sky subs. activation

**Xilt** · 27-01-2003

can anyonene help even with just a good advice :-)
as I am running out of ideas

I am a new sky subscriber, I´ve recently received the card and
was instructed to call sky for activation. I did this but now I am stuck as I was told the activation cannot be done without Digibox beeing connected to the phone line. Since I am not UK resident and I am using the Digibox outside UK (with help of my friends and their UK address) I guess I am in deep s**t :-)

Still I don´t believe sky they cannot make card activation without having the phone line connected as I have a second hand contract and my previous research indicated that phone line is not a must for a new subscriber with his own equipment. Has anyone encountered similar problem ?

I have been using the Dodgybox (I like that) for more than a year with BBC card wiyhout no problems since I got it from Ebay

.

Thanx for any info

**rolfw** · 27-01-2003

This is a new one Xilt, they certainly were authorising boxes without the phone line connected up until recently.

They may of course have changed their rules recently, but I'm not convinced about the legality of this, I'm pretty sure that their broadcasting licence would consider this to be an unacceptable restrictive practice.

When you phoned them, did you phone them from abroad? If so this may be a ploy that they use if they suspect the box is not in the country.

The other way round this would be to send the box and card over to your friend in the UK and get him to do it by phone from his house.

**jimbo** · 27-01-2003

I certainly think sky have overstepped the mark here. The original idea behind connecting the digibox to a phone line was to offset the fact/cost of sky subsidising a new box/installation. In the case of new subscribers with second-hand boxes, I can't see how connecting to a phone can be a must. When I bought a new box last year (having been a subscriber for a long time) I had to take my card with me to the shop and they activated it there. So I didn't need to connect the box to my phone line when I got home.

Can a friend in this country enquire of Oftel whether what sky are saying is legal....without mentioning the box is abroad of course.

**Xilt** · 28-01-2003

first I phoned them from London while on visit some ten days ago, I was calling from my friend´s house and told sky I had a problem with the phone line so they´d just send the activation commands and that would be it and I was told that it cannot be done this way as I need to be guided through the new installation procedure when near the didgibox

so after I returned home the other day I phoned sky again from my cell phone with suspended caller ID and very nice lady guided me through and told me the activation should be done within 2 minutes, well this time nothing happend so after a few days when I´ve returned from skiing in mountains I called sky again and the procedure was the same only this time the lady realised
I am not connected to the phone line so she went to ask for help and returned with the story you all already know

***bigrandydavid*** · 29-01-2003

my new card arrived yesterday (still steaming rolf!- lol)

the message read ` this is the wrong card for this box`
i rang up and gave the assistant a verbal volley and when i got home it was working

hey presto, the solution is to be very rude

head4heights · 30-01-2003

xilt

if the have logged your card on thier system it will activate by doing the callback system without hooking up to a telephone line because activation is primary a signal received operation. follow the callback sequence but when it displays not connected to phone line just press the sky button twice.

to activate

press services on remote
press 4 (system setup)
press 0,1,sellect (installer menu)
press 6 (new installation)
then just keep pressing select when promted and the box will do all motions of calback except dialout.
this will work ONLY if your card is logged on the system.

this is the way you activate when the phone line in house is faulty and 99% of the time it is fine.

the only other option if the card is not logged is to return the box to U.K. and do a callback.

hope this helps ????

**Xilt** · 30-01-2003

thanks alot I´ll certailntly give it a try

I am not sure what do you mean by the card is logged on their system. I hope it is since they´ve issued it :-)

rovingrover · 30-01-2003

Will this work with FTV cards - ie can you marry them to a new box without calling sky? Useful for those people abroad with FTV cards that don't know the original name and address

**rolfw** · 30-01-2003

Don't believe that it does, the activation is not triggered until the computer at sky is triggered manually by a customer services rep or by the callback that the digibox makes on the new installation operation.

**Xilt** · 30-01-2003

does anyone know what is the number digibox is dialing while making a callback ?

***dishdoctor*** · 30-01-2003

I have some sky cards that still receive itv four and five and some other channels,when i put them in digiboxes they say "this is the wrong card for this digibox".Do these count as Logged"as they still work?.They are not turned off by sky.Second point.By using the system described above do da do da press the sky buton twice,on the first push the screen returns the the programme you were watching before you started,perhaps "virgin cards" can be started this way,but i wont be the first to try it!....Brian

oliversbar · 31-01-2003

Originally posted by head4heights
xilt

if the have logged your card on thier system it will activate by doing the callback system without hooking up to a telephone line because activation is primary a signal received operation. follow the callback sequence but when it displays not connected to phone line just press the sky button twice.

to activate

press services on remote
press 4 (system setup)
press 0,1,sellect (installer menu)
press 6 (new installation)
then just keep pressing select when promted and the box will do all motions of calback except dialout.
this will work ONLY if your card is logged on the system.

this is the way you activate when the phone line in house is faulty and 99% of the time it is fine.

the only other option if the card is not logged is to return the box to U.K. and do a callback.

hope this helps ????

when do you press the sky button ive been doing this for 10 mins
first message says (check telephone line is connected)
second says (modem not cnnected) or am i just not doing the call back right
cheers
james

**rolfw** · 31-01-2003

I'm not convinced as to how well this will work, the callback is normally to instruct sky to send out the activation signal, if the phone doesn't connect i can't see how that can be achieved.

The only other thing that the new installation command succeeds in doing is to force the box to do a channel search.

**Xilt** · 04-02-2003

Well I guys I ran out of patience last night and gave Sly another "quick call" this time I dialed different number, I got directly to activations dept. and this very nice guy asked me for a few details from the box inclusing s/n of the card ant the activation was sent !

This morning when I woke up I already watched some Star Trek on sky One !! Cool.

Cheers to everyone here for trying to help me anyway.

btw: The only channel which is not working is BBC ONE, I have observed on different forums on net that this problem is quite common so another call to sky should solve it, shouldn´t it ?

***dishdoctor*** · 04-02-2003

BBC1 can take 24 hours to come on,I would hope you have it by now 17.18pm................brian

***dishdoctor*** · 04-02-2003

How about sharing this "super-activation" number with us!..................Brian

**rolfw** · 04-02-2003

Just as a matter of interest my Sister's BBC 1 took over 72 hours to activate with the FTV card.

**Xilt** · 05-02-2003

right, its working fine now

05-02-2003

Originally posted by Xilt
...I phoned sky again from my cell phone with suspended caller ID

Does this work? I mean, can sky really not "spot" that such a call is coming in from outwith the UK?

Is it possible to request a new FTV card? I got my Digibox with a ready activated card on Ebay

so I won't get a new card automatically sent to me.

***dishdoctor*** · 05-02-2003

Suspended caller id from a foreign mobile phone does seem to work,i have done it many times,or even use a uk mobile in europe,i have been told this works ok,with or without id.As for a new ftv card,it will be as if the original owner has disposed of the digibox with or without its card and you have aquired it legally and now wish to apply for your own card.Sky will realise that you only now want a card because you have been using the original card,but there is not much they can do about that!.They could give you the run-around before supplying the new card.They may have on record the previous owners name and address.They can be very akward,just read other posts,we are all in the same boat,so any other advise is always welcome..........brian

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)