Upgrading to sky+ (I know im well behind!!!)

andreaandrea

I want to upgrade to sky +, i know im well behind the times!!!


We currently have a normal sky box and dish. For sky + do we need to have another lead run up to the dish (seem to think i read somewhere you do). Problem is the tv is in the middle of two two main rooms downstairs and the wire comes in from the external wall, then under the floorboards to where the tv is. We had this done before we had any carpets down and i dont want wires trailing round the house

Secondly we have no phone line there - does it need ot be connected to a phone line? If so i will have the same issues as above

Any info appreciated, Cheers guys

SteveJW

I was given a Sky + box, rang sky and they paired it to my existing card, it is not connected to the internet / phone line and I only have a single LNB with one cable.

Only problem without a dual LNB you cannot watch one channel and record another one, at least I don't know how to do so

Apparently Sky automatically replace a single LNB with a quad if you have a fault, not verified

I think it is part of the Sky contract that if you sign up for a new deal you agree to keep the box connected to the phone line for 12 months

bod1467

If YOU are well behind then I must be Neanderthal. I only have Freeview!

andreaandrea

Thanks - does anyone who has sky plus know anymore?

Sharon87

You're suppose to have a phone line connected, but I haven't! If you explain to them you don't have one it should be fine. You will probably need to get someone to install another wire. They'll probably have it running through your house unless you yourself hide it under the floorboards. The Sky engineer will feed it through the easiest way he can.

You will get a new box and you'll either get the current card paired with the new box, or you'll get a new card. The Sky engineer should set it all up once connected.

alanwsg

I got Sky+ earlier this year, they installed it free after I threatened to jump ship to Virgin (I had just got a special offer from Virgin through the letterbox, but didn't really have any intention of moving).

You need a new cable, new box and (probably a) new dish, all provided as part of the deal. The new cable is "Double thickness", it's two cables fixed together side by side (like a fig-of-eight). They didn't even remove the old cable, just zip-tied the new one to the old, which is a bit of a bodge-job really but it doesn't notice.

They need to connect it to a telephone to perform the set-up, but you don't need it permanently connected. They had a very long telephone extension lead that they just laid out through the house to the socket while they did the setup and then took it away with them.

Sky+ is a huge improvement, don't know how I managed without it now!

HTH.

InsideInsurance

You dont need the thing connected to a phone line for it to work however it is the condition of many of the reduced price offers that you do keep it connected for 12 months.

Sky+ and SkyHD boxes can both run off a single feed however in both cases it means you can only use 1 live channel at a time, be that to record or watch but you can still record one live channel and watch a second pre-recorded one.

Obviously depending on if the TV is against an exterior wall or not, how the cable was laid under the floorboards etc will all determin the ease of getting either a second run in or replacing the existing run with a dual run. Typically it is wooden floors that pose the challenges though rather than carpet which is easy to lift

Avoriaz

As others have said you need a second cable if you want to be able to record two programmes at the same time, or watch one programme while recording another.

Many people, for example those who live in apartments with a communal dish and only one cable feed, use Sky+ in single feed mode and your Sky+ box could be set up for single feed only.

However you would be missing out on dual recordings which is one of the great features of Sky+ so you really should try to get a second cable fitted.

It might be possible, depending on how the existing cable was installed, to use it to drag another cable through. This would rely on the cable having been installed without being clipped or secured anywhere. Only an inspection would determine that. If the cable is free to move, then you could attach the new double cable to it and pull it through.

The Sky installers won’t be keen on trying to do that as they want to get the job done as easily and quickly as possible, not in the way that suits the customer best.

I suggest that you call Sky, explain your situation and tell them that you will only proceed if the installation is done with hidden cables. Even if that involves lifting and replacing carpets, Sky may agree to do that as they want your business.

If I were doing it, I would install four satellite cables as that will allow for future additions. For example you may want to have Freesat as well as Sky+ and that would require a third cable. We have three cables running to our TV, two for Sky+ and one for Freesat. Freesat works off the same dish and LNB as Sky+.

Regarding the phone line, that is needed for the initial installation. Contractually you are supposed to keep it connected for a year but, in practice, Sky don’t check on that unless you have multiroom where they use the phone line to check that the second discounted multiroom box is at the same address by doing regular call backs. So you can just use an extension cable for the installation and then remove that when it is all set up. I have had Sky+ for many years and I have never kept the phone line connected.

If you want to order for example a pay to view movie or sports event etc you can just use the extension lead again.

googler

Avoriaz wrote: »

It might be possible, depending on how the existing cable was installed, to use it to drag another cable through. This would rely on the cable having been installed without being clipped or secured anywhere. Only an inspection would determine that. If the cable is free to move, then you could attach the new double cable to it and pull it through.

The Sky installers won’t be keen on trying to do that as they want to get the job done as easily and quickly as possible, not in the way that suits the customer best.

It never ceases to amaze me that housebuilders haven't cottoned on to the fact that satellite dishes will always go on the South side of a house, and that none of them seem to go the extra mile in doing the groundwork for a later satellite installation.

They could set a mounting point for the dish, they could install trunking to take cables through the wall to a designated room or rooms.... but no, they just build them, and then the Sky engineer comes along and drills dirty great holes in the nice new brickwork, harling, whatever, and routes the cable whichever way they want.....

MX5huggy

This is MSE so consider dropping sky and buy a freesat box. http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0039J42LM/ref=asc_df_B0039J42LM10382408?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&!!!!!googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=B0039J42LM

This does the plus function, ideally you would have two cables from dish so you can watch and record any 2 channels but I only have one and because of plus 1 channels and there being all the regions on this I don't miss much.

Avoriaz

googler wrote: »

It never ceases to amaze me that housebuilders haven't cottoned on to the fact that satellite dishes will always go on the South side of a house, and that none of them seem to go the extra mile in doing the groundwork for a later satellite installation.

They could set a mounting point for the dish, they could install trunking to take cables through the wall to a designated room or rooms.... but no, they just build them, and then the Sky engineer comes along and drills dirty great holes in the nice new brickwork, harling, whatever, and routes the cable whichever way they want.....

Many houses were built long before Satellite TV was introduced. Plenty predate cars, telephones and TV etc too.

New houses are usually built down to a cost, not up to a value and such things would be seen as unnecessary added costs. Higher value new homes may have such things built in but even then they are often the wrong things in the wrong place.

Those holes need to be drilled anyway so it makes little difference when they are done.

There would be no point fitting dish mounting points as there are different types, many won’t be used and many might be in the wrong place as the builders might not know to avoid trees and other obstructions etc.

Trunking with fitted cables or pull through cords is a good idea but again there is the issue of cost and where to put them is not always obvious. For example, our house was built in 2004. All the TV cabling was fitted to one corner of the sitting room. The previous owners put their TV in that corner.

When we moved in last year we wanted our TV in the centre of one long wall so I had the satellite cables moved on the exterior of the house. An easy job as that is an outside east facing wall and the dish did not need to be moved.