Alternative to Sky subscription

lindabea

A friend has fallen on some hard times (her husband's company closed); she asked me if it is possible to cancel her sky Q sub, and continue to use the box with freesat from sky.  I know it can be done with Sky hub box but not sure about the sky Q. She doesn't want freeview as this will involve an extra expense to install an aerial and I think she would prefer access to live channels rather than streaming, so the likes of NOWTV are not suitable options .  Can someone please give me some ideas of what options I could suggest to her.    

flashg67

I'm 99% certain that if you close a Sky Q subscription, they ask for the box back,  as you never own it, (unlike the Sky+ boxes)  A freesat box can be had for very little money but will need the LNB at the Dish altering to use it. A recordable sat box can be had for £100 ish as a one off - Humax seem well recommended. 

Carrot007

flashg67 said:

A freesat box can be had for very little money but will need the LNB at the Dish altering to use it.

The current line up of freesat boxes finally support Q LNB's and the older LNB's. Of course these are not as cheap as the seocnd hand older ones.

lindabea

Thank you for your reply - I forgot that the Sky Q box would have to be returned when cancelling.  I have an old sky + box which I can let her have - so all she needs to do, is to get someone to change the LNB, and will she also need the freesat card from sky?  I think it used to be £10 - is that still correct.  Any idea how much someone would charge to change the LNB?  I think giving her my sky+ box may work out a cheaper overall option than buying a humax box.   

pphillips

It's incorrect to say that Now TV provides no access to live TV. If the included channels are the same as ones you would normally pay more to watch on Sky, then it's definitely an option worth considering.

Neil_Jones

lindabea said:

Thank you for your reply - I forgot that the Sky Q box would have to be returned when cancelling.  I have an old sky + box which I can let her have - so all she needs to do, is to get someone to change the LNB, and will she also need the freesat card from sky?  I think it used to be £10 - is that still correct.  Any idea how much someone would charge to change the LNB?  I think giving her my sky+ box may work out a cheaper overall option than buying a humax box.   

Sky don't do Freesat From Sky cards any more.

The box will work without a card, the only caveats being that it will default to London for the BBC regional news on 101 and London for ITV on 103.  The BBC regions are from Channel 950 upwards and the other ITV regions can be added via Other Channels (but good luck working out which region is which from the labels alone), and of course all the Sky+/Catchup stuff won't work either.

Rodders53

Can't cancel Q without cost unless the contract is up.  Once out of contract, the monthly saving will pay for a new Arris freesat '4k' box within a year, that can use the Q LNB.  £125 set top box, £200/£240 for recordable (500MB/1TB).   https://www.freesat.co.uk/4k-tv-box/

Similarly the savings could pay for a UHF TV aerial install and use the included Freeview tuners in the TV(s).
Location? (approx) will allow reception predictions.
Freeview might work with a self-install loft aerial, or external at gutter height (although the network is designed around aerials at 10m above the ground).  Cable routing is almost always the most difficult bit.

Could maybe stream Live/Catchup TV while saving up to buy what is really wanted?