We appear to have 'slipped through the net' too, as we have had multiroom for several years without either box being connected to a phone line, and so far Sky have said nothing nor charged us anything extra (other than the £10 multiroom charge).
One thing to point out OP is that I have my Sky box connected to a phone line all the time and I have a very stable 10Mb broadband, it doesn't interfere in the slightest.
As long as the filter is fine, it should be OK.
Well some boxes get worse over time. My line was fine then the ADSL started dropping out more and more often while getting slower.
I thought my phone line was just getting crap.
Changed the filter for a brand new expensive ones still getting 17 meg with the box connected and 21 when it wasn't messing with the ADSL line. also disconnected the ringer wire which improved things slightly.
The fix was to daisy chain 2-3 filters to the sky box to get the full speed and stability back with the sky box connected.which stopped the box putting random noise on the phone line interrupting the ADSL. just as good as the test socket.
I Left one of my multiroom boxed disconnected for nearly a year by accident and i didn't hear a peep from them
Though many of my friend just don't to bother with the phone line even with Multiroom, only one ever got called. you need to just stand your ground. tell them the boxes screw the your adsl up and your not connecting them for that reason. If they try to charge you 2x full price subs you tell them something along the lines of, you'll cancel multiroom if it's full price, do you want my £10 extra a month or not etc etc. they usually back down.
Hmm thanks. Looks like I'll have to make do with one damn box then!!!!!
Sky your rubbish
This is to ensure peolpe aren't "lending" boxes to friends.
Think about it, you get Sky world for £51, and 3 of your friends do the same, total cost, £204 (prices may not be accurate).
But, if you got multiroom and 3 extra boxes, thats only £81 per month. You then lend your 3 boxes out, and each pay £20.25 towards the bill. You each save £30.75 a month, but Sky lose £123 a month, or £1476 a year, and thats jsut with 4 of you.
Now imagine 1000 people doing it, and then 100 thousand.
We appear to have 'slipped through the net' too, as we have had multiroom for several years without either box being connected to a phone line, and so far Sky have said nothing nor charged us anything extra (other than the £10 multiroom charge).
Ditto,
Sky seem to not have been actively policing the phone line connection to my household for a couple of years now,we have 3 boxes on subscription and no before anyone asks we are not been charged any extra per month
I'm sure there are some dodgy people who come to some 'arrangement' with their neighbour and whilst the box is in another property, it wouldn't be hard to have a small telephone cable going just to one property. They would then split the difference.
Not that I'm suggesting anyone do that of course, but I'm sure it goes on. (Especially in flats within the same building with paper thin walls.)
I had multi-room installed a few years ago and the Sky (official) installers virtually told me not to bother with the phone lines as it would save them time and I didn't really need it. As I didn't fancy having phone lines everywhere I agreed and told them I wouldn't say anything.
Then I looked on here and realised that I did need it. Cost me another £80 to have someone do it for me.
(Yes I know this is off topic, but I have to agree with another poster about the scruples of some of these official installers).
Then I looked on here and realised that I did need it. Cost me another £80 to have someone do it for me.
Why pay for it?, if you had rung Sky they would have sent an installer back out to do it for free - it was THEIR mistake, and the original installer had been paid for the extra time to do it.
Pretty sure you need your phoneline connection if you want to use remote Sky planner (ie on a PC or mobile phone when you're away from home).
I believe it's done (like almost everything else) over the satellite. I've never done it, but I seem to recall that you have to have it connected to the phone to set the facility up, but that's the only time the phone is used.
Does having the Sky Box connected to the phone line affect the total "REN" (Ring Equivalent Number) if 2 or 3 phones are connected to the same phone line?
And, on power up, does the Sky Box display an on-screen message that the phone line isn't connected?
I believe it's done (like almost everything else) over the satellite. I've never done it, but I seem to recall that you have to have it connected to the phone to set the facility up, but that's the only time the phone is used.
Partially correct. I have used remote record from both a PC and mobile phone app to successfully record and the box isn't connected to a phone line so, as you say, it would appear to be done via satellite.
You can register for the remote record service through your box which does use the phone line, but I registered on the web by pairing my card number to my mobile number which didn't need the phone line connected.
It also says that you should allow half an hour for the scheduled recording to reach the box but the vast majority of the time it shows within a minute.
I believe it's done (like almost everything else) over the satellite. I've never done it, but I seem to recall that you have to have it connected to the phone to set the facility up, but that's the only time the phone is used.
You don't need a connected phone line to set up remote record. Like you say, it's all done via satellite.
Does having the Sky Box connected to the phone line affect the total "REN" (Ring Equivalent Number) if 2 or 3 phones are connected to the same phone line?
Yes, anything connected to the phone supposedly increases the REN - however, the REN numbers are pretty meaningless, it's usually NOT a value that the unit has been tested at, but a function of how many boxes were tested,
So if you only send one unit for testing, it will be given a high REN - and with the huge costs involved, most companies will only pay for one to be tested.
Pretty well anything remotely modern will in actuallity have a VERY low REN, well below one - it's really a specification that has long had it's day (coming as it did from electro/mechanical bells ).
Comments
Well some boxes get worse over time. My line was fine then the ADSL started dropping out more and more often while getting slower.
I thought my phone line was just getting crap.
Changed the filter for a brand new expensive ones still getting 17 meg with the box connected and 21 when it wasn't messing with the ADSL line. also disconnected the ringer wire which improved things slightly.
The fix was to daisy chain 2-3 filters to the sky box to get the full speed and stability back with the sky box connected.which stopped the box putting random noise on the phone line interrupting the ADSL. just as good as the test socket.
I Left one of my multiroom boxed disconnected for nearly a year by accident and i didn't hear a peep from them
Though many of my friend just don't to bother with the phone line even with Multiroom, only one ever got called. you need to just stand your ground. tell them the boxes screw the your adsl up and your not connecting them for that reason. If they try to charge you 2x full price subs you tell them something along the lines of, you'll cancel multiroom if it's full price, do you want my £10 extra a month or not etc etc. they usually back down.
This is to ensure peolpe aren't "lending" boxes to friends.
Think about it, you get Sky world for £51, and 3 of your friends do the same, total cost, £204 (prices may not be accurate).
But, if you got multiroom and 3 extra boxes, thats only £81 per month. You then lend your 3 boxes out, and each pay £20.25 towards the bill. You each save £30.75 a month, but Sky lose £123 a month, or £1476 a year, and thats jsut with 4 of you.
Now imagine 1000 people doing it, and then 100 thousand.
Maybe I'll have to just get the 2 cheapest basic subs then,
Ditto,
Sky seem to not have been actively policing the phone line connection to my household for a couple of years now,we have 3 boxes on subscription and no before anyone asks we are not been charged any extra per month
Not that I'm suggesting anyone do that of course, but I'm sure it goes on. (Especially in flats within the same building with paper thin walls.)
Then I looked on here and realised that I did need it. Cost me another £80 to have someone do it for me.
(Yes I know this is off topic, but I have to agree with another poster about the scruples of some of these official installers).
Why pay for it?, if you had rung Sky they would have sent an installer back out to do it for free - it was THEIR mistake, and the original installer had been paid for the extra time to do it.
I believe it's done (like almost everything else) over the satellite. I've never done it, but I seem to recall that you have to have it connected to the phone to set the facility up, but that's the only time the phone is used.
And, on power up, does the Sky Box display an on-screen message that the phone line isn't connected?
Partially correct. I have used remote record from both a PC and mobile phone app to successfully record and the box isn't connected to a phone line so, as you say, it would appear to be done via satellite.
You can register for the remote record service through your box which does use the phone line, but I registered on the web by pairing my card number to my mobile number which didn't need the phone line connected.
It also says that you should allow half an hour for the scheduled recording to reach the box but the vast majority of the time it shows within a minute.
I had to register my box via interactive before I could use remote record for the first time which meant it had to make a callback.
The satellite has no return path.
Yes, anything connected to the phone supposedly increases the REN - however, the REN numbers are pretty meaningless, it's usually NOT a value that the unit has been tested at, but a function of how many boxes were tested,
So if you only send one unit for testing, it will be given a high REN - and with the huge costs involved, most companies will only pay for one to be tested.
Pretty well anything remotely modern will in actuallity have a VERY low REN, well below one - it's really a specification that has long had it's day (coming as it did from electro/mechanical bells