Old Sky equipment

[Deleted User]

Thanks to all for the responses.
I'm not sure the 3 or 4 free HD channels are enough for our needs and I want the recording facilities back again I'm afraid.
I will look into the possibility of a second hand Sky+ HD, we have a TV currently in another bedroom that is HD ready; it might be an idea for that.

[Deleted User]

prowla wrote: »

Even if you do subscribe to HD, not all of the channels are HD.

I know that, of course, but there are now sixty which are HD- a lot more than just a few years ago.
I'm afraid the Standard Definition channels have become virtually unwatchable on our new big screen tellies, especially as we also invested in Blu-Ray players which highlight the difference even more...

[Deleted User]

spike7451 wrote: »

Sky installers only carry a standard 2 or 3 teir ladder & roof ladders,up till a few years ago (2007 when I worked for them) we didn't carry roof ladders apart from the 'Special Heights' teams.
Sky installers will only work as high as a standard 2 up house,anything over that is special heights or an independant installer.

Yes, my point was that when I ordered Sky(ten years ago) , I booked what I thought was the "Special Heights" team and an ordinary grunt turned up who wanted to plonk the dish on the front of my house at a height I could almost reach from the ground.

It doesn't sound as though much has changed!

Kurtis_Blue

You haven't stated why you need the dish changed.

spike7451

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

Yes, my point was that when I ordered Sky(ten years ago) , I booked what I thought was the "Special Heights" team and an ordinary grunt turned up who wanted to plonk the dish on the front of my house at a height I could almost reach from the ground.

It doesn't sound as though much has changed!

Problem is,Sky are anal about H&S to the point of infinity...I got suspended for a week for going back into the stores without wearing my fall arrest harness,as I had taken it off as I found it was very uncomfortable to drive the van in,to get a box of cable clips I'd forgotten to lift.
I'm sure that when you booked the special heights team,by the time it got to the router,it was given to a normal installer or your job was booked to a phantom crew who picked up the job as an extra.

prowla

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

I know that, of course, but there are now sixty which are HD- a lot more than just a few years ago.
I'm afraid the Standard Definition channels have become virtually unwatchable on our new big screen tellies, especially as we also invested in Blu-Ray players which highlight the difference even more...

OK - I was just focusing on the money saving aspect (I got my Sky HD box free from somebody who had shifted to Virgin).

[Deleted User]

Kurtis_Blue wrote: »

You haven't stated why you need the dish changed.

I just think that, like the set top boxes, the dish is very old and has been out in all weathers for about ten years. Same with the cabling, I'm worried it's soon likely to fail in some way and I want it all sorting at the same time.

In addition, I also need at least one extra cable run to accommodate an extra Sky+HD to replace the current Panny box I mentioned in my original post which only has one link to the dish.

SkyMan

Just order directly from Sky, and when they are booking the installation for you - make sure you ask for a special heights team. As spike said, Sky are so strict with their engineers' health and safety, but generally when a special heights team is booked, a business parter installer(s) will be sent to do your install. I know that their health and safety regs are way less strict than Sky's (or less strictly enforced), but the downside is the business partners are generally paid per job that they complete, rather than a salary like the sky engineers - so usually they want to be to your house and gone again as quickly as possible, which can sometimes mean a botched job. Even if a business partner installs your sky, you will still have full warranty cover if anything goes wrong.

When a customer gets a new box, we need to add that box type to their account so that we can then pair the card to that box. We have two types of boxes, "direct" (which are purchased from sky) and "indirect" (which are purchased from third parties, or are second hand from eBay etc). Either way, one of these boxes has to be added to the account, and if an indirect box is chosen, if anything goes wrong you will have no warranty cover at all. This may explain why you had trouble in the past with your sky+ box when something went wrong.

I hope this gives you a better understanding of how sky works

[Deleted User]

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

when I ordered Sky(ten years ago) , I booked what I thought was the "Special Heights" team and an ordinary grunt turned up who wanted to plonk the dish on the front of my house at a height I could almost reach from the ground.

SkyMan wrote: »

Just order directly from Sky, and when they are booking the installation for you - make sure you ask for a special heights team. As spike said, Sky are so strict with their engineers' health and safety, but generally when a special heights team is booked, a business parter installer(s) will be sent to do your install.
I hope this gives you a better understanding of how sky works

See my post above which details what happened when I ordered the "Special Heights" team (in 2002) .


What I've ended up doing is paying an independent to fit the new dish and cabling and ordered Sky for "installation" the following day.
At least this way my new Sky+HD (x2) will be covered by the warranty.

Not the money saving option I was originally after, but it'll suffice.

Kurtis_Blue

Wish we had more customers like that, you simply do not need a new dish nor lnb.