UPC v Sky

cococoady

I'm with Sky at the moment paying €120 a month ( i have every channel bar porno ones) but i was looking at UPC website earlier and they can do more or less the same package for €30 less a month.
Now i don't mind paying the €120 as it keeps me outta the pub but the prospect of paying €30 less does kinda appeal to me.
What would the main differences be between the 2.
I must add that i have never had a single problem in the 4 or so years i've had Sky.

AnimalRights

Picture quality is far superior with Sky for starters...
I am back with UPC but it's 'cheap'
Oh and the call outs from UPC take longer but are free I think wheras Sky uses some sub contractor types that cost around 100...

If I was working myself I'd run back to Sky.

Karen23

I have UPC because I have the package with TV and broadband. Problems with it since day one but I gave up complaining about because they went unresolved after endless '' on hold '' calls to them. And the endless calls from them to me at ridiculous times of the night to add a phone line even though I have constantly told them I don't want it.
Same with my Dad , they rang and rang til he gave in and took a land line phone off them

I had Sky for years and never had a problem with them , if they offered broadband in Ireland I wouldnt hesitate to go back.

SweetCaliber

UPC boxes have the worst, I mean worst reception ever in terms of the remote control. You'd have to run round the room to try change the channel.

I just, and keep loosing channels. I'm subscribed for movies and never get them!

Grrr...

nbar12

We were with Sky but moved to UPC because it was cheaper around 3 years ago. Such a big mistake, Sky is so much better! Picture quality is so much better to begin with! The digital with UPC is pure b*llocks! It's sooo slow, you'll be flicking through the channels and then out of nowhere the number 5 will pop up and with bring you back to help channel. Aw listen don;t waste your time switching to UPC! Seriously, I'd happily pay the extra €30 for Sky!

oB1

IMHO:

If Possible:

>>Sky for your TV needs
>>UPC for your Broadband Needs

I currently have Sky, and would NOT change to UPC at all - Family members with them, as was stated above, its slow and clunky, quality is bad aswell.

UPC Is excellent for Broadband, however, this is where they have the upper hand, but tv? = Definitely NO in my books.

My two cents

pelluci

From what I've heard from others, who as above, wouldn't touch UPC with a barge pole, I've come to the conclusion that it all depends on the cabling in your area. Personally, I've had no problem with reception or picture quality.

If a neighbour has UPC, check out the quality of their picture, if it's OK, then there's a good chance yours will be too.

Then it's just down to whether or not you'll miss the channels Sky have that UPC don't.

djimi

You get what you pay for with Sky. Better equipment, better channel selection, better services. UPC does the job in terms of TV but their equipment is awful (the EPG is boardering on unusable), the quality isnt wonderful, poor selection of HD channels and no services such as red button.

Personally if it was me and I was looking to save €30 on Sky Id consider dropping the movies, but thats just me!

cococoady

djimi wrote: »

You get what you pay for with Sky. Better equipment, better channel selection, better services. UPC does the job in terms of TV but their equipment is awful (the EPG is boardering on unusable), the quality isnt wonderful, poor selection of HD channels and no services such as red button.

Personally if it was me and I was looking to save €30 on Sky Id consider dropping the movies, but thats just me!

I wasn't really looking to save the €30 but when I noticed the difference in price I had a "what if" moment.
If there is anything I hate most it's slow unresponsive equipment. I busted me laptop recently as it was doing exactly that. Almost put me fist thru it haha so I don't think myself and UPC boxes would get on going by above comments.

I was talking to someone earlier who said to cancel Sky in my name and get it back in under the missus name. That way I'd get newer boxes etc and get the first 6 or so months half price.
Wonder would that be the way to go.

Karen23

cococoady wrote: »

I was talking to someone earlier who said to cancel Sky in my name and get it back in under the missus name. That way I'd get newer boxes etc and get the first 6 or so months half price.
Wonder would that be the way to go.

We done this with Sky , our first subscription was in my name and they had a deal on like the one you mentioned for new customers. I was well out of the contracted time so could cancel with no penalties and my husband signed up

SweetCaliber

Karen23 wrote: »

We done this with Sky , our first subscription was in my name and they had a deal on like the one you mentioned for new customers. I was well out of the contracted time so could cancel with no penalties and my husband signed up

Also done this, was perfect as the dish was starting to rust and they had just released their new boxes

Ended up in debt on both accounts and now stuck with UPC... Heh..:o

johnner09

:mad:

djimi wrote: »

You get what you pay for with Sky. Better equipment, better channel selection, better services. UPC does the job in terms of TV but their equipment is awful (the EPG is boardering on unusable), the quality isnt wonderful, poor selection of HD channels and no services such as red button.

Personally if it was me and I was looking to save €30 on Sky Id consider dropping the movies, but thats just me!

+1 too OP, i couldn`t agree more except that we have the red button active in our area but more or less a resrticted service,no red button for BBC ,UTV ,CH4 and of course any of the Sky channels plus a few other popular channels. the service provided for the active channels imo are just a very thrown together service. You say you might save yourself €30 a month, however your first couple of bills will be high enough and they will tell you that in their introduction letter and as stated above the EPG is more or less useless together with a horribly user freindly remote controll. Also might i add they haven`t added much more, if any, to the existing line up they rolled the on demand service out with since last month anyway.
I`m sorry i left sky but i have another nine months left on my contract, should have left well alone:(

Mountjoy Mugger

Why run two threads on this, OP?

cococoady

Mountjoy Mugger wrote: »

Why run two threads on this, OP?

To get the pespective of both UPC and Sky users.
Does it bother you that i have?

andrew241983

As far as im aware upc dont have sky sports hd or movies hd.... Only bbc and documentary channels... Hd for sport is a must

forzacalcio

cococoady wrote: »

To get the pespective of both UPC and Sky users.
Does it bother you that i have?

Nothing wrong with that, obvioulsy there will be more UPC users here.
The bottom line here is a €90 difference is massive.
For me Im happy with UPC, I get ESPN, Setanta, Eurosport all HD, F1 in HD with BBC and Setanta. To me Sky Sports is a rip off anyway and I watch all my football streaming via the Boxee Box (Worth looking into)
I get all the basic channels I want, I have 25meg Broadband, multi room and in Total I only pay about €50 a month! If I wanted all this with Sky I reckon Id be paying alot more, at the end of the day I dont really want the rubbish extra channels no one really looks at. If I want to see a specific tv show I either download it or stream it.

seamus

The only two downsides I would note with UPC are that the software on the boxes can be a little buggy and they don't have many HD channels.

The EPG is far easier to use than Sky's one in my experience. You also have proper on-demand, which Sky doesn't have and won't have in this country for the foreseeable future.

Cost is really the main factor for me. To get an inferior channel selection from Sky (albeit with some in HD) along with my existing BB & Phone from UPC will cost me an extra €15 a month. If I want a channel selection from Sky roughly equivalent to what I currently get, it's an extra €23/month.

I don't love HDTV enough to spend an extra €300/year when UPC will eventually bring it in at a cost of next to nothing.

ChickenBalls

Mountjoy Mugger wrote: »

Why run two threads on this, OP?

Yeah I thought my reply was deleted but it's in the other thread!

djimi

seamus wrote: »

The only two downsides I would note with UPC are that the software on the boxes can be a little buggy and they don't have many HD channels.

The EPG is far easier to use than Sky's one in my experience. You also have proper on-demand, which Sky doesn't have and won't have in this country for the foreseeable future.

Cost is really the main factor for me. To get an inferior channel selection from Sky (albeit with some in HD) along with my existing BB & Phone from UPC will cost me an extra €15 a month. If I want a channel selection from Sky roughly equivalent to what I currently get, it's an extra €23/month.

I don't love HDTV enough to spend an extra €300/year when UPC will eventually bring it in at a cost of next to nothing.

EPG far easier to use than Sky's?!! I'd love to have a go on whatever equipment you have because both my HD and SD UPC boxes have a virtually unusable EPG!

You're also being very generous in saying the equipment is only a bit buggy...!

Infoanon

forzacalcio wrote: »

If I wanted all this with Sky I reckon Id be paying alot more, at the end of the day I dont really want the rubbish extra channels no one really looks at. If I want to see a specific tv show I either download it or stream it.

As someone who has moved from UPC To Sky with a Sky Sports package:

a) Sky is cheaper - €3 a month plus € 5 a month as the Sky Box has 'plus' as standard
b) BBC,BBC1,ITV & Ch4 HD are available free of charge
c) Sky GO at no extra charge

I know it will vary if eg I take full HD but the simple fact is that Sky for me is cheaper and I have a LOT more channels, far Superior picture quality.

Downsides - EPG on Sky is a pain !

seamus

djimi wrote: »

EPG far easier to use than Sky's?!! I'd love to have a go on whatever equipment you have because both my HD and SD UPC boxes have a virtually unusable EPG!

I find the Sky EPG (my parents have Sky) very unintuitive. No problem with UPC's

It's probably more a matter of what you get used to. If you're used to Sky, UPC's EPG will be weird. If you're used to UPC, then Sky's will be weird.

You're also being very generous in saying the equipment is only a bit buggy...!

Well it is. And it's getting better. I had two relatively big issues last year where the box would sometimes randomly freeze when recording two things at once, then reset itself and stop recording anything. The other issue was with the box just freezing and not responding to the remote, requiring a hard reboot. Would occur a couple of times a month. These have gone away now though.

The only issue I've had in the last 6 months is that it occasionally (say once a week) jumps to channel 100 for no reason when browsing through the channels. Which isn't something annoying enough to change provider for.

who_me

I don't have Sky so I can't offer a complete comparison, but my experience of UPC:

The bad:
- Slow boot-up. About 40 seconds to get a picture, then another 10 or more until the controls become responsive. My PC boots quicker.
- Irish channels have great picture quality, but UK/other sourced channels are heavily compressed. (e.g. in a dark scene, instead of black you'll see a screenful of compression artefacts - big black and grey squares). It seems to have improved lately, I don't know if that's due to UPC or if my new TV is better at handling a poor signal.
- Few HD channels: no Sky Sports HD, no Sky Movies HD.
- No 3D channel. (Eurosport 3D was briefly available, and gone again).
- No Sky Atlantic.
- No Sky F1.
- EPG is sluggish.
- Annoying 'child lock' on movie channels. Doesn't matter what the movie is, and can't be turned off. So if you're watching something and want to flick to (say) a news channel and back again, you have to enter that PIN. Every. Time. I think there's also a problem with the Back button when on this PIN entry screen.
- Annoying alert when you change channel after pausing/rewinding. So you start typing 1..3..5 to switch to RTE HD, and the alert pops up. You have to cancel it, and resume typing 3...5.. quickly or else you'll be auto-switched to that annoying UPC info channel.
- UPC box has a habit of booting up at weird hours and 'doing stuff'. A bit annoying if you have an auto-switch TV or HDMI switch as this booting up causes your TV to switch to a black screen when it happens.
- None of that Red button malarky. (Except with Euronews interactive)

The good:
- Cheaper than Sky
- Improving fast (people complain now, but in the pre-HD, pre-DVR days the gap was far, far worse).

nbar12

Emanuelle 2000 looks better on Sky 3D

who_me

nbar12 wrote: »

Emanuelle 2000 looks better on Sky 3D

Ah yes... people who think 3D is only a fad; are those who have yet to see 3D porn. Sorry, I mean erotica. Sorry, I mean "art".

van_beano

I moved to UPC about 6 months ago after having Sky for years, I have had no problems with UPC whereas I had constant problems with SKy as any bit of rain or wind would cause the channels to freeze as the dish kept getting knocked out of sync and the engineer would have to come out.

I have come to hate Sky with a passion recently recently though as i have been constantly phoned by them asking me to come back to them for 12 months half price and they'll pay the early cancellation of my UPC contract. I have told them to stop calling me but they refuse to listen, they even send me letters now asking me to come back to them!! /rant

I am seriously considering going down the Saorview / Freesat route, when you think about it - it's crazy paying for tv channels when you get the majority of them for free. anyways!!

chopsey

i'm sorry but this is a very strange comparison thread.

you cant possible compare what Sky have to offer via a dish on the side of your house with what UPC can offer through a fixed cable.

UPC also have a MMDS offering which would be the best option to compare with Sky and i can tell you that it is absolutely ridiculous what they offer their MMDS customers. We have been totally left behind with absolutely no thought or effort put into it.

All UPC's money is being spent on fibre broadband in the cities and larger towns.

UPC call their MMDS offering Digital TV? that is a joke there is no recording features you cant even press the Red Button for anything....

i've called a few times this year to see what is happening if anything and basically i get the feeling they would prefer to get rid of MMDS and have us move to Sky.

i've been a CHorus / UPC customer for 7 or 8 years now and i really think i'm going to move soon to Sky because if you do the straight comparison Sky is streets ahead and imo always will be

Karen23

I really prefer Sky but how can they charge €15 for each multiroom when UPC only charge €5 each.

Ranicand

Karen23 wrote: »

I really prefer Sky but how can they charge €15 for each multiroom when UPC only charge €5 each.

I am back with Sky a year now.

I have seen the UPC On Demand going and I have to say if this had of being going when I was with them I would not have gone back to Sky.

All that UPC stuff on demand is add break free also.

Sky has more HD channels and a faster more responsive guide however UPC On Demand takes things to a new level.

Between the two platforms it is very hard to say which is better.

Let us not forget we now have Netflix in the mix also and I think they offer a great value service not a replacement for UPC or Sky but for €7 who can complain.

Karen23

Looks like Sky are going On Demand too , the EPG layout is all changed today and an On Demand feature has been added.

Johnny Johnson

Sky offer on demand in the UK. It will be here at some stage.

SweetCaliber

Karen23 wrote: »

I really prefer Sky but how can they charge €15 for each multiroom when UPC only charge €5 each.

To be honest for the quality of Sky's boxes compared to UPC's boxes, I'd rather pay the extra tenner!

BaronVon

I'm actually happy with UPC.

My only gripe is the lack of Sky Sports HD, which I'm sure Sky will never give to UPC, and the red button, again for the sports channels. I can't get Redzone on the NFL coverage with UPC.

But it's not enough for me to change to Sky.

icdg

chopsey wrote: »

i'm
UPC also have a MMDS offering which would be the best option to compare with Sky and i can tell you that it is absolutely ridiculous what they offer their MMDS customers. We have been totally left behind with absolutely no thought or effort put into it.

You can hardly blame them when ComReg has told them that its strongly minded to close MMDS in two years time. Why would anyone invest in a platform with that short a short shelf life left in it? Even ComReg relents, the one-way nature and more limited capacity of MMDS would always leave it the poor relation

Anyway, there are many positives to UPC's cable service over Sky which don't seem to be getting an airing:

- On Demand. It might be lacking in content, but what it does have is very good.
- More logical layout on the EPG: All of the Irish and UK terrestrials are at the top of the EPG, not scattered about as they are on Sky.
- Setanta Ireland included with all packages. ESPN included with all but the most basic package.
- The ITVs on the EPG.
- No programmes blocked on Channel 4 or ESPN (though there are, unfortunately, on ITV4).

Karen23

Karen23 wrote: »

I really prefer Sky but how can they charge €15 for each multiroom when UPC only charge €5 each.

lee3155 wrote: »

To be honest for the quality of Sky's boxes compared to UPC's boxes, I'd rather pay the extra tenner!

But when you have boxes in three bedrooms its an extra €30 a month.

SweetCaliber

Karen23 wrote: »

But when you have boxes in three bedrooms its an extra €30 a month.

I know, I'm with UPC as well and have their boxes. But the difference between their boxes and Sky's boxes is definitely worth the €15!

When we were with Sky, we never had anything changed. So far with UPC I had to get my box changed twice now and other boxes in the house have been changed a couple of times.

And as I previously stated, the reception for the remote control is dreadful No wonder they only change a fiver a month!

Infoanon

lee3155 wrote: »

To be honest for the quality of Sky's boxes compared to UPC's boxes, I'd rather pay the extra tenner!

The UPC box has the annoying habit of switching to (and getting locked) on the UPC info channel.

Real pain when the info channel is putting old white noise as it has been since early yesterday afternoon in Dublin.....

spuddie21

Do I switch from UPC to Sky as I got a Smart TV and I want to upgrade to HD heard that Sky has better picture quality, also Sky have a deal running until this Wednesday whereas UPC want 60 Euro activation Fee to upgrade to HD which I feel is a total rip off as I'm with UPC (NTL) for the last 15 years. Do I take the leap to Sky

oB1

spuddie21 wrote: »

Do I switch from UPC to Sky as I got a Smart TV and I want to upgrade to HD heard that Sky has better picture quality, also Sky have a deal running until this Wednesday whereas UPC want 60 Euro activation Fee to upgrade to HD which I feel is a total rip off as I'm with UPC (NTL) for the last 15 years. Do I take the leap to Sky

Go for it mate - i am with Sky years, and could not fault a single thing.

spuddie21

Thanks for the advice, looking forward to cancelling my UPC account as I not in a contract

Noggle

Can you use the red button or see text on bbc with upc

BaronVon

Nope

zg3409

If you want text on RTE one with Sky box, you need to also connect a SCART lead (in addition to HDMI) then select AV1 on TV, then press the text button on the TV remote.

Teletext is not available on RTE1 via the HDMI lead.

I assume similar is true via UPC box. If using UPC analogue channels just pick RTE1 on the TV itself (using the TV's tuner) and press text on the TV remote.

Neither Sky nor UPC offer the new teletext service available for free on Saorview (much faster). On Saorview TV3 still use the old text system.

mrbrown69

Pay 29 a month for Sky entertainment extra..has literally dozens more channels than UPC, better picture better sound

Don't need movies, all the sport I want can get with UPC broadband...sorted

Eamo71

SweetCaliber wrote: »

To be honest for the quality of Sky's boxes compared to UPC's boxes, I'd rather pay the extra tenner!

The new Horizon box which will be here in three months or so will make this issue of Sky boxes being superior to UPC ones redundant.
From the little bit I've seen and the reviews of same it looks like the Horizon box far outstrips sky.

Fromthetrees

Eamo71 wrote: »

The new Horizon box which will be here in three months or so will make this issue of Sky boxes being superior to UPC ones redundant.
From the little bit I've seen and the reviews of same it looks like the Horizon box far outstrips sky.

I want it right now in front of me...

Eamo71

then you'll have typo go to the Netherlands where it's already been rolled out. Ireland is Q1 13.
Worth the wait?Looks like it. http://www.broadbandworldforum.com/upc%E2%80%99s-horizon-was-worth-the-wait/

Storm 10

I have the old digital box from UPC, when the new ones come would you get it automatically or will you have to pay more for it.

zg3409

Storm 10 wrote: »

I have the old digital box from UPC, when the new ones come would you get it automatically or will you have to pay more for it.

We assume it will be more, every month. No prices or details yet. Also beware the rollout dates. It may be summer before it is offered where you live.