Why ntl and not sky?

[ultimate]

You can call it what ever you want, it was my experience too, may be you tell us your experience rather than calling rude names.

I am talking my experience about 3 years ago, may be things have changed I don;t know, that is why one needs to read these posts more carefully. At the time, you cannot just take the card and slot it into another machine and watch it, the engineer has to ring into SKY and get the set to recognise the card. and that is not BS

[wheeliebin]

Originally Posted by etccarmageddon

it's handy when for example, "cutting it" is on one side and "CSI" is on the other with no chance of repeats except in the long term.

As a young father i cannot understand having the time or the
need to record and then eventually watch two different progs

Originally Posted by ultimate

You can call it what ever you want, it was my experience too, may be you tell us your experience rather than calling rude names.

Can't agree with you more.

[Richard M]

Originally Posted by ianathuth

Sorry, but that is absolute B$.

Why is it?
Maybe if you could explain why then I might not have to delete your slightly pointless post.

[ian@huth]

Originally Posted by Richard M

Why is it?
Maybe if you could explain why then I might not have to delete your slightly pointless post.

Sorry for the delay in replying properly but I was rather engrossed in the Chelsea match.

You do NOT require a Sky engineer to come out, and never have had, to activate a box bought on ebay or to marry a viewing card to the box.

The "new" box will work WITHOUT a viewing card to receive all FTA channels.

If you have to marry a viewing card with the box you can do this via the installation menu (Services, 4 0 1 select 6 ). If you have a problem with getting a card to work then just ring Sky and they will sort it for you, no problem.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by ianathuth

Sorry for the delay in replying properly but I was rather engrossed in the Chelsea match.

You do NOT require a Sky engineer to come out, and never have had, to activate a box bought on ebay or to marry a viewing card to the box.

The "new" box will work WITHOUT a viewing card to receive all FTA channels.

If you have to marry a viewing card with the box you can do this via the installation menu (Services, 4 0 1 select 6 ). If you have a problem with getting a card to work then just ring Sky and they will sort it for you, no problem.

So it was perhaps a mistake, as opposed to 'BS' as you described it Ian?

[Charlie_Bubble]

Originally Posted by Neil

So it was perhaps a mistake, as opposed to 'BS' as you described it Ian?

LOL How diplomatic. Ever thought of a job in Iraq?

[Charlie_Bubble]

Originally Posted by ianathuth

If you have to marry a viewing card with the box you can do this via the installation menu (Services, 4 0 1 select 6 ). If you have a problem with getting a card to work then just ring Sky and they will sort it for you, no problem.

Hmm, I can see the attraction of a strange person twiddling with your remote for a few minutes for £60. Personally, I'd go to Amsterdam for that though!

[ultimate]

When I first had the Sky digibox installed, that is what the engineer said to me, they have to come out to marry the card to the box, they had to do this to combat stolen cards. As I said it was a long time ago and may be practices have changed. I can't even remember when Sky went digital, 1997???

[ian@huth]

Originally Posted by ianathuth

Sorry, but that is absolute B$.

I made that statement when I was not fully concentrating and meant that Sky was giving the customer a load of B$ if they told them that.

Apparantly the poster took it the wrong way for which I apologise.

I don't know why the NTL engineer thought that it required an engineers visit to marry the card to the box in order to combat card theft as each card and box have unique identities and the engineer could only quote these numbers on the phone the same as the customer could. Very strange.

[MikeyB]

Originally Posted by ianathuth

If you have to marry a viewing card with the box you can do this via the installation menu (Services, 4 0 1 select 6 ). If you have a problem with getting a card to work then just ring Sky and they will sort it for you, no problem.

Yes, I rang Sky for my new box, didn't know about the installation menu.

Two mins on the phone and my existing viewing card was working in my new Sky box off eBay.

[lemarsh]

After much sole searching, I ditched NTL TV & Telephone in december, in exchange for SKY+, and a second SKY Digibox upstairs.

Must say that the engineer from Sky was significantly better than NTL, with neat cabling, and cleaning up as they went. Obviously, this will vary between one engineer & another, but I had to call out NTL 4 times to sort out cabling/faults went they installed by Stand Alone Cable Modem.

Channels are generally the same, but there are a few 'minor' ones that I watch - e.g. Motors TV which shows Champ Cars this year.

Customer services from NTL are nearly always very inefficient, and they never seem to return calls when they promise to. I have only needed to contact Sky twice, and both times they were excellent.

However, the best part is Sky+. Able to record 2 digital channels at the same time (or watch & record another). Great when you have little children (or wifes) who hog the telly. Also, very useful is the 'delay' recording. This allows you to 'rewind live telly' - again great for footie matches when you want to re-look goals etc. Finally, you can record a programme (2 weeks in advance, and also series link, so all eastenders are tapes for example), and start watching it debfore it finishes.

However, for Broadband, must say that NTL is still unbeatable, especially given the new speeds. If only they would get SPAM, Email & News sorted.

[etccarmageddon]

Originally Posted by ultimate

When I first had the Sky digibox installed, that is what the engineer said to me, they have to come out to marry the card to the box, they had to do this to combat stolen cards. As I said it was a long time ago and may be practices have changed. I can't even remember when Sky went digital, 1997???

same here - the engineer said SPECIFICALLY that the box wouldnt work except with the viewing card supplied for me. he said it was married to my box by sky.

[etccarmageddon]

Originally Posted by wheeliebin

As a young father i cannot understand having the time or the need to record and then eventually watch two different progs

it's not a need - it's a luxury and a pleasure.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by lemarsh

However, for Broadband, must say that NTL is still unbeatable, especially given the new speeds. If only they would get SPAM, Email & News sorted.

And you think that's unbeatable?