P1Fanatic

Ive had NTL and NTL Digital for the last 3-4 years. I am moving this year and want ADSL and Sky Digital mostly because Sky Digital looks far better in terms of picture quality, interactive and price and I want to move away from NTL broadband.

However when I move I dont want to pay for a BT line as I have loads of inc minutes Xnet on my mobile and can ring pretty much anything free (within reason). So in short:

a) For ADSL does my BT telephone line have to be in use i.e. me paying line rental for ADSL to be able to work.

b) For Sky Digital do you HAVE to have a phone line hooked up or can you not bother as long as I am aware that interactive and box office purchases wont work without it?

Cheers,
Simon (Sky & ADSL n00b)

ChrisB

a) Yes.

Monthly cost is line rental to BT + fees to ISP (starts around £20+VAT for 512Kbps).

b) I think some people have never had the box plugged into their phone line. Just a possible breach of your contract with Sky.

dsmith

For Sky. You dont *have* to have a phone line to have sky digital.

The free or £40 installation deal was/is subsidised by the interactice service and part of the contract you sign for the intallation deal is to have the phone connected for a year - its is not part of your sky subscription as such.

I cant remember which part the free sky box falls into. I suspect its's also the part which requires a phone line connected. So if you're prepared to pay full whack for the digibox and install you dont need a phone line.

You do need a phone though for Sky Box office (cue posts inferring how to get it all for free) and you also need a phone for some of the interactive services (e.g. votes/some games etc etc). You dont need a phone just to get the things like mutiple camera feeds fro sports events/news channels etc etc.

Deano

MattW

AFAIK the t&c say you must havbe a landline plugged in for 12 months. This is to qualify for the discounted equipment.

You could of course buy the equipment (circa £200) or risk Sky charging you for the amount.

PS - You can order box office by ringing up.

P1Fanatic

Hmmm sounds like I may have to stay with NTL then - boll*cks!

imlach

Well, put it this way, I signed up to be connected to the phone line for 12 months, and I'm 9 months in, and no-one has EVER asked why it is not connected.....

Installer (cough) said to say house is being renovated if anyone ever asks.....but no-one has....

ADP

You also need the phone line to be plugged in for Sky to dial into the box on