Anyone Got Sky+?

[Ami]

Hi

Trying to persuade my hubby that Sky+ is the way to go.

We currently have NTL and although we've never had any probs with the phone or broadband, the tv is crap compared to all the cool things you can do with Sky!

Unfortunately, hubby is not to be persuaded because the thought of having to go back to BT makes him cringe. It was so expensive when we last used it, even without making any calls.

Also, Sky+ seems to cost so much more and I'm only just coming round to the idea of paying for it myself. I've done some research and think I would need the following:

Sky+ install - £89
Sky+ subscriptin - £10pm
2 packs - £15pm (£7.50 for the first three months)
BT Line - £99 install or £112.45 if split over quarterly DDMs
Evening & weekend call package - £16.50 pm
Broadband - £17.99pm (£14.99 for first 3 months)

So, that's (Ami gets her calculator out....) either £89 or £188 up front, depending on whether I was to split the BT install charge or not. And then, (more calculator usage required...) £59.49pm. That would get me less channels than I currently have and at a slightly more expensive price per month.

You can see why I'm having difficulty persuading him.

The fact that I could spread the BT install cost would help a bit, any ideas if I could do that with the Sky+ install?

Now what I need is everyone to gush about how brilliant Sky+ is, how it's totally worth the extra money and how much BTs service has improved in recent years and then I can persuade him. Hopefully.

So come on Arfie, Nina, Andy and everyone else out there that has Sky+, and make it believable!

 

[guppy_man]

well im only 15 and i dont pay the bills
but anyway its deff worth it lots of new channels, pause, rewind, record.
my mum never used to be able to watch any programmes bacause she is in work most of the day so all she does is record them
its great




WELL WORTH IT

 

[Arfie]

Well there is no NTL here, so choice isn't an issue, it's Sky, Freeview or terrestrial.

I am on the top Sky package with sports and movies etc, so I pay £42 per month, I don't have to pay for the Sky+ function because of the package I'm on.

Since I got it a couple of months back, I have got into about 4 or 5 new series and I never miss an episode, I also never miss a footy match I want to see and I never have to watch rubbish on TV, because I've usually got something I want to watch, stored and ready. So, I probably spend less time watching TV than before, but I watch more programs that I want to see. Another bonus is that you can record one program and either watch a different one or record a second one at the same time. The pause/rewind live TV function rocks too, if you get a phone call during a program, you just pause it and then press play when you finish

I'm not kidding it really has changed my TV watching completely, if there is nothing on that I want to watch, I watch a recorded program, if I have nothing recorded, I turn the TV off and do something else knowing that I'm not missing anything.

If you can't convince the old man, I can only see 2 other options. 1 - Get a TIVO or an equivalent hard disk recorder system (though I don't know how good they are) or 2 - Divorce him and come live with me

Arfie

 

[emma12321]

Hi Ami,


I'd wait until it goes high definition if i were you. We are waiting until then to get sky plus. It was supposed to happen this year but my bfs brother who works for sky fitting out shops like currys, has said that the shops aren't trialing it until the end of the year so it will be most likely next year before its available to the public. The bf is annoyed cos his 50 inch telly is high definition

Emma

 

[The-Wolf]

I couldn't live without it.
just one thing...
I don't have insurance for it because sky will replace a broken one for a £60 call out charge. If you workout how much the insurance costs over a year it is more than £60. and you never know you may not even use it(the insurance tha is).

 

[andywg]

I have Sky+. In fact I have two boxes!

If you are gonna get it let me know because I think i have some half price vouchers for the first few months.

I would not live with out it.

I have the full package and it is £41ish per month and then £10 for the extra box each month


Opps Sorry this is actually by Nina. I forgot I was logged in on Andys Account!

 

[Ami]

Don't think I want to wait until the end of the year Em, not after what everyone has said so far!


Nina, the website says you get half price on the packages for the first three months anyway hun. But thanks for the offer. Did you have to pay your install up front?

Arfie, hope you've got space for me hun cos I may be moving in soon.

 

[andywg]

Install was free.

We paid £98 for two boxes (each with 80Gb capacity by their specs) which is less than half the price of one install with a Sky+160 (which has the same storage capacity). On top of that we can now record 4 channels at once.

I would not live without Sky+. Any time there is some crap wendy ball on the telly I can search for some real sport to watch for an hour or so. Pure bliss.

 

[SirMinion]

We have Sky but not sky plus and I really don't see the point of it. With a DVD recorder I can record anything I might miss, and then even if I still miss it I can download it as a torrent the next day anyway.

Why do you have to have BT for Sky+?
We're on NTL for phone & broadband but the Sky box is not connected to the phone line anyway.

 

[Ami]

Says on web, £89 for Sky+ multi-room, £10pm for that subs plus whatever package.

I figure that it doesn't cost that much more per month plus it's a lot better. And I could give up the blockbuster subs so that would save £15 to put towards the sky.

I'm gonna get it! I don't care if I have to sneakily change it when he's away for work, but I am!


Andy hun, did you have to pay the £98 up front or did they add it to your monthlies?

And speaking of sport, how was rugby today?

Sir M - we got told that we needed to have a BT line installed before having the Sky+ - is that not true then?

And which bittorrent site do you use out of interest

 

[The-Wolf]

part of yor contract will sa that the box must be connected to a BTline for the first 12 months, so yes you will need a BTline.

the reason for tis is to "try" and prevent people taking their new boxes to the continent and watchung sky tv over there.
Sky only have a brodcasting licence for the UK, so the have to "be seen" to try and prevent people watching sky outside of th UK.

 

[SirMinion]

Sir M - we got told that we needed to have a BT line installed before having the Sky+ - is that not true then?
And which bittorrent site do you use out of interest

When we had Sky (not plus) installed the contact was that we had to have it connected to a phone line for the first 12 months but did not specify that it had to be a BT line. We don't have a BT line so ours was connected to our NTL line and there has never been any problem.
Since the first year passed, five years ago, we don't have it connected to the phone line at all.

Perhaps Sky+ is different, but it would be worth checking with Sky!

I use UKNova for British TV shows that I miss. You'll find it on Google.

 

[Ami]

I worked at Sky many years ago and we didn't really try that hard to stop people using their systems abroad. People used to call and ask if their Sky would work in their Spanish villas and we 'd say 'yes, however it is actually illegal for you to take it from the country'. They'd of course ask if we would know that they had and we'd say 'no, especially if you have it registered at a UK address....' (hint, hint)

It is actually illegal for individuals to take their systems abroad apparently, however it is okay if you are a diplomat, other civil servant or in the forces.

I have been told that I don't actually need it to be connected to a phone line, that it's just a deal that Sky and BT have to cut out the cable companies even more, but think I'll call Sky and see what they have to say!

Cheers Sir M, will check out UKNova. Another unrelated question for you though, when will you be selling t-shirts in the Ant series cos I'd really like one?

 

[PeterM]

You can get the Sky without the phoneline but Im not sure if you can order programs and such without the phone connection...

Id definately recommend getting it too. There was a mixup here when we upgraded to Sky+ and we had the Sky+box in our bedroom for week Its so useful, a real pain to downgrade back to old Sky back here.

The pause function is worth the money by itself. Its like watching a video! Really useful for teabreaks and toilet visits during long movies

 

[SirMinion]

Sir M, when will you be selling t-shirts in the Ant series cos I'd really like one?

Any ant in particular? deviANT is already available but if there's another one you'd like, PM me with which one and I'll get it set up. Thanks for your interest!

Now.. back on topic....