How inconvenient is switching supplier(s)?
Discussion
I finally need to get my arse in gear and look at leaving Sky - another hike coming in April is going to push my bill to something like £175 per month.
I get broadband, pretty much all the TV available, HD/UHD where applicable.....maybe even a couple of other things I'm forgetting or not even aware of.
So, if and when I go shopping around and find some deals, what's the reality behind actually switching? I'm guessing for something like broadband it's very easy? I've already had a look at Virgin at £28 per month is a lot better than my £55 from Sky.
But switching the TV side of things......I guess I need a new dish, new box etc? How long will I be without any of these things? And of course getting used to a new interface is really not overly appealing, which is what might mean I stick with Sky TV.....but broadband really seems a no brainer.
Of course, I am assuming that Sky will not be able to drop my bill by nearly enough even if I spend some time on the phone to them.....
I get broadband, pretty much all the TV available, HD/UHD where applicable.....maybe even a couple of other things I'm forgetting or not even aware of.
So, if and when I go shopping around and find some deals, what's the reality behind actually switching? I'm guessing for something like broadband it's very easy? I've already had a look at Virgin at £28 per month is a lot better than my £55 from Sky.
But switching the TV side of things......I guess I need a new dish, new box etc? How long will I be without any of these things? And of course getting used to a new interface is really not overly appealing, which is what might mean I stick with Sky TV.....but broadband really seems a no brainer.
Of course, I am assuming that Sky will not be able to drop my bill by nearly enough even if I spend some time on the phone to them.....
WrekinCrew said:
If you have Sky Q, then the 4K boxes from Freesat (tuner-only, or recorder) will work with the same dish and LNB; no need to change anything.
Interesting.....I don't know much about Freesat. I assume it's a new interface? 15 years of sky and I'm very much stuck in the sky way of interface! Turtle Shed said:
BoRED S2upid said:
£175 a MONTH Jesus!!
Yeah, that shocked me too. I have been very lazy at just letting it tick along for pretty much 15 years, clearly I should have made some effort to haggle etc, but also given I do have pretty much everything they offer, I can't imagine I can expect to get all that for £50 a month?
Thought I'd give this a quick bump as I really need to kick myself up the arse this weekend and look into sorting this out as my prices go up in April.
I'm thinking my first, simplest thing is to switch broadband from Sky, possibly to Virgin based on the prices I saw the other day. Anyone know the actual process here? I'm assuming I need a new router etc sent to me? Will I be offline at any point? Working from home I can't really afford downtime.
Then the biggest issue is all the TV stuff I'm paying for. If I want to keep pretty much everything I currently have, what are my options? Sky Sports, BT Sport are pretty essential to me, Sky Cinema maybe not so much, but I do like the fact it's there.
In the same way as my broadband can I just switch to someone like Virgin, get a box sent to me and then off I go with all the same TV stuff, but a different interface?
My gut feeling is that I might not take the plunge to change the TV side of things as I'm so used to the Sky interface etc, but at the very least I'm a total idiot if I don't do the broadband.
I'm thinking my first, simplest thing is to switch broadband from Sky, possibly to Virgin based on the prices I saw the other day. Anyone know the actual process here? I'm assuming I need a new router etc sent to me? Will I be offline at any point? Working from home I can't really afford downtime.
Then the biggest issue is all the TV stuff I'm paying for. If I want to keep pretty much everything I currently have, what are my options? Sky Sports, BT Sport are pretty essential to me, Sky Cinema maybe not so much, but I do like the fact it's there.
In the same way as my broadband can I just switch to someone like Virgin, get a box sent to me and then off I go with all the same TV stuff, but a different interface?
My gut feeling is that I might not take the plunge to change the TV side of things as I'm so used to the Sky interface etc, but at the very least I'm a total idiot if I don't do the broadband.
Virgin are as bad as Sky for hiking prices, and even worse for service. I'd echo what's been said; Freesat dish on the existing dish, and a better Internet provider. I've no complaints with Zen - decent, consistent speeds, and only two outages in four years. One for five minutes, one for half an hour.
It sounds like you need to spend some time on the phone to them - it looks like it’s long overdue, but you know that already.
Sky wanted to hike mine up 18% this April so I called them and am now paying £63 inclusive of the upcoming April hike. I don’t get or want sports, but other than that it sounds pretty much like the package you have described. But £175
Sky wanted to hike mine up 18% this April so I called them and am now paying £63 inclusive of the upcoming April hike. I don’t get or want sports, but other than that it sounds pretty much like the package you have described. But £175
Virgin are on cable, so you'll need them to run the cable in to the house, and will need a new set top box and modem. No reason you couldn't get them to fit it before you cancel Sky though.
Virgins box has built in recording, program guide, etc and works well. If you ever do have any problems though thier customer service is crap (I left about 6 or 7 years ago though so it may have improved)
Virgins box has built in recording, program guide, etc and works well. If you ever do have any problems though thier customer service is crap (I left about 6 or 7 years ago though so it may have improved)
OP you're not going to get all the TV you currently have from anywhere else, unless you get an illegal stick or similar. So you'll have to stick with Sky. Or change your viewing habits.
Well, that said, Virgin can give you all the Sky and TNT channels etc but long term they will not be much cheaper and their boxes and interface aren't as good as Sky's. Plus you'll need cables installed. Do you have extra Sky mini boxes? If so you'll need extra Virgin boxes.
Yes you can save a few £ by switching the BB but it's much easier having it all in one place.
So you need to contact Sky and haggle a deal, tell them you're leaving, you should be able to get everything down to under £100.
Well, that said, Virgin can give you all the Sky and TNT channels etc but long term they will not be much cheaper and their boxes and interface aren't as good as Sky's. Plus you'll need cables installed. Do you have extra Sky mini boxes? If so you'll need extra Virgin boxes.
Yes you can save a few £ by switching the BB but it's much easier having it all in one place.
So you need to contact Sky and haggle a deal, tell them you're leaving, you should be able to get everything down to under £100.
Edited by megaphone on Friday 28th March 09:41
Thanks guys, first stop is spending some time on the phone tomorrow.
Next stop looking at the broadband switch.
Final stop this one sounds like a sensible thing to look into:
"If you have Sky Q, then the 4K boxes from Freesat (tuner-only, or recorder) will work with the same dish and LNB; no need to change anything."
Next stop looking at the broadband switch.
Final stop this one sounds like a sensible thing to look into:
"If you have Sky Q, then the 4K boxes from Freesat (tuner-only, or recorder) will work with the same dish and LNB; no need to change anything."
UTH said:
Thanks guys, first stop is spending some time on the phone tomorrow.
Next stop looking at the broadband switch.
Final stop this one sounds like a sensible thing to look into:
"If you have Sky Q, then the 4K boxes from Freesat (tuner-only, or recorder) will work with the same dish and LNB; no need to change anything."
Where are you getting "Sky Sports, BT Sport are pretty essential to me" from?Next stop looking at the broadband switch.
Final stop this one sounds like a sensible thing to look into:
"If you have Sky Q, then the 4K boxes from Freesat (tuner-only, or recorder) will work with the same dish and LNB; no need to change anything."
These days everything sky offers is available on some other sort of steaming service.
What are you actually using sky for? What channels are you watching the most you need to work out
Having Freeview and then whatever subscription you want works out best I think
EE broadband about £25 a month, then sky sports if you want to watch the F1 or football you can get though now TV, every film is on either Amazon prime, Disney, Netflix, paramount or just rent to buy.
If you’ve not got a smart tv get a firestick on now tv box or treat yourself to a new TV with the savings?
I can’t see any reason to have sky anymore, you don’t even need a dish, or a aerial, feeeview is available over WiFi now in the same way sky Q is now, dishes are largely redundant
What are you actually using sky for? What channels are you watching the most you need to work out
Having Freeview and then whatever subscription you want works out best I think
EE broadband about £25 a month, then sky sports if you want to watch the F1 or football you can get though now TV, every film is on either Amazon prime, Disney, Netflix, paramount or just rent to buy.
If you’ve not got a smart tv get a firestick on now tv box or treat yourself to a new TV with the savings?
I can’t see any reason to have sky anymore, you don’t even need a dish, or a aerial, feeeview is available over WiFi now in the same way sky Q is now, dishes are largely redundant
Before speaking to Sky I would price up what you currently have on the Sky website as a new customer. That should be the most you pay per month.
Then look at whether you can forfeit being able to record for a streaming only solution - if so then price up Sky Stream as a new customer.
What broadband speed do you have as the most expensive from Sky is £44 for full fibre 900Mb/s?
Then look at whether you can forfeit being able to record for a streaming only solution - if so then price up Sky Stream as a new customer.
What broadband speed do you have as the most expensive from Sky is £44 for full fibre 900Mb/s?
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