / freesat combi satellite box for the kitchen :
http://www.powercity.ie/?par=10-23-NM7100

Bepolite

HomelessMidge wrote: »

No I believe she was talked into it. And she's 50 with no mental health issues. Just can't barter for the life of it! I keep telling her anytime she needs something like this done let me ring them. All well and good if she needed phone line but then the Internet too?

Fair play, sorry my previous comments came across more aggressive than I meant them to. Sky give you a free broadband service with the line rental (€30) but paying €45 for an extra room seems a bit much to be fair.

+1 on the video senders. Phone sky today and get it all canceled down.

If for what ever reason you do want to keep the phone line, if you get a small flat head screw driver and a pair of needle nose pliers you can grab the broken connector and use the screw driver to life the little tab at the bottom of the connector (RJ11) it will then pop out.

HomelessMidge

Bepolite wrote: »

Fair play, sorry my previous comments came across more aggressive than I meant them to. Sky give you a free broadband service with the line rental (€30) but paying €45 for an extra room seems a bit much to be fair.

Ah it's grand, and yeah well that's where the price is. 30 for line rental and I believe it's 15 for every room or at least your first room. I'm gonna get her to cancel it and I'll just sort out the saorview and a wireless video sender.

Thanks for the help everyone.

Bepolite

The plot thickens...

from the 18th December new customers in Ireland no longer require a phone line for Multi-screen.

green123

Bepolite wrote: »

The plot thickens...

from the 18th December new customers in Ireland no longer require a phone line for Multi-screen.

somebody was saying something about that on another thread in the sat forum.

where did you see that ? any link ?

Bepolite

green123 wrote: »

somebody was saying something about that on another thread in the sat forum.

where did you see that ? any link ?

I can't tell you other than to assure you it's from a very reliable source.