SKY +

also have sky+ (was installed in December). Engineer was very helpful re: the phone line - they do a call back after 4-6 weeks, to check it's still connected. After that you should be safe.

Potential penalty for breaking that particular clause in the contract - £30.

As i say, this is just what an engineer told me, have not read this anywhere else. I know a lot of people with sky, none have ever been hit with a fine for not having the line plugged in.

sky claim that you need your phoneline connected to enable them to update your decoder, you do need it in if you want o get box office cos this sends and recieves an authorisation code or summat.

in reality SKY want you phone line connected because, if i understand correctly a couple of times a month your box dials sky and downloads all your viewing information, sky know every key press youve made on your box, they use this info to tailor their advertising and programming, to find out what their customers watch and what they dont watch, but more importantly i believe that they also sell this information to third parties so they can target you for $hite.

Originally Posted by Captain Nemo

sky claim that you need your phoneline connected to enable them to update your decoder, you do need it in if you want o get box office cos this sends and recieves an authorisation code or summat.

This isn't a claim that Sky would officially make (although it could be some under-trained employee in a call centre may say this). The phone line can be disconnected (within the terms of the contract) after 12 months and the software is still updated via satellite.

It's true that the phone line is used to send information relating to box office purchases, but it's still possible to order box office events over the phone if you you don't have your box connected.

Originally Posted by Captain Nemo

in reality SKY want you phone line connected because... your box dials sky and downloads all your viewing information

There is truth in this, the contract stipulates that Sky will monitor useage and obviously this will be used to determine programming and advertising patterns.

you can opt out of the telephone connection for a one off payment of £25 or £30. my mrs was not keen on the phone connection as she did not want cables running round the room from the phone socket.

sky might not publicise this, but when they come to install it, talk to the engineer and you'll be asked to call up a specila sky number with your credit card and pay the fee.

the fee is due because sky get some subsidy for the equipemnt from BT (or something like that).

hth

thanks all..

I'm currently paying thru the nose because they can't connect to one of my boxes. Gits.