Sky+ Boxes

Soldato
Joined
5 Aug 2006
Posts
4,261
Right Sky want £99 for there sky+ boxes. That's fine, except because I'm an EXSITING customer they say i have to pay £60 installation (this is not optional! :mad:)

So, i looked around and it appears you can buy various models of sky+ boxes off the net.

Am i right in thinking i just buy one,

plug in the aerial (well satellite should i say) connection, scart + sound as per normal. Stick in my subscriber card and i can legally and within contract use it and it won't effect anything at all? If so sounds like a much better idea to be honest!

ta

alec
 
Yes and no.

Sky+ requires 2 feeds from the dish, as in 2 separate cables. If you don't then you can't watch one thing and record another etc. You also can't tell it which input to use when it's recording without a lot of messing about, so it might just end up recording nothing. So you will need to install a dual/quad LNB on the dish and wire in another cable. Then you would have to tell Sky to enable Sky+ services on your account or it will only function as a normal box.

Just a note, you don't need sound cables when using SCART, unless you are connecting it to separate sound system.
 
Yes and no.

Sky+ requires 2 feeds from the dish, as in 2 separate cables. If you don't then you can't watch one thing and record another etc. You also can't tell it which input to use when it's recording without a lot of messing about, so it might just end up recording nothing. So you will need to install a dual/quad LNB on the dish and wire in another cable. Then you would have to tell Sky to enable Sky+ services on your account or it will only function as a normal box.

Just a note, you don't need sound cables when using SCART, unless you are connecting it to separate sound system.

Yeah sorry i was connecting the sound to the amp and stuff just me rambling.

Hmm in that case £160 doesnt look QUITE as painful.. i might ring them up agian. See if i can haggle them to £30 installation or something :)

cheers for the info.

ta

alec
 
If you've been a customer for a couple years, you can in 99% of the time ring up, ask them how much it is, and threaten to cancel

they dont want to lose your business
in my experience, its nearly always a free box and £30-60 installation
 
If you've been a customer for a couple years, you can in 99% of the time ring up, ask them how much it is, and threaten to cancel

they dont want to lose your business
in my experience, its nearly always a free box and £30-60 installation

Totally agree, be firm, but polite.....'I have been a customer for x years' blah blah blah...'I'm going to have to leave'....blah blah blah...remember they are paid to keep you with Sky!
 
Our house got a Sky+ box recently.

It was by chance really as we saw at Currys they were offering Sky+ boxes for £30 + £10 installation. We were also able to keep the old box free of charge and have it installed in the bedroom (extra £10/month but installation was included in the £10) for Multiroom. :D

I'd give them a try.
 
When i upgraded to Sky+ i just waited till Sky had an offer on in the Sky magazine and got it installed for £15 but, tbh, even at £160 Sky+ is a bargain when you look at similar specced Freeview DVRs
 
You might want to have a read over at some other forums - including AVforums.
I'm not sure when people's "experience" is from, however just recently Sky have quite happily started letting customers go when they start demanding things - and rightfully so.
The world doesn't owe anyone an upgrade and nobody is forcing you to upgrade.
Those people that hear a price and then threaten to cancel and more and more often hearing from Sky "OK then, you last day of service will be on..."

You should be able to get installation down to £30 as that has been the standard install price for ages.
£129 for a Sky+box and full installation including the extra cable run and them getting all the card pairing done is still a really good price.
Once you start using the Sky+ box you'll wonder what you did without it.
 
If i can get it for £130 thats fine by me. £30 installation i don't mind but £60 is just obscene.

Anyway - see how rich i am when the pay cheque comes in :)
 
If you don't mind DIY buy a quad LNB and fit it yourself. £15 will buy you one off a popular auction site. A sky+ box can also be had for £50-70.
 
The best time to call is Wednesday morning (according to an ex-Sky customer service person on AV Forums).

They have a set amount of "deals" to offer for the week, and Wednesday is usually best for aquiring said deal.

You have to be clear you're unhappy and want to leave, when they ask why you need to mention the installation charges. When you're put on to cancellations you have to explain the charges again and 99% of the time they'll offer you a free install.
 
Have you tried ringing around the local installers and asked them for a price.

I had an new Pace box and installation for £75 pounds a couple of months ago, Sky were quoting £160 at the time.
 
If you can persuade a friend or family member to join sky, you both get a free upgrade to Sky+ and the installation is £30. I've just had mine installed.
This is under their refer a friend offer.
 
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