Sky Plus

[squarebear]

We are getting Sky Plus installed on Wednesday but have been told that the equipment will need to be connected to a landline phone.

The only landline we have is upstairs and I don't fancy have cables trailing around the house to get to it.

Why does it need connecting to a landline and will it cause any problems if we don't connect it to one? We only want to watch TV rather then using the internet or any phone facilities that come with it.

[aka pixi]

When we first got sky (going back a few years) it was part of the contract to have and keep it connected to a phone line for the first 12 months, after that it was up to us. Maybe its the same for skyplus?

[aka pixi]

ps we didnt have phone or internet through them.

[squarebear]

Thanks for the reply.

What's the point of having it connected to a phone line? What does it do? If they trail it round the house to upstairs, I won't be happy.

[vehelpfulguy]

If they are official Sky fitters then I think Sky insist that when a Sky box is fitted it HAS to be connected to a landline phone.

I think this is for doing interactive things (buying a movie, sports program etc., also checking your sky balance etc).

You could ask the fitters NOT to run a cable, but I think Sky take a dim view if one is not fitted so they may not want to risk it.

Having the cable fitted is part of your contract with Sky.

They tend to run it along the top of skirting boards and round doors so it if very unobtrusive.

[vehelpfulguy]

The Sky web site says as follows (note it says "why is it best" which makes it sound as though it is optional):

Q) Why is it best to have my Sky box connected to a telephone line?

Connecting your Sky Box to your phone line is the only way you can receive a number of our interactive services, including:

Sky Box Office - Order movies and live sports using your remote control

Sky Active � manage your account online, update your Parental Controls, find Customer Support content and more.

Sky Sports Active - puts you in control with options including different camera angles, match highlights and crucial statistics.

Sky Gamestar - hosts a huge range of great puzzles and games for all the family.

More here

http://www.sky.com/portal/site/skycom/skyprodu cts/skytv/helpandquestions/faqs

[squarebear]

Thanks for all your answers.

We are quite happy with our current internet provider and have no desire to switch.

I notice it only says why is it BEST to have it connected. I can't imagine that we will be using any of the features like buying films and sporting events.

[chelle7272]

I put off getting Sky for ages because I'm 11 floors up and no phone line. Turns out they can bypass the 'need' for a phone line with a �25 fee......

[squarebear]

Hmm.. I somehow thought that extra charges would come into play. We managed to get Sky Plus for �0 and wondered what the catch was.

[redcrx]

chelle is right. its not just so you can access certain things but also so that they can keep an eye on where you are i believe.

[redcrx]

did you get it by recommending a friend squarebear? did you have to wait long?

[squarebear]

No we already have Sky and phoned them up last wekend to say that we didn't watch enough of it to make it worth paying the monthly fee. So they offered us Sky Plus for free rather than losing a customer.

It was a tip from a money saving programme on TV.

[redcrx]

oh you lucky thing. We'd already tried that and failed so had to recommend instead

[squarebear]

My wife is pretty good at persuading people :-)

[soon2birish]

I think you will find that the engineer will require a phoneline for the inital installation of your Sky+. If you unplug the phoneline, Sky gets unhapy and you get reminders and warnings to keep the line connected.
I rang Sky and told them where to go as I was decorating and needed to keep moving TV/Sky etc.
I was informed that if you go to your settings on the Sky box, you can change the settings to avoid having phoneline connected.

When getting it installed, run a phoneline extension to the designated room and remove when the enginerr ******* off.

[Disco Fever]

The phone line is normally for when you order sports or films but Sky contact your box at certain parts of the day and night to survey what you are watching for surveying purposes....

[squarebear]

noknowledge - we have never had any problems whatsoever with our current ISP and would rather not risk gambling to see what Sky broadband is like.

I would rather pay for a service that I know, have experienced and realise that is 100% suitable and reliable for us than chance our connection with an unknown.

I don't particularly want Sky contacting the box to see what we are watching, especially if it may tie up the phone line/internet connection.

We'll see what happens Wednesday. If they insist on trailing cables through and around the house then I'll tell them not to bother.

[squarebear]

We won't be ordering any sports or films.

[squarebear]

An update.

The engineer has just installed our sky plus box and only needed to borrow the landline temporarily to set it up. It didn't need a permanent connection, as he said that was just for new sky users. We have been with them for about 8 years.

So that's it all done. We now have Sky TV beamed into our house for �0 instead of the �38 per month we were paying!