SKY, why is it SO GOOD?

[Skyornot]

Currently i am coming to the end of my Virgin media contract (i get broadband, tv and phone with them). However, now is the time when i am looking around at other options before i commit to another 12 month retentions contract with VM.

So, i have heard that it is impossible to make deals with Sky (by that i mea negotiate better than their advertised prices). Is this true? And if so, why? Is the service they offer so good that they don't need to do deals?

Does anyone know the cheapest way i can get TV, broadband and phone? For the TV i am really only interested in Skysports (so the less thousands of other channels i'll never watch yet have to pay for the better).
As far as broadband goes, 2mb is okay (unless there is a better deal), but i'm not keen on these download limits they have.

Any feedback, help and advice is greatly appreciated thanks.

[TheBlueRaja]

Until you get Sky, you wont know just how much better it is than NTL.

But it is far superior.

Go here, http://packages.sky.com/buy/Default.aspx, and start to muck about with the various options to find one that suits you.

The NTL boys will be along in a minute though to tell you how wrong you are though.

Just ignore them.

[Druchii]

Is your ADSL line any good from previous experience?

That's pretty much the only place i see Sky falling down.

EDIT: And TBR, it's VM now, not NTL, get with the program

[vbnmu]

Few companies offer limitless download. Sky certainly doesn't. You will get it from VM though.
You are right, Sky do not negotiate deals. But whether their service is better,is debatable. They do have a working interactive option though. VM lost some sky channels and I find some services on the STB better than VM's.
U r better off with a combined package from VM though. Would be best to call them, explaining your needs and they should be able to offer you something. Afterwhich we can try and locate something better 4 you-if there is any!

[awibble]

If your going with Sky, check what speed you can get over ADSL.. if you dont have a BT line already, ask a neighbour, as they will give you a good idea of what to expect, that tends to be the first place that they will fall down, as in many areas BT lines are no good for ADSL... not skys fault, but they will still charge you for upto 16Mb if you order it, even if you only get 1Mb.

Then you have the Sky box its self, if your thinking about going HD, then be prepared to fork over £300 for the box, its a shame they are still charging so much for them, but they do have more HD contend than VM. You also need to remember at this point that you will own the box, some see this as a bad thing, some see it as a good thing, its personal POV.

OnDemand, if you like using this service, then be ready to loose it. Sky does have box office, but there new ondemand system still needs a little work, some dont even have it yet (like me)

Although Blue will tell you sky is better, its not true, they are both as bad as each other, I have had Sky, i currently have freesat from Sky and i also have VM at the moment. VM has so far worked far better than Sky does.

If you are going to move to sky, i would recomend at least keeping Cable Broadband...As you might not be able to get anything half decent with Sky.

[Skyornot]

Hi. Thanks for everyone's responses so far. is there a way i can check how far away i am from the exchange??
I have never had ADSL before, currently i am using a cable modem. I have to say that (apart from having to call 'broken english manual readers' in india) my BB service has been pretty good. But at £18 a month for 2MB i feel i am paying way over the odds.

As for the Cable/Sky TV, well the only channels that i'm interested in are all the Skysports channels. So i'm looking at the cheapest way i can get those without having to fork out more money for channels which are never watched.

Currently i am on VM for TV, phone and BB. But at over £66 a month (not including any 'phone deal') i feel this is far too much to be paying. Surely i can get these services elsewhere for cheaper.
It's just a case of trying to figure out if it's best to go with separate companies or get all my services from the one.
I have noticed that in the Sky prices they do try and 'hide' the need for a BT phone line and the fact that this will cost an extra £11 per month.
Are there really only 2 phone options out there? BT or VM??

[on in an hour!]

Originally Posted by Skyornot

Hi. Thanks for everyone's responses so far. is there a way i can check how far away i am from the exchange??
I have never had ADSL before, currently i am using a cable modem. I have to say that (apart from having to call 'broken english manual readers' in india) my BB service has been pretty good. But at £18 a month for 2MB i feel i am paying way over the odds.

As for the Cable/Sky TV, well the only channels that i'm interested in are all the Skysports channels. So i'm looking at the cheapest way i can get those without having to fork out more money for channels which are never watched.

Currently i am on VM for TV, phone and BB. But at over £66 a month (not including any 'phone deal') i feel this is far too much to be paying. Surely i can get these services elsewhere for cheaper.
It's just a case of trying to figure out if it's best to go with separate companies or get all my services from the one.
I have noticed that in the Sky prices they do try and 'hide' the need for a BT phone line and the fact that this will cost an extra £11 per month.
Are there really only 2 phone options out there? BT or VM??

if you go for the 3 for £30 option then just add sky sports as a premium rate channel you could save nearly £20 a month,also your telco would be free evening/weekend calls (landline only,but national).there are loads of telco operators,but they are leased lines off BT,so ultimately reliant on the distance from the exchange for good/bad ADSL connection.bill C knows the link to the site for your postcode checker for ADSL,PM him,hes on-line right now.good luck.

[themelon]

It depends on the individual which service is better for them. Both do good deals.

But I see absolutely no way in which Sky is better than Virgin TV. Unless you are a 7 day EPG Geek who likes to plan their TV a week in advance who cant miss a TV show when they go on holiday.

The one and only thing better on Sky is the EPG.And for those who like US imported trash there is Sky Onc.

Sky fanboys will claim otherwise but it is untrue DO NOT LISTEN TO THEM. It is up to each and every individual to choose not the Sky Fanboys.

Make you own decision as I did. I have had both and experienced the following.

I had much fun laughing at my neighbour trying to adjust his Sky dish in the heavy rain because it blew to a different position yesterday in the wind. My Cable is working just fine and has done since last February when installed. It has worked since I first had cable in 2001. When I had to live in a rented house and before 2001 I had Sky since the analogue days until they gave me grief in 2001 after moving and their installer made a god forsaken mess of my lounge. So I switched to cable and was amazed how much more stable the service was in bad weather. At the start of last year whilst temporarily in a rented house in a non cable area I had Sky again and they were still poor. Constantly losing signal in bad weather very blocky picture, several cowboys from Sky said everything was 'as it should be'.

True VOD is much better than the nonsense Sky Anytime Service where Sky choose to download some of their over rated crap to your box, I have to laugh at such a pathetic service when my neighbour showed me it.

My experience of ADSL is fairly hit and miss. The last 3 houses Ive lived in apparently dont have good enough speaker wire, it needs replacing with new wire for a better connection for a small fee of £75.

But as they say the Choice is yours.

Sometimes better the devil you know.

Go for the best deal.....you maybe lucky and get a good service.

I will never ever go with Sky again...It will even influence where I live as I will always check there is cable.

60% of people in the UK can only go with Sky and they will think that blocky pictures and constant loss of signal is normal.....because they Sky Cowboys says so.

[TheBlueRaja]

Originally Posted by themelon

Blah Blah Blah - snip...

As you can see - this poster is clearly giving an unbiased opinion.

I've seen the two and regularly use both services and gave you an unbiased opinion (I have Sky the g/f has NTL).

Go see for yourself mate - compare the two and make up your own mind - i think that will clear it all up and leave you in no doubt. Go through the NTL guide a few times and see how long it takes to get to the VOD section or start a program you want (if it works, you may need to reboot the box - honestly). Or even find a program to watch - something you will do a lot.

The compare the PQ of the two side by side if you can, look at fast moving images.

In fact just try and confirm what themelon says above and see if what you see is what he describes.

I'd be interested in your honest opinion.

[Skyornot]

Originally Posted by themelon

It depends on the individual which service is better for them. Both do good deals.

But I see absolutely no way in which Sky is better than Virgin TV. Unless you are a 7 day EPG Geek who likes to plan their TV a week in advance who cant miss a TV show when they go on holiday.

The one and only thing better on Sky is the EPG.And for those who like US imported trash there is Sky Onc.

I have actually had a few problems with my VM service during the past month. Box freezing, slow channel changing, taking anything from 30mins-2 hours to power-up etc. This happened when i was trying to watch some WC cricket and Football games on Skysports. So as you may imagine i was pretty annoyed at missing some games that i was paying premium rates for, this was made especially bad when i had to call india to have someone who seemed unable to respond to me directly (just read from the idiots guide - unplug box, plug back in etc. etc. Grrrrr).
Then the final straw was when i called VM and they didn't seem bothered that i'd had all this inconvenience and were not prepared to compensate in any way.

What about the interactive service on Sky? Is it any good? As i mainly watch Skyports, but this has been something i have been unable to view on VM.
Do you still have to pay-per-view certain Premiership football games with Sky?

Cheers.

[awibble]

Originally Posted by TheBlueRaja

I've seen the two and regularly use both services and gave you an unbiased opinion (I have Sky the g/f has NTL).

Originally Posted by TheBlueRaja

Until you get Sky, you wont know just how much better it is than NTL.

But it is far superior.

Go here, http://packages.sky.com/buy/Default.aspx, and start to muck about with the various options to find one that suits you.

The NTL boys will be along in a minute though to tell you how wrong you are though.

Just ignore them.

Sounds Very Unbiast.

For the OP

on samknows you can enter your postcode and it will tell you what adsl service you can get. It does feel like your paying over the odds when on virgin, however after using ADSL (and this is not just sky but all ADSL services) they dont have the same stability as cable does.

Its not the providers fault really, its just how crap the copper BT wires are.

If you want my real biast sugestion...

Get a BT phoneline,
Virgin Boradband
the most basic Virgin TV package you can get (so that you can use the on-demand services that sky cannot in anyway match)
and then get Sky for everything else.

It might sound over kill, but i have my sky box using freesat at the moment, and if virgin ever give me problems again, i have been told i can activate the full sky package in minuites.

[Nugget]

Originally Posted by Skyornot

I have actually had a few problems with my VM service during the past month. Box freezing, slow channel changing, taking anything from 30mins-2 hours to power-up etc. This happened when i was trying to watch some WC cricket and Football games on Skysports. So as you may imagine i was pretty annoyed at missing some games that i was paying premium rates for, this was made especially bad when i had to call india to have someone who seemed unable to respond to me directly (just read from the idiots guide - unplug box, plug back in etc. etc. Grrrrr).
Then the final straw was when i called VM and they didn't seem bothered that i'd had all this inconvenience and were not prepared to compensate in any way.

What about the interactive service on Sky? Is it any good? As i mainly watch Skyports, but this has been something i have been unable to view on VM.
Do you still have to pay-per-view certain Premiership football games with Sky?

Cheers.

Personally, I had a fairly rubbish time with ntl - poor picture quality, sound switching off completely at random, box locking up etc, which is why I moved to Sky in the first place

Since we've had it (around 5 years now), the service has been pretty good - even when I've had problems with the box, they've been able to get an engineer round within 3 or 4 days (although this could be better). The only quibbles I have is that heavy rain stops your signal (can't do anything about that, what with an external dish and all), and the fact that it's not cheap - we're currently paying 42 quid a month for the full package.

I have to say that, having experience of both (obviously pre-Virgin days), I'd always go for Sky but, as Raja says, if you've got the chance to check both do - that'll be the best way to find out what's best for you

Oh, and they've got rid of Prem Plus (the pay-per-view football) - now whatever football they show will be on the sports channels

[gazzae]

Originally Posted by Nugget

Oh, and they've got rid of Prem Plus (the pay-per-view football) - now whatever football they show will be on the sports channels

Prem Plus may be gone but you will still have to pay more if you want to see all the matches as Setanta have the rights to those games.

[TheBlueRaja]

Originally Posted by awibble

Sounds Very Unbiast.

Thanks for conveniently missing the part where i tell him to look at both systems with his own eyes.

[Nugget]

Originally Posted by gazzae

Prem Plus may be gone but you will still have to pay more if you want to see all the matches as Setanta have the rights to those games.

Oh I know that - that's why I said that all the matches that Sky will be showing will be on the sports channels