Digital TV Cost Cutting Article - Discuss What You've Been Offered

Mr_Hoobs

My standard sky box went up to digital heaven this morning :A, conveniently just out of warranty.

I called Sky and they said that, as it is out of warranty I could either pay 65 quid to get an engineer out or I could pay £8.99 a month extended warranty.

I told them that was too much either way and I would think about it.

Called back half hour later and got the same response from the person I spoke to or I could get a Sky Plus box for the price listed on the web site (160 quid including installation).

I asked to go through to cancellations and he put me through. Spoke to a lady who said the lowest we could go for installation and the box was 105 quid.

Decided to cancel and finally got to the proper cancellation team. The long and the short of it is that the guy gave me the box and installation for 10 quid! He set up Sky Talk Unlimited (UK landline calls 24/7 and international landlines and mobiles) for 5 quid a month with free line rental for a year (which is better than BT can offer me - 144 quid saved a year on rental alone).

In total I am getting the Sky Plus, 3 mixes and one movie channel mix, broadband and phone for 43 quid a month.

The guy was really helpful and it just shows that perseverance really pays off so I would recommend trying it.

ccluedo

As we are in an area where we cant get freeview or channel 5 on terrestrial, 18months ago we had a second hand satellite dish and two boxes fitted. We dont subscribe to any Sky packages, we simply paid £20 for a sky card which allowed us to access the freeview channels we wanted.

However, as soon as the weather gets bad either heavy rain and/or very windy the picture freezes or we get all squares etc..basically unwatchable and lasts as long as the weather. We have had another professional(!) but unofficial sky installer look at the problem about 8 months later but it eventually went back as bad as b4 in bad weather. (In good weather it is absolutely fine).

We are now thinking that maybe we need to bin what we have and get Sky to install it again from scratch. Does anyone have any helpful hints for getting a good basic deal when we are NOT taking any packages? Oh we do now subscribe to Setanta sports at £9.99 per month

Thanks in advance

FannyHill

If the picture is bad in rain it's usually the dish that's moved a tiny bit.It doesn't have to move far for the picture to be affected.My dishes (I have a few pointed at different sats) are on poles in the ground so it's easy to realign if they move slightly. A cheap sat meter is handy which beeps when it's on the satellite,although it doesn't tell you what sat you are pointed at.

Go into the menu and check the signal strength.
On the remote press Services,then go down to System Setup and press Select button then down to Signal Test and press Select button again and you'll see signal strength and signal quality. The quality will be low if the dish is not pointing right at the sat in the sky.
Press the Backup button to come out again to the picture on the screen.

nacmacfeglebigjobs

hi - have posted elsewhere but this seems to be the correct thread.
I would like to keep sky , but have seen Tiscali Tv package with broadband and phone, which for the options I would take are £26 pcm. I currently have Sky with movies (£40), broadband with orange (£9.99) and quartley Bt phone bill. It works out about £65 for the lot. Is switching to Tiscali a good idea or too good to be true? What do other Tiscali TV users think? The Tv package has Sky1 and Eurosports, and also movies - really the only things I watch on Sky!
thnaks for any help or sugestions

nacmacfeglebigjobs

hi - have posted elsewhere but this seems to be the correct thread.
I would like to keep sky , but have seen Tiscali Tv package with broadband and phone, which for the options I would take are £26 pcm. I currently have Sky with movies (£40), broadband with orange (£9.99) and quartley Bt phone bill. It works out about £65 for the lot. Is switching to Tiscali a good idea or too good to be true? What do other Tiscali TV users think? The Tv package has Sky1 and Eurosports, and also movies - really the only things I watch on Sky!
thanks for any help or suggestions

Parisien

Went thro to cancellations, was offered Sky+...nothing else, no mention of money......so last payment on 17th September.......FREE from the thieves of the airwaves!!!!!!!!

Bye Rupert!

Callum

Currently looking to sign up to Sky.

Its looking like costing us about £100 to get sky + and installation.

Is this good/bad?

carpy

Parisien wrote: »

Went thro to cancellations, was offered Sky+...nothing else, no mention of money......so last payment on 17th September.......FREE from the thieves of the airwaves!!!!!!!!

Bye Rupert!

were you offered sky+ and installation for free? if so that's a good deal and one i never been offered despite trying many times!!!!

does the 01506 421702 number still work?

noelphobic

Callum wrote: »

Currently looking to sign up to Sky.

Its looking like costing us about £100 to get sky + and installation.

Is this good/bad?

I'm getting a sky plus box for free, another normal box for free and only paying £30 for installation. The rental on the 'normal' box will only be £5 per month, instead of the usual £10. I am paying £30 to get a BT line installed, instead of the usual £125, although I have heard that sometimes you can get the installation costs back from Sky if you need this.

mymatebob

Callum wrote: »

Currently looking to sign up to Sky.

Its looking like costing us about £100 to get sky + and installation.

Is this good/bad?

You can get much better deals than that through referrals

I would be happy to refer you if you wish