Which to choose and multiroom issue

wibblewibble

Currently we have the full TV package from Sky inc HD, movies & sport we also have multi room but had forgotten we had it as it was free when our son was here and he used it but we never had and didnt get round to cancelling it (yes I know dreadful waste for an mse'er). Whilst I was away at the new house hubby did some packing here, and unknown to me he got rid of the sky box in the bedroom along with the tv and a load of stuff we weren't taking with us. He now realises he should have checked with me but unfortunately too late for me to prevent it.

At the new house we actually WANT multi room so theres no point in me cancelling the package as we will be using it, however, we now have no box and no viewing card, can I buy a box on ebay and use that one? I can tell Sky the card was lost in the move so that won't be a problem but having no box IS a problem. I don't want to have to pay £199 to Sky for a new box when I can get one for a fraction of the cost elsewhere.

Alternatively the Sky account is in my name here, if hubby were to set the account up for the new house would he be a "new" customer so we'd get the box free with the installation?

As a 3rd option the new house has always been Virgin Cable and we could take out their package which is slightly cheaper but I cannot for the life of me work out if they offer all the Sky channels we have now and if they don't which ones do we lose out on? Additionally we are huge Sky sports viewers and one of the things bothering hubby is that we'd be tied to an 18mth contract with Virgin and if Sky ever decided to pull Sky Sports from Virgin we'd be stuck - has that ever happened or is it ever likely to happen?

I've already decided NOT to combine the phone & internet with Sky simply because they seem incapable of doing that in any logical way - according to them I have to do the move & complete it, then order phone and internet (which can take weeks) and after thats installed I can upgrade to fibre (which is what I want) and that takes more weeks .... so for phone & internet I'm going to either stick with BT and change to infinity or take a Virgin package - cheapest option is to change to Virgin for everything but as I said above not sure what channels we lose and how safe Sky Sports is ...

Can anyone help me?

Phantom_Flan_Flinger

There's not a lot of difference in the channel line up.

You don't get Sky Atlantic on Virgin and you don't get the HD versions of Sky Sports 3, 4 and F1.

If you stay with Sky, you can buy an HD box from Ebay without any issues.
You will have to get your new card paired to the new box though.

wibblewibble

Thanks for that - how do I get the new card "paired"? Do I just tell Sky we have a different box? Or if we stay with Sky and do the home move thing will the engineer be able to do it when he comes to install everything (thinking I'll report the card lost before the move so new one is in hand).

Phantom_Flan_Flinger

The engineer will do it, though all that's required is a phone call to Sky.