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Has anyone signed up to Sky Essentials recently?

Posie234

I have just been speaking to Sky cancellations team and tried to sign up to the bare minimum package - used to be Sky Lite (having seen on here it was €10 a month) and was told they no longer offer it. Has anyone else been offered it recently? I'm just wondering if it is worth ringing back to try to speak to someone else. As it stands I have cancelled Sky TV.

The alternative is a FTA box, but have been looking at the threads and am overwhelmed by all the options!! 😣

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[Deleted User]

Sky Stream is another option, unless you're hooked on recording. Search here for more details.

Posie234

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121574317#Comment_121574317

Potentially, but the difference in price isn't that much as far as I can make out. I would want multiroom. When I was cancelling, they put Sky Signature up to €34.99 from the €29 I had on my current contract (ending next month), dropped multiroom to €16 from €20, HD down to €5 from €10 (would have got rid had I stayed).

When I called this morning about Sky Essentials, they offered me €29.95 for Sky Signature, but said Essentials was only available as an offer around Christmas...!

muffler

I've seen Sky Lite mentioned a few times in this forum and I was telling a mate about it. His contract is coming to an end shortly and when he rang in and asked about Lite he was also told that they don't offer it any more.

Posie234

Thank you - I guess they really must have stopped it then 🙄

muffler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121574664#Comment_121574664

This is the problem with Sky. You never know what type of offers will be made to people cancelling their contracts. They seem to change every couple of months or less at times. Maybe Sky Lite is still available to certain classes of customers or maybe it's definitely off the table now but could well be available in the future.

It would be interesting to hear if anyone got it recently.

icdg

At least at one stage it was only available if they offered it to you as a cancellation deal but even then it seemed to depend on the agent you spoke to.

At any rate it always seemed something they were half hearted about and didn’t really shout from the rooftops about.

Posie234

Thanks everyone. I have only been with Sky Ireland for one year, so probably wouldn’t get the best offers - if they even exist!!

I’ll be back later to ask about FTA boxes 😊

decor58

Not all the FTA boxes are complicated, depends on what you want. All will need some set up, a simple one will need to be tuned and channels sorted and that's it, some tuning may be needed from time to time. The big drawback to some is that a basic one just gives now and next epg.

Posie234

I think the one that is easiest to use, we’re reasonably technically competent, so should be ok with set up.

If we want RTE, we will need an aerial won’t we? Which we don’t currently have 😩

Bellie1

Also was told by Sky yesterday that the Essentials is no longer on offer so zgemma all the way now. Some satellite shops eg satworld will set up a zgemma for you with basic features(7 day EPG, series link etc)

Have a guy coming to install aerial and change the lnb next week so hoping it's all a decent replacement for Sky.

Deagol

I have one TV here with an internal antenna working fine with Saorview - so don't jump to conclusion that you always need an expensive external one!

decor58

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121575619#Comment_121575619

To have Saorview you would need an aerial, outdoor is recommended but it depends on your location. You most likely will be able to get Saorview through your tv tuner but that will mean changing sources, some people prefer a combo box, Saorview and satellite in one box, for that reason. Check your tv it may have a satellite tuner on board.

Posie234

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121576373#Comment_121576373

Thank you! My TV does have a freesat tuner which I probably wouldn't have realised if you hadn't mentioned it. Is it just as simple as putting the satellite cable into the tv?

samcr440!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121577318#Comment_121577318

If you have a free sat tuner in your tv and if your current satellite was setup to receive sky then yes it should just go straight into your tv do a scan for channels and you should have free to to air satellite channels available then. If you want to have just the Freesat channels available you will need to set your tv region to the uk that will leave bbc one on 101 etc.

icdg

Not quite, If the OP is coming from Sky Q they will usually need to swap the wideband LNB on the dish for a conventional one (dual/quad). Unless they had the foresight to ask for a hybrid at installation time and one was actually installed.

samcr440!

Thanks for that info I wasn't aware of the difference for Sky Q

Posie234

We are coming from Sky Q 😩

I think I have read on another thread that this can be quite tricky and I am best off getting a professional to do it - is that right?

And if they are doing that for me, they may as well install an external aerial for Saorview…

Bellie1

Similar position. Have to get a guy to swap lnb and put up aerial( recording is a big requirement for me so bought a zgemma box,which will give saorview and free to air channels).

Or if you wanted to use the rte player for saorview stuff you could just buy a freesat box for the UK channels and wouldn't need to swap lnb, just connect the freesat box to the existing sky cables

Posie234

Yes, that’s a good shout. Like you, recording is important to us. Our TV does allow that if we connect it to a hard drive.

We were thinking RTE player, though need to load it on to our tv.

Will get lnb changed and aerial installed as first step. Then take it from there.

So many options! Really grateful to everyone who has taken the time to help 😊

Bellie1

If going for the zgemma , places like satworld will preconfigure for you. Haven't seen what looks like yet and how quickly replicates the sky experience. I'll update here next week when know what it's like.

icdg

One big advantage of a Freesat (capital F) box is that you are getting a fully managed EPG just like Sky, you should never have to tune the box again when channels are added or removed.

Few FTA boxes if any will be able to fully replicate that experience, as a lot of people found out with the BBC changes last year. There’s a bit of maintenance to be done with rescans from time to time, it’s nothing massive but something to be aware.

The disadvantage of course is that a true Freesat- Saorview combo box will never be a thing, as Saorview Connect has shown.

Gerry Wicklow

It should also be noted that FreeSat does not include all freely available channels such as CNN or some +1s

Bellie1

Yeah that's a downside of the free to air, especially if the channels change and have a final episode of a nail biting thriller set to record on BBC and the channels have changed so it isn't recorded. Don't suppose there's any advance for warning given of channel changes?

swoofer

@Belli1 that does not happen and as for advance warning the BBC changed TODAY and the warning started in MARCH last year and its the first entry on this forum. You should have a good read of the zgemmaH7S thread box wont come fully configured and it needs your input.

As regards FREESAT that often refers to the type of box that comes with proprietary software for epg. Freesat can be replicated on an enigam2 box but not advisable best to use Sky configuration gets all the FREE to air, eg CNN etc.

ABM can be run nightly to pick up any frequency changes.

Any frequency changes are posted on the forum well in advance.

Gerry Wicklow

As Swoofer says, it is extremely rare for the main channels to change. Perhaps more so for the lesser "Now that's what I call greatest sewing hits" type channels. 😉

Bellie1

That's reassuring to know. Anyway If ABM is scheduled to run nightly then it will automatically pick up on any channel changes?

Bellie1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121585680#Comment_121585680

So far so good with zgemma box. Not as slick as sky and epgs for saorview and satellite are seperate but a bit of extra effort. Probably will go back to sky in a year if they give a 50 offer for BB+tv and then back to the zgemma the following year etc. Satworld are decent if any queries eg the EPG wasn't configured but talked me through it

Posie234

Thanks Bellie - good to know.

I have a month until Sky switches off, so had better get it sorted!

Gerry Wicklow

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121609998#Comment_121609998

You can create your own favourites list with any mix of Saorview and satellite in any order you wish, all with full 7day EPG.

Bellie1

The guy in satworld said to not create favourites as would be overwritten or something . I can't remember exact reason. That would be great if could create favourites out of the box . Does it just create a new favourites bouquet?