EddScott

Is Freeview or Freesat a viable alternative to Sky?

I pay Sky £480 a year for TV and although I do watch alot of TV I'm wondering that if I managed to live the first 25 year of my life without Sky is it possible I could manage without it again?

We aren't strapped for cash but I just think its too much (basic package + HD + multiroom) and Sky don't really give you any incentives to stay with them and the offers seem to have dried up.

Leslie

I agree that it is expensive but I would miss the sport badly as well as all the other programmes which replace the very poor choice and very few good programmes on the terrestrial side.

Les

urban

iTrader: (1)

They probably are an alternative and the stuff on say sky 1 that you'll miss could be downloaded.

Freesat - guy in work was banging on about how good it was despite me saying that half the channels don't operate until nighttime or when they feel like it (itv HD)

I'd probably miss sky for sky one and sky sports 1 (football)

Tidgy

virgin, but its eactly the same sort of money, you might be able to swing a new conenction deal though

Neanderthal

iTrader: (6)

Bravo, is your sky box still letting you record?
If so, remind, me, did you ever unplug it?

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

I got rid of my sky set a few years ago, when I firat subscribed it was £18 for every channel, when I quit I was paying over £40 a month. I did find ringing up every few months and threatening to quit usually resulted in 3 months half price sky but in the end all I watched was football, sky 1 and that was about it.
Football these days I watch on the internet.

fitzscoob

I'm on my fourth refurbished HD box since December...

I pay sky near enough £80 per month including the broadband, below is the letter sent to their complaints department after 3 failed attempts at speaking to someone who could help.

________________________


I am writing to request an amicable resolution to an ongoing and almost farcical issue I have been having with Sky Television since early December.



I have been a Sky customer at this address for two years now and previously at another address for many more.



In December 2009 my Sky HD box stopped working after just over 18 months of usage. To date I am on my fourth replacement of refurbished boxes and the current one has an intermittent fault.



The first visit in December cost me my last day’s holiday, and the engineer didn’t show up, so I had to be rescheduled, and work additional hours to cover the time I had to miss from work.



Since then the boxes have all failed, not receiving satellite signal, apart from one which would not come out of standby mode.



I am currently subscribing to all of Sky TV packages so my expenditure is of a significant amount, I have been more than patient and willing to find middle ground but at this stage I have not received any compensation for the loss of viewing over the last 4 months, neither have I been able to speak to anyone who can resolve the situation.



Yesterday I placed a call to the Sky TV telephone help desk and escalated my issue to a manager. The manager could not help me so in turn escalated my call to his supervisor who was supposed to call me back last night after 6pm. I received no such phone call.



I have paid out for the replacement box back in December of around £70 – which has gotten me nothing apart from 4 duff boxes and countless days away from work at my own expense and weeks without Sky TV.



I have also paid out for an independent engineer to check the cabling in my apartment as my Sky dish is communal, this was at my expense and has proved that the signal is getting through to the box.



I would like to resolve the situation by being given a brand new box, no more refurbs as its clear as day that they are not up to the job.



Unfortunately I am at the stage where my patience is exhausted in this matter and should we not be able to resolve the problem as detailed in the paragraph above, I’ll have no alternative but to seek an alternate television supplier.



The last box I have now is currently suffering from an intermittent fault, however at present I have a picture.



I await your response.

EddScott

LOL - we went through half a dozen boxes when our first one failed.

My biggest complaint with Sky is that there IS such a thing as Multiroom Lite - in areas that have been switched to digital I was told by a Sky engineer that we could have Multiroom Lite (£5 per box which suits us as we could do with another one). However every time I call I get the run around and get no where. I no it exists and as my area was switched off months ago I think I should have it. I'd even pay for the box and installation but I get no where.

Hence why I feel that my time with Sky is near its end.

Neanderthal

iTrader: (6)

They're not the most robust of devices are they? I'm on my 3rd after 2 years.
This current one I've got the engineer gave me a brand new one rather than the refurbed units they usually try to palm you off with.

Tidgy

o how i love my virgin box that they sort and replace at no cost if needs be


tbh im not sure what the advantage of keep the box is? if you leve them and go back they charge you for the box again unles you still have it. if it breaks you pay for it.

with virgin you dont pay for it and can get all the same channels etc

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

No HD sports channels and that's the killer to virgin for me. Once you've watched the footy etc in HD then SD just doesn't compare.

gpssti4

iTrader: (6)

I bought a Humax twin tuner HD fresat box and it's quite good. I only hope that the beeb put the World Cup on their HD chanel.

James Neill

iTrader: (1)

I bought one of these. Very pleased with it

Humax FOXSAT-HDR | freesat+ box With 320GB Hard Drive PVR | Richer Sounds

madscoob

iTrader: (3)

when we had hd fitted the engineer kindly gave me a length of cable and 2connectors . he said he would of had to use thgem anyway if we didnt have sky allready , anyway long story short connected them my self ran cable from dish to bedroom , connected to old sky box and now enjoy hd in lounge and normal sky in bedroom simples, we kept the old box cos we had payed for it

Diesel

Happy with Humax HD Freesat (now it has decent recent software) - already paid for itself after ditching grabby SKY.

Never was a multichannel fan (other than Discovery or Nat Geo) as progs costing £50k an hour are generally better than those multi channel ones costing £5kan hour. Then you also have quality US dramas costing £300k an hour that only the big 4 can afford...ohh and the grabby SKY one. In fact, anyone actually watch SKY One other than 24 and the Simpsons? I never did once in 6 years...but paid... Monopoly no more

D

mj

Another Humax fan here, it is without doubt the best gadget I have ever bought.

For a viable alternative to sky, it depends on what kind of viewer you are...if there are programmes exclusive to sky that you cannot go without then forget freeview, but if you only want the option of always having something *good* to watch, the Humax is hard to beat for what it costs to buy.

Just make 5 minutes a week to bladder through the week ahead for film 4 and set anything that looks decent to record, plenty on BBC4, quest etc, loads of good comedys that can be set to series link. I would have never bothered with Family guy for instance, now I record every one, or curb for instance is vety good.

I'd rather have crabs than sky TV, personally I think its an expensive pile o' sh1te, when you compare it to what you can get for gratis.

astraboy

I've got a bit of a problem, I am due to move soon and am thinking of ditching sky, but I really cant live without mythbusters.
Any of the freesat channels do it as well as discovery?
astraboy.

gpssti4

iTrader: (6)

Yes.

Although I can't remember which channel

mj

Quest...channel 38 ?