OT - Sky TV alternatives

dinyull

Looking to get rid of our Sky TV and Broadband package and just wondering what alternatives are out there.

We currently pay £70 a month for a basic entertainment package and broadband - no sports or movies.

Virgin was the first alternative that popped into my head and looks like we could get a similar package for £35-40 a month. But in reality for what we watch a freeview recorder box, Netflix and separate broadband connection could work out cheaper again.

What setups do people use and recommend?

fenix

Now TV ?
Amazon TV ?

bendertherobot

Ditched it in the Summer. I have a Freeview box (with HDD) and Netflix and Prime. The latter isn't as good but given how much we order from Amazon.............

Then, if you want Atlantic, keep buying cheap Now TV passes. You can get them for less than £20 for a year now.

The_Wicker_Man

Thats a lot of money for the basic package. I've been with sky for around 7 years now and after them upping my monthly fee to £80 premium package (all channels + broadband), I decided to change my package. I don't watch the movie channel anymore as I use netflix and amazon prime and if I wanted extra movies I could always get the 2 week now tv entertainment bundle for free. And I don't watch sports apart from the cycling on eurosport. So phoned them and asked if I could downgrade to the family HD package (so I could still get Sky Atlantic and Fox) and they agreed. Now I pay £38.99 a month for the family HD package and broadband.

Alternatively you could switch to BT, although the broadband isn't too good or if you live in a cable area, get virgin. I was wanting to go to Virgin but can't my area doesn't support cable.

asprilla

I have Freesat, Netflix and I use NowTV for four months a year to binge on stuff like GoT and The Walking Dead.

Broadband is with BT.

The_Wicker_Man wrote:

Alternatively you could switch to BT, although the broadband isn't too good or if you live in a cable area, get virgin. I was wanting to go to Virgin but can't my area doesn't support cable.

Sky / NowTV quoted my line as being capable of 12.5mbs when I was looking at the NowTV BB, Phone and TV Combo, despite BT Wholesale rating it at 21.5mbs and the fact I was getting 18.5mbs from BT.

Also the BT homehubs are substantially better than Sky hubs, even the new viper box.

As a caveat, I'm posting this from Sky's HQ building.

UndercoverElephant

First of all, if you want to keep Sky, ring them, mention Virgin and they'll drop their prices instantly. Why people don't do this yearly is beyond me. I've trained my in-laws to do this as they were just accepting every increase.

I ditched them many years ago and we're happy with Netflix and freeview.

dinyull

Virgin is out as they aren't in my street.

I know that Sky will probably offer a sweeter deal when I ring to cancel, but also know their prices soon shoot up once the 18 month contract you have to sign up to ends.

I'm favouring a Freeview HDD box at the minute. What are people recommendations for broadband?

hopkinb

...

The_Wicker_Man

Asprilla wrote:

Sky / NowTV quoted my line as being capable of 12.5mbs when I was looking at the NowTV BB, Phone and TV Combo, despite BT Wholesale rating it at 21.5mbs and the fact I was getting 18.5mbs from BT.

Also the BT homehubs are substantially better than Sky hubs, even the new viper box.

As a caveat, I'm posting this from Sky's HQ building.

I only get between 4-6mbs from BT with the latest Smart hub 6. When I was had sky broadband, I was getting around 10-12mbs. Only swapped my broadband provider because I was getting a better deal, as my my landline provider is with BT. Currently waiting on open reach installing fibre in my area which they say will be done within the next 18-24 months.

asprilla

The_Wicker_Man wrote:

Asprilla wrote:

Sky / NowTV quoted my line as being capable of 12.5mbs when I was looking at the NowTV BB, Phone and TV Combo, despite BT Wholesale rating it at 21.5mbs and the fact I was getting 18.5mbs from BT.

Also the BT homehubs are substantially better than Sky hubs, even the new viper box.

As a caveat, I'm posting this from Sky's HQ building.

I only get between 4-6mbs from BT with the latest Smart hub 6. When I was had sky broadband, I was getting around 10-12mbs. Only swapped my broadband provider because I was getting a better deal, as my my landline provider is with BT. Currently waiting on open reach installing fibre in my area which they say will be done within the next 18-24 months.

Strange. Do you have stability issues? The lines should run at the same speed, the main reason for lowering a speed is to improve stability and the Sky threshhold tends to be higher than BTs (i.e. they will give you a higher line speed at the expense of it falling over more frequently). However, both are capable of achieving the same speed should they wish to as it's the same line and exchange equipment.

The routers differ in that the Sky ones support fewer wifi standards and simply aren't as powerful.

asprilla

Can we not promote piracy; I've got friends whose livelihoods depend on profitable films and TV. It's not the studios that suffer, it's the folks they sack.

hopkinb

Asprilla wrote:

Can we not promote piracy; I've got friends whose livelihoods depend on profitable films and TV. It's not the studios that suffer, it's the folks they sack.

You could say the same about globalisation, over-regulation or any advance in technology that causes folks to be sacked. But fair enough.

secretsam

Freeview + Netflix + Amazon Fire Stick with Prime.

Wouldn't give Murdoch the steam off my p155

dinyull

Spoke with Sky, could only reduce the bill to £50 a month for 10 months. So have signed up with BT instead, £36 a mont for 18 months with virtually the same package apart from additional BT Sport channels.

wolfsbane2k

Dinyull wrote:

Spoke with Sky, could only reduce the bill to £50 a month for 10 months. So have signed up with BT instead, £36 a mont for 18 months with virtually the same package apart from additional BT Sport channels.

Hope you did that with TCB or similar - about £130 cash back, would do a few more bike bits!

dinyull

No, sadly not. Do get a £100 prepaid mastercard though.

Really need to get into cashback websites!

my_grandadʹs_bike

The trick with getting a really good deal with Sky is by giving your one months notice and then sticking by it. If you can live without your TV/phone/internet for a short while (not so easy I know if you have family etc) you will then be bombarded with mail shots/calls etc incentivsing you to come back. Occaisionly you get an offer before your notice period expires but it won't be as good as if you have left.

Best deal I had was 75% off and £50 credit to the account (including sky sports). Currently getting in the region of 60% off my monthly bill discounted for 12 months. Probably too late for you now you've signed up to BT but may be useful to others in a similar situation.

wolfsbane2k

Dinyull wrote:

No, sadly not. Do get a £100 prepaid mastercard though.

Really need to get into cashback websites!

Yowch. Looks like 100 prepaid and a 130 cashback - that's a good deal. EPO wouldn't need to know about that ( cue new garmin 820 appearing in the work post)

Yes, you must. I've now hit 1k on TCB over 4 1/2 years.

awavey

Asprilla wrote:

The_Wicker_Man wrote:

Asprilla wrote:

Sky / NowTV quoted my line as being capable of 12.5mbs when I was looking at the NowTV BB, Phone and TV Combo, despite BT Wholesale rating it at 21.5mbs and the fact I was getting 18.5mbs from BT.

Also the BT homehubs are substantially better than Sky hubs, even the new viper box.

As a caveat, I'm posting this from Sky's HQ building.

I only get between 4-6mbs from BT with the latest Smart hub 6. When I was had sky broadband, I was getting around 10-12mbs. Only swapped my broadband provider because I was getting a better deal, as my my landline provider is with BT. Currently waiting on open reach installing fibre in my area which they say will be done within the next 18-24 months.

Strange. Do you have stability issues? The lines should run at the same speed, the main reason for lowering a speed is to improve stability and the Sky threshhold tends to be higher than BTs (i.e. they will give you a higher line speed at the expense of it falling over more frequently). However, both are capable of achieving the same speed should they wish to as it's the same line and exchange equipment.

The routers differ in that the Sky ones support fewer wifi standards and simply aren't as powerful.

I dont know which ones Sky use now, but I got a nice Netgear out of them many years ago and its identical to Netgear off the shelves, not as fancy as the ones that are dual channel, but it works (touch wood).

and the exchange equipment and your line in between can and does get moved about, so things can and do change in terms of supportable speed even if you stay with the same provider and certainly if you swap it will be moved.

you only need an underground cable to fill up with water, get stuck on a bit of aluminium that finally gives up etc etc, when my phone line developed a fault, they just shifted me on to the next free terminals in the cabinet down the road.

itboffin

I really need to look into my sky package, I hardly watch anything but have three sky+ HD boxes with the family package and multiroom, same deal about £70

Likewise I have multiple bt vision units, Netflix apple TV and most likely something else I've forgotten about.

I pay £0 for the bt vision mind including all the movies, as I'm a bt product tester.