Is it possible to just cancel my Sky subs and still receive free channels?

NotSoNiftyAtBeingThrifty

Long story short - getting very fed up of Sky overcharging me every month because they think I have 3 boxes when I have 2, or because they think my boxes aren't plugged into the phone socket and are charging me for me two accounts rather than multiroom.

What I want to be able to do is to cancel my Sky monthly payments ( I am three years into my contract) and to just get the free to view channels such as BBC channels inc. CBBC and CBeebies, ITV channels, and Channel 4 channels.

Does anyone know if it is possible to do this with my existing Sky dish and 2 boxes? They are both Sky+ boxes, will the record function still work?

Or do I have to get freesat boxes instead (hassle and unwanted expense)?

Thanks

Meepster

You lose the recording function, but you will still be able to recieve the free channels...

jamesprime19

Or £10 a moth to keep the recording function. And I think that's per box

spike7451

jamesprime19 wrote: »

Or £10 a moth to keep the recording function. And I think that's per box

It's per box.Be warned tho,if you have Sky phone & BBand,you'll loose that too.

NotSoNiftyAtBeingThrifty

Thanks for this info.

Now I am wondering if it would be possible to have the upstairs box switched to free to view only (with record function and thus pay them a tenner for this) and to have the living room box on a minimum tariff (£18 for the basic sky package I think?)...

So I would be paying £28 a month and they wouldn't be able to hassle me about the upstairs box being plugged into a phone line. Presumably I would then be able to have my main box unplugged from the phone line as there would be no issue of them suspecting the multiroom was being used by my neighbours etc (not that they have said that exactly, but now I'm out of contract I just don't like being spied on )

HalfPint

Hiya,

I'll apologise in advance for hijacking your thread.

I have cancelled my sky subscription and was informed that I can use my sky box to get all the freeview channels. I have a sky plus box. I'm worried now because I thought I was still able to use the record....is this incorrect?

I dont want to spend money on a freesat box but I use record all the time.

hp x

spike7451

NotSoNiftyAtBeingThrifty wrote: »

Thanks for this info.

Now I am wondering if it would be possible to have the upstairs box switched to free to view only (with record function and thus pay them a tenner for this) and to have the living room box on a minimum tariff (£18 for the basic sky package I think?)...

Yes.the £10 multiroom fee is only for the subscription for that box,but considering you're paying £10 a month for that 2nd subscription for that box,you're wanting to cancel that subscription & then still pay £10 to keep the record functions...Thus not saving any money...

HalfPint wrote: »

Hiya,

I'll apologise in advance for hijacking your thread.

I have cancelled my sky subscription and was informed that I can use my sky box to get all the freeview channels. I have a sky plus box. I'm worried now because I thought I was still able to use the record....is this incorrect?

I dont want to spend money on a freesat box but I use record all the time.

hp x

You'd have to pay £10 month for the record/play ect to remain active.

NotSoNiftyAtBeingThrifty

spike7451 wrote: »

Yes.the £10 multiroom fee is only for the subscription for that box,but considering you're paying £10 a month for that 2nd subscription for that box,you're wanting to cancel that subscription & then still pay £10 to keep the record functions...Thus not saving any money...



You'd have to pay £10 month for the record/play ect to remain active.

Well, I currently pay for Sky World with an additional £10 for multiroom, so would definitely be saving about £40 each month but the main reason for changing is because Sky have been consistently charging me from £100 to £130 each month because I can't keep the boxes plugged in 100% of the time due to problems with my ADSL filters and the phone not ringing when the Sky boxes are plugged in. They do refund me eventually but having over £130 disappear from your account when you are expecting a DD of around £60 is a real pain!

Pokerlad

spike7451 wrote: »

Yes.the £10 multiroom fee is only for the subscription for that box,but considering you're paying £10 a month for that 2nd subscription for that box,you're wanting to cancel that subscription & then still pay £10 to keep the record functions...Thus not saving any money...



You'd have to pay £10 month for the record/play ect to remain active.

But at the moment he is being charged two seperate subs because of phone line problems so switching it to FTA/FTV and paying for record would save money, although it would be better to get to the route of the problem so multiroom works as it should.

spike7451

NotSoNiftyAtBeingThrifty wrote: »

Well, I currently pay for Sky World with an additional £10 for multiroom, so would definitely be saving about £40 each month but the main reason for changing is because Sky have been consistently charging me from £100 to £130 each month because I can't keep the boxes plugged in 100% of the time due to problems with my ADSL filters and the phone not ringing when the Sky boxes are plugged in. They do refund me eventually but having over £130 disappear from your account when you are expecting a DD of around £60 is a real pain!

Right.
Then either the modems faulty in the box,the's no/is a prefix entered in the dialing options for the box & you've exceeded the REN value on your line,hence the phones not ringing.

NotSoNiftyAtBeingThrifty

spike7451 wrote: »

Right.
Then either the modems faulty in the box,the's no/is a prefix entered in the dialing options for the box & you've exceeded the REN value on your line,hence the phones not ringing.

We have a BT ADSL phone line, and it works fine - problem seems to be with the internal wired extensions (pre-wired new build). To plug in the Sky+ boxes to the phone sockets in the living room and bedroom I need to route everything from the master socket through the inbuilt extensions, and that is when the phone stops ringing. I have ADSL filters, I thought it was a problem with ADSL...or a lose connection which would cost upwards of £185 for a BT engineer (internal wiring not BT responsibility).

But your point about having exceeded REN is making me think that it is exceeding the REN on the the extension wiring...

So I could get a REN booster from Maplins and maybe eradicate the problem?

AFAIK the REN contribution is about 0.5 per Sky box, then about 1 per item (phone etc), but a REN booster would increase capacity to approx 10.

:think: