Viewing 29 posts - 1 through 29 (of 29 total)
  • Another leaving Sky thread
  • Freester
    Full Member

    Coulda sworn there was a thread recently but can I find it…

    Sky renewal is up. I’ve got everything except movies. The last 18 month contract the price has crept up to £55 and next month will go to 80+ a month if I don’t cancel or renegotiate.

    Just called them. Got offered £59 for like for like. Asked to be put through to cancellations – immediately got it down to £41. But I’m thinking can I live without it at all…

    I like the Sky+ for recording. To replace the recording functionality I’d have to invest in either 1) a freesat recorder or 2) get my freeview aerial fixed and a freeview recorder.

    Or live with on demand only. I could live like this I don’t watch a great deal of TV anyway. Mrs F and Jr on the other hand…

    chestrockwell
    Full Member

    Watching with interest as ours shoots up next month. We have broadband with them too so it’s up to about £80 atm, going north of £100 in May. I can do without the sport I think and don’t have movies so hoping to drop it right down. If not, I’ll be leaving as we watch very little Sky specific content these days. I’ll pay a bit extra for the Sky convenience but not silly amounts.

    pocpoc
    Free Member

    We live on catch-up only. Very very rarely presents any problems such as programmes not being on there. Only downside is that you can’t skip through the ads. We don’t even look at TV guides any more. It’s just a change in viewing habits over the last 5-10 years.

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    ready
    Full Member

    Not sure if this helps your cause but be prepared to go the whole way to complete cancellation, they’ll (usually!) back down and give you a cracking deal. I wanted to cancel the lot just after Christmas, as I was paying over £80 with another increase imminent. I spoke to a very friendly person who gave me a sweet deal (basically cancelled sports but got a brand new Sky Q box) to stay, and am now saving over £50 a month!

    Freester
    Full Member

    It’s helpful. Just a threaten to leave got the best they could do down 18 quid.

    I am very tempted to put in my notice to cancel. And be prepared to go through with it.

    dannybgoode
    Full Member

    I’m slowly going in the other direction. I daren’t touch the TV as Mrs D has her programmes all lined up and knows how to use the Sky box etc so the money is worth it for a quiet life. I have looked at other options of varying legality and Sky Q just works.

    I am now up to 4 sims with them as well. Love the data piggy bank thing. I have my main sim on a 50gb plan and then carve out the data to 3x 2gb sims which are costing me £6p/m and then all sims have a decent amount of data for not much money (note I am not a dealer or anything and no burner phones are involved 🙂 ).

    Won’t go near them for broadband though…

    stox
    Free Member

    This might be thread you were looking for (that I started)

    Just cancelled Sky TV..

    Mine was switched off on Monday. They called me twice with deals but they weren’t that good tbh and nearer cancellation time they Sent me a couple of texts asking me to call them for some great offers. I didn’t bother.
    I didn’t watch a lot on Sky. It was either BBC1, 2 or Ch4 and i still get them on HD through the box so no regrets.
    The function i miss is the option to record. I know you can download everything blah blah blah but i like to just record it and have it to watch at a later time. For that reason i may end up getting a free sat box.

    fazzini
    Full Member

    In the last 6 years I have had 4+ years worth of ‘free’ Sky. This has only been possible because I am more than prepared to do without it completely and just use the sky box/dish as freeview/freesat whichever it gives. I’ve found that each time I ‘leave’ completely, within 1-6 weeks they call me and ask what it would take to get me back as a customer. I always reply I’ll happily have it if its free. Each time they have obliged, for the most basic TV package using the Sky+ box. I have only paid anything extra if they have offered me a ‘no contract’ deal on sports & movies (ususally at Xmas time) which I can cancel at anytime I like and only pay for what I’ve used providing I give the obligatory 30 days notice. They are basically giving me a basic package at a vastly reduced rate, then adding a credit onto my account which pays for it. What has prompted the call to me to make the offer each time has been when I have cancelled the direct debit with my bank after the final payment has been made. Longest I’ve waited is 6 weeks but its happened every single time I’ve done it. Originally I had a ‘full’ package that was paid for over teh first 3 years I had Sky but that hasn’t been the case since 7 years ago.

    And this thread has just reminded me its time to give my 30 days notice again, as my current free period runs out next month!! Thansk for the reminder OP

    fingerbang
    Free Member

    Not much insight here but I left sky about 6 months ago and now just Freeview and Netflix

    Only thing I miss is John Oliver on Sky Atlantic, which you can watch on now TV I think or YouTube

    I’m using YouTube more and more actually, despite the ads

    But yeah, wished I’d done it sooner

    marcg868
    Free Member

    Used online chat for mine as I made a recent post. Was going up to £90 for the whole works managed to get it down to 50 a month. Can live with that, been watching the masters so glad I didn’t cancel.

    oldtennisshoes
    Full Member

    The love for the recording feature is interesting. I’m guessing that’s from the VHS generation?

    joshvegas
    Free Member

    Recording stuff os weird its a total non requirement.

    Also… 80uid a month thats 40quid short of a grand for the year?!

    ginkster
    Full Member

    Recording stuff os weird its a total non requirement.

    Why’s that? Many programs take a few hours to appear on catch-up or are only available for 30 days. I record stuff so I can watch it whenever I like and skip through all the ads.

    I left Sky a few years back when we moved house and went to Virgin for the fast broadband. The Virgin TV box is awful so when the contract ran out we tried a few other options (Fire Stick, ATV etc) but they are all compromised or awkward to use. In the end we went back to Sky on a very good return deal for TV only (still with Virgin for BB) and have negotiated a good discount on each renewal. Definitely speak to them. Our cost has pretty much remained at the rejoin price for the sake of an annual phone call. Wish I had never left to be honest as I lost the free F1 that I had on my old package! Sky Q just works so well compared to the other options and has all the main streaming services built in. Just hate the thought of paying Murdock (if he is even still involved)!

    timmys
    Full Member

    I understand the “why recording?” crew to a certain extent, but if the alternative is watching via on demand with unskippable ads then I’m probably just not going to watch it.

    FuzzyWuzzy
    Full Member

    If you leave Sky but know someone with a subscription and you have a PS4/XBox you can install the Sky Go app on it and watch stuff that way to (my brother does this with my account details, obviously not T&C compliant though), it’s also limited to HD I think

    flyingpotatoes
    Full Member

    Is there a realistic alternative to sky multiroom?

    That’s the only reason I’m keeping sky as the wireless boxes are great.

    scotroutes
    Full Member

    Our SkyTV was switched off last night. I think their final offer was £15 per month (from £30). I never watch the TV and Mrs Routes says she’ll be happy with the free TV stuff.

    DezB
    Free Member

    I’ve kept Sky just because I watch a lot of sport (rugby and boxing mainly) – Sky don’t show any rugby anymore, but last time I negotiated with them they put me into a new contract which lasts til July, I think. Quite handy as the British Lions tour is on before then, so once that’s over, will ditch for sure. Are Sky Arts and Sky Atlantic available elsewhere?- they are the only channels I’d miss

    chestrockwell
    Full Member

    Also… 80uid a month thats 40quid short of a grand for the year?!

    It was a bit less at the start of the contract but tbf more than £50 of that is broadband, sports and multiroom. Looking around and Sky (at the discount they always give) seems cheaper for broadband/phone then others and multiroom is a luxury that I use as it expands Skygo and I’ve watched plenty of football over lock-down.

    That leaves £30-ish for the telly which is too much for the convenience you get and the extra HD stuff I forget to use.

    Ultimately, decent broadband costs £25-ish and I can do without the sport if I can get the telly, BB and multi for under £50 I’ll probably keep it for ease. Much more than that and I’ll be looking elsewhere.

    sharkbait
    Free Member

    I ditched Sky a couple of months ago and this is my experience so far.

    I like the Sky+ for recording. To replace the recording functionality I’d have to invest in either 1) a freesat recorder or 2) get my freeview aerial fixed and a freeview recorder.

    First thing to do is check your TV to see if it supports recording. We have two [Freeview] TVs and old Panasonic plasma and a 6 month old LG.

    The Panasonic supports USB recording – it’s marginally clunky but OK.
    The LG also supports USB recording but it’s way better and you can rewind live TV and it does ‘series record’ also. In some ways it’s actually better than the Sky box we had!

    On both of these TV’s I’ve just plugged in 2.5″ drives I had hanging around.

    The Panasonic TV guide will, for some reason, only show what’s on now and next – so I dug out an old Humax HDR-Fox T2 freeview recorder I’ve had sat in a cupboard for about 5 or so years. Some rather clever people have produced a custom firmware package for this box that enables a number of features, the most notable being:
    Web interface allowing recordings to be scheduled
    Automatic decryption of HD recordings so they can be exported to USB for viewing elsewhere
    Automatic detection, and bookmarking, of adverts allowing them to be skipped with just a single remote button press – with the option to automatically crop them out so that adverts are a thing of the past!!
    DNLA server so that you can record on the box and then watch the [decrypted and ad-free] recordings on any PC, tablet, phone or DNLA equipped TV on the network!!

    There is also an excellent free Remote Schedule Portal that allows you to enter very customisable search criteria with matching search results being automatically scheduled on your box!

    or it will send you an email when a it finds a match

    A day after I plugged the box back in I received an email saying it had scheduled the recording of the upcoming F1 race……. this is 5 or 6 years after I last used the box/portal!!

    Very cool and way better than Sky!!

    So, am I missing Sky? Hell no!!

    (oh, and the Chromecast with Google TV is an excellent piece of kit for all your streaming requirements)

    Freester
    Full Member

    @stox that was indeed the thread I was looking for but could I find it???!!

    So had the conversation with Mrs F and Jr last night.

    Myself and Mrs F watch very little TV these days. It’s nice to have the Cricket and what little Rugby is on but I rarely sit down and watch (not a football fan). F1 is just awful at the moment. Jr was a bit upset at missing out on a ton of Scooby Doo currently on Boomerang. But then realised he still can watch other kids stuff on demand.

    The recording is a valid point. It is nice to record and watch at leisure. On Demand does expire within a month for a lot of channels. And finding certain programmes not always straightforward on various apps as opposed to the good old series link.

    Anyway, the consensus was unanimous. I’m going to press the cancel button. Keep an open mind. If they come back with a better deal we will consider – if not we see if we can live without, and maybe even get a better offer after the service has stopped.

    Freester
    Full Member

    @sharkbait – interesting. This means I have to pay to get my terrestrial aerial looked at tho!!!

    I have an 8-9 yr old Panasonic TV it certainly does have some kind of record capability via USB.

    DezB
    Free Member

    thats 40quid short of a grand for the year?!

    Their **** adverts really bug me too – SKY MOVIES GETS BETTER AND BETTER! …ALL FOR JUST £12 a MONTH! Grrr!

    sharkbait
    Free Member

    This means I have to pay to get my terrestrial aerial looked at tho!!!

    Have you tried it? I actually replaced our aerial recently for £100 – not really that expensive.

    Or Humax do a Freesat box also but not sure if it runs the custom firmware.

    Their **** adverts really bug me too

    This x 10

    timmys
    Full Member

    @sharkbait

    Re. the Humax stuff. I was a big fan of mine with the custom firmware, but do you not find the limitation of having to schedule recording via the web ahead of the middle of the night reboot cycle a major pain? Or has that limitation gone? I found not being able to set something to record in the morning for that evening a major flaw.

    Freester
    Full Member

    Have you tried it? I actually replaced our aerial recently for £100 – not really that expensive.

    Yeh. So we have a decent Ariel and Booster in the loft. For some reason the Terrestrial Channels on the TV are all pixelated. I’ve run the tuner again but still not joy. I’ll go and have a look see if there is power to the booster.

    sharkbait
    Free Member

    I was a big fan of mine with the custom firmware, but do you not find the limitation of having to schedule recording via the web ahead of the middle of the night reboot cycle a major pain? Or has that limitation gone?

    No it’s still there and a little annoying – but I’ve just discovered that [in addition to adding an automatic shutdown/start in the normal Humax settings] the custom firmware makes it easy to edit the crontab file that schedules events.

    So by adding the following line to /mod/var/spool/cron/crontabs/root (using the file editor in the web interface):
    15 14 * * * reboot
    the box will reboot at 14:15 – and you can add as many such events as you like.

    Now the Humax is more important to me – as Sky is gone – I’m trying to learn stuff about it that I didn’t know before.

    sharkbait
    Free Member

    [in addition to adding an automatic shutdown/start in the normal Humax settings]

    This is the normal shutdown restart editor in Settings accessed from the remote

    Any reboots scheduled in the crontab are in addition to this.

    StirlingCrispin
    Full Member

    Left Sky 10 years ago.

    Humax Freesat box is very occasionally used for live TV.

    Haven’t recorded a programme in years.

    Very easy swap of cables from the Sky box – took a minute.

    Chromecast is used for casting Netflix / catchup from apps on the phone.

    Do it.

Viewing 29 posts - 1 through 29 (of 29 total)

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