audio/picture freezing

I've had Sky digital for 3 years now and recently this problem with the
picture and sound freezing has cropped up. I've tried unplugging and
reconnecting the cables into the digibox all to no avail and last night
things got so bad that I decided to give customer services a call.

I was guided to the installer menu and went through the process of
reinstalling all the channels, again though this failed to sort the problem.
Gave them another call and was then asked to power off the digibox and pull
out and reconnect the dish input. I had already done this but went through
the motions for the sake of it, upon powering up though I got the "No
satellite signal received".

My feeling is that the digibox is needing replaced and I was quoted in the
region of £200 for a new one. I don't fancy paying the £70 call out fee for
an engineer to tell me that. I've read that the LNB could be the problem.
How much would that cost to fix?
I live in a telewest broadband area, near Glasgow, so I have the option of
switching back to cable, also benefiting from a broadband internet
connection.

Ultimately though the cheapest, minimal hassle option is what I'm after.

All thoughts appreciated.

Regards,

Colin

"Colin" wrote in message
...
I've had Sky digital for 3 years now and recently this problem with the
picture and sound freezing has cropped up. I've tried unplugging and
reconnecting the cables into the digibox all to no avail and last night
things got so bad that I decided to give customer services a call.

I was guided to the installer menu and went through the process of
reinstalling all the channels, again though this failed to sort the problem.
Gave them another call and was then asked to power off the digibox and pull
out and reconnect the dish input. I had already done this but went through
the motions for the sake of it, upon powering up though I got the "No
satellite signal received".

My feeling is that the digibox is needing replaced and I was quoted in the
region of £200 for a new one. I don't fancy paying the £70 call out fee for
an engineer to tell me that. I've read that the LNB could be the problem.
How much would that cost to fix?
I live in a telewest broadband area, near Glasgow, so I have the option of
switching back to cable, also benefiting from a broadband internet
connection.

Ultimately though the cheapest, minimal hassle option is what I'm after.

All thoughts appreciated.

Regards,

Colin


The call out fee (whatever it's price) includes all the labour and parts to
get the system up and running again, in practice that would probably mean
a refurbished digibox or new LNB/cable.
If you had to pay £200 for a new digibox then SKY+ at £199 would probably
be the better option if you were on a channel package that waived the
SKY+ fee. £200 for a standard digibox is daylight robbery, SKY should be
selling those at cost to existing subscribers who wish to upgrade to a more
modern (faster) STB.

If the TW service is good enough for you then ring SKY and when they
start quoting prices tell them you want to cancel and are going to TW.
They will either do a deal with you there and then or call you back
soon after with a compromise. Worse case you go to TW and have the
satisfaction of having told SKY where they can shove their service.

Don't TW let you have it's broadband service without digital TV?
I am in an NTL area and just have their cable modem with SKY providing
my digital TV.

Mike C

The call out fee (whatever it's price) includes all the labour and parts
to
get the system up and running again, in practice that would probably mean
a refurbished digibox or new LNB/cable.
If you had to pay £200 for a new digibox then SKY+ at £199 would probably
be the better option if you were on a channel package that waived the
SKY+ fee. £200 for a standard digibox is daylight robbery, SKY should be
selling those at cost to existing subscribers who wish to upgrade to a
more
modern (faster) STB.

If the TW service is good enough for you then ring SKY and when they
start quoting prices tell them you want to cancel and are going to TW.
They will either do a deal with you there and then or call you back
soon after with a compromise. Worse case you go to TW and have the
satisfaction of having told SKY where they can shove their service.

Don't TW let you have it's broadband service without digital TV?
I am in an NTL area and just have their cable modem with SKY providing
my digital TV.

Mike C


Thanks for the reply Mike, appreciate it. I never realised the call out
charge include all parts and labour to get the thing working again.

They did mention to me about upgrading to SKY+ but as I'm on the basic
digital package I would have to upgrade that which would be about an extra
tenner a month or so.

I will find out what the script is with telewest and see if I can do a deal
with sky, I'm sure they're keen to hang on to customers.
Telewest do let you have broadband without the TV package but I think if you
get the TV and broadband there is a discounted rate. Not sure how it works
splitting up the package as I'm sure sky insist on a BT line for using the
digital TV.
Best option would appear to be jumping ship to TW and everything together.
I'll see how it goes.

Thanks again,

Colin

Colin wrote:

I never realised the call out
charge include all parts and labour to get the thing working again.

It *normally* does. AFAIK Sky don't actually state that it does and
they reserve the right to bill for parts if they wish. Presumably this
is to prevent people "upgrading" their equipment every few months.

--
Digibox problem? : A reboot solves 90% of these.
The Sky Digital FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/tez5
How to get UK TV overseas: http://tinyurl.com/6p73
Fed up with logos / red buttons? : http://logofreetv.org/
BBC gone? : http://www.astra2d.co.uk/
----
Only the truth as I see it.
No monies return'd. ;-)