sky card

[sow]

We have bought a new sky viewing card direct from Sky so we need to activate it.  Our sky box is in France, from reading on here it seems it has to be activated in the box we want to use it with?  Will we be ok phoning from France to activate it?

Thanks in advance

G

[Ron Avery]

[quote]We have bought a new sky viewing card direct from Sky so we need to activate it. Our sky box is in France, from reading on here it seems it has to be activated in the box we want to use it with? Wil...[/quote]

No because SKY will know that you are not phoning from the UK address where you registered the card, some will tell you SKY do not care where you are but its not their card they are playing with. The only SAFE way is to take the box to UK and register it there.

If this is a FTV SKY card simply to get ITV, Ch4 5 etc, you do not have to register it, you simply stick it in the machine.

[Val_2]

Its very dangerous to ring from France especially on a landline as they can see the incoming number come up. Years ago we rang using a phonecard as we did not have a mobile phone and it cost over £30 for a five minute call as they keep you hanging on and on and on.......

[Nick Trollope]

[quote]No because SKY will know that you are not phoning from the UK address where you registered the card, some will tell you SKY do not care where you are but its not their card they are playing with. The ...[/quote]

I must say that I have telephoned $ky several times from a French landline (number withheld and via a 3rd party operator) without any problems. It is inevitable that anyone living here and with a UK-based contract will need to ring them (on the latest occasion it was because my debit card had expired & I needed to use another).

If you are willing to accept that there is no "legal" (civil or criminal) way to watch $ky here, then with only a modicum of subterfuge it is really quite easy .....

 

[Robbie34]

If it's a Freesat card then it can be activated in any Sky digibox as it does not need to be married to any particular box.  You could ask a friend or neighbour with a Sky box to do this for you. 

[moon]

I know its slightly off the subject but when our Skybox in UK failed we took the card out and put it into my mother in laws Skybox which she no longer used and it worked fine. Never had to register though I have seen this on several sites as being necessary

Bob

 

[Robbie34]

For some reason you have now to request Sky to activate your new card.  At one time you simply put it in the slot in your box and left your box switched on, when it was activated within twenty-four hours.

Once activated, a Sky card will work in any box, but if you subscribe to the premium channels, i.e. Movies and Sports, you will not be able to receive these channels unless your card is in the box to which the card is married.

[sow]

Thanks for the replies, we're going to bring the card back to France with us and see if we can get it activated from there - will let you know how we get on!

G

[Simon]

You can stick the card in the reciever, take down all the necessary details and then ring Sky when you get back; remember to leave the sky box switched on. As the operator talks you through the activation process, you just read out what you have written down - how's your acting?

As I recall, you will need all the card numbers, plus all the numbers from the sky box - serial number, version number, etc. Just write down everything you see on the screen. To obtain these details go to the "Services" menu, then "System Setup", then "System Details", in this menu all the information required will be displayed on the screen.

regards

Simon

[Jacks]

Hi Sow

Have you activated your card yet? I'm interested because I have just ordered a Freesat viewing card from Sky and have been told I need to ring them to have it activated and there seems to be conflicting views on whether I need to use my own machine to do this. Many thanks.

[andyh4]

Nick,

I am surprised you got away with phoning direct, but it's good to know it is possible.  All our phones come up with "international call" if it is number withheld and from abroad and that would be enough to set the Sky people off.

Which service were you using?

 

On the one occasion we had to contact Sky "directly" - to activate a new card - we phoned a relative in the UK on their mobile and they phoned Sky to do the necessary.  They put down the delays in giving replies to the fact that the TV ws in a different part of the property to the phone.

[Nick Trollope]

[quote]Nick, I am surprised you got away with phoning direct, but it's good to know it is possible. All our phones come up with "international call" if it is number withheld and from abroad and that would ...[/quote]

I use Les Minutes on an FT "liste rouge" line. According to my colleagues in the UK the number comes up as "call" (on a mobile) or "Withheld" on a BT line, although the actual interpretation is down to the 'phone. I think that withheld French numbers don't pass the "international" flag, parameter, bit or whatever.

[peebee]

We registered our Free Sat Sky card (£20) with Sky by ringing them on the mobile from our holiday cottage in France.  She took the registration number and activated it immediately, it only took about a minute.  We have had no problems with it.  Each time we come over it works even though we turn off the electric whilst we are away to comply with our insurance policy.

 

[Paolo]

I've read through the posts about this Freesat card and I am obviously a technophobe at heart because I still need to be told what I should do....

I am moving to France in a month, and I would like to be able to get the 5 terrestrial UK channels. I don't have satellite or cable here in England.

Am I right in thinking I need to:

- buy a Sky digibox here,

- order a £20 Freesat card and have it sent to my current UK address,

- once in France (deep south, 84) buy a 90cm dish,

- plug in the card and everything will work beautifully?

Thanks for any pointers.

Paolo

[Dave&Olive]

hi

        simple         have you got a mobile phone????

                 dave

[Paolo]

Dave,

Yes I do, but when I go to France I will cancel the contract and get a French mobile, if that has a bearing.

Paolo

[james419]

Hi Paolo

I think you willhave a problem as they dont like any non UK numbers - they will turn you off if they have any doubts that you are outside of the UK

James

[Nick Trollope]

[quote]Hi Paolo I think you willhave a problem as they dont like any non UK numbers - they will turn you off if they have any doubts that you are outside of the UK James[/quote]

I'm sorry, but did you read the rest of this thread?

As I say above, it is quite possible to ring $ky from France without being discovered.

Let us not try to confuse the issue with the truth, eh?

 

[Paolo]

From earlier in this thread:

"If it's a Freesat card then it can be activated in any Sky digibox as it does not need to be married to any particular box.  You could ask a friend or neighbour with a Sky box to do this for you."

Do you need to call Sky at all to activate a Freesat card? I am not interested in the subscription channels, just the UK terrestrial channels through Freesat.

Thanks,

Paolo

[peebee]

Paulo,

I got an awful lot of flack on another French forum for attempting to explain how we activated our card as I do not think they could tell the difference between a Free to View sat card (£20) and the usual subscription Sky card.  I will risk my neck on here and explain how it worked for us.  When you have got your box installed and your dish up, insert your Free to View sat card.  After a few seconds a message should come up on the screen asking you to ring  a u.k number to activate the card.  When you received your card through the post originally, you should have been given these instructions then also.

I used my u.k mobile and rang the number.  She told me that it may take up to 24 hours to activate the card.  She didn't question me at all or ask my land line number.  In actual fact it took about 10 minutes for the picture to come through.  The guy who installed it for me waited to check it was o.k and that was that.

I think there are a number of people who are confused between these two cards.  We have both.  In the u.k we have the subscription card and pay monthly for a package.  In France we have the Free to View.  On the 'other forum' a number of people stated that it was not possible to ring and register from a mobile in France as the number would be checked by Sky and permission would be refused.  I can only say that I did this, without a problem.

Of course it does bear mentioning that it is against Sky's terms and conditions to do what I did.

Good luck

Pat

[Ron Avery]

Pat

I think people are jumping in on that "other " forum, assuming that you are using a French mobile from France and not a UK mobile from France.

Of course SKY could tell that it was a french mobile as the number would come up as  (EDIT: MISTAKE POINTED OUT BY WILLL  +33 6****** originally said +44 .. but with a UK mobile it would just show as +44 7++++++. so how would they know it was not being used in the UK?  And before anyone says the +44, many people in the UK store their numbers as +44 as you do not have to change them if you go abroad.

[Will]

Now you're really confusing me - why would a French mobile not show up as +33-6xxxxxx?. I suppose the end result is the same, and it would be instantly recognisable as foreign, if the person at the other end of the line bothered to look, whereas possibly a British one wouldn't, wherever it was used.

[Clair]

"In the u.k we have the subscription card and pay monthly for a package. In France we have the Free to View."

Just a thought:

Do you think it may make a difference if you already "exist" (by having a subscription) for Sky?

When I received my FTV card (some 2 years ago), I called from a UK registered mobile (whilst in France) and I was told they would not deal with enquiries from abroad.

I gave the system details to a UK based friend who called to get my card activated.

Clair

[peebee]

[quote]"In the u.k we have the subscription card and pay monthly for a package. In France we have the Free to View."Just a thought: Do you think it may make a difference if you already "exist" (by having a ...[/quote]

Clair, this is possible, although you would think Sky would think it odd that I wanted a second card all be it a totally different sort of card when I already have the package and an extra connection, which they installed in another room. 

We ordered our Free to View card from www.freesatfromsky.com which is a totally different web site to the normal Sky web site, last January. 

The guy who installed our dish in France used to be a Sky engineer in the U.K.  He is now a registered installer in France.  He was actually selling the Free to View cards . If we had not brought our own card with us we could have bought one off him!  He told me he had never had any problems activating the cards.

 

Pat

 

[Paolo]

Pat,

Thanks for sticking your neck out! Sounds like I need to not cancel my UK mobile contract till I have made this call.

Would you know if I could just stick my Freesat card in someone's digibox here in the UK, activate the card by phone, and then take it to France and put it in my own digibox, already activated and working?

Cheers,

Paolo