Sky Replacement Card

mackemdave

Inactive wrote: »

That is a question I cannot answer, I have used spare ( different ) Sky receivers to activate each card individually.

I have a distinct feeling that your friends concerns could be well founded, I wouldn't risk it personally.

The only sure fire safe way is to bring the receiver back from Spain and activate the card here in the UK, or buy an old Sky receiver for around a fiver at a Car Boot Sale and use that for activation.

This is exactly what you need to do ...the card is linked to the box...it wont work in the box abroad if the card is activated in a different box

Inactive

mackemdave wrote: »

This is exactly what you need to do ...the card is linked to the box...it wont work in the box abroad if the card is activated in a different box

Yes it will, that isn't the problem, the problem is activating the card if the receiver used for activation, already has a contract card locked to that receiver.

mackemdave

Inactive wrote: »

Yes it will, that isn't the problem, the problem is activating the card if the receiver used for activation, already has a contract card locked to that receiver.

I had a receiver which wasnt on contract just had the old blue card for the freeview channels this stopped working as sky switched off the blue cards.....I paid £20 and got a new white card from them and activated in a spare receiver...the new card would only work in the receiver it was activated in it wouldnt work in the one that had the previous old blue card in it

Inactive

mackemdave wrote: »

I.I paid £20 and got a new white card from them and activated in a spare receiver...the new card would only work in the receiver it was activated in it wouldnt work in the one that had the previous old blue card in it

Strange, I have activated 5 white cards for friends in Spain, they all work fine in their receivers in Spain, obviously different receivers to the receivers that I activated them in, in the UK.

Yours may have had a dodgy card reader.

alexeix

So, can anyone advise the exact procedure Sky go through, when phoning them to activate the card?

My folks will be ringing from Spain, but can block their number from being displayed. If they give my phone number (address details, etc.), will Sky ask to call them back immediately on the stated number?

What details other than name, tel. no., address will they ask for?

Any security questions?

What do you have to do for them, when activating the card?

I need to explain this as exactly as possible, so my parents know what to expect.
This seems like a lot of hassle to go through just to get C5, Fiver and FiveUS, but when they've paid for subscriptions including the BBC, et al in the past (through valid local Spanish satellite providers), they've lost the UK channels within months and had no means of recourse.

They only have a small satellite dish and don't want to get a big replacement.

spike7451

I fitted my old Sky box into a friends house at the weekend for them as I no longer need it.When I booted it up,the EPG had reverted to the default EPG & not the N.I one for where I am. The new white card was still inserted into the reader &,at time of disconnection a week earlier,had the correct EPG for my region.

NonGeographicalMan

spike7451 wrote: »

I fitted my old Sky box into a friends house at the weekend for them as I no longer need it.When I booted it up,the EPG had reverted to the default EPG & not the N.I one for where I am. The new white card was still inserted into the reader &,at time of disconnection a week earlier,had the correct EPG for my region.

Does Sky perhaps now require all boxes and cards to be paired under the new white card viewing regime? Even to get the correct EPG and the FTV channels.

NonGeographicalMan

alexeix wrote: »

So, can anyone advise the exact procedure Sky go through, when phoning them to activate the card?

My folks will be ringing from Spain, but can block their number from being displayed. If they give my phone number (address details, etc.), will Sky ask to call them back immediately on the stated number?

What details other than name, tel. no., address will they ask for?

Any security questions?

What do you have to do for them, when activating the card?

The best bet would surely be for you to call on a UK phone number and give the details of the household to which the Sky card was sent (presumably yours).

You need to have the card number and also the other various serial numbers and firmware version number etc of your parents box that appear if they hit the Services button on their remote and go to System Setup.

The signal to activate the card is just sent down by the satellite to their box and card although Sky might possibly ask your parents (or rather you) to do a manual retune by hitting Services and then 01 Select at the resulting menu to get to the installer menu. If they ask to do that when you call then suggest the phone doesn't seem to be working now but may be something is wrong with your phone extension cable and you will check all the connections later. Then you call your parents and ask them to run the manual retune from the system installer menu.

Blocking their phone number when calling from Spain is not enough as Sky can still detect the call is coming from overseas unless they call using say a UK account on a UK voip telephone provider.

But have they tried just putting the card in the box and watching Five USA or Fiver as it might very well just work and not need to be activated as its only an FTV card.

spike7451

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

Does Sky perhaps now require all boxes and cards to be paired under the new white card viewing regime? Even to get the correct EPG and the FTV channels.

Looks like it,when I got my card for my HD box & tried it in my old Sky+ box,non of the channels came up,I got an invalid card warning.So it looks like they've taken away the facility where you could swap cards between boxes too.

Inactive

spike7451 wrote: »

Looks like it,when I got my card for my HD box & tried it in my old Sky+ box,non of the channels came up,I got an invalid card warning.So it looks like they've taken away the facility where you could swap cards between boxes too.

Not so for Freesat Cards, they will still work in any Sky Receiver once activated.