Sky Digital + in apartment block

weeslip

Just bought a new apartment in Aikens Village and moved in over the weekend. Some crowd called Sky Conway or Conway Sky are offering piped basic sky package for 13 euros a month. When i rang them up to inquire about the sky + package she told me no way as the building is only setup for one cable connection. She said i would be able to watch or to record but not at the same time. Anyone know if this is the case and if any way around it exists?

Apreciate the help,
Eain

byte

I wonder if the issue is with there only being one available output from the multiswitch for each apartment, or the fact that there is only one downlead to flat for satellite. The latter can be solved with a Stacker-Destacker which allows two satellite feeds down the one cable.
http://www.johansson.be/htmen/stackerdestacker.php?ref=9633KIT

You would of course, need two feeds from the Multiswitch point. Ask if there is a spare output that could be used

weeslip

I'll get onto them now and see what the craic is, all your one seems capable of saying is 'i don't know, i'll have to contact the engineers'

idj

That seems abit strange alright. I have never heard of these people before. So do you have basic digibox in the flat or do they broadcast the channels in the clear?

byte

Yes, I'd also like some clarification as to what is being received. I am wondering because you said the Basic pack is €13 p/m whereas with proper Sky Digital, Family Pack is ~€28.50

Bogger77

byte wrote:

Yes, I'd also like some clarification as to what is being received. I am wondering because you said the Basic pack is €13 p/m whereas with proper Sky Digital, Family Pack is ~€28.50

at that price, sounds similar to NTL ?

weeslip

its not the full sky family package at all and its not ntl, the site has a sat and this crowd run a couple of feeds to each apartment. rte 1/2,tv3,tg4 ,bbc 1 2 3, cnn, couple of other channels plus eurosport and sky 1 coming along. You still get the sky box.

Seems grand for the money

Will let you know how i go

byte

Hmm, from your description, i'm convinced that you're not receiving regular Sky Digital. RTE1, 2, etc only work on Family Pack or higher at 28eur per month. (Plus you'd have the option to change packages) It must be just the private cable system they've used? What is the make and model of the set top box? I'm intrigued I am!

RobY

Hi,

I live in an apartment in Dublin 7 and we have Sky Conway too. Basically, when the apartment block is being fitted out for TV, the builder can choose a provider to suit them. Sometimes it's NTL, sometimes Smart and sometimes a Sky reseller i.e. Sky Conway.

Sky Conway mount a large satellite dish on the roof of the apartment block and give you a basic 20 or so channels for 10-15 quid a month. You also have the option to get a Sky Digital subscription through them with Digibox etc.

I was also interested in getting Sky + but was told by the Sky Conway engineer that this was not possible because the electricians for the builders only supplied one cable into my apartment. The engineer couldn't understand the logic of this and said Sky Conway have told numerous builders to run two cables. It's obviously to their advantage to be able to offer Sky + too.

The only solution for you is to get a 2nd cable into your apartment from wherever the TV signal is distributed. If there are still electricians onsite, this may be possible but you'll probably find that the builder has instructed them to do the job at the minimum cost possible and that the builder's contractual obligations to you extend to providing TV (and not Sky +) i.e. you may have to pay extra.

Good luck and I hope you are more successful in your attempt than I was.

RobY

RobY wrote:

I was also interested in getting Sky + but was told by the Sky Conway engineer that this was not possible because the electricians for the builders only supplied one cable into my apartment. The engineer couldn't understand the logic of this and said Sky Conway have told numerous builders to run two cables. It's obviously to their advantage to be able to offer Sky + too.

How could it be to their advantage?
Sky plus recording facilities are tied to a card and box in the subscribers name and cannot be resold or redistributed in that way.
You would have to be receiving a full sky digital package provided to you by sky .
What "conway sky" would have to do is say to you we will disconnect the second lnb feed if you dont pay us a fee on top of what you pay sky.
Sky would bring them to court for that.

This sounds dodgy in my view.

Tony

RobY wrote:

I was also interested in getting Sky + but was told by the Sky Conway engineer that this was not possible because the electricians for the builders only supplied one cable into my apartment. The engineer couldn't understand the logic of this and said Sky Conway have told numerous builders to run two cables.

Unfortunately this is an all to common occurence. TV cabling should not be left to electricians as they do not have the necessary understanding to do this right. Sky conway should have run their own cables assuming they knew about the job at an early stage, unfortunately this often comes to light when its too late to do anything about it. For some unknown reason builders/archtects do not give Tv services the attention they deserve.

byte

Yes, too true Tony. Nothing worse than coming to a new home, where the sparky has fed 3 leads to a sitting room, only for the cables to be that horrible brown single screen cable, which isn't much good for terrestrial TV, let alone satellite! Not really the electricians fault, and they're using that cheapo cable less and less.

But even with one downlead, Sky+ should be possible with a Stacker Destacker, provided there are enough outputs at the head end.

weeslip

no extra feeds available seemingly, bit of a joke to be honest but sure we'll get over it.

Tony

byte wrote:

Not really the electricians fault,

I disagree they should own up and say its not their area of expertise, householders are not to know and when they find out its too late. If an electrician tackled plumbing and did it wrong they would be taken to task so why not satellite/tv?

byte

Hmm, true enough I suppose. Though, I'm finding more often nowadays, that electricians are taking notice and enquire as to what to cable into rooms etc. They've possibly experienced complaints about the stuff they were using by home owners they done work in. Indeed the same goes for some new householders too.

idj

I still dont think this is right. Do these people have a website?
It appears they are trying to run a mini cable network using Skys service. I bet sky havent even heard of them.
I have checked the Comreg website and they dont seem to be listed.

Cowboys!!

weeslip

with regards to sky not even having heard of them you could well be right. The thing that gets me apart from the whole not being able to get sky + is the fact that i would have to pay them the basic subscription (13 euros monthly) for the service they offer and then another 25 or so to sky directly for the extra channels ( discovery etc) but i would be doubling up on some of the terrestrial and fta channels ( bbc, rte etc). I'm going to try and stick a dish up somewhere and cut out the middle man.

Eain

Rippy

byte wrote:

Nothing worse than coming to a new home, where the sparky has fed 3 leads to a sitting room, only for the cables to be that horrible brown single screen cable,]
But there is something worse! I often come across RG59 CCTV cable being used as downleads. Totally hopeless ,lossy stuff. That and lazy/stupid sparks who only connect the centre core in outlet plates........GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Tony

byte wrote:

Hmm, true enough I suppose. Though, I'm finding more often nowadays, that electricians are taking notice and enquire as to what to cable into rooms etc.

Yeah I've had a few calls along the lines "can you specify what cable we should use for a,b,c etc " but when I ask do they wish to order same cable they freeze up

Tony

idj wrote:

Cowboys!!

hey dont insult cowboys I know some very good technicians who are part time cowboys.

idj

As long as leave the horses outside Tony.

Weeslip did you ever get it sorted M8?

weeslip

I have the foreman looking into installing a second feed for my apartment or allowing me to install a dish if it is not going to be to obtrusive. If i use the installed system and go with Sky Conway they want 60 euro a year maintenance fee, which is fair enough if i use their system but i'm forking out cash left right and center and could do without another crowd leeching from me :cool: I reckon my own dish is the way to go.

Bogger77

weeslip wrote:

I have the foreman looking into installing a second feed for my apartment or allowing me to install a dish if it is not going to be to obtrusive. If i use the installed system and go with Sky Conway they want 60 euro a year maintenance fee, which is fair enough if i use their system but i'm forking out cash left right and center and could do without another crowd leeching from me :cool: I reckon my own dish is the way to go.

60euros a year on top of the monthly fee, that's taking the p*ss.

RobY

Earthman wrote:

How could it be to their advantage?
Sky plus recording facilities are tied to a card and box in the subscribers name and cannot be resold or redistributed in that way.
You would have to be receiving a full sky digital package provided to you by sky .
What "conway sky" would have to do is say to you we will disconnect the second lnb feed if you dont pay us a fee on top of what you pay sky.
Sky would bring them to court for that.

This sounds dodgy in my view.

I presume they get paid a percentage commission for every new Sky customer they resell to. Sky+ is more expensive than Sky so may be more commission hence 'it is to their advantage' UNLESS they get paid the same either way.

The only money I paid Sky Conway was the installation fee (75 Euros from memory).

RobY

idj wrote:

I still dont think this is right. Do these people have a website?
It appears they are trying to run a mini cable network using Skys service. I bet sky havent even heard of them.
I have checked the Comreg website and they dont seem to be listed.

Cowboys!!

They may not have a website but they are an Agent for Sky. There was an Agent reference number filled in on the Sky contract (presumably used for commission purposes amongst other things)

d-j-k

They're not doing anything remotely illegal or wrong. All they're doing is providing access to Astra/Hotbird (and thus sky digital) signals via a managed central satellite dish and an internal cable system within the building. This is how sky is normally installed in an apartment block.

If you want the system maintained someone's gotta do it. If it's not maintained you'll find it will rapidly fall apart, the dish will rust or go off line and everyone will suffer from blocky frozen pictures.

Bogger77

d-j-k wrote:

They're not doing anything remotely illegal or wrong. All they're doing is providing access to Astra/Hotbird (and thus sky digital) signals via a managed central satellite dish and an internal cable system within the building. This is how sky is normally installed in an apartment block.

If you want the system maintained someone's gotta do it. If it's not maintained you'll find it will rapidly fall apart, the dish will rust or go off line and everyone will suffer from blocky frozen pictures.

60 a year, from even 10 people, is more than the system would cost to be replaced every year. It's a rip off

Tony

Bogger77 wrote:

60 a year, from even 10 people, is more than the system would cost to be replaced every year. It's a rip off

I've yet to see an apartment system which cost less than 600 euro, however my feeling would be the system should be warrantied for a year and then perhaps a maintenance charge introduced, a small fee in the first year to cover storm damage might also be an idea.

idj

RobY wrote:

I presume they get paid a percentage commission for every new Sky customer they resell to. Sky+ is more expensive than Sky so may be more commission hence 'it is to their advantage' UNLESS they get paid the same either way.

The only money I paid Sky Conway was the installation fee (75 Euros from memory).

Hi RobY,

Do you pay sky then for the service or was it just a one off payment of 75euro to sky conway?