Have your say & ask the experts

Hello I have a few questions regarding sky HD and sky in general, so if possible to help i would be very grateful.

If i only want sky for setanta sports and a few entertainment channels, is it worth it getting sky HD? im aware that its a better picture than the normal sky + box but would my limited use in watching actual HD channels justify the extra money paid out in monthly bills?

also i am about to move into a new flat, so how does it work with phone lines, im aware you need a BT line but i have seen on the sky website that you can buy their line rental. I thought to get sky you had to pay bt line rental?

So basically i could get BT to activate the line and then chose sky line rental along with their broadband and phone package rather than pay BT and sky?

any help would be much appreciated.

thank you

Personally I would recomend going for the HD box over the standard or Sky+ box as IMHO the picture is much better eve with SD content due mainly IMHO to the digital HDMI conection ove that of a scart one.

It is possible to have the HD box without paying the extra £10 a month for the extra HD channels if You dont really want them but You will still ge some Hd for free in BBC HD, C4 HD and I think LUX HD is also free.

Can't be of any help one the phone side of things as am with Talk-Talk but would sugest calling both Sky and BT to see what they say.

if you get bt to connectyour line you'll  be tied into a 12 month contract with them so wont be able to swap to sky for the line rental, also you mentioned your moving into a flat, if its a flat in a purpose built block that has a communal satellite system the chances are it only has 1 satellite feed to your flat so sky+ or hd wont be an option, depending on how old the block is,

the block of flats are brand spanking new.

 so basically if i get BT to activate my line im stuck with them for a year at the least?

 as im pretty sure sky dont do line activations,or do they?

thanks for the responses

I had the same problem when I moved into new flats a year ago.

If you've got a communal dish the sky installers won't do anything more than plug your sky box in to the wall outlet. I wanted sky+ installed but the flat only had one wall outlet. Luckily I was next to the loft space, and was able to access the Satellite LNB router and so have fed another cable through my flat to provide the second tuner input. All you need to do this this is a coax cable and some F type connectors for either end.

Having your line rental with sky is the same price as with BT so it
doesn't really matter who you're paying; £10.50 a month either way.

It's worth checking if you're in an area covered by sky broadband before you sign up: my in-laws signed up for sky plus with the intention of also taking advantage of the free broadband, only to find that sky didn't cover there street. If the flats are newly built, this will depend on who installed the phone lines: most likely BT, and they'll probably have a monopoly on the lines for 12 months to re-coup the line installation costs.

Sorry, also bear in mind that you have to have the phone-line activated before you can have the sky and broadband installed; BT can take some time in giving you an appointment, so it's probably worth contacting them first!

There's also a period of time you have to wait between phone line installation and activation of the broadband from sky: think it was a month. Can all be very tedious if you rely on internet access for working from home...

trigby1:

I had the same problem when I moved into new flats a year ago.

If you've got a communal dish the sky installers won't do anything more than plug your sky box in to the wall outlet. I wanted sky+ installed but the flat only had one wall outlet. Luckily I was next to the loft space, and was able to access the Satellite LNB router and so have fed another cable through my flat to provide the second tuner input. All you need to do this this is a coax cable and some F type connectors for either end.

Having your line rental with sky is the same price as with BT so it doesn't really matter who you're paying; £10.50 a month either way.

It's worth checking if you're in an area covered by sky broadband before you sign up: my in-laws signed up for sky plus with the intention of also taking advantage of the free broadband, only to find that sky didn't cover there street. If the flats are newly built, this will depend on who installed the phone lines: most likely BT, and they'll probably have a monopoly on the lines for 12 months to re-coup the line installation costs.

Beps:

Actually, you don't need a phone line. They don't advertise it but you can pay a £25 fee to have your box activated via the dish. I've just done it this way (having no need for a fixed line) and there are no real disadvantages save activation taking a little longer.

Another option to consider is a Freesat installation. I'm not too clued up on this, but there are probably freesat HD boxes with PVR functionality available (if not, why not!). You'd get the free HD channels and I think you should be able to pay for Setanta.(Though you'd have to check on that).

The advantage of this is no installation fees/ waiting for appointments- you could install it yourself. You could then decide about your 'phone line and broadband at a later date.

I just had a quick look on the web,

Setanta's site quotes: " I am not a Sky customer, can I get Setanta Sports?
Yes
– Providing you have a digital satellite set top box, remember Setanta
Sports is also available on Freeview, Virgin Media, Tiscali TV and BT
Vision."

I couldn't find any Freesat HD boxes with PVR- look like they've not been released yet. You'd have to route a Freesat HD box through a separate HDD recorder at present. I suppose you could get one with a DVD recorder so you could back up your programmes- that would be an advantage over Sky+/ Sky HD. 

Good luck!

trigby1:

I just had a quick look on the web,

Setanta's site quotes: " I am not a Sky customer, can I get Setanta Sports?
Yes – Providing you have a digital satellite set top box, remember Setanta Sports is also available on Freeview, Virgin Media, Tiscali TV and BT Vision."

I couldn't find any Freesat HD boxes with PVR- look like they've not been released yet. You'd have to route a Freesat HD box through a separate HDD recorder at present. I suppose you could get one with a DVD recorder so you could back up your programmes- that would be an advantage over Sky+/ Sky HD. 

Good luck!

I think you've got your answer there: nice-one Dave.

If you can hold off, I'd wait for Freesat HD.

In the mean time, use those saved subscription fees to buy your beer down the pub whilst watching the England games!