Sky and Wifi/Ethernet

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Yabanize

2350 posts

Uber Geek

#937036 18-Nov-2013 22:33

TwoSeven: Sorry folks, little bit of confusion - internet connection is not for downloading content (bit pointless as the PVR does it anyway via the normal transmission mechanism). Internet connection is used to operate said sky box - in other words - replace telephone line for ordering services through the device.

Why would they do that when not everyone has an internet connection and phone line works fine?

richms

28168 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#937041 18-Nov-2013 22:46

Remove the cost of a modem dial in pool for the boxes to call? A wifi Dongle would be cheaper than paying a tech to install a phone socket? Be seen to be slowly evolving from their backwards ways and allow true 2 way comes for remote record etc?

Because the phone line won't work fine in a post pstn world of ufb and voip?

Richard rich.ms

TwoSeven

1623 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#937215 19-Nov-2013 11:37

Out of interest I thought I would follow up with progress so far.

I gave sky a call about signing up to MySky+ and they gave me all of the pricing that I needed, then put me through to another team that was able to answer some technical questions.

The unit is only 660GB in size and there is no Ethernet or Wifi connectivity. Without a phone line which would cost me an additional $40/month I would not be able to do 'On Demand Movies' using the remote, channel upgrades via channel 29 and I suspect install any s/w updates.

They had not received any information on whether the internet/wifi capable units would be sold here or if the 1TB and 2TB boxes would be made available. I explained that everyone adopting naked broadband or fibre would probably have the same issue.

The person I talked to was very helpful given the information she had access and pointed out that they would just send a query back to the management team which is pretty much what an online email request would do.

I think what I might do now is see if I can get a phone number and name for the appropriate person in the "management team". While I still need to resolve the above question, I think sky may be missing out on a number of potential opportunities around understanding the needs and capabilities of 'our' demographic.

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Nikoftime

103 posts

Master Geek

#937241 19-Nov-2013 12:17

I have heard that sky can also be contacted via twitter. You may get a more informed "management" respose that way

rugrat

3106 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#937258 19-Nov-2013 12:41

TwoSeven: Out of interest I thought I would follow up with progress so far.

The unit is only 660GB in size and there is no Ethernet or Wifi connectivity. Without a phone line which would cost me an additional $40/month I would not be able to do 'On Demand Movies' using the remote, channel upgrades via channel 29 and I suspect install any s/w updates.

They had not received any information on whether the internet/wifi capable units would be sold here

What are they on about?

I have the mysky and mysky+ both of them have an ethernet port. Only reason they don't connect to internet is because the software to do it is not running on them.

Sky can update firmware over satellite.

http://www.skytv.co.nz/Portals/0/data/images/High_Definition/B248-User-Iss1-Web.pdf

Page 68 or pdf reader shows it as page 72, shows the back end connections.

DickDastardly

227 posts

Master Geek

#937276 19-Nov-2013 13:17

Sky on Demand in the UK was epic.

It was a gradual roll out, with new EPG etc.

The system works so well as broadband allowances arent capped like they are kere in NZ. There was PLENTY of HD content. normal shows and movies that you could download and watch at your leisure.

Im not sure without broadband caps being blocked it would be much use to people - once you have downloaded a few HD movies and HD box sets - people in the main would have used up their data allowance for that month.

I had the ethernet version - didnt go for the wi-fi one as i had a readily available network port.

Sky UK jumped on the bandwagon so quickly as they were up againt Virgin Media with its fibre optic TV system - they had a huge catalogue of catch up - on demand content and Sky were loosing ground. As Sky here are pretty much a monopoly - i cant see them rushing this out....

For this to work - have a lot of content - not just sport or movies or something and also something has to be done about broadband data caps and the cost of monthly broadband. Get that fibre optic system rolled out across the contry, get some TV service using it like Tivo and get some competition into this country - its the only way things are going to get better for Sky's long suffering subscribers!

I don't want no sugar in it - thank you very much

TwoSeven

1623 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#937330 19-Nov-2013 14:35

rugrat:
TwoSeven: Out of interest I thought I would follow up with progress so far.

The unit is only 660GB in size and there is no Ethernet or Wifi connectivity. Without a phone line which would cost me an additional $40/month I would not be able to do 'On Demand Movies' using the remote, channel upgrades via channel 29 and I suspect install any s/w updates.

They had not received any information on whether the internet/wifi capable units would be sold here

What are they on about?

I have the mysky and mysky+ both of them have an ethernet port. Only reason they don't connect to internet is because the software to do it is not running on them.

Sky can update firmware over satellite.

http://www.skytv.co.nz/Portals/0/data/images/High_Definition/B248-User-Iss1-Web.pdf

Page 68 or pdf reader shows it as page 72, shows the back end connections.

This is what I mentioned on the phone, that the Ethernet port is there and it is just a matter of a software update (as far as I can make out). Realistically the question I ask is 'what barriers have been in place that have been stopping them from enabling this feature in the past, and is there anything we [consumers] can do to help get it enabled in the near future".

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haywardb

84 posts

Master Geek

ID Verified

Subscriber

#937598 19-Nov-2013 22:19

Sky can update firmware over satellite.

I would have to agree as having the firmware or software updating via dial-up would take forever. I've had a MySky+ for 18 months and have never had it plugged into a phone line. If I want to book something or set a remote record, I do it all via web and it is set via satellite. Sidenote, it is quite cool to see how fast it appears on the recording list after submitting. Normally under 5 seconds.

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