Freesat from sky - set up question

[lancashirelass11]

I am off to France next week and taking my new freesat from sky card, which I have not yet registered with Sky.  When I got my last card (which I have now given to a friend), both digibox and card were in the UK when I registered them.  Now both will be in France, and I have to call up SKy to register the new card.  Sky have told me I can insert the card, take some details from the set up screen (box serial no, etc) and as long as I leave the box on standby, I can call to register the card any time. 

Can anyone tell me whether Sky will be able to tell that the box and card are in France, and not in the UK? 

Thanks

[Clair]

[quote user="lancashirelass11"]Can anyone tell me whether Sky will be able to tell that the box and card are in France, and not in the UK? Thanks[/quote]

The general consensus is that you should not call Sky from outside the UK, as:

1. you're not supposed to use a Sky card (and receiver?) outside the UK
2. they are apparently able to tell your call comes from outside the UK

I'm sure there will be other posts to explain it better in a short while... [:)]

[Jacqui Too]

We bought a card from freesat for just the same reasons, but we did the set up in England and then took it to France.

The first time we tried to set it up (in France) we had some problems getting channels 4/5 so I called Sky on my UK mobile phone and they told me what was wrong and that if the box had not been used for a while it could take up to 24 hours for it to update. within a couple of hours it was fine.

Sky did not ask where I was and I did not tell them!

We only take the box with us when we go and then bring it back again.

If I were you I would set it up and reg it here before you go.

Edit: I have just noticed: are you saying that the box is in France already?

[Anna]

A couple of years ago we needed to call Sky to register a skycard and what we did was to take the details from our digibox and got a friend in the UK to phone Sky for us. She just said that "her friend was out at work all day and therefore was unable to call herself", this sufficed to explain why we were unable to have the TV and digibox infront of the caller. As the caller had all the digibox details, she was able to get the card registered that way without any problem. If I remember correctly, we had the card inserted and the digibox switched on here in France. I personally wouldn't risk phoning even from a mobile in France.

We also have brought over digiboxes and receive free channels without inserting a card.

[Breton Networks]

I've just registered a couple of FreeSat cards but used a UK mobile phone.

I did try to use an internet phone & it wouldn't connect.

[Tim]

Sky cannot tell whether you are in France or not from the box itself - they may be able to tell, if they are bothered, from the telephone. Using a UK mobile should be ok - I have a friend who has recently activated a card this way - the only problem being that sky were so slow that she used up over £15 of credit on the call.

Tim

[Bilbo]

I believe that the Freesat cards, unlike subscription ones, are not tied to the box. Thus it could be registered in the UK , even on someone else's box, and then brought over. I have a couple of spare ones for this purpose and was able to use one successfully in my spare box.

[Tim]

[quote user="Bilbo"]I believe that the Freesat cards, unlike subscription ones, are not tied to the box. Thus it could be registered in the UK , even on someone else's box, and then brought over. I have a couple of spare ones for this purpose and was able to use one successfully in my spare box.
[/quote]

That's correct - only the premium channels have the card married to the box.

Tim

[Fridgeman]

Who the hell wants to be married to a box?...................................Not me thats for sure!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Breton Networks]

[quote user="Bilbo"]I believe that the Freesat cards, unlike subscription ones, are not tied to the box.[/quote]

I asked that question when I registered a card & was told 'in theory the card is tied to the box but in practice it might not be'

[Martin963]

Sky do have the facility to marry cards and boxes on *all* channels if they care to implement it but the last time this was actually in use on every channel was during the card swap out in 2003.  

It is reckoned in some circles that Sky like to appear relatively relaxed on the status of their encryption so that if a chink appears they have plenty of weapons in the armoury if it's felt necessary to use them.     If they felt under threat or if another card swap becomes necessary you may find that putting a card in the wrong box no longer works on anything ....

Apparently the word c h i n k is not acceptable!

[lancashirelass11]

Just a quick update to say that I phoned SKy in the UK from my mobile (in France) and was set up in no time.  Easy peasy.

It's the thin end of the wedge though.  When we first bought, we vowed no Sky, no internet, we want some peace.......less than 12 months in, we are already glued to the box and thinking about getting dial up!

[dr orloff]

The launch of the new freesat service in May will mean that we no longer need to use Sky.  You will be able to get the HD channels free and you can use a digital recorder - a bit like the Sky plus system I think.

[Clarkkent]

Many people seem to think that watching satellite transmissions in France is "illegal". I do not believe this to be the case. The problem faced by Sky (and other broadcasters) is that they only hold copyright for some material to be transmitted in the UK, consequently they construct hurdles which restrict the ease with which subscribers are able to access programmes from elsewhere. They have no way knowing where your dish is situated.

If you choose to watch UK transmissions in France, you are committing no offence and are breaking no law. It is the responsibility of the broadcaster to prevent you from receiving the transmissions. It is not your responsibility not to watch them.

[Sprogster]

I believe the EU is becoming one copyright area, as it already has done for DVD's. In the meantime, broadcasters are not going to sue a private EU citizen for watching their transmissions because they were in France rather than the UK, as it is a grey area under EU law and would be construed negatively by Brussels. 

In Jersey, we have a huge TV transmitter that broadcasts all the UK TV channels, to the Channel Islands. As Jersey is only 12 miles from the French coast, not surprisingly in the adjacent areas of Normandy and Brittany they can pick up British TV and I cannot therefore see that the BBC would prosecute a French citizen for watching BBC1 if he wants to and can. 

[Pierre ZFP]

Whilst I agree that copyright is a grey area, one area that is not in doubt is the freedom of access to goods and services within the EU (Article 21?) which also applies to radio waves so no-one can stop you.  Funny enough, I had a bit of a problem with a snotty landlord who objected to my non-fixed 30cms dish that I used to poke out the window so I refered to the Article 21, which also goes on to say that anyone can have a dish, and challenged him to take me to court.    What I didn't tell him was that buried deep in the wording of the article was a bit that meant he could object under a few specific clauses. He backed down but I left soon after as he was making my life a misery in other ways.  Anyway the point is that I think the EU have got themselves a bit stuck between conflicting legislation (can watch - freedom of services, can't watch - copyright).  Can't see anyone being brought to task for watching 'Illegal' channels, how would anyone ever know?