Sky box office using Broadband callback from outside UK

tothbros

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as sky is updating their software, one of the new things is the ability to perform a callback via internet, without the need of a connected telephone line (box office and sky store rentals). for now, only amstrad boxes get this update (drx890/895).
if you're abroad, you have 2 choices to use on demand: vpn or smartdns (from a company called overplay).

i have been using overplay's smartdns for 2 months now, and it works great: no need for vpn, i just set up the provided dns servers on the router, and sky on demand works fine. the huge advantage is that download speeds are far better than through a vpn.

as i have a pace box, no update is available yet, so my question is for somebody who is using amstrad drx890/895 abroad with the new software (R007):
does broadband callback work using smartdns or only via vpn?
 

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as sky is updating their software, one of the new things is the ability to perform a callback via internet, without the need of a connected telephone line (box office and sky store rentals). for now, only amstrad boxes get this update (drx890/895).
if you're abroad, you have 2 choices to use on demand: vpn or smartdns (from a company called overplay).

i have been using overplay's smartdns for 2 months now, and it works great: no need for vpn, i just set up the provided dns servers on the router, and sky on demand works fine. the huge advantage is that download speeds are far better than through a vpn.

as i have a pace box, no update is available yet, so my question is for somebody who is using amstrad drx890/895 abroad with the new software (R007):
does broadband callback work using smartdns or only via vpn?



Yes, it works fine here in Cyprus, with or without the VPN, but you still
need to have at least an EPG signal from the satellite/s.
Does anyone know about the SKY "Now" dongle mentioned last week on BBC Radio 4?
With this you don't need a satellite signal at all, just a viewing card.
 

BLUEPLATINUM

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Yes, it works fine here in Cyprus, with or without the VPN, but you still
need to have at least an EPG signal from the satellite/s.
Does anyone know about the SKY "Now" dongle mentioned last week on BBC Radio 4?
With this you don't need a satellite signal at all, just a viewing card.
Is the "EPG Signal" you refer to on 11778V (2A North) or is the Demand stuff transmitted from a different TP ?
 

tothbros

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update: for broadband callback you need az actual vpn with a uk ip. smartdns will not do a callback.
the good news is that if you have a vpn service, you can now rent films on sky store, without a telephone connection. but you must have a broadband connection at all times.
 

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update: for broadband callback you need az actual vpn with a uk ip. smartdns will not do a callback.
the good news is that if you have a vpn service, you can now rent films on sky store, without a telephone connection. but you must have a broadband connection at all times.


How do you use this? I am in Cyprus and have a VPN, and SKY On-Demand.
How do I actually rent a film?
Viktor
 

tothbros

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update: sky did something in december when they enabled multiroom on broadband - you can't do "broadband callback" using a vpn outside the uk anymore. "on demand" still works, like catch-up, sky movies and tv box sets, but sky store will not work, unfortunetely, as it requires the callback to report back to sky what movies you rented. sky must have blocked something...
you can try this by doing a manual callback: using the sky remote press 'services', 0, 0, 1, 'select', go right to 'new install', press 'select' three times...'callback in progres'...normally it says 'complete, but since the changes it fails every time.
 

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Is Sky's on-demand/catch-up still working with SmartDNS through a Sky box?
 

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It was last Sunday. I have been in UK since then so can't test.

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tothbros

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update: sky did something in december when they enabled multiroom on broadband - you can't do "broadband callback" using a vpn outside the uk anymore. "on demand" still works, like catch-up, sky movies and tv box sets, but sky store will not work, unfortunetely, as it requires the callback to report back to sky what movies you rented. sky must have blocked something...
you can try this by doing a manual callback: using the sky remote press 'services', 0, 0, 1, 'select', go right to 'new install', press 'select' three times...'callback in progres'...normally it says 'complete, but since the changes it fails every time.

Many thanks for that.
Viktor.
 

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Yes. Catchup still working via SmartDNS.

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tothbros

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No. It just says "Callback Failed - Please call 08.....".
 

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thanks for checking it. so its definitely something they blocked...
Not necessarily. Could just be that it uses a URL that Overplay don't workaround on their SmartDNS or possibly that Sky are using a direct IP address without DNS translation.
 

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Not necessarily. Could just be that it uses a URL that Overplay don't workaround on their SmartDNS or possibly that Sky are using a direct IP address without DNS translation.
i tried a few different vpn services as well, not only smart dns services...all fail
 

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With VPN and (I assume) SmartDNS you'll be given a UK IP address for the connection but as hundreds or thousands of people will be using the same IP when they connect to the service it won't be unique like it would be if you connected normally from your own home and that could be causing the issue.

Perhaps the first person to use the IP address of the VPN provider might get lucky for a while but everyone else after that will be seen by Sky as coming from the same "household" surely so Sky can easily just block an IP address that has too many connections from random devices and add it to a blacklist?
 

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With VPN and (I assume) SmartDNS you'll be given a UK IP address for the connection but as hundreds or thousands of people will be using the same IP when they connect to the service it won't be unique like it would be if you connected normally from your own home and that could be causing the issue.

Perhaps the first person to use the IP address of the VPN provider might get lucky for a while but everyone else after that will be seen by Sky as coming from the same "household" surely so Sky can easily just block an IP address that has too many connections from random devices and add it to a blacklist?
I could see that causing problems for multiroom subs too

A few hundred multiroom boxes trying to "call home" from the same IP address even though they're registered at totally different parts of the UK
 

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then following your logic, maybe a unique or 1:1 ip address is the answer, which certain vpn companies do provide - although its a bit more expensive, naturally.
i might do a trial just to see...
 

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then following your logic, maybe a unique or 1:1 ip address is the answer, which certain vpn companies do provide - although its a bit more expensive, naturally.
i might do a trial just to see...
Just don't blame me if I'm wrong... ;)

Sky could also have decided to only allow successful connections from IP addresses allocated to proper UK ISPs and not datacentres or businesses.
 
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