Sky TV

[Chucks]

Whats the scoop on getting a decent deal out of them?

Have so far resisted but Regina fancies it so fair enough. However there's only bits of each package I'm interested in. I'd like sky plus, not bothered about HD. Would like F1 but don't need the sports package for much else. Will they tailor a package to what you want or is it all bundles?

Do I have to keep threatening to cancel the subscription to keep on the cheapest deal?

Just the Aberdonian skinflint in me I guess but I grudge paying a subscription to be exposed to a bunch of more advertising. Would I be better off trying to expel my inner luddite & embrace watching internet TV? What are the other options these days?

[Corranga]

F1 comes with hd, no need for full and very expensive sports package.
Laxydonkey might well be your man, drop him a pm, or I'm sure he'll be along shortly.

I was fairly anti-sky, but virgin media annoyed us for the last time so we switched, and couldn't be happier. Fitters were polite, picture quality is better and broadband reliable too.

[Chucks]

Hmmmm, that brings another question. Wasn't really thinking about changing phone/broadband. Is it noticeably quicker?

[rossybee]

Charlie, we had sky tv/phone/bb.

Wife struck a deal with BT, so moved there for phone and bb, was gonna go the full hog but after some research, reckoned on BT vision telly being sh*t.

BT then got silly so we've reverted to all sky, and quite happy. Pikey SD Sky+ so no F1, can't justify a tenner for it (just as tight as you I guess )

Can't say I notice any difference in bb speed between the two.

[tut]

Wish I could get out of my BT contract, robbing barsteward are charging me £26 for Broadband alone, calls and line on top, which was not the price that I signed up for, but is covered in the small print.

tut

[Sanjøy]

Tell them you are moving then open a sky deal in Verians name?

[Corranga]

Wasn't really thinking about changing phone/broadband. Is it noticeably quicker?

We moved from Virgin to Sky, so the broadband was slower, but there is less throttling with Sky, and it's quick enough.

Their website estimates the speed of your connection and was very accurate for us.

Chris

[Dominic]

F1 comes with hd, no need for full and very expensive sports package.
Laxydonkey might well be your man, drop him a pm, or I'm sure he'll be along shortly.

I was fairly anti-sky, but virgin media annoyed us for the last time so we switched, and couldn't be happier. Fitters were polite, picture quality is better and broadband reliable too.

Indeed, Lazydonkey is your man for Sky deals - however, he is otherwise occupied for the next few weeks, so I doubt he'll be along imminently.

[Chucks]

Shall await comments from LD.

Just had BT replace the line between the nearest post & the house. It was knackered due to rubbing against a tree.

For the moment I'm delighted to have broadband back. Out of interest however, would it be quicker with sky or BT's "superfast" services?

Currently I've got phone / broadband bundled with my mobile package but they've peee'd me off a tad of late as it used to be a freebie but know an extra charge.

[CubanGav]

Charlie,

If your house is off a fibre enabled street cabinet you can get the faster broadband on both companies. They are all essentially the same speed in Aberdeen as it's only Openreach supplying the network. Just buy on price/bundle and whether their customer service is up to par.

The Sky bundle is very good. BT gives you free football without having to take loads of other things. Horses for courses.

Gav.

[robin]

Tut - were you duped into that contract or was it free choice - why did you leave O2?

We're in the same boat with O2 having sold us to Sky for BB, line rental and calls.

My typical O2 bill is about 21.50 - we almost never use the land line to make calls so I would guess that's the line rental + 20Mbit/s BB cost. This will all be based on the old O2 friends and family deal sponsored by Mr Boag. I assume with the sale to Sky the prices will go up (because the friends and family deal will go away if nothing else).

Looking about the place there are some good deals to be had. Plusnet are still doing half price for 6-12 months depending on what package you go for, and if you pre-pay your line rental for a year (I think) it's "only" 10.99/month, rather than the normal 14.99 and this all includes some free calls (weekends only).

As to the TV, we binned Sky ages ago and haven't missed it - the satellite dish still works for all the freesat bit, i.e. I can still watch the BBC & Film4 which is pretty much all I watch anyway. If there is stuff on there you want to watch, though, then I don't see you have that much choice?

I hope that eventually you will be able to buy all the programs you want via an iPlayer like interface and stream over your broadband connection to the TV - then I'll subscribe to F1 stream I don't mean via some dodgy russian site, either!

Cheers,
Robin

P.S. Plusnet deal expires tonight - 12 months 20Mbit broadband for 5/month plus 10.99/month line rental _if_ you pre-pay for a year - 12 month contract.

[Corranga]

For the moment I'm delighted to have broadband back. Out of interest however, would it be quicker with sky or BT's "superfast" services?

Sky broadband either comes in the fibre variety (more costly) or regular via the BT network infrastructure, so would be probably be about the same unless you paid the extra.
It was a BT technician who Sky sent up to fit our phone line etc..

Chris

[tut]

I was not duped Robin, other than the way they charge usage. O2 were fine, though I went up to 8mb with BT which is the maximum possible, from the 5mb with O2. Also I could not pay for line rental for one year with them, and with BT it saved me £60. They also put their price up to £16, which was not unlimited but I never had a problem with usage.

The BT contract was at £7/month for 6 months increasing to £15 after that for 10GB, which actually did not mean much to me. However after three days I received an e-mail saying that I had used 7GB, and they would shortly be charging per 1GB. This was using the Internet exactly as I was with O2, so I had no choice but to go onto unlimited usage, which put the price up to £15, and after the six months that went to £26. So I was not technically miss sold, but I was told that 10GB would be plenty if I used it the same as I did with O2. I never used to download films, music, or anything along those lines, just the Forum, browsing, TV, iPlayer etc, laptop was connected the same ie:- 0800 to 2300, and the kids have now left home apart from Luke who is on two and two. When I questioned them I was told it was because I was on the Net all day.

As a result I now download and upload loads, films for Verian, TV series for us both, which means that I can now watch my favourites before they even come out here, Dexter, Mad Men, Thrones, Southland, Luke can do what he wants with it, so it is now connected 24hrs/day and I have got the useage upto 200GB/month. Like yourself I am not missing Sky apart from F1 and the Test Match, but those are covered in the evenings on the BBC highlights, and fully for qualifying and the race itself. The Practices I can watch on line. I also have a Hummy from the old days so can use that for recording.

I see there are deals going for £2 for unlimited including Tesco, but I don't know what the service is like, whereas PlusNet and Zen are top of the list. Just going to check with BT to see what the length of my contract is, got a nasty feeling it could be for 18 months.

If I was paying the line rental monthly, the DD would be £48/month.

tut

[woody]

Tut, I'm stuck with either BT or BT owned Plusnet here for speeds over 2mbps. After the 18 months contract was out, I managed to get them down to £13/month for unlimited.

[tut]

Just called BT woody, not only am I paying £26/month but I have an 18 month contract.

He said that he had never heard of a contract like that before, I obviously could not cancel as that takes it through to May next year, but he agreed to knock it down to the existing price for new customers which is £16, so a limited result.

tut