Sky Replacement Card

NonGeographicalMan

Inactive wrote: »

The cards that you have received were replacement cards, that you did not pay for, they are obviously pre-activated prior to delivery.

The " paid for " cards do not work until activated by Sky, I would not waste money ringing Sky if they worked on arrival, sadly they do not.


So, on this occasion, you are wrong I'm afraid.

Seems odd to me you have to pay £20 extra for a worse service.

No wonder Sky have to charge as much as they do when they constantly force unnecessary voice calls to customer service agents that there is no need for. Why couldn't have they online activation after answering a few security questions like mother's maiden name and date of birth.....................

lucygex

Inactive wrote: »

Have you actually had the card activated?

Read the bumph that came with the card, it needs to be activated.

Thanks for the information, I'll do so - if I can call them from outside the uk that is...

Inactive

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

Seems odd to me you have to pay £20 extra for a worse service.

No wonder Sky have to charge as much as they do when they constantly force unnecessary voice calls to customer service agents that there is no need for. Why couldn't have they online activation after answering a few security questions like mother's maiden name and date of birth.....................

I agree 100%, but we both know that Sky is out to squeeze the very last penny out of their monopoly position.

There is no reason why the cards could not be pre - activated, they have the customers post code.

Alas, they are not.:(

Inactive

lucygex wrote: »

Thanks for the information, I'll do so - if I can call them from outside the uk that is...

You cannot, do not even try to.

Your card must be activated in the UK from a UK telephone line.

will-in-estoril

lucygex wrote: »

I've just received my replacement card after paying the £20 fee. It doesn't give me access to all the previous freesat channels though. For BBC2 I can only get Scotland and Northern Ireland, and there's no ITV 1, 2 or 3 or Channel 4. Possibly some other channels too, I'd have to check. I get a message "channel unavailable" if I key in the channel number, and on the listings page they just don't appear at all. If I put the old card back in the slot I can get all the usual channels. Does anyone have any suggestions? Is it a faulty card? Thank you!

Switch your box off at the wall, then back on again. Without any activated card your EPG should show (101) BBC1 London, (102) BBC2 England, (103) ITV1 Central West, (104) Channel 4. If after rebooting these channels do not appear there is a problem with your digibox. Have you just acquired it? (Thinking about outdated software and/or a fault.) Knowing your location would also help.

Inactive is dead right in pointing out that paid for cards have to be activated. To be very charitable to $ky they do require certain box details: serial no. etc, which they would not necessarily have, to pair the card to the box. (If the card is later used for certain pay channels, such as Nollywood, pairing is required.) However, a freephone or geographical number would be fairer.

Inactive

Good advice Will, I forgot to mention that Sky will not activate a paid for card in a receiver that does not have the latest software, I have no idea why.

lucygex

All done. I rang last night on skype and got the scottish call centre. It would have been easier if the comptuter had been in the same room as the tv, but the whole thing took less than 5 minutes and the card has now been activated. Thanks for all the advice.

Pitchshifter

For those sensible people who have decided to stop paying $ky any more money and are happy to use their Sky box without a viewing card, you can get channel Five by adding it manually to Other Channels like this:

"Press the Services Button

Press 4 (System Setup)

Press 4 (Add Channels)

In the next menu you need to change the following:

Frequency - change to 10773 (using the key pad on the remote) Polarisation - change to H (using the scroll key at the side of the Select button) Symbol Rate - change to 22 (using the scroll key) FEC - change to 5/6 (using the scroll key) Then select Find Channels

You will then see a list of channels and Five will be on the right hand side at the top of the page. Highlight this and then press the Yellow button. This will put a tick at the side of it and you then press Select to continue.

The next message will say Channel Line up Complete - press select to continue. Do this and you will then be back in the Add Channel menu. Press back up twice and you will then be in the main Services Menu.

To access Five go to No. 7 Other Channels within the Services menu and you will see Five - select and watch TV. This listing will now stay under Other Channels even if you depower the box.

Unfortunately we can't do the same for Fiver & Five US as they are totally contracted to Sky but the above frequency is the one used by BBC Freesat to provide Five for free on their boxes."

will-in-estoril

That's spot on advice. Co-incidentally, this is the frequency also used on EPG channel 105 when using a card linked to postcodes of certain parts of the UK, Wales and southern England, I believe. It also gives a clue to which way FIVE may move once its encryption contract with $ky ends, which could mean FIVE, FIVER, FIVE USA free to air AND on the EPG without a card.

In the meantime Liverpool FCTV and $ky 3 remain free to view only, meaning that a card is required. My 'Nollywood' option will get you either a new or replacement first card for £11.98, and additional cards at £5.98, with an option to pay by Paypoint.

For 2 cards this gives a saving of £22.04 compared to the Freesat from Sky route, which would cost £40.

Pitchshifter

will-in-estoril wrote: »

It also gives a clue to which way FIVE may move once its encryption contract with $ky ends, which could mean FIVE, FIVER, FIVE USA free to air AND on the EPG without a card.

Hope so, that would be great!