Sky not installed - now what?

downshifted

Just had the Sky man round - because the TV is on an internal wall in the middle of the bungalow he cannot carry out the installation. :mad:

He cannot go into the loft space. He cannot drill through an internal wall. There is no way the tv can have Sky installed by him and go where it is (and where previous occupants had it) without trailing wires across a well trod path between the dining and sitting room.

So any ideas what to do now? We don't get Virgin here. I feel pretty fed up with Sky. Any other possibilities - it is apparently a poor reception area (Broadstairs - we moved in 2 weeks ago and can't get any normal signal)

Thanks for any suggestions

spike7451

Sky are anal to a point about H&S,hence the not going into the loft.Mind you it sounds like the installer does'nt know his job very well.When I worked for Sky,we were allowed to drill thru internal walls although the loft was a no-no.I got around this by using my discresion & common sense.
If we were'nt why would they give you drill bits for internal walls?
I ran the cable thru into the loft as it was the only way to do it,customer was disabled & to leave cabling loose (Sky wont allow you to clip CATV cable to skirting boards/doorframes but will allow you to staple Telco cable...(Wierd...)) would be dangerous to the homeowner.
If he's saying he cant clip the cable,then why did'nt he offer to run the cable & ask you,the homeowner to follow behind him & clip it?Same with the drilling of the internal wall?I did jobs where I've done this & left clips for for the homeowner to do this,running the cable loosly around doorframes ect holding it in place with electric tape although I've always done the drilling.
Customer in question was bed ridden so a second box was going litteraly in the center of the bungalow in the bedroom.
I think the installer is trying to bin the job as it's a Public Holiday & useing not going thru walls as a (pretty lame) excuse to get away early.
I'd ring up & threaten to cancel unless a installs manager comes out.Then you tell him what you want done & how.He might get you to sign a waiver for damages tho.
FYI,If you were getting phone &/or Sky BBand installed as well,that will have been cancelled along with the install when the so-called installer phoned up to cancel the job off this morning.
HTH,
Spike (ex NTL/VM & Sky Engineer)

downshifted

Just checked and we are not in a freeview area! Might be after digital switchover, (2011 or 2012) depending on which transmitter we use.

So it looks like it would have to be either Sky (who have cheesed me off) or BT Vision - which look expensive.....or just have basic TV with some kind of booster ariel!

Phantom_Flan_Flinger

downshifted wrote: »

So it looks like it would have to be either Sky (who have cheesed me off) or BT Vision -

BT Vision still uses your aerial for it's normal Freeview channels.

It's just the On-Demand services that come down your internet.

david39

Get a more amenable dish installer (independent from Sky) to install a dish and route the wiring the way you want and then use FreeSat - will give you the main Freeview channels plus a few other rubbishy ones.

Alternatively, do the above installation and then ask Sky to connect to your dish.

macman

downshifted wrote: »

Just checked and we are not in a freeview area! Might be after digital switchover, (2011 or 2012) depending on which transmitter we use.

So it looks like it would have to be either Sky (who have cheesed me off) or BT Vision - which look expensive.....or just have basic TV with some kind of booster ariel!

Why don't you just use Freesat? If you were considering Freeview or BT Vision then presumably you don't want the Sky subscription channels anyway, so why were you going to pay Murdoch for channels you can get for free?
Cancel Sky, buy yourself a Foxsat (or Foxsat HDR if you want PVR facilities) from Richer Sounds and get a local independent installer to fit the dish and cabling, or you could do the cable run yourself if you wanted to.

downshifted

Thanks for this advice. I'm pretty non tech - had never heard of Freesat before now - that's why I just went for Sky - no wish to put more pennies in murdoch's pocket! What is PVR? Will try to phone a local guy in the morning :-)

macman

PVR = Personal Video Recorder. If you are familiar with Sky+, it does the same thing, i.e. it records and plays back recorded programmes using a twin Freesat tuner box. The big difference is that Murdoch will charge you £10 a month to use Sky+ unless you are a Sky subscriber. Freesat is free for ever, and will give you a growing number of HD channels.
The even cheaper alternative is to use an old Sky box without subscription. this will give you all the Sky FTV channels. The dish set up is identical for both, so any Sky installer should be able to do a Freesat set up.
Decide if you want a PVR or a straight Freesat box first, as for a PVR you need a twin cable feed from the LNB-one for each channel, so you can watch one and record another simultaneously.
I recommend Humax, becaue the menu interface is very intuitive
The digibox is the Foxsat HD
PVR version is is the Foxsat HDR.

david39

If you are not familiar with FreeSat go to :

http://www.freesat.co.uk/index.php?page=whatson.Main

It lists the channels available and, as you will see, it's a similar range to FreeView other than Dave, Fiver, Five USA, Sky News, Sky 3 and, I think, Eurosport.

the_big_fact_hunt

its not hard to set up, i got a second hand sky box and dish, looked where the neighbours had their dish aimed, did the same with mine, wired it in and moved the dish round until i got the signal, that was 5 years ago and the only other expense is a viewing card for freesat which is now £25

preable

Freesat is a good option