FTV card ends Jan?

Claudio Potenza wrote:

After more than 1 month since I received the card I have been unable
to have the card working and the call center support has been quite
... disappointing (to be kind with them!).

What's the problem? Give a precise description and someone here can
probably tell you exactly what is wrong.


And I've been so stupid of NOT stopping the payment through my credit
card...

If you really aren't getting any joy from the FTV people (and I'm
surprised as I have always found them to be extremely helpful and
quick to send out replacement cards when one is found to be faulty)
then just ring your credit card company and demand a chargeback. You
are extensively protected by UK law when making distance purchases
like this one.

--
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. ;-)

Jomtien wrote:

Claudio Potenza wrote:

After more than 1 month since I received the card I have been unable
to have the card working and the call center support has been quite
... disappointing (to be kind with them!).

What's the problem? Give a precise description and someone here can
probably tell you exactly what is wrong.

..

If you really aren't getting any joy from the FTV people (and I'm
surprised as I have always found them to be extremely helpful and
quick to send out replacement cards when one is found to be faulty)
then just ring your credit card company and demand a chargeback. You
are extensively protected by UK law when making distance purchases
like this one.

I too am having problems with a FTV card.
After numerous calls, and more 'signals' being sent, I still have BBC1
London and no 103, 104, 105. Also of note the caption on 106 says the
card is not authorised.
(I have passed all this info to cust services, and told them s/w
versions, epg etc, etc.)
I have left the card in the box switched on BBC1 for 2 weeks.
I have tried other FTV and subscription cards in the box (Pana) which
work OK.
I have also left the card in another box (Amstrad) for a week and it
still did not get 'the signal'. (Both other FTV card's I ordered,
worked first time in this box - I have FTV in three bedrooms, as well
as a subscription in the living room)
I phoned yesterday and have been told that a fault call has been
raised and to phone back on Tuesday ! When I shall be asking for a new
card or a refund !)
Regards

Colin.

On Sat, 07 Feb 2004 10:16:46 +0000, Colin wrote:

I too am having problems with a FTV card.
After numerous calls, and more 'signals' being sent, I still have BBC1
London and no 103, 104, 105. Also of note the caption on 106 says the
card is not authorised.
(I have passed all this info to cust services, and told them s/w
versions, epg etc, etc.)
I have left the card in the box switched on BBC1 for 2 weeks.
I have tried other FTV and subscription cards in the box (Pana) which
work OK.
I have also left the card in another box (Amstrad) for a week and it
still did not get 'the signal'. (Both other FTV card's I ordered,
worked first time in this box - I have FTV in three bedrooms, as well
as a subscription in the living room)
I phoned yesterday and have been told that a fault call has been
raised and to phone back on Tuesday ! When I shall be asking for a new
card or a refund !)

OK this is what you do instead:

Assuming you are in the UK
-------------------------------------------

Connect the box to a phone line, power up the
box and allow it to get going and load the epg

then:

Services 4 0 1 select
6 (New Installation) select
Follow the onscreen instructions.

That should do the business and immediatly authorise the card
for the FTV services providing all is well.
--
Jim Watt http://www.gibnet.com

In message , Jim Watt
writes
Services 4 0 1 select
6 (New Installation) select
Follow the onscreen instructions.

That should do the business and immediatly authorise the card
for the FTV services providing all is well.

As far as I know, the new (now old!) FTV service didn't implement modem
initialisation - only voice call, and it used a totally different number
to any others as well.
--
Nigel Goodwin
C.Farmer Ltd.
Matlock

On Sat, 7 Feb 2004 12:47:54 +0000, Nigel Goodwin
wrote:

In message , Jim Watt
writes
Services 4 0 1 select
6 (New Installation) select
Follow the onscreen instructions.

That should do the business and immediatly authorise the card
for the FTV services providing all is well.

As far as I know, the new (now old!) FTV service didn't implement modem
initialisation - only voice call, and it used a totally different number
to any others as well.

Perhaps one of the people with uninitialsed cards might
try it and post the result. It certainly worked OK on the
1st generation cards. Given that the idea is to keep the
overheads down its foolish to have made the facility
manual when a good automatic solution exists.

And it was effective immediately.
--
Jim Watt http://www.gibnet.com

In message , Jim Watt
writes
Perhaps one of the people with uninitialsed cards might
try it and post the result. It certainly worked OK on the
1st generation cards. Given that the idea is to keep the
overheads down its foolish to have made the facility
manual when a good automatic solution exists.

It did when BSkyB ran the FTV card service!, but when the contract was
moved to BT Contract Services, modem initialisation wasn't part of their
original contract with the BBC. So it didn't work!.

Following my conversations with the person responsible at the BBC, who
didn't even know it didn't work!, systems were eventually set in place
to re-enable modem authorisation for FTV cards. Also following my
conversations, the FTV line were reprimanded for asking customers for
box details when ordering a card - this was never a requirement of the
contract, and appeared to be initiated by BT Contract Services for some
bizarre reason of their own.

As the FTV line appears to only be expected to run for a very short
time, it would probably cost too much to set up modem authorisation
(particularly as most of the cards are heading outside the UK anyway!).

Presumably, the short term FTV company was cheaper to set up than to pay
BSkyB to do it properly?.

And it was effective immediately.

Yes, modem authorisation is very quick and easy, if you're in the UK,
and have a fixed phone, there's not really any reason not to do it.
--
Nigel Goodwin
C.Farmer Ltd.
Matlock

Nigel Goodwin wrote:

As far as I know, the new (now old!) FTV service didn't implement modem
initialisation - only voice call, and it used a totally different number
to any others as well.

I can confirm this.

--
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. ;-)

Colin wrote:

I have left the card in the box switched on BBC1 for 2 weeks.
I have tried other FTV and subscription cards in the box (Pana) which
work OK.
I have also left the card in another box (Amstrad) for a week and it
still did not get 'the signal'.

This is probably where you went wrong. Once you have requested
activation you MUST leave the card in the right box without removing
it or switching the box off until the card is activated. Putting the
card in the wrong box is guaranteed to prevent activation.

Stick it in and leave it alone.

--
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. ;-)

Jomtien wrote in message . ..
Claudio Potenza wrote:

After more than 1 month since I received the card I have been unable
to have the card working and the call center support has been quite
... disappointing (to be kind with them!).

What's the problem? Give a precise description and someone here can
probably tell you exactly what is wrong.


I have bought a second hand Sky Box from ebay (and it receives all the
FTA channels perfectly).
The dish was already installed when I moved in my new house.
The signal strength/quality indicated by the box are around 60/70%.

103/104/105 are not displayed at all when I scan through the channels
(it goes 101, 102, 106, ...)

The box seems to see the card because when I go to System setup/System
details I can see the card number displayed.

I have reset the box, reloaded the software as described here, left
the card in the box (with the box on) for 3 days, all without results.

The first two times I called the FTV call center they told me just to
leave the card in the box and the box on for 24 hours: they would send
the authorization and everything would work. The third time they asked
me for the box version number because then it seemed that the
authorization is matched to the box as well.

The fourth time they asked me how was the "lock indicator".

The fifth time they asked me about the signal quality/strength.

The sixth time they asked me to reset the box (never mind that I told
them that I already done the reset).

All this is complicated by the fact that the call center is open from
9am to 5pm and during that time I am not at home in front of my box
but at work (and they told my wife that only the card holder can call
them!).

And when I asked how could I have my money back they told me that the
card is non-refundable...

Jim Watt wrote:

On Sat, 07 Feb 2004 10:16:46 +0000, Colin wrote:

I too am having problems with a FTV card.
......

OK this is what you do instead:

Assuming you are in the UK
-------------------------------------------

Connect the box to a phone line, power up the
box and allow it to get going and load the epg

then:

Services 4 0 1 select
6 (New Installation) select
Follow the onscreen instructions.

That should do the business and immediatly authorise the card
for the FTV services providing all is well.

Sorry Jim, I forgot to add that I tried that also !
I'm sure I have a faulty card - Just need to convince FTV card
services !
Regards

Colin.