Free to air satellite

gnasher18us

tali wrote: »

Wouldn't i better off buying an old Sky freesat box from ebay? seems to give most channels per pound(that is what i want) -i don't thiink freeview boxes gives that number of channels?

If you buy a sky box you won't get all the free Sky satellite channels.

You will get most, but will be missing some.

You will only get the channels you can receive without having a viewing card.

If you buy a "white viewing card"from Ebay (for £20 - £30) it may not work as viewing cards are linked to machines (EDIT-see further advice also).

Perhaps a better idea would be to get the basic package from Sky, a free HD box (they are all free now), and keep it for 12 months.

Everything will be free - sat dish /insallation / cable / HD box

Watch Sky for 12 months - Once your contract is up, tell them you want to cancel, and keep all the good stuff sky have done for you!

The box remains yours, and they don't ask for any dishes back! It's yours!

You will also be able to view BBC1 HD, BBC HD, ITV1 HD, CH4 HD and CH5 HD, because all of these HD channels are free (even when your 12 month contract expires). In contract you get Atlantic HD which is pretty good if you like U.S series.

All in all, will cost just over £100, but well worth it if you remember to cancel.

vale46_2

tali wrote: »

Wouldn't i better off buying an old Sky freesat box from ebay? seems to give most channels per pound(that is what i want) -i don't thiink freeview boxes gives that number of channels?

for free UK TV yes
It will still need a dish putting up if you dont have one

a standard sky box will give a good few channels and more if you can get a sky white viewing card in it
I Have 2 cards and they DO Interchange into other sky box's
a sky HD Box will give the same and some free HD ones too

a standard freesat box gives a good selection
the HD Version gives some free HD Channels and BBC/ITV IPlayer's as well
Freesat has PVR's as well
if you choose HD / PVR You will need a dish with a quad lnb on it

if you do need to put a dish up go for one with a quad lnb on it
if you can it gives you more options to add more box's in the future

gnasher18us

vale46 wrote: »

I Have 2 cards and they DO Interchange into other sky box's
a sky HD Box will give the same and some free HD ones too

I have two white cards, and one of mine DOES NOT work in the box it has not been paired with. Well, it does work in a limited fashion (it works to the extent that if there wasn't a card in, but it doesn't work on some channels like SONY TV).

I'm not sure if this is because one is older than the other? I do not know... or perhaps previous advisor hadn't tried Sony TV? Not sure.

It's a gamble. I'm sure someone else can cast a bit of light on this pairing issue?

The bottom line is having a satellite dish fitted would cost almost £100, so you may as well get Sky free for a year with brand new equipment, and free to keep at the end of the contract, for marginally more money than the cost of a fitted dish.

You will also get SKY+ for the year, record, and rewind live TV.

tali

gnasher18us wrote: »

If you buy a sky box you won't get all the free Sky satellite channels.

You will get most, but will be missing some.

You will only get the channels you can receive without having a viewing card.

If you buy a "white viewing card"from Ebay (for £20 - £30) it may not work as viewing cards are linked to machines (EDIT-see further advice also).

Perhaps a better idea would be to get the basic package from Sky, a free HD box (they are all free now), and keep it for 12 months.

Everything will be free - sat dish /insallation / cable / HD box

Watch Sky for 12 months - Once your contract is up, tell them you want to cancel, and keep all the good stuff sky have done for you!

The box remains yours, and they don't ask for any dishes back! It's yours!

You will also be able to view BBC1 HD, BBC HD, ITV1 HD, CH4 HD and CH5 HD, because all of these HD channels are free (even when your 12 month contract expires). In contract you get Atlantic HD which is pretty good if you like U.S series.

All in all, will cost just over £100, but well worth it if you remember to cancel.

I am VMedia at the moment on meduim package - and even their best package only gives 160 channels to 240 basic with sky (why don't sky make a song and dance about this??)
1)So i want to avoid hassle of changing phone number and 2) also my house already has a Aerial and wiring already fitted by previous owners - hence the ebay box seemed best idea and no need for sky contract -(that's assuming aerial /wiring will work)

gnasher18us

Tali, you can't have Sky without a satellite dish. It can't be broadcast down your aerial, and not by fibre optics.

The only option you have is Freeview or Freeview HD if you don't want a dish (or stay with Virgin or perhaps try BT?).

Personally, I'd get the dish with my suggestion you have quoted... You would be able to keep your number, by either moving it to SkyTalk, or staying with Virgin.

I can't remember the price of your dish (was it about £40?), but Sky dishes, Sky HD Box (was £300 24 months ago on it's own!), wiring, and professional installation is FREE. You can't just put up a dish yourself USUALLY so installation costs would be removed.

You keep all the Sky equipment after contract as, unlike Virgin, you OWN all the Sky equipment (Virgin own all of the Virgin equipment you have at the moment).

The problem you have here, is you probably have a "package deal" with Virgin which would be cheaper than buying your package as separate items. Phone lines on their own are quite expensive. Sky uses BT lines, so keeping number wouldn't be a problem there.

You can offset quite a lot of costs if you take everything into consideration, but you have to balance what's best for your circumstances. I know what I would do, but you know what you want to do!