Anyone that has skydigital? help on this.

[Matt D]

Originally Posted by AndyCambs

Tell me if I'm wrong, but anytime you use interactive on Sky - you get charged for a phone call. Is that right?

Nope.


All the normal "Red Button" stuff (e.g. BBCi, Sky News Active, etc.) is free & does not involve the use of the phone line.


Things like the Dominos pizza ordering uses the phone & costs you, as do various other things which IIRC are pretty crap & pointless anyway.

Also, when it does need to go online for something you've told it to do, the box does warn you first.

[sav112]

THanks lads for some more info.

So its works fine without this connection when its set up.
Could i not just add the tel cable once every so often when is says?
its not a big deal i know as BT willl fit for free.

Plus i got a £10 credit off them, anyone know the price they want for the box?

[AndyCambs]

Well the terms and conditions for Sky are pretty clear:

Sky Box Terms and Conditions


Free Sky box offer: You do not have to subscribe to Sky digital. You must enter into an Interactive Discount Contract (IDC). Offer limited to one per household. You are ineligible if you have signed an IDC or taken up a Sky TV Month by Month equipment offer or your household has benefited from either. Sky selects your equipment.

Installation: Standard installation of your free Sky box is free. Standard installation for non-subscribers is £120. Non standard installation costs extra.

General: Your Sky box must be connected to a fixed telephone line for 12 months. You must get any consents required (e.g. landlord's). Installation may be subject to delay. Offers exclude Sky TV Month by Month customers. Further terms and conditions apply. Information only applies to residential customers in the UK, Channel Islands, and Isle of Man. Correct at time of print (December 2006).

Calls cost up to 8 pence per minute for BT customers. Calls from other providers may vary.

[Darrenp]

They check periodically if your phone line is connected, they aint daft enough to hope that the GBP will just leave it connected.

My brother-in-law had sky fitted xmas and has adsl, because he never had a splitter on the STB he was having issues with his adsl so he disconnected the STB until he could buy the new splitter, within 3 days sky were on the phone quizzing him as to why his phone line wasnt connected to his box and reminding him of the T&C's.

[Dan_Sette]

Yes. That happened to me also. When I had Sky installed I was still with BT and signed up to skytalk (or some such) You paid a fee and got certain call benefits. Over the two years I had it not one quarter was billed correctly. When they finally got it right I within three weeks I had a letter saying that the offer was finishing.

At that time I had just upgraded from an old Pace box to Sky+ and signed a new 12 month contract. I was so annoyed with BT I told them where to go and signed to Birmingham Cable. This gave me the chance to site phone points where I wanted which didn't include anywhere near the Sky+ box.

So I left it unplugged. I had a call within days to warn me the box should be connected. I told them why it wasn't, and it was partly Sky's fault, with their offer that changed price every month. They told me I should connect it within 90 days.

I forgot, and the Sky+ bit of the Sky box stopped working. It only came back when I got an extension and connected it to the B'ham Cable socket.

Dan

[Central]

You can pay a small fee and not have to a line connected. But this is only on a single box installation. Multiroom requires a phone on all boxes.

[sav112]

“small fee” if it’s a case of small then that’s fine.

Last time I was on to BT They were offering BB with some wireless Router or there Home hub as they call it. They should do if free after all we out BT bill is quite large as they will see, think my last Virgin bill was 20p as I called a mate on it because his numbers was on the phone and not on my mobile.

I’ll get onto BT first thing, bend there ear.

[sav112]

Just a wee update! BT got hold of me as I emailed them first, it was probably free was the response, then over £100 to get a connection box upstairs when they phoned. So that’s not going to happen.

Your right about the small Fee its only £25 as I don’t have Multi-Room, so the £10 discount for ordering it online from sky and the £10 discount a month for 12 months for my Broadband off Virgin has it nearly covered within the first month.

So I’m back to £25 a month all in, but with all this Virgin and Sky thing you can probably get the £25 free wavered – well you have to try don’t you…..We will see tomorrow.

So will the red Button thing work on it then if its free from a phone line and that reminder thing that’s so useful?

[downquark1]

We obtained the boxes via 3rd party, so are we not subject to the 12 month rule?

Does the activation require both dish and phone connected at the same time?
(We are in a similar situation).

[Matt D]

Originally Posted by sav112

So will the red Button thing work on it then if its free from a phone line and that reminder thing that’s so useful?

Yep. As I said before, all the normal "Red Button" interactive stuff (BBCi, Sky News Active, etc. etc. etc.) does not use the phone line.


But if you want to order a pay-per-view movie, order a pizza, play certain crap games, or vote on certain things, then it does need a phone connection.... anything which requires the box to *send* info needs it.

---------- Post added at 01:06 ---------- Previous post was at 01:01 ----------

Originally Posted by downquark1

We obtained the boxes via 3rd party, so are we not subject to the 12 month rule?

Does the activation require both dish and phone connected at the same time?
(We are in a similar situation).

The 12 month phoneline connection contract (IDC, Interactive Discount Contract) is what you sign up to to get a free standard box.

If you didn't get the box from Sky, or a Sky supplier, for free then there won't be an IDC.


Boxes though? If you have Multiroom, Sky do require that *each* STB is connected to a phoneline, even if you bought them elsewhere, or have gone past the 12 month IDC if you got them free. As Stuart said earlier, Multiroom requires a phone connection for each box so Sky can check you haven't actually taken out the £10/month multiroom as a cheap subscription for someone else.

[sav112]

As far as I know the engineer will install it without the phone, I’ll get on later Quark!
Theres no problem connecting to the BT phone to register it.

[sav112]

It’s in and it’s great! Better picture than my old Virgin one but it was analogue and made a electrical noise-bless its now in an Amazon Box in the hut……

Tell you what that TV guide thing is great, you know what’s on and what coming on, even had that Reminder swap the channel when SG1 and Battlestar was on as I was on the Liverpool game….

A few interesting channels that I need to look more into like FX….Only hassle was that the install took all of about 20 mins if that by the two lads but its taken me about 5 hours to get everything back to normal with regards to Music systems which are connected to the Box now, Video/DVD player and even the PC., and all the crap back around the Desk.


So enjoyed my Battlestar and SG1.

With regards the box is not connected to the phone, the lads made a cable up and left it but as its only £25 I can live with it especially with the better picture, crisp sound and a shed of new channel I’ve never seen.

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by AndyCambs

Tell me if I'm wrong, but anytime you use interactive on Sky - you get charged for a phone call. Is that right?

to an 0800 number so there should be no charge, but if it were say an old NTL line wouldn't you get the 3p connection fee or whatever it was?

[Matt D]

AFAIK, it's not 0800. I think it's 0845.

It is free though when the box does its random dial outs at night or whenever.



However, it does not dial out all the time with interactive - only for certain things, which require the box to send data (e.g. ordering PPV, ordering a pizza, certain vote things etc etc.).


Most "Normal" Interactive stuff (e.g. news on BBCi, multiscreen sport on BBCi, Sky News Active, etc. etc.), plus teletext, do not use the phone line at all.

[sav112]

That reminds me to call as its not on the phone! £25 to sky but cant be helped.