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I've never had Sky but the previous owner did - this was many years ago and the dish was taken with him.
There are two cables running down from where the dish was but its a real mess in terms of aerial points and cables going everywhere.
To re-route everything would cost a few quid so I'm tempted by the Sky half price offers on at the moment. I can get basic TV for around £10.50 a month for a year, with free install and free HD box. It will cost me as much just to get a need aerial wired in.
My first question is - will the engineer install new cables and drill through to a point in the lounge that I want?
When the 12 months is up and I bin the subscription, what happens to the box. Presumably I keep it but does it carry on acting as a PVR for Freeview? Or can Sky block it in some way?
If it doesn't carry on working - can I just plug in a PVR of my own (freesat or Freeview) and carry on using the dish?
Thanks - I really haven't a clue
no one?
My first question is - will the engineer install new cables and drill through to a point in the lounge that I want?
Officially no, they'll want to present it in the first room. Unofficially, they might, if you ask nicely.
When the 12 months is up and I bin the subscription, what happens to the box. Presumably I keep it but does it carry on acting as a PVR for Freeview? Or can Sky block it in some way?
No. The Sky+ feature requires an active subscription. Also, anything you've already recorded will be inaccessible.
If you do decide to go for it, go through a referral site; I got something like £150 back from topcashback when I subbed.
If it doesn't carry on working - can I just plug in a PVR of my own (freesat or Freeview) and carry on using the dish?
Freeview is terrestrial TV, it doesn't use a dish. Freesat should take the Sky feeds I'd have thought, though I've no experience if it myself.
I just did the same. Think they take the box back after you cancel so I doubt you could use it as a pvr.
The engineer will fit a new dish/wiring but they won't go into loft spaces. Often they fit the dish as close to the lounge wall as they can, I've seen some in our street at knee height under the lounge window!
They then drill through the wall into the lounge.
I'm a sparky so I pulled all the wiring in for them and basically did most of their job.
Engineer said it was common for people to get sparks in to do the wiring separately as they didn't want cables clipped round the outside of their house.
Think they take the box back after you cancel so I doubt you could use it as a pvr.
Only if you cancel during the initial 12 month contract; after that it's yours.
OK - so new wiring likely and drilled through to a place I decide. That's fine.
I might get to keep the Sky box but it will have no functionality unless I remain a subscriber (flog on Ebay I guess?).
I should be able to buy a Freesat PVR and use the Sky dish that will remain.
That should work for me - thanks for the replies.
I expect it'll sell quite readily. Sky like to charge silly money for out-of-warranty replacements.
They always sell at car boots.
When your year is up, if you consider cancelling you might find that they give you 50% discount for a year.
The full price is a rip off compared with the bbc, but we just got their tv renewed for a year at half price.
Right oh here we go .
1. engineer will feed the cables to wherever you have the tv as long as its practical . (External wall permitting)
2. New dish and cable should be used (they have strict health and safety conditions) so where the original dish was positioned it may not be sutable.
3. sky box is yours after 30 days but you are on a one year contract.
4. The box will still work as a freesat box if you cancel (no pause and record ) standard channels.
Oh and a call out after your one year warranty is currently 65 pounds . Not bad if they have to replace the whole system.
what PK13 said but i have to add the engineer may be able to attach the dish to your chimney if he has the right ladder or if there is two of them on the job. if not and you need the dish to go in a particular location to get the best signal and the engineer cant fir it then it will be a job for SKY's special access team.
In an ideal world the position I would like is just the other side of the chimney to where the original dish would have been. Pretty easy in terms of access i.e. ladder against the wall. Stove installer put a cowl on the Chimney pot about three feet away from where I would like the dish and it took him 5 minutes! I know there is more to a dish install but it won't require any special roof access or such like. I would have no objections to the dish being lower if the signal is as good.
Ask nicely . Did they put a liner in the flu ? If you have it's best to keep away from drilling holes in that area. Bolts shouldn't be any longer 100mm that hold the bracket on
usually the engineer will try to find an installation point for the dish on one of the walls of the house. depending on the height of the house if he thinks its unsafe for him to do so he may need to get another colleague to come and help or refer it to the special access team.
i speak from experience as the same happened to me...engineer came and saw existing dish on chimney. he then called another engineer who was in the area to come and help while he climbed onto the roof to check the dish. that dish was badly rusted so he took it off and installed a new dish then checked the signal only to find he couldn't get one due to a large tree on the main road that was blocked the signal path. the house cant be accessed by ladder from the rear due to a large awning attached other the patio so he referred it the the special access team telling me they can attach an extension pole to the chimney so the dish clears the tree. when those guys turned up they refused to do any work saying that placing it on an extended pole would make it unsafe in high winds and as they couldn't access the rear wall of the house they said they couldn't do anything for me.
i then got an independent installer to come out and he went to the bottom of the back garden and found a perfect signal there and installed the dish to the garden shed and then fed the cabling down the side of the garden and into the house.
hopefully this wont be the case for you OP.
what PK13 said but i have to add the engineer may be able to attach the dish to your chimney if he has the right ladder or if there is two of them on the job. if not and you need the dish to go in a particular location to get the best signal and the engineer cant fir it then it will be a job for SKY's special access team.
The chap that came to install mine said that Sky wouldn't let him install on chimneys anymore doe to health and safety, and I would have to have it on the wall.
cb - worth looking at this thread for a good deal:
[url= http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/psa-sky-tv-12-price-for-a-year ]http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/psa-sky-tv-12-price-for-a-year[/url]
As a Recent ex Sky Engineer:-
They will put a dish up in the most suitable location for best Signal/Line of Sight and ease of access, which may not be your chimney.
Reason being they only get 65minutes to do the complete install, just getting set up to access the roof could take 20mins due to the Health & Safety equipment required , calls to manage to escalate etc, so the engineer will probably try to wall mount the dish if possible.
Cables will normally be run the most direct route and generally not run at a high level again due to H&S and time constraints.
Engineer will not run cables at a high level for cosmetic reasons.
The engineer will not be able to run cables through the loft unless is it fully boarded out and has a loft ladder to access it(Company policy)
Cables can be run through a cellar if available normally at the engineers discretion/access permitting.
ANYTHING that restricts safe access for the engineer mounting the dish or running the cables could end up with the job being cancelled.
No Official Sky engineer will mount a dish on a pole on the chimney, independents & 3rd Parties will ,but your signal in strong winds will drop in and out due to the dish waving around like a lollypop.
The STB becomes yours after 1-year, normally if you cancel within 12 months they will send a engineer out to remove/uplift the box, but will normally only remove the dish if you ask them too.
If you cancel at any time the box will revert to a freesat receiver, All record/pause/On demand functionality will cease to be available and any existing recordings will no longer be accessible for playback.
You would be able to plug any freesat box into the cable/dish set-up after 12months.
The chap that came to install mine said that Sky wouldn't let him install on chimneys anymore doe to health and safety, and I would have to have it on the wall.
In reference to the above there is no policy for this, they can and will install on Chimneys if there is safe access and no restrictions such as Ornamental ridge tiles(Cannot get Cat-ladders over them without damaging them).
Most likely the engineer did not want to go up there either due to time constraints as mentioned previously or fear of heights(Yes believe it or not there are some engineers that are fine working on ladders but really get the fear when asked to go on a roof. Not me by the way)