NTL or SKY - Help please!

[Sherlock614]

Hi,

Need some help with a decision if possible

I currently have Sky (£19 per month package).

Had a letter through the door from NTL offering half price family package for 6 months (£9.50) .

I have had a problem with my SKY digi box for a long time and have been told by SKY that I need to replace it at a call out cost of £65. I rang SKY earlier and told them I was pondering going to NTL for cable TV. They said they would send an engineer free of charge just to keep my custom etc.

Now the question is (and I just can't decide), what do I do?

Do I stick with SKY, or move over to NTL? I haven't had any experience of NTL's cable TV at all, only the snippets I have read on these invaluable forums.

Any opinions greatly appreciated!

[paul11974]

if you like the red button stick with sky ...... if you can sniff the future get cable

[ian@huth]

Having had both NTL and Sky simultaneously for over two years I know what I would do. Actually I know what I did and that was to drop NTL and go all Sky.

My experiences with both companies though may not be typical of what others may find. You can only find out what NTL is like for you by actually trying it but then you may be stuck with them for a year if you decide you have made the wrong choice. Remember as well that if you have NTL TV then you will have to have a NTL telephone line. Look at what your normal usage will cost with a NTL telephone line compared with what BT would charge.

One factor to consider is what channels you wish to watch on TV. There may be one or two that you watch on Sky that may be unavailable on NTL. If you do decide to go with NTL you can still use your Sky box to receive all the channels that you can get when you remove the viewing card from your Sky box plus ITV, channel 4 and Five which require a viewing card but your existing card can still be used for these even when your subscription ends.

[spike7451]

Having left NTL after 7 years as a technician & now working for Sky,my advice....Get Sky+!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
£49.00 for a brand new box capable of 'taping' 2 channels whle watching a 3rd already taped programme,one button timer record (highlight the programme in the tv guide & press the 'r' button!) 40 hours of taped programmes.pause & rewind LIVE tv......
To be honest,you'd be daft not to!!!!
Spike

[Sherlock614]

I already have 3mb BB and phone with NTL, this would be an addition.

I also just checked the SKY site out and saw that HDTV is out from them next year. HMMM...

I don't really want to "upgrade" to SKY+ (plus its costs), was just thinking of the cheapest form of what i have now kind of thing.

One thing that DID shock me earlier when contacting SKY, was that i got through to Indian tech support!!!! I thought it was bleedin Deja Vu (but thats another thread).

Many thanks for your experiences though, tis much appreciated! Still undecided and still thinking on it

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by Sherlock614

I also just checked the SKY site out and saw that HDTV is out from them next year. HMMM...

But you need an HDTV compatible set, and an HDTV broadcast, so at the moment it is not something you really need to be jumping on the bandwagon of as it is establishing a distribution platform with little to distribute.
HDTV will be great for sports, but I don't see the BBC upgrading the recording of 'enders to HDTV for a while, though I imagine this will be one of the easier to do as the sets are so permanent and fixed. HDTV is going to dramatically increase the cost of set build as cheap craftsmanship will be highlighed in the recorded picture, wheras now the detail is just not captured.
__________________

You can probably get the 3/30 deal or a derivative of it which should get you multichannel TV on the cheap if you don't want to go Sky+

[Neil]

Simple.....Sky.

Fact.

End of.

Having had both NTL and Sky, I'd go with NTL. I barely use the red button and this was NTL's only real achilles heel for me, so it's not an issue.

Going with NTL addresses your original problem, which is the status of the STB. With Sky, they give it to you but you own it, so if it breaks, you buy a new one. I notice they've said they'll send a tech out, well they may pay for his time, but I reckon he will still charge you for a new box if he needs to fit one. With NTL, the cabling and the STB always remains their property, so repairs are always free (unless you knacker them yourself somehow). That reminds me, the dish and cabling is yours with Sky also, so any problems with that, you pay.

Sky phoned us yesterday to remind us the 12-month warranty is almost up on the box and to try to sell us an extended warranty. Naturally, NTL never did any such thing to me in the three or four years I was their DTV customer.

[ian@huth]

The £65 call out charge which Sky are waiving for the OP and many others includes checking the entire system, replacing any parts (LNB, cabling, etc.) that need replacing and provision of a replacement digibox if needed.

Sky didn't call you yesterday to try to sell you an extended warranty. It would have been one of several third party warranty companies who go to great lengths to make you think that they are part of Sky and feed you a lot of untruths about what you may be charged by Sky if you have problems and don't have their warranty. If they call again which I am sure that they will either in the near future or this time next year then do a 1471 on the call. It is almost certain to be a Bognor Regis or Brighton area code neither of which have any Sky subsidiary working there.

Originally Posted by ian@huth

<snip>

Thanks m8, I will do that ...

[bob_builder]

Originally Posted by Sherlock614

Had a letter through the door from NTL offering half price family package for 6 months (£9.50) .

You will also have to pay £10.50 a month for phone line rental on top of the £9.50 = £20 per month.

[yorkieand]

NTL every time for me. Personally I will never have dealings with sky again. In 1996 when cable first became available where I live I ditched the old analogue Sky that I'd had more or less since they'd launched. I rang Sky, told them I was changing to cable and they were fine! At the time with all the new customers cable were signing up (including many who refused to have the old white 60" dishes on their houses) Sky were probably gaining vast amounts of extra revenue from the cable companys.
SIX years later (September 2002) I received a letter from a debt collection agency saying they had taken over an old debt from Sky and that I owed them £60. This was two months subscription to Sky, and was due because I originally cancelled with them (Sky) by phone and not in writing. If I didn't pay within 30 days I would be taken to court. I did not even know I owed Sky two months money and had not received one single letter from them in all that time to say that I did. I contacted Sky who said it was no longer anything to do with them! My next port of call was the Citizens Advice Bureau. After phone calls between them and the debt collection agency I agreed to pay one month (£30) and the matter would be settled. My late father told me at the time to pay them nothing, but I didn't want to risk court. The C.A.B advised me not to have any further dealings with Sky and I never will. If they had told me that the cancellation had to be in writing in 1996 and that I would have to pay two further months I would have delayed the installation of cable accordingly. Instead they said nothing for six years and I received (for the only time in my life) a letter from a debt collection agency. I know people will say I should have referred back to the original contract, but I'd had Sky for years and had moved house twice and doubt whether I still had it.
It's strange though how despite what happened Sky regularly send me advertising mail trying to entice me back!

[Sherlock614]

Many thanks for all of your replies

Having discussed everything with "err indoors", I think we are going to ditch SKY for the time being and give NTL a shot.

As I say we are already with ntl for BB and Phone, and the service has been the best I have had of any provider (die BT!!!)

@ SMHarman - You are correct of course on the HDTV subject. It's going to be a few years yet before this technology takes a firm hold mainstream, not as if it is going to affect what I am doing here.

At the very least I can always go back to SKY if things don't pan out.

One thing I don't know, is if I am tied into a 12 month contract for cableTV, as I said I am already with NTL for BB and Phone and have been for over 3 years now. Think I'll give CS another ring tomorrow on that subject (unless anyone here knows for sure).

Many thanks once again!

Originally Posted by spike7451

Having left NTL after 7 years as a technician & now working for Sky,my advice....Get Sky+!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
£49.00 for a brand new box capable of 'taping' 2 channels whle watching a 3rd already taped programme,one button timer record (highlight the programme in the tv guide & press the 'r' button!) 40 hours of taped programmes.pause & rewind LIVE tv......
To be honest,you'd be daft not to!!!!
Spike

Have to agree spike, total no brainer, can even get a second sky box for £49, that correct spike?
Having had ntl tv services, sky's picture quality imo is far superior.
__________________

Originally Posted by yorkieand

NTL every time for me. Personally I will never have dealings with sky again. In 1996 when cable first became available where I live I ditched the old analogue Sky that I'd had more or less since they'd launched. I rang Sky, told them I was changing to cable and they were fine! At the time with all the new customers cable were signing up (including many who refused to have the old white 60" dishes on their houses) Sky were probably gaining vast amounts of extra revenue from the cable companys.
SIX years later (September 2002) I received a letter from a debt collection agency saying they had taken over an old debt from Sky and that I owed them £60. This was two months subscription to Sky, and was due because I originally cancelled with them (Sky) by phone and not in writing. If I didn't pay within 30 days I would be taken to court. I did not even know I owed Sky two months money and had not received one single letter from them in all that time to say that I did. I contacted Sky who said it was no longer anything to do with them! My next port of call was the Citizens Advice Bureau. After phone calls between them and the debt collection agency I agreed to pay one month (£30) and the matter would be settled. My late father told me at the time to pay them nothing, but I didn't want to risk court. The C.A.B advised me not to have any further dealings with Sky and I never will. If they had told me that the cancellation had to be in writing in 1996 and that I would have to pay two further months I would have delayed the installation of cable accordingly. Instead they said nothing for six years and I received (for the only time in my life) a letter from a debt collection agency. I know people will say I should have referred back to the original contract, but I'd had Sky for years and had moved house twice and doubt whether I still had it.
It's strange though how despite what happened Sky regularly send me advertising mail trying to entice me back!

I think your experience is not unique, having read other threads just replace the word " sky " with " ntl "
Personally, I would have waited for my day in court, but at the end of the day you do what you feel the right thing to do.
In the same circumstances ntl would send you advertising mail to try and lure you back.

[Sherlock614]

Originally Posted by arcamalpha2004

Having had ntl tv services, sky's picture quality imo is far superior.

It is?? What are other peep's views on the picture quality front?

Don't want to make a mistake here - AARRgghh so many pros and cons its a case of



Now i don't know what to do again