The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Isn't it wonderful?

Sky i mean, i've had it for about a year now - never had a problem.

Customer Services have ALWAYS been polite and helpful and also really fast to answer.

Sky+ is the mutts, nothing else comes close AND its free now - no 10 quid subscription charge.

So if your missing Lost, The Simpsons, Stargate, BattleStar Galactica or in fact want to watch any popular series past the second season i'd suggest Sky.

Cant recommend it enough.

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

LOL...rub it in a little more why don't you..... :D
Grrrrr......you are one of the lucky ones !

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

I'll let you know shortly if I like it or not, looks like my first choice for service provider ( all 3 ) when I move :D

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

any terms on the free sky +?

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Wouldn't know never had it.

Why lie about something like that? doesn't it get fuzzy when it rains like everyone elses I know on Sky?

I've not had a single problem when phoning VirgiNTL customer Services, they're always polite & once I had a poor guy on the phone for an hour trying to solve a problem I had, that I'd caused myself I might add.

Don't need it, Don't want it. simple isn't it?

No, No, No & No, Is the Shield on Sky? how about The Unit?

Can't recommend it at all, I'm happy with VirgiNTL even without the Sky channels, sorry.:D

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Honestly - get it - its brilliant.

Lets put it this way, i hand a round here a bit and have never bitched about Sky.

Did i mention Nip/Tuck and Grey's Anatomy as well... Oh and that Sky+ really, really is the mutleys.

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

More American trash

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

So why you bitchen then boy! :D

:erm: Nope :shrug: I dont lie!

So you've never had to hand on for ages waiting for an NTL rep? :p:

Cool, dont buy it :tu: Just get really frustrated and post in here instead. Saying that - with an EPG THAT slow, i think i'd be frustrated too.

What, who?

A happy customer yay!!!!

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Just looked and its free if you subscribe to 2 premium channels otherwise its 10 quid which is exactly what it was before

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Yep that's right :D happy with Cable & Wireless, Happy with NTL, happy with NTL:Telewest & now I'll be happy with Virgin Media. :D

Apart from the obvious channels that I hardly ever watched what could Sky offer me that I don't already get with VirgiNTL?

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Actually from what i heard its not anymore, i admit that i could be wrong as i have Sports anyway but, honestly guv'nor thats what i was told.

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Must admit Sky are ok. :dozey: Until you move house. The ball ache I had with sky!!!!! Taking money out of my account even though I told them countless times I did not live at that address. Oh the Indian call centre they have where a nightmare too.

And the cost of HD!!!!!! :Yikes:

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Basically Tv is rubbish everywhere........There will always be something to pick at whatever the company you use.....let's just all watch DVD's instead.

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Correct :)

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Frikkin A to that, I'll give you that one.

Still Sky+ and normal def telly is second to none with Sky.

Never had billing, customer service or even TV service issues with Sky, how many NTL folk can honestly say that?

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Pleased that you're happy with Sky, TBR.

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Since when did digital TV get 'fuzzy'? Pixellated perhaps but not fuzzy

Can't say rain has ever affected my picture, why lie about something like that? :angel:

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

I moved house 17th December 2005, went through the website a week before to set up the account transfer to the new address, got an email & phone call same day to let me know when the engineer would be out to fit us up in the new place, was given 19th December (monday) at 1pm.

Moved in as planned & really didn't notice the lack of tv, Monday 19th 1pm arrived & so did the engineer, an hour later we had a brand new Samsung box all wired in & updating itself ready for us to watch tv.

I'm still waiting for my first taste of the Indian call centre for VirgiNTL but as I used to work in a call centre for the Virgin Mobile parent company I know how crap they can be already.

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Idiots always win - remember that. ;)

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Well I've seen it happen on friends Sky service, not sure if it was digital but as the signal comes from the same place (satellites) I don't see how that would make any difference.

---------- Post added at 15:14 ---------- Previous post was at 15:13 ----------

Actually idiots usually end up dead on the live rail:Yikes: hehehehe

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Never even seen any pixelation during rain. Your mates dish is probably improperly aligned (wind could have caused it) and has an already weak signal made worse by the rain.

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

TBR if a new member had posted this thread today they would have been lynched for trolling lol ;)
We have Sky and to be honest some times you have to play hard ball with them to get things dealt with but overall we have had dealings with both VM and Sky CS and to be honest they are both as good/ bad as each other the vast majority of the time. It all comes down to who you talk to on the day you call.

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Never had a problem with the picture on my sky either.

Sky+ is great. Does anyone know about the net gen sky box? It's supposed to allow you to stream recordings to other TVs in your house.

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Just a general request please, can we not turn this into another Sky vs Virgin Media slanging-match-thread. We have enough already!

If you like Sky, feel free to show your appreciation. If you don't please be respectful to those who do.

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Whaaaat!

Im flabbergasted by your comments, i simply wanted to show my appreciation for Sky, nothing to do with Virgin / Ntl / Whoever and that frankfully dreadful decision to stop all those great programs from being shown on anything else other than the Number 1 service, in my opinion, in the Uk.

I do stand by my comments, never had an issue with Sky and Sky+ is superb.

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Also TBR remember in 12 months your warrenty ends and you have to pay to get it fixed. This is why I left Sky I had intermitant picture problems and Sky wanted to charge to come out and have a look

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

True, but then i've not had any problems as i have mentioned and so far its been great.

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Hope it stays that way way over your 12 months contract with sky + mate :)

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

I'm not slinging mud honest! I've seen the problem with my own eyes, anyway I think BlueRaja is probably right about it being a physical fault & nothing to do with the actual service. My mate is a lazy bugger & probably won't get it fixed as it's too much effort to pick up the phone & talk to India ;)

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

All the times I've called Virgin Media (or previously NTL), I can't say that I've ever been aware of having spoken to an Indian Call Centre (unless they speak with Geordie accents now?)

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Apparently, Sky's next-gen box is something to behold. Its basically a PC. It will be tied into a user's BB (either with or without Sky), and will stream multiple channels wirelessly to computers around the house, and will allow web-browsing through the PC, amongst all the usual Sky+/HD functionality.

They are looking at streaming HD via ethernet though.

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Same with Sky, in fact i've usually got a Scottish lass, which probably means that they cant (India) understand us if Sky do use Indian call centres elsewhere in the UK.

---------- Post added at 15:39 ---------- Previous post was at 15:37 ----------

Sounds like Windows Media Centre to me.

Which incidentally is a bitch to stream anything wirelessly with if you even have remotely thick walls.

That feck for Homeplug and best of luck Sky, thats not something i'd want average Joe engineer taking on, wireless streaming (if its via 802.11g) and not something propriatory could be a bad move.

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Actually the last time I spoke to anyone from NTL they had a geordie accent, so does this mean there's no Indian Call centre for VirgiNTL?

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Either that, or they're all carefully coached in the geordie accent and they've done away with the timelag on the phone call...

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

VM's customer service and faults is still in the UK (however the overflow does go to India). Tech support is in India

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

My Parents have Sky and quite frequently the sound is always cutting out for a second. How irritating, what appreciation should Sky be shown for this?

My brother had Sky installed in his new house a few years ago - all was nice got it installed etc and until several months later it was realised that the Sky installer had drilled straight through a water pipe, the damage was only noticed when there became a 'rising damp' problem all contributed to a hole created by the installers drill! What appreciation should Sky be shown for this?

And finally - Sky is attempting to create a monopoly - what appreciation should Sky be shown for this? :rolleyes: Excuse me while I'll go and get a bucket and vomit in it.

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Never had this issue or heard it in any pub with Sky.

Squit happens i suppose. It couldnt have been very obvious or visible if neither the Engineer nor your brother even noticed it.

Business is Business.. Why should Sky give its premium content away to a competitor for peanuts. They have their own customer base to look after, BTW - there is another thread for banging on about this.

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Telewest had a Northern call centre and Virgin has a Teesside centre (please note its an hour away from Newcastle). Both accents could be alled Northern. (there are plenty of people from Durham and Gateshead that work at the Virgin centre.

---------- Post added at 16:41 ---------- Previous post was at 16:38 ----------

You have been lucky then.

My folks sky box cost him £75 to be repaired just after a year g/tee expired.
Claires folks sky plus box+ shows 'no satellite a few times a week and is very slow.
My new sky box keeps forgetting the guide is there and my new sky bb router gets reset 10 times a day.

Lets not get into the multitude of people I spoke to when I was at ntl when their sky box's where making 100's of false call on their telco lines.

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Im only talking from my personal experience and my friends with Sky havent mentioned any problems either although in fairness i know three people with NTL one's happy another hates the thing and my g/f's one is like wading through mud trying to find something to watch on that EPG and the on demand dosent work. We phoned customer services who said they would send someone out - they didnt.

Incidentally, i have the same router as Sky use IIRC (the Netgear DG834G) and find it to be an excellent router.

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

I moved to Sky + from Telewest and in the 6 months we've had it, my misssus hasntr once complained about the quality , picture freeze etc etc. While we did have Telewest we frequently lost channels and sometimes sound quite often.

My vote goes to Sky simply cause I havent had any grief to put up with from her indoors in the last 6 months. to me thats a quality service!

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Sky's router has a custom firmware in it, I'm thinking it is cutting out due to overheating.

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

I think it fair to say that both Sky and Virgin have customers that have had good and bad experiences.

I know people who have had Sky, and are very happy with it. I also know people who are having problems (including one friend who was until recently very happy, but is now having trouble as one of his neighbours trees has grown, and is now affecting his sky reception, although that isn't sky's fault).

The same with Cable. Apart from getting a dodgy box (which took several calls to replace) when I first got it, Cable has always been fairly reliable for me. Any problems I have had have always been sorted out quickly. I also know people who have been messed around by NTL.

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Please don't tell where and what to post.

By the way, business may be business but don't start whinging several months/years later if and when Sky achieves its 'monopoly' status, hikes up its prices because its done what it was set out to do in the first place, weaken its competition or eradicate it completely, the lesser the competition = price hikes and I am sure everyone will appreciate that one, not! :rolleyes:

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

True, but to be honest, i do believe that PQ is better with Sky too, but that could just be on a per case scenario and to do with quality of cabling, dish alignment etc.

Im just dying to jump into the other threads and post:-

LOST, on Virgin Media - all your channels... :D

(joke)

---------- Post added at 17:04 ---------- Previous post was at 16:58 ----------

:erm: I didn't tell you where and what to post, i simply mentioned there was another thread to discuss that specific topic that you brought up as I wanted to keep this as a Sky appreciation thread and not a discussion about the rights or wrongs of the decision.

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

lol What did you expect when you recommended people switch to Sky!

I can see a Virgin appreciation thread being started now. Some people might say there are already a couple heh

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Sky+ still has the £10/month sub if you don't subscribe to premiums...same as always.

Rumours abound that's it's going to be scrapped completely though.


I know people who've phoned up Sky, & simply threatened to leave for cable if Sky don't fix the STB for free, & got it sorted.

Also, would you be able to use the good old Sale of Goods Act or one of the other relevant consumer laws for something like that? Seeing as things like 12 month manufacturer warranties are in addition to your statutory rights as a consumer, & if something breaks down, within a reasonable period (up to 6 years depending on what it is), then it's up to the seller/supplier to sort it out for you.



You can flash it with different firmware.

Also possible to extract the ADSL username/password from it, & then use a different router of your own choosing.


I'm still using the Sky one at the moment, although it does seem to enjoy rebooting.

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Been on Sky+ (and Multiroom) for 4 months now, and quite happy with it.

I don't agree with what Sky have done in respect of their channels, but I have no complaints about the service I get from them.

(JFYI, I still have VM broardband and Phoneline, just not TV).

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

Looked into flashing it when I was searching the net trying to find a way to get connected since it took 5 attempts to get a modem to me. (sky bb staff are a joke). To be honest if I did not depend on bb in order to get in extra work I would have dropped it on the spot for that shocking saga alone. I canot go another 15 days for a cease and reprovide to go to another providor. I'll bide my time and get out when I can. Claires not kean to let me ruin the GT on the router by flashing it. (strangly she did not have a problem with me flashing my £400 phone :erm:)

Can't belive that I paid £40 to connect rather than use another provider and get my own router though. (/me = stupid).

Still does not beat Virgin bb people (garlands crap lot in Middlesrough) telling me I could not have broadband as I had a fibre optic line). Chap that said it hung up on me after I challenged that.

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

If you have another ADSL2+ compatible router knocking around, or one you can borrow to test, try this to get your username/password, & then you can use the other router:

http://dg834gt.mognuts.com/NetgearRouterUtility.html

EDIT: This is handy too - monitors the net connection, & auto-reboots the router if it drops (the Sky router doesn't always reboot itself if the connection goes down) - http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/techn...matically.html . Can also be used to get the username/password, full modem stats, & other stuff.



15 days?! So is it not possible to migrate if you're on LLU?

Re: The Sky Appreciation thread
 

I'd suggest doing that too if it works as my DG834 never reboots.