2nd STB - can these be purchased outright?
 

Does anyone know if there is any precedent to purchase the STB's outrright - I have second box for 3 years now and at £15/month feels a bit expensive given the fact they only cost about $85?:eek:

Re: 2nd STB - can these be purchased outright?
 

um, you're paying for the tv service as well as the box... at least it's less than if you had two separate tv connections.

:welcome: to the site btw :)

Re: 2nd STB - can these be purchased outright?
 

You are paying for mtce as well.

Re: 2nd STB - can these be purchased outright?
 

I think the only problem you would find if you did (or could for that matter) purchase your 2nd STB is if it stops working, then you'd be up the creek.

Re: 2nd STB - can these be purchased outright?
 

valid point, but at least (assuming I could purchase outright, as you say) I'd be able to throw the box away and get a new one every 3-4 months based on cost of the boxes to to ntl versus the monthly fee ! Cheers anyway.
__________________

Thanks bmxbandit, I agree that I'm paying for services etc as well, but assumed these were mainly covered by the fee for the first box, (especially since I mainly only have the second box for its location in the house rather than the ability to watch different channels on the 2 TV's). I had therefore assumed the cost of the additional box was mainly for the outlay that ntl have on the box rather than the cost for them to provide two services as well as the two sets of hardware. Thanks anyway, just a thought - trying to find way of saving against the £180 per year for the additional box.

Re: 2nd STB - can these be purchased outright?
 

To answer your question ... no you can't. NTL won't allow you to connect any equipment to their network that they don't own.

Re: 2nd STB - can these be purchased outright?
 

you could split the signal after the ntl box, run a length of coax to the second tv. you could obviously only watch the same channel on both at once, and it could be a pain to change channels (though i'm sure i saw a thread somewhere here on ir repeaters...), but it may well be your best and cheapest option :)

Re: 2nd STB - can these be purchased outright?
 

Try ebay but they won't work much. you are paying for rental. Its amazing how many people think they own the boxes after 12 months, like SKY

Re: 2nd STB - can these be purchased outright?
 

The other thing the bear in mind is that if NTL detect multiple failed connection attempts by the box, the Acceptable use team may get in touch. You would also risk your account being terminated.

Re: 2nd STB - can these be purchased outright?
 

I was under the impression that the SKY box is your's from the outset?

Re: 2nd STB - can these be purchased outright?
 

It is in theory but if you don't subscribe etc, then you have to pay the full cost, unless you get one of the free sat deals. i had problems with my phone line not being connected as I was decorating and ripped them out to re-cable. Sky sent me letters that i was in breach of contract so i had to quickly get my staple gun out and re-cable fast!

Re: 2nd STB - can these be purchased outright?
 

Yes, you do own the box immediately. There's no theory about it. They do compel you to keep it connected to a phone line for a year as a condition of them giving it to you for nothing, but that doesn't affect the ownership of the box during that first year.

$ky phoned me up the other week trying to sell me extended warranty for it.

Re: 2nd STB - can these be purchased outright?
 

ive had 3 boxes in 12 months so i'm sure i wouldnt like to own one

Re: 2nd STB - can these be purchased outright?
 

Are you sure that it was Sky? I have had calls on a number of occasions from a company who appeared to claim that they were part of Sky and offering extended warranties on my Sky+ box. I contacted Sky and got this response: With my original digiboxes still going strong after five years and never needing an engineer visit I will rely on the £65 call out and repair or replace (usually replace I am told but few people seem to have problems).

Re: 2nd STB - can these be purchased outright?
 

Not quite - 3 years ago ntl were approx £190 for an stb.

Re: 2nd STB - can these be purchased outright?
 

That Sky repair plan is a b**** waste of time & money!!!Took me 18 b***** months,4 b***** missed visits,8 b***** tech calls & a lot of money wasted for nothing!In the end,i got a second Sky box from a friend to resolve it! MYSELF!!!!!!
M

Re: 2nd STB - can these be purchased outright?
 

I received a letter aimed at the same thing. As I dont actually HAVE Sky, I think it ended up in the bin... it may be in a drawer somewhere though so I can mail it off to the Mailing Preference Service to complain and get the offenders fined :p

Re: 2nd STB - can these be purchased outright?
 

What you say is true but take a look at Ebay were did all these NTL boxes come
from? they don't seem tobe worried about these boxes going missing do they!

Re: 2nd STB - can these be purchased outright?
 

maybe they are , maybe they are not , one thing i do know is if you get caught with one then you could be done for handling stolen goods :disturbd:

Re: 2nd STB - can these be purchased outright?
 

On EBAys terms and conditions it lists NTL and Telewest boxes as prohibited items, yet they are still for sale!

Re: 2nd STB - can these be purchased outright?
 

Yep, and if and when eBay find an auction that is selling these boxes, they do remove it.

The problem is that so many items are auctioned on eBay that is actually almost impossible for them to catch all those that are against the T&Cs (I suspect a lot are caught by automatic systems, but these are not perfect so will miss a few).