Sky freesat card

[buggsy]

hi,

 

does any member experience problems with using a sky box and a sky freesat card(cost £20). The reason i ask is that i have now taken all the kit home so that i can leave it on mains power so that sky can send a message to the box. I have no electricity at my mooring and only run the tv and sky box off an inverter so it only powered up for approx 4 hours at a time. Speaking with sky they tell me because its not permanently powered up this is the reason for the problems.

Is this the what others find?

 

cheers,

 

Steve

[Albion]

hi,

 

does any member experience problems with using a sky box and a sky freesat card(cost £20). The reason i ask is that i have now taken all the kit home so that i can leave it on mains power so that sky can send a message to the box. I have no electricity at my mooring and only run the tv and sky box off an inverter so it only powered up for approx 4 hours at a time. Speaking with sky they tell me because its not permanently powered up this is the reason for the problems.

Is this the what others find?

 

cheers,

 

Steve

 

I guess it may depend on which digi-box you're using but I find that it may be worth exchanging home and boat ones every so often so that Sky can do any updates. Other than that, it can take a moderately long time to get through all the 'Searching for listings' message (probably seems longer than it actually is. I've never timed it) but otherwise no real problems to report. I use Thomson DSI 4212 boxes BTW and have just had to renew the cards after about 4 years ish due to warning messages on the screen that became more and more frequent.

Roger

[valrene9600]

I use a 12v sky mini-box and the £20 card. Never had any problems and have just re-newed the card. I am on the move a lot so it is not permantly connected to the sattalite.

What problems are you having????

[Nickhlx]

I guess it may depend on which digi-box you're using but I find that it may be worth exchanging home and boat ones every so often so that Sky can do any updates. Other than that, it can take a moderately long time to get through all the 'Searching for listings' message (probably seems longer than it actually is. I've never timed it) but otherwise no real problems to report. I use Thomson DSI 4212 boxes BTW and have just had to renew the cards after about 4 years ish due to warning messages on the screen that became more and more frequent.

Roger

 

 

My father has a Home Sky box and it is also connected to a phone line.. he was under the impression that the box dialled a number in the dead of night, occasionally, for updates - not sure what else it could be for... although he has had it unplugged for a while with no apparent ill effects...

 

Nick

[valrene9600]

Time taken searching for listings is because the box is searching for the sattalite as my box is not on permanent stand by as most are in houses.

[Water Woman]

I have wondered about freesat but at the moment have a Freeview plus box which I can record on. It is fine and gets enough channels for me. But if anything went seriously wrong with it I would look at Sky, I just thought it would be really difficult with no electric hook up.

[alan_fincher]

I have wondered about freesat but at the moment have a Freeview plus box which I can record on. It is fine and gets enough channels for me. But if anything went seriously wrong with it I would look at Sky, I just thought it would be really difficult with no electric hook up.

Many people still seem to think you need some involvement with Sky to get FreeSat free satellite channels.

 

You do not.

 

Thinks like the Maplin "satellite suitcase" system can access the Freesat channels with no Sky involvement, (and indeed there is no slot in the supplied Comag receiver for any kind of Sky card, and it can't be used for subscription Sky).

 

Better still, the satellite suitcase runs off 12 voilts, so you don't need 240 volts.

 

Maplin often have these on offer at prices close to £50, but currently it's not.....

 

Link to Maplin item

 

Lidl, B&Q, etc also often market the same or similar systems, and you should if you are patient need to spend no more than £50 - just keep an eye for suitable offers.

[bottle]

slightly;

 

Just a reminder there are,

 

Freesat. (satellite), no ongoing costs

 

Freeview (terrestrial), no ongoing costs

 

Sky Freesat (satellite), £20 for card that may or may not require renewing.

 

They all transmit a different collection of channels.

 

The first two (freesat and freeview) are now being inbuilt to the latest televisions but Sky Freesat a separate box is required.

[buggsy]

hi,

 

does any member experience problems with using a sky box and a sky freesat card(cost £20). The reason i ask is that i have now taken all the kit home so that i can leave it on mains power so that sky can send a message to the box. I have no electricity at my mooring and only run the tv and sky box off an inverter so it only powered up for approx 4 hours at a time. Speaking with sky they tell me because its not permanently powered up this is the reason for the problems.

Is this the what others find?

 

cheers,

 

Steve

 

I have a pace sky box and a kerstan dish which i purchased off ebay. I only purchased a freesat card to get a few more channels. I have noworted out a updated card to be delivered and will try again.The problem was i don't think i ever activated the card but sky say it was so i will wait on the new card and report back.

 

cheers,

 

Steve

[valrene9600]

I have a pace sky box and a kerstan dish which i purchased off ebay. I only purchased a freesat card to get a few more channels. I have noworted out a updated card to be delivered and will try again.The problem was i don't think i ever activated the card but sky say it was so i will wait on the new card and report back.

 

cheers,

 

Steve

 

When you recieve the card set up the sky before you ring them as they will ask you to presss afew buttons to check the card agaist the box so have all your paperwork handy. Also as far as they are concerned the box is at the address they sent the card, they will not be aware of where your box is so don`t tell them it just complicates things.

[ITAfloat]

When Sky updated my card by posting out new ones and cancelling the old one, whilst miles from "home" on a cruise, sky said that the updates can take 24hrs. If the box dials into sky it can be activated that way too, they told me. It never worked and we didn't have a phone line on the cut , so had to wait until family visited with post. Then it activated within 15 minutes of putting it in.

 

Not sure if you can force a dial on the sky box with the old "4 0 1 SELECT" installers menu?

I don't have one anymore so cannot test, sorry.

 

ITA

[PeterG]

I have SKY Freesat on the boat and full fat SKY at home. From what I found if the SKY box was not reasonably up to date when you started then it would not recognise the card.

 

So do this at home first, but you do not need to be connected to a phone line at all.

 

There are two easy ways to do this. One is to take the box home with you and use your home setup and leave it on overnight. Check the software

version when you switch on and in the morning or force it to update if that does not work.

 

Google how to do this yourself or follow this link if you wish.Link

[twocvbloke]

If you want to make sure your sky box is up to date, just follow these steps:

 

1. Ensure you have a strong signal

2. Switch off the box

3. Press and hold the "Back up" button on the front and plug the box back in

4. Wait for all the lights on the front to light up, then release the Back Up button

5. Sit back and wait while the box updates itself, do not turn it off

6. Once complete, the box should be fully updated...

 

Hope this helps...

[valrene9600]

Updating now on boat. Screen says could take 10 mins.

 

That was quick, all done.

 

About 5 mins

Edited January 5, 2010 by valrene9600

[ditchcrawler]

Many people still seem to think you need some involvement with Sky to get FreeSat free satellite channels.

 

You do not.

 

Thinks like the Maplin "satellite suitcase" system can access the Freesat channels with no Sky involvement, (and indeed there is no slot in the supplied Comag receiver for any kind of Sky card, and it can't be used for subscription Sky).

 

Better still, the satellite suitcase runs off 12 voilts, so you don't need 240 volts.

 

Maplin often have these on offer at prices close to £50, but currently it's not.....

 

Link to Maplin item

 

Lidl, B&Q, etc also often market the same or similar systems, and you should if you are patient need to spend no more than £50 - just keep an eye for suitable offers.

The Maplin type is all we have at home. I did fit a proper dish as the wind moved the portable one.

[Christine]

If you want to make sure your sky box is up to date, just follow these steps:

 

1. Ensure you have a strong signal

2. Switch off the box

3. Press and hold the "Back up" button on the front and plug the box back in

4. Wait for all the lights on the front to light up, then release the Back Up button

5. Sit back and wait while the box updates itself, do not turn it off

6. Once complete, the box should be fully updated...

 

Hope this helps...

 

Thanks 2CV - I've just done this. (I have a Sky card but I cancelled the subscription a year ago) All OK except the dog tried to er...'roger' me as I was bent over the Sky box.

[ditchcrawler]

Thanks 2CV - I've just done this. (I have a Sky card but I cancelled the subscription a year ago) All OK except the dog tried to er...'roger' me as I was bent over the Sky box.

[twocvbloke]

Thanks 2CV - I've just done this. (I have a Sky card but I cancelled the subscription a year ago) All OK except the dog tried to er...'roger' me as I was bent over the Sky box.

 

Erm, yeah, if you have to do it again, put the dog outside for a bit...

[DobieJade]

hi,

 

does any member experience problems with using a sky box and a sky freesat card(cost £20). The reason i ask is that i have now taken all the kit home so that i can leave it on mains power so that sky can send a message to the box. I have no electricity at my mooring and only run the tv and sky box off an inverter so it only powered up for approx 4 hours at a time. Speaking with sky they tell me because its not permanently powered up this is the reason for the problems.

Is this the what others find?

 

cheers,

 

Steve

Rubbish

We have Freesat in our touring caravan which only gets used one weekend a month so is obviously not powered all the time. It always works perfectly when we do use it.

[valrene9600]

Rubbish

We have Freesat in our touring caravan which only gets used one weekend a month so is obviously not powered all the time. It always works perfectly when we do use it.

 

I agree there should be no problem not having the box permanly powered up mine has been fine the last 4 yrs just connected as and when.

What Buggsy has not made clear is exactly what problems he was having.

Was it a new box that came with the card but he couldn`t get anything or just some channels.

Had the box worked ok but the card didn`t allow any extra channels.

 

I had problems first off and sky told me they would do this and that if i left it coonected but after 3 days of wrangling on the phone a sensible lady took my 5th call and said although un-likely it might be a faulty card so sent a new one and bingo it worked.

I sent the old one back and they phoned to apologise saying the card was in fact dud.

[buggsy]

I have a pace sky box and a kerstan dish which i purchased off ebay. I only purchased a freesat card to get a few more channels. I have noworted out a updated card to be delivered and will try again.The problem was i don't think i ever activated the card but sky say it was so i will wait on the new card and report back.

 

cheers,

 

Steve

 

Thanks for all the replies i have put the new card in today but it has only started working once i rebooted the box as explained by Peter G's link and twocvbloke's instructions.

 

cheers,

 

Steve