SKY

[Zampa]

Having an upgrade to sky plus on thurs which also includes multiroom..well, maybe...

Just found out you have to have both boxes attached to a phone point.

Now..I know that when you have sky for the first time you have to keep your box plugged into a phone socket for one year..but this is an upgrade, we dont use any of those services anyway.

They didnt tell us we needed it when it was ordered either...so the wife will be playing dumb (not hard!!) on the day.

The problem?...we dont want phone wire trailing through the house to the phone point which is in another room and about 25 feet away.

On the point of cancelling now..but we have decided to wait until the day to see if tey can come up with something

Has anyone else had this problem?

 

[noseall]

my work oppo' had exactly the same problem.

told the sky engineer where to stick his phone wire!

 

[toptec]

Zampa - When we moved last year we transferred our Sky+ as well. The engineer from Sky would only connect it all up when I laid an extension to the only telephone point in the bungalow.

As soon as he left I removed it. Its been going fine for 14 months now. Do the same with yours. I thinks its only for advertising and the like. It doesn't affect the red button services.

 

[poshman]

is it because they are checking that BOTH boxes are in the same house and you aint drilled a hole thru to your friendly neighbours so you can split the cost

 

[Zampa]

is it because they are checking that BOTH boxes are in the same house and you aint drilled a hole thru to your friendly neighbours so you can split the cost

That has been mentioned on a few sites and I know its an issue with Sky, but we dont have any intention of doing that..

As soon as he left I removed it. Its been going fine for 14 months now. Do the same with yours. I thinks its only for advertising and the like. It doesn't affect the red button services.

Cheers toptec...did you get any letters or threats from Sky?

I can either ring them now and ask why..but I think thats futile or blag it on the day..ive read somewhere that they will take us on if we unplug the phone though..one things for sure if the engineer isnt willing to leave the wire loose he can forget it..ive just decorated my hall and I dont want staple marks everywhere from pulling the wire out.

Thanks for the comments..

 

[Richardp]

We took the phone line out and they told us to reconnect it, I think they disconnected us for a while.

 

[craig51]

There is another option i think, but please ask sky as the engineer told me off the cuff, but if you pay something like £15ish, you dont need a phone line.

Like i said, check with sky first.

My in-laws received numerous letters from sky, and then got the box cancelled becuase they didnt have a socket. So i duly installed a socket for them and they got reconnected, so they do follow through.

 

[Zampa]

Just rang them to confirm...when you say that you want to cancel they put you through to the sweet talkers..

The guy was OK about it..he said it was so they could keep tabs on the extra box in case it was split with next door..a phone line is the only way to do it.

I tried calling their bluff by saying 'ok cancel the lot'..but unfortunatly he said ok!

I then back tracked a little and offered a compromise...no multiroom..but allow us to have the box for the same price (it was a condition that it was that price only as part of a multiroom deal)

Then we will see what the engineer can do for us

Thanks for the comments

 

[Donkmeister]

The phone line is there mainly to call-back to base so they know what pay-per-view services you've used. If you're prepared to drill a hole next door to carry the satellite co-ax you'd do the same with the phone cable, wouldn't you

The box is subsidised, and that subsidy is in the hope that you will get into the habit of paying £3-4 to rent a film. Those I know who make use of pay-per-view generally start off renting the odd film. Then it becomes something they do at least once a week... That's ~£150 a year.

The box is set up to drop the call if you pick up the phone, so the system only relies on the box calling home something like once every couple of weeks. So, if you can find this info (google?) then just run a temporary extension lead overnight a couple of times a month until the 12 month period is up.

 

[Zampa]

The 12 month period is now permanant unfortunatly...

 

[Donkmeister]

The 12 month period is now permanant unfortunatly...

Ah, must be because of the Credit Crunch...

(that's my stock response nowadays )

 

[Zampa]

Reccession in a false bead and moustace..

 

[kkynaston]

For multiroom subscription you must have all sky digital receivers connected to the same phone line at all times. An engineer will not install at all if you won't let him run the 2nd phone line.

If you disconnect one of the boxes on a multiroom sub you will get a warning letter. If you don't connect the box then you will get billed full price for the 2nd box.

If you only have 1 box you can disconnect as soon as the engineer goes. They nearly never police the phone line connection on single box installs.
If you do it legit you can install without a phoneline for £25

edit: if you run the phone line yourself before then it can go where you want

 

[Zampa]

If you do it legit you can install without a phoneline for £25

Install a second box?...the plan was to use our old one for the multiroom..if the engineer is up for it and wants to earn a couple of quid for himself id be happy to pay 25 quid, plus id rather put it in someones hand than Skys...he probably needs it more.

It wil be legit, I havn't got any intention of splitting it...Idont want the hassle of letters and warnings etc

 

[kkynaston]

No sorry, meant to say you can install without a phoneline on a single box subscription only.

There is no way around it on multiroom. They all have to be connected.