Recently had SKY package installed, so we got a dish out the back, hooked by cable tomour TV. I was away whe it was i stalled, but my missus keeps talking about how she was told it needed to be connected to the phone line, to allow us to get some of the on-demand and interactive bits. Anyway, BT came and hooked up the phone line which runs to a splitter for the wifi and the phone. Am I missing something? How is the phone line meant to connect to the sky box?

The box seems to have an ethernet canle out the back of it too.

What do i need?

there’s an ethernet port *and* a phone port on the back of the box. the sky contract says you have to be connected to the phone line so they can send updates and so on. practically speaking though it doesn’t make any difference

What do i do with the ethernet port?

whoops double post but Ican edit it. if you’re on sky broadband and your router is close to the box, you can plug them in and use the box to download stuff from the channels you subscribe to -kind of like sky’s version of iPlayer. not essential, I lasted 18 months without it and haven’t actually used it since I connected them, I was hoping to get iPlayer but no joy

Ok, and if they aren’t in the same room, then i need to buy one of these bridge things. So it give me more nteractivity but no more channels?

no more channels, no. not sure what you mean by a “bridge” thing – are you buying that for ethernet or phone?

Ethernet. My router is not in the same room as my skybox.

right. you can go wireless (see the sky site, they’ve got details) or just get a really long patch lead, if you’ve somewhere to run it from a to b. it’s not essential though, you can live without it.

the sky contract says you have to be connected to the phone line so they can send updates and so on

Its a billing thing, they use it to “call” your box at a “random” time every month (although it’s a fixed date and time) to see what box office and interactive stuff you’ve used then charge you for it.

Also if you have a multiroom that costs an extra tenner it’s to stop you taking out the subscription then farming out any extra boxes to neighbours/family/local pub

The phone line has nothing to do with updates it’s purely for the interactive features(bingo & online poker to name 2) plus for ordering box office movies.
If you only have 1 box and your not bothered about the above then don’t worry about connecting it.
The Ethernet port is for connecting to your sky router so you can have access to the Anytime+ for on demand stuff.
There are various ways of connecting it,a long wired connection ,wireless bridge( doesn’t have to be a sky supplied one) or you can use power line Ethernet adaptors.
How you connect it from the above 3 options depends on your house,distance to router,condition of internal wiring if using the power line adaptors.

http://www.sky.com/helpcentre/tv/anytime-plus/sky-box-broadband-router-separate-rooms/index.html?search_omni=search-article-sslc

One of these

If you’ve got standard sky then don’t worry about ethernet. Ethernet connection is a must for HD if you want to watch everything on Anytime

Ok,i have HD but no HD tv!

We’ve never had ours connected with the phone line, we’ve had it in three houses and the slack, lazy Sky installers never ever bother connecting the phone line up.

Yes it’s in your contract that you will keep it connected at all times, but if they want it connected then they should probably pay their installers a better piece work rate, slow down the amount of calls they have to do in a day and it may get done!

Oh and I wouldn’t ever take our Sky+ box to France when we go on holiday, no way ever! 🙂

once got phoned by sky telling me off for not having the second box connected

(actually was connected but not switched on – we only got it for a better deal on a new HD box)

Oh good, i’ll wait till they phone then ask them to send me the wirelss box otherwise i cannot connect them

Oh and I wouldn’t ever take our Sky+ box to France when we go on holiday, no way ever!

How would that work?

Cos we have a house in France with a Sat dish all set up, my wife spends the six weeks of the summer holidays over there so she takes the older + box with her for the summer. One of the joys of being a teacher.

You can afford a second house but not a second Sky box?!

and the bitching begins 😀

You can afford a second house but not a second Sky box?!

As the cards are tied to the boxes, he’d need to also have another separate subscription, which they wouldn’t give you for France

There are other ways of doing it but taking the box and card is the most popular

uplink is correct,

And if it’s any of your concern, 17 years ago my wife and I were both single parents, we have both worked our arses off to get her through Uni to become a teacher, raise our five children between us and make our lives work. By the time we could start looking at buying a house the house prices had gone beyond our reach, so we ended up buying a house in France as a holiday place for us and as an investment for our family.

So no I own 1 house, it just happens to be in France.

Yeah, those teachers all have second homes in france, then have the cheek to complain about their pensions!

Leeches! I tell you!

and the bitching begins

Bite me, it was a genuine question. Seemed a lot of faff.