Anyone familiar with the Sky Q box & do I need an engineer

[un1corn]

I've been with Sky for nearly 8 years. I'm paying well over the odds for what I have so im going to threaten to cancel. If I do cancel and they wont offer me anything, then i'll just be a new customer in a few weeks. I'm with Sky for my TV and BT for phone, mobile and broadband. I'll just play their offers off against each other because im paying them both too much, and Virgin seems like complete hassle.

Anyway, I've got a Sky + box, which is about 8 years old. It has no internet connection, and runs off a dish on the side of the house.

I cant find detail anywhere about how the new Q box works. Does it need an internet connection? The master phone socket is in another room, a good 12ft away through a solid wall, so connecting the box via a cable into the phone line is a no-go. Does it work on wifi?

And lastly, is it a simple swap from the old + box to a Q box or do I need an engineer to come out and start drilling holes and st?

I don't have a smart TV or anything like that which supports a connection.

Failing that

[Grayedout]

Sky Q will work fine on the WiFi.

Can't remember if it's part of the deal or an extra but you can get a second box for another room which then allows you to watch any live or recorded programs on a second telly.

Yes Sky is damn expensive but the Q box is a very clever piece of kit!

[megaphone]

The Sky Q box needs a different LNB on the dish, the bit on the end of the arm, so you'll need a visit to fit it. As long as the two existing cables are in good nick they can be re-used.

Sky Q can connect to the broadband via WiFi, as long as it is in range.

I'm sure Sky will do you a deal for the full package that will be cheaper.

[alorotom]

To be treated as a new customer from sky you need to have been away from them for 365days (that’s what I was told when rejoining last August after an 18mth break). So, if you do cancel and need to return you will be best putting in someone else’s name.

[chow pan toon]

alorotom said:

To be treated as a new customer from sky you need to have been away from them for 365days (that’s what I was told when rejoining last August after an 18mth break). So, if you do cancel and need to return you will be best putting in someone else’s name.

Yup. We did exactly that but they took my wife as a new customer so it's fairly easy to get round.

[FourWheelDrift]

Just an FYI if you also consider going halfway with a new HD+ box (black box not a Q box) they are also WiFi connected.

[richatnort]

chow pan toon said:

alorotom said:

To be treated as a new customer from sky you need to have been away from them for 365days (that’s what I was told when rejoining last August after an 18mth break). So, if you do cancel and need to return you will be best putting in someone else’s name.

Yup. We did exactly that but they took my wife as a new customer so it's fairly easy to get round.

Also on this it needs to be in someone else's name but also a different bank account, they do checks on name & bank details to see if it's the same person or not.

As everyone else has said though you will need an engineer (which are free) and yes the main box works or wifi but if you can hard wire it you'll get it faster.

As for a mini box or multi room to everyone else, it's £12 a month which they don't normally discount & that requires a strong WIFI signal as it doesn't get its signal from the satelite but from the main Q box and sends the TV signal over WIFI so if your WIFI is rubbish & you want to watch HD it can be slow & judder so it might be worth trying to hard wire that or just power line adaptors will work well.

[super7]

Sky Q uses it's own 'proprietry' wifi network on a different frequency through the main box. This network is used to provide the 'multi' room functionality within your home. If you have Sky Broadband, the Sky hub uses this network as well and can give a better service to the 'mini' boxes.

You will need an engineer to come out and chnage the LNB and if you want any of the box-set, on-demand or anything else that's not basic TV you'll need a good broadband connection.