Sky box connected to a fixed and operational telephone line?

w4tt4n4b3

I would like to get Sky digital package. I live in Greece and I thought that I could make it work here but I noticed the following message "The box used to receive your Sky digital subscription must always be connected to a fixed and operational telephone line capable of making outgoing calls."

So if a friend of mine in the UK orders it and sends it to me in Greece will it be able to work or not?

andyw37

If your friend has the digibox installed at their home by SKY for the free or £40 installation then the phone line must be connected for 12 months. This is due to the interactive services which subsidises SKYs installation and hardware costs. The equipment is not yours for 12 months therefore you must keep it connected to the phone line. failure to do so will result in a fine.

You can however buy an Unsibsidised receiver, see the sponsors of this site, for around £130, or try Ebay for around £40. This type of receiver does not need the phone line connected as it is not SKYs. It will receive all updates that you need over the air and you will have no viewing problems.

Not all digiboxes are the same, due to tuner sensitivity, you need a good receiver as you are in a fringe reception area, so try to buy a PACE 430N, PACE 2600 or the latest Thomson 1412C or1414C.

You can use your friends address for cards ie phone SKY and request a card for whatever package you require to your friends address. Tell them you already have a box, they will send a card to that address, fill in the direct debit mandate and away you go. Place the card in the receiver and call SKY on a withheld number to get it activated.

Hope this helps.

w4tt4n4b3

Andy, thank you very much for your response.
If my friend has already a box what he will just do is to buy another card without any box. I will buy a box that is compatible and I will place the card in it.
Then my friend will call them and ask them to activate the second card which will be in my box in my house in Greece?
Did I get it right?
I am interested in the Sky sports package with HD. Does this mean I have to buy a HD receiver. I'd like also to be able to record some programmes and transfer them to my pc or a hard drive. Will that be able?

Thank you so much.
In case my friend doesnot have a Sky digital subscription and I pay for a new one but declare it as his, what is the procedure? Do we have to order 2 boxes, one for him to remain connected to his landline and one card for me to place it in my box in Greece?
If he does not have a landline?

And Andy, if I got right, with withheld number you mean a number that is not displayed when you call from that number? Sorry but I am not british and english is not my native language.

andyw37

To subscribe you must pay with a UK bank card / account, perhaps your friend can do. He can pay monthly for you, but I suggest he pays 12 month in advance with money you give him, from his address.

HD receivers will record to hard drive, the recording facility from SKY costs an extra £9.74 a month. You will need to buy a HD receiver, again unsubsidised with no need for phone line.

When phoning Sky to activate card it is married to that box, cards cannot be moved from box to box. Get your card and put in box, then call SKY with the card number, box serial number and software number and they will pair the box to the card and away you go.

As for recording there is no usb hub, so the best bet would be for you to buy a dvd recorder.

w4tt4n4b3

Isn't it better if my friend calls them to activate the card and then send to me the box with the activated card inside?

I do not have an HD television. My television is an analogue one. If I connect my analogue tv to the SKy HD box and at the same time record the programme with a dvd-recorder, the quality of the recorded image in the dvd will be hd or not? I think the quality will be less than hd since the disk will not be a blue ray one, or am I wrong?

Isn't there a way to connect the Sky hd box to my pc and keep the hd signal?

And also if the card is paired only with the specific HD Sky box if I buy another hd receiver how is it going to work?

And something else guys. The main reason I am going after the Sky digital package is because I want to watch ATP masters series, mens tennis matches beside the Grand Slams. So do you happen to know if Skysports broadcast enough ATP Masters tournaments in hd? I know they broadcast Grand Slams but are there enough other tennis tournaments available?
Thanks a lot. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

andyw37

Yes it is best for your frend to pair the card and box.

If you change HD receiver your friend will have to re-pair with Sky as initially.

DVD will only be analogue, but quality should be good.

NO way that I know of to transfer to PC as HD.

Good luck.

w4tt4n4b3

My friend will be in the UK and me in Greece, so I will have to send the card and then him sending it back. No way I will be using a different non-sky HD receiver. I will ask him to send me the HD box and the card after he activates it with SKy.

Well I am thinking of using an hdd recorder with hdmi. Then I will transfer the data from the hdd dvd recorder to my pc via usb.

Is sKy hd box possible to connect with a HDD dvd recorder?

Tembo11

Similar questions for SKy+ please
As an existing subscriber would the 12 months connected to a phone line reset if I upgraded to a subsidised SKY+box and what information do they actually gain from it.

You don't also happen to know what the REN number of a SKY box is do you?

guest

Specified REN = 0.5

Some people suggest REN = Zero is more correct as there is no ringer.

I'm not sure whether that is pedantic or just plain sensible.

Tembo11

Many thanks

I think I've just about got enough spare then what with phones PC & fax modem

Richard

Stuadh

I'm in a similar situation. I'm in Germany (though I'm a British Citizen) and I've just set up a 2nd hand contract with Sky. I have a Sky+ box off Ebay and a self installed dish which all work on FreeSat.

I've been asked to plug into a phone line to activate the card, this is difficult. First, the phone is in a different room and second, I live in Germany. My Sky is registered at my parents' address (they don't have Sky. They don't even have a dish).

ow do I go about getting the card activated? Even if I were to send the card and box to my parents' house, they don't have a satellite dish.

Yours Aye

Stuadh

rolfw

Just phone them, or get your parents to phone them to activate the card. Tell them you can't connect it to a phone, all you need to do is provide the information from the receiver information screen.

Rolf If you enjoy our site, you can help support it by wearing our unique branded merchandise, you can do this by clicking on my baseball cap, making a direct donation with Paypal by clicking on the Donation button below, or using our site supporting advertisers, to do this, click on the central image below. Follow us on Twitter, click on the twitter image.