Sky Box Not Connected To Telephone Line - Help Please!

[Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 241
Forum Member
A few months ago I had sky mutiroom installed. This week I received a letter from sky stating that not all sky boxes are connected to my phone line.

The new multiroom box is connected to my telephone line, but the box I have downstairs in my living room isn't. However, this was disconnected over 5 years ago + and the issue has never been raised until now.

Please could someone advise as to what my rights are, as sky are threatening to charge me two whole subscription fees per month for both boxes unless I reconnect.

Many thanks

Comments

  • rai unorai uno Posts: 21,328
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    Sky are quite right - Multiroom Phone Connection is an actively policed anti-fraud measure. The Terms and Conditions are clear.
  • Nigel GoodwinNigel Goodwin Posts: 58,330
    Forum Member
    The multi-room installer should have ensured BOTH boxes were connected to the phone line - as Rai Uno says, the Terms and Conditions are quite clear - either connect BOTH boxes permanently to the same phone line, or pay full price for both subscriptions!.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 236
    Forum Member
    The only reason they want you to keep the boxes connected to the same phone line is so that Sky know those boxes and cards are at your house and nobody elses.

    Satdude10 :cool:
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 241
    Forum Member
    Many thanks!
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 172
    Forum Member
    connect it up, phone them, ask them to check it is connected while you on the line, then it will come up as connected, then sure they have an active connection, you could probably disconnect it till you can provide the room with a permenant phone feed.
  • Red ArrowRed Arrow Posts: 10,889
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    connect it up, phone them, ask them to check it is connected while you on the line, then it will come up as connected, then sure they have an active connection, you could probably disconnect it till you can provide the room with a permenant phone feed.

    Eh does not work like that unless you call up on a mobile. If you call Sky up on your landline they can't check the connections as the boxes are unable to dial Sky since the line is in use already.

    Also if you do connect them up and Sky do their test and see it is, it's not wise to disconnect them again. The following month Sky will notice that the box has not called up again and the customer will be charged.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 20
    Forum Member
    This question has popped up before. Are you ex-directory Red Arrow? If you are then you need to add 1470 to the Sky Box dial out (service menu) so that they can see the two boxes dial from the same phone number.

    I had same problem - letters stopped as soon as I added the 1470 to the dial out set up.
  • rai unorai uno Posts: 21,328
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    I think you might find that Red Arrow is at "the other end" of the phone, in a manner of speaking ;)
  • Red ArrowRed Arrow Posts: 10,889
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    This question has popped up before. Are you ex-directory Red Arrow? If you are then you need to add 1470 to the Sky Box dial out (service menu) so that they can see the two boxes dial from the same phone number.

    I had same problem - letters stopped as soon as I added the 1470 to the dial out set up.

    Haha, thx but its not me who has the problem. Oh and btw being ex-directory has nothing to do with it. You only add 1470 if your number is withheld, which is different from being ex-directory.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 110
    Forum Member
    Last November sky said we had neither of our boxes connected but they were.The screens confirmed it.What reason had I to not hve the phone connected I asked after arguing with me they sent an engineer free of charge.He confirmed what we had said and sent back messages through the boxes that had stacked up.In May and June this year they started this again sending letters and in our July bill they billed us for another £32 , I refused to pay and answered their calls to explain .Anyway we arwere to move house late July and I explained this to them again and they cut us off in August and still demand £50 it seems the phone lines started working in June so we didn't have the extra cost.
    But I suddenly see that we have been ex directory for years yet the line has not been touched in either box.
    How do I resolve this mess
  • rai unorai uno Posts: 21,328
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    Ex-Directory is entirely irrelevant.

    The issue of "Number Withheld" mentioned in earlier Posts above is entirely separate.

    Ex-Directory means exactly that: No Directory Listing. It has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the interaction (or lack of it) between your Digibox and Phone Line.

    Number Withheld is a separate feature, available to all, regardless of Ex-Directory status.
  • TUTV ViewerTUTV Viewer Posts: 6,236
    Forum Member
    My sky box was only connected to the land line on the day it was installed. I immediately disconnected it afterwards. That was last November.

    Voice or data calls play havoc with my broadband connection so the line is never used. With CLI enabled phone I can see that plenty of calls are attempted to the line every day.

    Is it likely that Sky are trying to phone me to ask why the box isn't dialling up as it should? They've never written to me...
  • Red ArrowRed Arrow Posts: 10,889
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    My sky box was only connected to the land line on the day it was installed. I immediately disconnected it afterwards. That was last November.

    Voice or data calls play havoc with my broadband connection so the line is never used. With CLI enabled phone I can see that plenty of calls are attempted to the line every day.

    Is it likely that Sky are trying to phone me to ask why the box isn't dialling up as it should? They've never written to me...

    Its in the contract that your box needs to be connected for the 1st 12 months, but Sky don't really seem to care if you unplug it. The only exception is when you have more than one box, Sky will send you warning letters then if one or more boxes are not calling back correctly.

    @albryc. can you please re-post your message using correct spelling and grammar, can't make out what you are saying.
  • rai unorai uno Posts: 21,328
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    No - you've just won the Florida State Lottery, several Luxury Holidays, opened a Nigerian Bank Account and had your Electricity Supply switched to the Nuneaton Power Company.
  • FibreopticFibreoptic Posts: 191
    Forum Member
    LOL Strange.... at my neigbours they had sky installed same time as ours in 1998 and never have they had their phone line plugged in...
  • rai unorai uno Posts: 21,328
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    It's only actively policed for Multiroom.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,284
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    My sky box was only connected to the land line on the day it was installed. I immediately disconnected it afterwards. That was last November.

    Voice or data calls play havoc with my broadband connection so the line is never used. With CLI enabled phone I can see that plenty of calls are attempted to the line every day.

    Is it likely that Sky are trying to phone me to ask why the box isn't dialling up as it should? They've never written to me...

    Maybe you should be using good quality ADSL filters for every appliance connected to the phone line, and then you will have no such problems.
  • TUTV ViewerTUTV Viewer Posts: 6,236
    Forum Member
    Glenn24v wrote:
    Maybe you should be using good quality ADSL filters for every appliance connected to the phone line, and then you will have no such problems.

    I wish!

    Unfortunatey, the way the cables run to the property, my house whilst just 1.5km from the exchange is a staggering 8.5km by copper. BT Wholesale have advised that they can readily solve my "**** knickers" broadband connection - by marking the line as unsuitable for broadband and instructing my ISP to cancel the service.

    It does mean that I'm eligible for a filtered mastersocket so individual filters are redundant.
  • TUTV ViewerTUTV Viewer Posts: 6,236
    Forum Member
    rai uno wrote:
    No - you've just won the Florida State Lottery, several Luxury Holidays, opened a Nigerian Bank Account and had your Electricity Supply switched to the Nuneaton Power Company.

    Well, I did take the "risk" and answer the phone the other night when it just kept ringing. With "withheld" on screen I did wonder if a family member was trying to contact me for an emergency.

    It was older sounding lady who was inviting me to collect money in my street for a charity. On declining the opportunity the sweetness dropped and I got a bit of verbal abuse - apparently she'd been trying to contact me for weeks and I was the last hope for the street. lol
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 110
    Forum Member
    I will try and explain again.We have Sky multiroom.
    In November 2005 we had an engineer visit as the people at Sky said our phones were not connected.He did all the tests and indeed there was a problem but it was nothing to do with our line.He cleared the problem with Sky and said we should have no further problems.
    In May 2006 I received a letter complaining we had disconnected the phone line.I rang them and said the boxes showed they were connected and explained we had a similar problem in November 2005 and we had the telephone line connected.The next month another letter arrived saying we would be charged another £32 as we did not have the line connected.But we had not tampered with the line .They invoiced us for the extra £32 in July but in August they did not.The reason they gave was that in July we had reconnected the phone!
    We have never ever disconnected the phone line to the boxes.What would we gain anyway?But we are now at odds with Sky about this additional bill but we have done nothing wrong to be punished in this way.
  • d3mond3mon Posts: 1,003
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    Red Arrow wrote:
    Haha, thx but its not me who has the problem. Oh and btw being ex-directory has nothing to do with it. You only add 1470 if your number is withheld, which is different from being ex-directory.
    Shame alot of the other CA's don't know that - it's hard not to laugh when they try the "oh if you're ex-directory that *must* be the problem" stunt.

    Their intentions are in the right place though, but it is a training issue which should be sorted (that among others).
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 486
    Forum Member
    I'd like to add, the 1470 dialling prefix addition ONLY applies to BT. If your phone line is not provided by BT (NTL or ROI for example) then a different prefix may apply. NTL's Number witheld prefix is 1280.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 15
    Forum Member
    OP. If you have multiroom, both boxes must be connected to the phone line. Sky police this actively. You will get 3 warning letters asking you to connect the boxes then Sky will double your subscription charges and take the money from your account if you pay via direct debit. This happened to me. I just cancelled multiroom. You still get a load of basic free-to-air channels without the multiroom subscription. Or you can buy a Feeview card from Sky and use your second box for Freeview. Depends how much you want the multiroom, I guess.
  • davemurgatroyddavemurgatroyd Posts: 13,328
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    Johnny999 wrote:
    OP. If you have multiroom, both boxes must be connected to the phone line. Sky police this actively. You will get 3 warning letters asking you to connect the boxes then Sky will double your subscription charges and take the money from your account if you pay via direct debit. This happened to me. I just cancelled multiroom. You still get a load of basic free-to-air channels without the multiroom subscription. Or you can buy a Feeview card from Sky and use your second box for Freeview. Depends how much you want the multiroom, I guess.

    If he has multiroom now he has two subscription cards - if the subscription is cancelled on one it reverts to a "Freesat" card so he has no need whatsoever to buy a new "freesat" (not freeview that comes from an aerial not a dish) card.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 114
    Forum Member
    I have Multiroom. The box that is in my bedroom was conected to the phone line in the wall socket. Yet I got a letter from Sky saying I had to re conect my phone line. So I had a look and yes I was still conected even though Sky thought I was not. Got another letter later saying if I did not re connect they would charge me full price if I did not re connect. Turned out that the telephone line cable was at falt as it was not working. Quick trip to the shops and bought a new one connected it and problem was solved.
Sign In or Register to comment.