SKY Card, a set top box and the infamous phone line.

Fatscally · 01-11-2011 09:28PM #1

Hi.
I just signed up to SKY. Only took an hour on the phone with Ian and a visit by an unnecessary engineer next Tuesday. I wanted 3 boxes, the family room, the old folk’s room, and the mammy's and daddy's room. I was told I can only have 1 box coz I don't have a phone land line. You all know the story. I told him there's no effin way I'm getting a phone line in at my expense when it's not even functionally necessary. Anyway Ian said no can do you're only getting one box so. Fair enough I'll run a wire around the house and make do.
In the course of the conversation I asked can we get cards only. He said yes and then Ian rattled off a number of reasons about why you shouldn't, mainly that if they're used in non SKY approved equipment then they can't be responsible for them not working etc and you'd be tied to a contract if you had activated it and so on.

Right so here's my question...
Can you use a SKY card in a non sky box?
What will happen about the whole calling the mothership malarky that they love so much?
Will their system decide that the card is missing and deactivate it?
If so what's the point of 3rd party boxes in this monopoly?

Ian said that they send out these cards to people that have old equipment so I assume the older shyte doesn't have a modem anyway.

Anyone got some good experience with this angle?
I'm looking at something like this for a work-around... http://www.satellitetv.ie/shop/index.php?controller=product&path=76&product_id=319

sonyair · 01-11-2011 09:37PM

If you can find an independent sky installer they will usually have boxes that they sell and install as my aunt did when she switched from upc to sky,

she has no phone line for years and the guy said it was no problem and just gave the sky+hd box and another box which is much smaller, so it can be done.

Fatscally · 01-11-2011 09:47PM

sonyair wrote: »

If you can find an independent sky installer they will usually have boxes that they sell and install as my aunt did when she switched from upc to sky,

she has no phone line for years and the guy said it was no problem and just gave the sky+hd box and another box which is much smaller, so it can be done.

So I assume then that she has purchased a second card from Sky then?

sonyair · 01-11-2011 09:54PM

I actually don't know the full story yet as it only went in last week but she pays about €40p/m

Fatscally · 01-11-2011 10:15PM

sonyair wrote: »

I actually don't know the full story yet as it only went in last week but she pays about €40p/m

When you're getting the full story get the installer's phone number and maybe he'll post me out one if I need it.

NUTZZ · 01-11-2011 10:55PM

Fatscally wrote: »

Can you use a SKY card in a non sky box?

Yes you can, the Ariva 120 for example has a card slot and a Sky card with valid subscription works perfectly in it.

Fatscally · 01-11-2011 11:48PM

NUTZZ wrote: »

Yes you can, the Ariva 120 for example has a card slot and a Sky card with valid subscription works perfectly in it.

And then what happens with the nightly phone in? It becomes a moot point and the card lives on forever or what? Kind of mad to think that SKY would hassle me away from a purchase when there's such a simple work around.

steveon · 02-11-2011 12:15AM

If sky find your boxes are not connected to an active landline then they warn you usually twice and then they increase your second card to full price until you put the landline on the box.

It is stupid but unfortunetly its there rules as we have all discussed here before there are other ways around it but they still denote this is the only way they will accept.

BirdyRob22 · 02-11-2011 01:14AM

I had a scotish sky installer round several months back and quized him about the multiroom with no phone line posibility
and he said that custermer service will always say no to it but the engineer on the ground has ways around things like that
His exact words were that "they were a different breed to the engineers on the ground" lol

He suggested i set up the hd+ box he was there to do as planned then wait 2 weeks, order a new card and put it in the old box in another room
Both would work independantly i.e. multiroom but without the need for the phone line

Cant recall how i would get billed for it (multiroom or whatever) but problem solved

Fatscally · 02-11-2011 09:18AM

Hopefully I'll get a "sound" engineer on Tuesday then.:)

Rizzo the Rat · 02-11-2011 09:55AM

It's strange how people say the phone line thing is "stupid" or they "can't understand why it is necessary" when the reason for it very clear and simple.
Scenario: I sign up to Sky with multiroom and have all the packages and pay around €100 a month. I then give my multiroom box to a neighbour or friend and they have all the channels for €15.00. Is this fair/correct? How else can Sky police or stop this fraud? Only way they can think of is the phoneline thing.......simples!!
We may not like it but saying it is stupid and you don't understand why it is needed is a bit strange!

steveon · 02-11-2011 10:52AM

Rizzo the Rat wrote: »

It's strange how people say the phone line thing is "stupid" or they "can't understand why it is necessary" when the reason for it very clear and simple.
Scenario: I sign up to Sky with multiroom and have all the packages and pay around €100 a month. I then give my multiroom box to a neighbour or friend and they have all the channels for €15.00. Is this fair/correct? How else can Sky police or stop this fraud? Only way they can think of is the phoneline thing.......simples!!
We may not like it but saying it is stupid and you don't understand why it is needed is a bit strange!

Upc do it without the need of a phone line, I agree it's to stop people giving it to their neighbor but as I said earlier there are other ways around it such as wifi-card sharing technology used throughout Europe. or connections via cat5 to read the slave box details etc...

Fatscally · 02-11-2011 11:12AM

Rizzo the Rat wrote: »

It's strange how people say the phone line thing is "stupid" or they "can't understand why it is necessary" when the reason for it very clear and simple.
Scenario: I sign up to Sky with multiroom and have all the packages and pay around €100 a month. I then give my multiroom box to a neighbour or friend and they have all the channels for €15.00. Is this fair/correct? How else can Sky police or stop this fraud? Only way they can think of is the phoneline thing.......simples!!
We may not like it but saying it is stupid and you don't understand why it is needed is a bit strange!

Why they're doing it is understood. Their solution is stupid and stands only to offend and aggrovate the innocent customers which I assume is the majority of their customers since not so many relatively could be bothered with the fiddle. It's also stupid when there is such a simple work around so the people they're targeting with their security measures won't be too put off by what they have to do to get past it.

There was a recent report stating that the use of landlines had dropped by about 40% over whatever period. The fact that Sky are getting fiddled is not my fault but they're making it mine. So I should pay a tax (of a phone line rental) which I believe is already covered in their extremely high charges because someone else is fiddling them?! How about they pay for their own security features?
(Just reading about the bond holder payment today, same ol' story ay? Little guy gets shat on by the big and faceless corps)

What I'd like to be is treated like a respected and valued customer and not some sh1thead where they just give me a "take it or leave it" attitude. So if they have no regard for me then I'll personally feel little in return for them. Also note that in ROI we get charged about 25% more than peeps in the UK for exactly the same service.

No no, I'm happy to consider their phone line solution as petty and stupid.

02-11-2011 11:57PM

steveon wrote: »

Upc do it without the need of a phone line, I agree it's to stop people giving it to their neighbor but as I said earlier there are other ways around it such as wifi-card sharing technology used throughout Europe. or connections via cat5 to read the slave box details etc...

With UPC it's not as simple as putting up a dish though, you'd have to tap into their cable to get a feed for the relocated second box. Which is highly dodgy.

I'm sure that in time Sky will do some form of internet based check but they're still running on 1998 technology for now. I know it's probably irritating but I can understand their reasons for doing so.

kbell · 03-11-2011 01:42AM

Fatscally wrote: »

Hi.
I just signed up to SKY. Only took an hour on the phone with Ian and a visit by an unnecessary engineer next Tuesday. I wanted 3 boxes, the family room, the old folk’s room, and the mammy's and daddy's room. I was told I can only have 1 box coz I don't have a phone land line. You all know the story. I told him there's no effin way I'm getting a phone line in at my expense when it's not even functionally necessary. Anyway Ian said no can do you're only getting one box so. Fair enough I'll run a wire around the house and make do.
In the course of the conversation I asked can we get cards only. He said yes and then Ian rattled off a number of reasons about why you shouldn't, mainly that if they're used in non SKY approved equipment then they can't be responsible for them not working etc and you'd be tied to a contract if you had activated it and so on.

Right so here's my question...
Can you use a SKY card in a non sky box?
What will happen about the whole calling the mothership malarky that they love so much?
Will their system decide that the card is missing and deactivate it?
If so what's the point of 3rd party boxes in this monopoly?

Ian said that they send out these cards to people that have old equipment so I assume the older shyte doesn't have a modem anyway.

Anyone got some good experience with this angle?
I'm looking at something like this for a work-around... http://www.satellitetv.ie/shop/index.php?controller=product&path=76&product_id=319

Unfortunately Op it is functionally necessary to have a landline connected in a multiroom situation.

I've known customers that haven't had their boxes connected and heard nothing from sky (myself included), but i've had customers who have been billed the full amount for the multiroom boxes, when sky didn't receive callbacks, some of them not even receiving warning letters beforehand.
A costly experience.
Sometimes regular callbacks performed by the customer is enough to keep sky's system happy, but if you don't have a landline and manage to get the cards activated by other means, this can prove awkward to maintain.

steveon · 04-11-2011 01:08AM

Karsini wrote: »

With UPC it's not as simple as putting up a dish though, you'd have to tap into their cable to get a feed for the relocated second box. Which is highly dodgy.

I'm sure that in time Sky will do some form of internet based check but they're still running on 1998 technology for now. I know it's probably irritating but I can understand their reasons for doing so.

With UPC MMDS its as simple as putting up an MMDS aerial and running down a cable and getting some1 you know to get a multiroom box installed and then take it to your home, it happens beleive me...It shouldnt but it does...

Fatscally · 08-11-2011 08:54PM

eh well how it worked out so far... Engineer came today, genuinely lovely chap, did the install, stirling work. He told me there's no multiroom without a phone line. Try calling and giving the a line of bs about how the landlord won't let you run cables etc.
I tried calling and winging to Sky, 3 different people on 3 different numbers, 2 in Cork and 1 in England somewhere. No joy. I even went as far as offering to pay for 2 full subscriptions and she told me "no, you can't have 2 accounts at the one address".
I concluded with the lady in the UK that the service was inferiour to UPC then and that they may send the engineer back and they can rip it all out again. She said Ok we'll do that. And that is where we stand today.

A real shame, the hd is cool, the sky+ box is cool but they just won't give me what I need despite being willing to pay 2x. Sick service.

amacachi · 08-11-2011 08:59PM

Rizzo the Rat wrote: »

It's strange how people say the phone line thing is "stupid" or they "can't understand why it is necessary" when the reason for it very clear and simple.
Scenario: I sign up to Sky with multiroom and have all the packages and pay around €100 a month. I then give my multiroom box to a neighbour or friend and they have all the channels for €15.00. Is this fair/correct? How else can Sky police or stop this fraud? Only way they can think of is the phoneline thing.......simples!!
We may not like it but saying it is stupid and you don't understand why it is needed is a bit strange!

If you're running a cable from the dish to the neighbour's box would it be much more hassle to run a phoneline over there? If someone was going to try to get around it they'll still do it with that tiny extra hassle.

Cantona's Collars · 08-11-2011 11:41PM

Fatscally wrote: »

eh well how it worked out so far... Engineer came today, genuinely lovely chap, did the install, stirling work. He told me there's no multiroom without a phone line. Try calling and giving the a line of bs about how the landlord won't let you run cables etc.
I tried calling and winging to Sky, 3 different people on 3 different numbers, 2 in Cork and 1 in England somewhere. No joy. I even went as far as offering to pay for 2 full subscriptions and she told me "no, you can't have 2 accounts at the one address".
I concluded with the lady in the UK that the service was inferiour to UPC then and that they may send the engineer back and they can rip it all out again. She said Ok we'll do that. And that is where we stand today.

A real shame, the hd is cool, the sky+ box is cool but they just won't give me what I need despite being willing to pay 2x. Sick service.

There's a way around not being allowed have 2 subs in one address,simply sign up for Sky again and alter your name & address slightly so as the card gets delivered to you but Sky don't cop it and viola you have 2 subs in one address;)

SKY Card, a set top box and the infamous phone line.

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