SKY & Phoneline

Hi,

I just signed up to SKY+ today and got an offer that was advertised in the press on Sunday. Free Sky+ box and €50 installation. Also got multiroom for half price with a free normal SKY box.

I have a few questions though.
How does the connection to the phone line work ?
What is it used for ?
What happens if I don't have it connected ?
Can they disconnect my subscription ?
Does it interfere with normal usage of the phone line in any way ?

Hi Pique318,
The phoneline for Sky boxes is used to purchase services such as Sky box office etc, and is usually setup like an ordinary phone extension.
I've a line splitter in the hall with 1 line to a telephone and the second line run to the sky box.

The phone line "must" be plugged into each Sky box for the duration of the 12 month contract to ensure that all boxes are in the same location.
The Sky box will occasionally diall-home and Sky will check the incoming phone number to make sure they're still in the house.

Under the standard T&C's all boxes must be connected to a phone line for the first 12 months. If not, SKY will send you a letter after a few weeks to check the line and ultimately will increase the multiroom subscription to the full monthly rate if it isn't sorted out.

The boxes will usually diall-home during the night so shouldn't affect the normal operation of the phone-line, and you will usually be warned that the box is going to use the phone line if you are ordering a movie etc.

Thanks Charlie.
My phone line is in the opposite corner of the room to the TV though, and I don't want cables trailing over the floor.
Will they refuse to connect you if you do not have a phone line then ?

Hi Pique,
The Sky engineer won't care what you do after the installation is finished, but can refuse to complete the installation if a phone line is not available beside the box.

When I was getting SKY+ installed in a converted garage I ran a crappy phone line across the floor to the box to allow the Sky engineer complete the install.
I then plugged the phone-line out until I could get a tidy phone line in place. (Hence knowledge of what SKY do if you don't have a phone line plugged in...)

You can get low-profile telephone extension kitsf rom the likes of Maplin or Argos which have a very thin phone cable that can be run across the top of skirting boards etc. and stuck down with double sided-tape.

Argos have this one for £9.99 on their UK website which would do the trick:


The cable would be 3-4mm wide and about 1mm thick, and can be run under saddle boards, wooden-floor strips without any problem.

Perfect. Thanks a million.

It is absolutely possible to have a Sky digibox without a phone line.

I am on my second one in two different locations and both installed by a registered Sky installer and no phone line involved.

It is increasingly common for people to disperse with traditional landlines particularly on new builds and when this is reported as the reason the installation is accepted.

I would imagine that the addition of a Sky+ box would be no different, although I can't say for definite as I haven't taken this option.

I'm spoke to a guy from sky who said that a phone line is not necessary for sky + but it is a bit dearer to install it if there is no phone line. However if you want multi room , you do need a phone line

I just upgraded to Sky+ after being with sky for 8yrs and never had a phone line. Installation charge for the sky+ upgrade would be free if I was prepared to have it connected to a phone line for 12 months. Otherwise it was €36.50 which I went for

My mother got her sky multi-room installed yesterday afternoon. Two ordinary boxes - not sky plus. We got a guy in yesterday morning to install a phone socket directly behind the TV in both rooms before the sky man arrived.

We the Sky man was leaving he pointed out that he had not connected either box to the phone line as he had no cable short enough!!! After all our trouble getting new sockets put in!! And he had no crimpers to shorten the longer cables he had. Saturday afternoon and he wanted to get home, I suspect.

I let him go. when Sky make contact about lack of phone connection, I'm going to tell them my tale and tell them to send someone out to connect it.

It must depend on the area you are in. In some places like the south east Sky will not install unless they can connect to a phone line.

I've subscribed to Sky for years now, and even moved house, and never had a connection from the Sky box to a phone-line. Never had any hassle from Sky about it, even when I moved house and had Sky installed at new house. (2 years ago).

joer said:

It must depend on the area you are in. In some places like the south east Sky will not install unless they can connect to a phone line.

Click to expand...

I'm in the south east and don't have the Sky box connected to the phone line - told the installer at the time I didn't want it.