SKY + just installed - quick question re phone line

jackthenipper

If you have multiroom then you must have the phone line connected. If you only have one box then the t&c tell you that it must be connected for a minimum of 12 months, but you can remove this as soon as the engineer leaves, as all you need it for is to check your bill interactively, book box office etc.

gnatschuffed

My standard sky box has never, ever been plugged in to the phoneline and I don't intend to either. As someone stated above, allegedly you are supposed to for the first 12 months but this has more to do with the interactive services than sky. If you have a second box, it must be connected to the phone line so sky can confirm it is in your house and you're not sneakily using it in someone else's house.

I've just upgraded to HD and it will not be plugged in either. My phone line is in the hallway and I have enough cables in the living room without more trailing through rooms. Don't let sky installers run cables either, they don't care about your decor or how untidy it looks!

home_alone

When I had sky I noticed on my BT calls list a 0870 no that kept appearing but only for short periods, I identified the no as a sky no when I asked Sky they said that it does call back on occasion but the costs were minimal so I ripped the phone line out of the back of the sky box.
This was pre digital not sure if it happens now.
gary

moneysaver

home_alone wrote: »

When I had sky I noticed on my BT calls list a 0870 no that kept appearing but only for short periods, I identified the no as a sky no when I asked Sky they said that it does call back on occasion but the costs were minimal so I ripped the phone line out of the back of the sky box.
This was pre digital not sure if it happens now.
gary

Exactly what I have been saying. The box can easily malfunction & your telephone company will charge you no matter what you say.


Moneysaver

Spuddy_2

home_alone wrote: »

When I had sky I noticed on my BT calls list a 0870 no that kept appearing but only for short periods, I identified the no as a sky no when I asked Sky they said that it does call back on occasion but the costs were minimal so I ripped the phone line out of the back of the sky box.
This was pre digital not sure if it happens now.
gary

I believe it calls an 0800 number now. It is mainly for interative features and purchasing ppv stuff. I have my Sky+ HD box plugged in but have been contemplating unplugging it for a while as the telephone cable runs around the edge of the living room looking distinctly ugly!

trcooke

cheesy.mike wrote: »

Spying? But their satellite dishes can still see you.

Sky cannot 'spy' on you using the satellite dish as this is a broadcast only system. Your receiver dish on your house is just that, a receiver. It does not and cannot transmit anything back to the satellite.

I find it interesting that many folk are so keen to stop Sky being able to connect to the Sky Box in your house. Apart from the principle of the thing I am wondering what it is that we're trying to stop Sky from finding out about us. Does it really matter if Sky find out that we're all closet X-Factor watchers?

I do have Sky and I do have my telephone line connected. The reason I do not disconnect the line is that I have committed to keep it connected as part of the contract that I hold with Sky. By disconnecting the line I would be breaking my part of the agreed contract at which point I may be liable to pay the full cost of the services I have received at reduced cost from their end of the contract. For example, £150 full cost of the Sky+ box I got for free and the extra £30 installation cost that was discounted.

I do agree that in the majority of cases it is most unlikely Sky will chase this up to the extent I have discussed here but the risk is there.

For me it came down to a consideration of reward against risk. Do I really care if Sky know what I watch? I don't. Because of this there is no reward for disconnecting the telephone line and introducing the risk of Sky bringing me up on not fulfilling my part of the contract.

Bob63

trcooke wrote: »

Sky cannot 'spy' on you using the satellite dish as this is a broadcast only system. Your receiver dish on your house is just that, a receiver. It does not and cannot transmit anything back to the satellite.

You're American aren't you? I was being ironic when I made the comment about tinfoil hats (but not the black helicopters though, they do check on you).

I don't believe that Sky spy on your or check your usage. With the whole privacy storm over BT's Phorm experiments, don't you think that Sky would have been hauled up by privacy campaigners long ago if they had been spying or using information about viewing habits to somehow target people? Of course there are people here who will say "but my friend's mate down the pub told him that he heard that...." but I bet there is no concrete evidence of spying by Sky.

trcooke

cheesy.mike wrote: »

You're American aren't you?

Not the last time I checked... hold on... nope, still English.

I did get the whole tin foil on your head thing and the sense that your post was not typed in complete seriousness but I did want to point out the technical details of how your Sky dish works. This is a Techie Forum after all.

I also do get that the 'reward' for a lot of people is not having an ugly long cable stringing its way across your living room and out to your nearest phone socket. The reward / risk decision is of course an individual one.

No sign of any black helicopters though. The last one I saw was an Apache hovering next to the road on my way to work across Salisbury Plain. A very unnerving experience I can tell you.

jackthenipper

I really dont see why some people dont or wont connect their phone lline to the box, I mean its a contract that you have agreed after all.

Even if you should have it connected & you decide you will remove it & call sky to book any ppv then you will pay £1 booking fee per ppv each time you call them. So you may be spending more money then you need to as their is no booking fee if you book a ppv over the handset.

Sky do a callback to each box that you have so you get the offer of £10 for multiroom, if no callback id recieved then you eill be billed the full price on both boxes until this is resolved, the callbacks are completely free of charge.
The only fault i have heard of id thst the box may ring your house number & when you pick the phone up it will cut off & ring again as you may have a faulty modem in the box.

BexTech

anniehanlon wrote: »

I think that they update things through the phone line to your Sky box. You can maybe get an extension from a nearby phone socket, thats what we had to do.

Incorrect!!

Updates are via the satellite!

There is a high speed connection to everyone's satellite box - over the satellite, why would they use a phone connection which is slow and would cost them money, when they can simply broadcast to all boxes over the air?

Don't know why this myth of updates over the phone line comes from.