[mikepreece]

Just moved into a brand new flat and we dont have an active phone line (socket, but no connection) I cant access Sky interactive for box office films which i know a phone line is needed for.

Do you need an active phone line for Sky HD>

Cheers

[Nivek TT]

You don't "need" it but Sky won't install the box without a phone line in place. Sky will happily connect to a BT or Virgin phoneline.

Once its installed you're contractually obliged to leave it place for 12 months then you could disconnect it and give up the interactive features.

BT were recently offering connections for £29.99 rather than the usual £125. Dunno if the offer is still available.

[mudstuff]

I've got a standard sky box, not hd but it shouldn't differ. You indeed need the phone line for interactive functions but the guide etc comes via satellite. I have never connected my phone line. The engineer said I should and that sky may check on it but they never have. If they did, I'd just plug it in, let them do their test and then disconnect it again - my phone line is several metres form the sky box and I don't want to run cable everywhere just for interactive features that I don't use.

[Silver Serpent]

Sky really only clamp down on the the phone line issue where a multi-room subscription is involved.

If you only have one box then I wouldn't worry about having it connected to a phone line.

[mikepreece]

So just to confirm, if I get this installed, it will still work without an active phoneline?

cheers

[Silver Serpent]

Originally Posted by mikepreece

So just to confirm, if I get this installed, it will still work without an active phoneline?

cheers

Yes.

[Miss Chief]

Yes, but you have to tell the salesperson that you're awaiting the phone line being installed. Sky will notmally give 2-3 weeks grace on this. if you never intend to get a phone line Sky will attempt to charge you £25 for a manual installation.

[pricklespons]

Originally Posted by mikepreece

So just to confirm, if I get this installed, it will still work without an active phoneline?

cheers

I got mine installed last monday, i havent got a phone line, Sky will charge you £25.00 one off fee.

But you dont need a line at all. Unless you are really fussed about voting in x-factor or Im a celebrity via sky then i wouldnt worry too much about it!!

[mikepreece]

Originally Posted by pricklespons

I got mine installed last monday, i havent got a phone line, Sky will charge you £25.00 one off fee.

But you dont need a line at all. Unless you are really fussed about voting in x-factor or Im a celebrity via sky then i wouldnt worry too much about it!!

Which I am not, all i want to do is watch the TV

Cheers

[mudstuff]

Originally Posted by mikepreece

Which I am not, all i want to do is watch the TV

Cheers

I'm the same. So long as you have a phone line just tell the engineer, you'll do it yourself and be insistent. They usually back down and leave you to it. They may mention that sky might check but as aforementioned, you just plug it in for them to check and then unplug again.

[logiciel]

Originally Posted by mikepreece

So just to confirm, if I get this installed, it will still work without an active phoneline?

There's no way the lack of a phone line could stop the receiver working!
The only problem is getting over Sky's condition, that you will keep it connected to a fixed landline for twelve months.
As you've seen there ARE ways of getting over, or around, that condition.
Sky would never tell me what use the connection is to them, but it's a simple fact that it's no use to me - or to you!

[alan1572]

Originally Posted by pricklespons

I got mine installed last monday, i havent got a phone line, Sky will charge you £25.00 one off fee.

But you dont need a line at all. Unless you are really fussed about voting in x-factor or Im a celebrity via sky then i wouldnt worry too much about it!!

this can only be done with standard sky.

[Miss Chief]

not true. Sky+ and Sky+HD are available without a phone line and have been for several months.

[alan1572]

ok

[logiciel]

Sky.com site still says:
"Sky+ HD box must be connected to a fixed telephone line for 12 months."

[alan1572]

Originally Posted by hhatkin

Sky.com site still says:
"Sky+ HD box must be connected to a fixed telephone line for 12 months."

Ahhh, ok.

[Miss Chief]

yes, but if you say you do not have an active phoneline you can pay £25 and get it without a phoneline connection.

[wolvers]

Don't you need the phone line for box office too?

[CalvinR]

Originally Posted by Silver Serpent

Sky really only clamp down on the the phone line issue where a multi-room subscription is involved.

If you only have one box then I wouldn't worry about having it connected to a phone line.

Do you know why this is? They are hassling the hell out of my. Apparently my box's phone line socket is borked, because the cables and other boxes work fine.

They are wanting to charge a 65pound call-out fee to replace the box, then they'll refund the 100pound charge they've added on our bill for not having a phone line connected o_0

Originally Posted by pricklespons

I got mine installed last monday, i havent got a phone line, Sky will charge you £25.00 one off fee.

Midsat told me about this - that you can buy-off the phone contract. When we called Sky they didn't know anything about it though (dumb employees), when someone finally clocked on to what we meant, they said that you could only do this with a single-room sky sub, not multiroom :S

Are they using the phonelines to track us, trying to make sure we only have so many boxes connected or something? :S Even though there's only room for 4 boxes on the dish...
What if someone doesn't want a phoneline, or cancels their BT line?

Annoyances.

[Broadz]

Originally Posted by CalvinR

Do you know why this is?Are they using the phonelines to track us, trying to make sure we only have so many boxes connected or something?

To make sure that the two cards on the same account (the second one of which is only costing you £10 per month rather than the full price of your Sky TV subscription) are being used at the same address. Else you could pay Sky £10 per month for your second card, and then rent it out to your friend or neighbour for £30 per month and make money on it. He gets Sky World for £30 per month (so saves himself £15 per month), you make £20 per month profit, Sky lose out. You can only have multiroom accounts if all accounts are housed at the same address. And to confirm that they are all in use at the same address, Sky make sure that all boxes are connected to the same phoneline. It really isn't difficult to understand.

Originally Posted by CalvinR

What if someone doesn't want a phoneline, or cancels their BT line?

Then they can't have multiroom. If they want to watch different Sky channels on two different Sky boxes in their house at the same time, they will have to take out two separate Sky accounts.

[CalvinR]

Thanks for the explanation Broadz. Makes sense, as annoying as it is.

[Coffin]

Not sure if this helps but I had Sky HD installed 4 months ago and have never had it connected to the phone line nor heard from Sky. Furthermore the install engineer didn't plug it in himself..well it wasn't plugged in when he left. In fact I don't know where the lead is!

I also recall seeing an official advertisement for new Sky installs and it emphasised as of a certain date onwards no phone line would be required. Unfortunately I can't recall where I saw the ad.

[SDMDAM]

Originally Posted by CalvinR

Do you know why this is? They are hassling the hell out of my. Apparently my box's phone line socket is borked, because the cables and other boxes work fine.

They are wanting to charge a 65pound call-out fee to replace the box, then they'll refund the 100pound charge they've added on our bill for not having a phone line connected o_0



Midsat told me about this - that you can buy-off the phone contract. When we called Sky they didn't know anything about it though (dumb employees), when someone finally clocked on to what we meant, they said that you could only do this with a single-room sky sub, not multiroom :S

Are they using the phonelines to track us, trying to make sure we only have so many boxes connected or something? :S Even though there's only room for 4 boxes on the dish...
What if someone doesn't want a phoneline, or cancels their BT line?

Annoyances.

We have multi-room and used to get hassle from Sky about not having the phone connected. I am pretty sure that this is no longer a requirement as I moved to cable about 6 months ago so no longer have Sky connected to the phone and we get no hassle at all. I have Sky+ and Sky and neither is connected.

[SamRadford]

Originally Posted by coffin137

also recall seeing an official advertisement for new Sky installs and it emphasised as of a certain date onwards no phone line would be required.

This is true (unless you have a multiroom card) but they charge you a one-off fee of £25. Check your account.

[Broadz]

Originally Posted by SDMDAM

We have multi-room and used to get hassle from Sky about not having the phone connected. I am pretty sure that this is no longer a requirement as I moved to cable about 6 months ago so no longer have Sky connected to the phone and we get no hassle at all. I have Sky+ and Sky and neither is connected.

It is a requirement, and until Sky come up with an alternative method of ensuring that two Sky boxes on the same (multiroom) account are both in use at the same address, will continue to be a requirement. You may have slipped through the net, or you may shortly be receiving the request to either connect your boxes to your phoneline or start paying the difference between what multiroom costs you and what two subscriptions costs you, but don't mislead the OP into thinking that you can have a Sky multiroom account without having all boxes connected to the phoneline - cos you can't!

[GooseDog]

Until recently I had multiroom Sky+. I disconnected the phone lines from both boxes, just to see what happened. I forgot to connect them back. Both boxes must have been disconnected for about 6 months with no reprisals from $ky.

[Stephen Neal]

Originally Posted by GooseDog

Until recently I had multiroom Sky+. I disconnected the phone lines from both boxes, just to see what happened. I forgot to connect them back. Both boxes must have been disconnected for about 6 months with no reprisals from $ky.

We disconnected our box when we redecorated one of our rooms. Got a snotty letter from Sky within 3 months. Decided to cancel multiroom as a result (realised we never watched subscription channels on that telly).