UPC Vs SKY

Bepolite

kneemos wrote: »

I find PVC to be excellent.

I'm more into leather myself but I thought I'd highlight your subtle joke for the guy who said there were no funnys!

anncoates wrote: »

Sky because it sounds all shiny and futuristic and UPC sounds like a haemorrhoid cream.

No so subtle...

Terry1985 wrote: »

Or dump both TV providers and get a satellite dish.

Paying €40 a month for TV channels that are broadcast for free is ridiculous.

Sky TV is €27 per month. It's expensive compared to Netflix and Freeview. However Sky is designed to be a premium service. Burgers and chips suit some people, I prefer a ribeye - different strokes for different folks really rather than it being ridiculous. When you take into account the PVR you get it's Freeview is actually no cheaper in the first year, granted its cheaper every year after that.

Plus:

Sky Atlantic
On demand (if you have decent broadband)
Sky Go
Sky Store (If you rent movies)

Netflix if a pain in the bum if you don't have a smart TV or HTPC. Otherwise it's the dog bollix.

Skylinehead wrote: »

UPCs broadband is leagues ahead of Sky. It's telling that Sky won't mention their speeds on the website, I'm pretty sure they use Eircoms lines. Whereas UPC advertise 100MB and I actually appear to get 102.

It's not really telling to be fair. As they do use Eircom's lines its different for everyone and if you put in your phone number and UAN you'll get a speed. UPC's internet is great but it's redundant for most users. Absolutely no one uses a 200Mbit line especially if they have all their devices on wifi. A Family of 7 might use 100mbit capacity on a rainy cold night. What I simply don't understand with Sky is why they aren't on Eircom Fibre yet and why they don't have any info on when they will be.

UPC BB + Sky is the best solution and will continue to be but is pretty expensive. Sky + Sky BB on Fibre would be much cheaper and 95% as good for most users.

astrofool

Frank Black wrote: »

If you're not interested in bells and whistles then why not go for a Freesat/Saorview setup?
Paying €40 a month for channels you can watch for free in HD is just crazy.
Got rid of UPC about 3 years ago and have saved 100's of euro since.

To be fair, freesat is basically the Ireland and UK terrestrial channels (and all their +1's and kids channels) with a few other sh*te channels, UPC and Sky offer a far larger range of content, it's not really a fair comparison, or suggestion, for someone currently used to the Sky/UPC range.

Frank Black

astrofool wrote: »

To be fair, freesat is basically the Ireland and UK terrestrial channels (and all their +1's and kids channels) with a few other sh*te channels, UPC and Sky offer a far larger range of content, it's not really a fair comparison, or suggestion, for someone currently used to the Sky/UPC range.

Actually I was answering the OP's comment where he specifically said he was not interested in any bells and whistles - if this is what you're after, it's a very fair comparison indeed.
Sure, some 'Sky-Atlantic Fanboys' won't get what they're after, but paying €27 a month (plus VAT) for a couple of channels that have the very occasional decent programme strikes me as very poor value.

Bepolite

Frank Black wrote: »

Actually I was answering the OP's comment where he specifically said he was not interested in any bells and whistles - if this is what you're after, it's a very fair comparison indeed.
Sure, some 'Sky-Atlantic Fanboys' won't get what they're after, but paying €27 a month (plus VAT) for a couple of channels that have the very occasional decent programme strikes me as very poor value.

Inc VAT - All Irish consumer prices have to include VAT.

Some points of balance to my above post.

Although the picture quality is better on Sky HD is €15 a month and a twelve month contract :eek:

Extra rooms are €15 a month but to be fair installed Free. The annoying thing is you have to have this box hooked up to a phone line so thats another cable!

Frank Black

Frank Black wrote: »

Actually I was answering the OP's comment where he specifically said he was not interested in any bells and whistles - if this is what you're after, it's a very fair comparison indeed.
Sure, some 'Sky-Atlantic Fanboys' won't get what they're after, but paying €27 a month (plus VAT) for a couple of channels that have the very occasional decent programme strikes me as very poor value.

Its not plus vat, the basic pack is 27 euro all in. For 35 euro you have the full entertainment pack with all the documentry channels, loads of extra entertainment channels, music channels etc etc and an excellent PVR system along with the ondemand services.

Also as I said a small bit of effort and you will have a half price deal. For 35 euro a month I have the full entertainment pack and the sky sports pack for 35 euro a month (incl vat) for the next 12 months.

Frank Black

Rylan Happy Tequila wrote: »

Its not plus vat, the basic pack is 27 euro all in. For 35 euro you have the full entertainment pack with all the documentry channels, loads of extra entertainment channels, music channels etc etc and an excellent PVR system along with the ondemand services.

Also as I said a small bit of effort and you will have a half price deal. For 35 euro a month I have the full entertainment pack and the sky sports pack for 35 euro a month (incl vat) for the next 12 months.

Well the OP isn't looking for an 'entertainment pack', with all the documentry channels, loads of extra entertainment channels, music channels (that you never actually watch).
There's plenty of 'music/entertainment channels on Freesat too btw (I don't bother with these much).

Either way, I'm not sure how your €35 pack suggestion is helpful, considering this is not what the OP wants.

BTW, your pack over the next 5 years will cost you €3,780.
Mine will cost €0

That's a lot to pay - but sure maybe cost isn't an issue for you.

Frank Black

Frank Black wrote: »

Well the OP isn't looking for an 'entertainment pack', with all the documentry channels, loads of extra entertainment channels, music channels (that you never actually watch).
There's plenty of 'music/entertainment channels on Freesat too btw (I don't bother with these much).

Either way, I'm not sure how your €35 pack suggestion is helpful, considering this is not what the OP wants.

BTW, your pack over the next 5 years will cost you €3,780.
Mine will cost €0

That's a lot to pay - but sure maybe cost isn't an issue for you.

35 euro a month certainly isn't an issue. Its 8.75 a week, less than two pints.

Your's costs 0 euro but you also have a much worse service, no sports channels (which as a massive sports fan I can't be without), poor selection of entertainment channels and no documentary channels.

Bepolite

Rylan Happy Tequila wrote: »

35 euro a month certainly isn't an issue. Its 8.75 a week, less than two pints.

Your's costs 0 euro but you also have a much worse service, no sports channels (which as a massive sports fan I can't be without), poor selection of entertainment channels and no documentary channels.

Ah now to be fair, you can do all sorts of dodgeys to get the football. The documentary channels show the same old sh!te week after week and the music channels have been superseded by Youtube and Spotify these days.

That said I personally can't argue with what you get for €27, but as I say each to their own.

On the Sky v UPC thing I did forget to mention: UPC have a habit of locking you into a 12 month contract every time you make a change to your service, Sky don't - just another thing to throw into the mix.

Wellyd

I had the same problem. I couldn't decide what companies to get tv and bb from. I've since had my sky installed on the €27 basic package. Now we're waiting for Eircom to come set up our bb. €35 a month for 6 months then €50 after that which includes unlimited off peak calls that we'll probably never use anyway. We couldn't get UPC in our area so Eircom had to do but at least its fibre bb so that's not too bad. In total it'll work out at €77 a month which seems a bit expensive but at least there's a less likely chance of me murdering my OH over what crap programme we could watch on RTE/TV3!

Bepolite

Bepolite wrote: »

Ah now to be fair, you can do all sorts of dodgeys to get the football. The documentary channels show the same old sh!te week after week

Streams are absolute rubbish to be fair, I'm happy to pay the few quid a month to reduce the number of times I have to use streams to watch my team play or watch matches in general. Then there is golf, darts, NFL etc all of which I watch.

As for the documentary channels, there are a number of programs across the different channels that I follow and even though stuff is repeated there is so much on that there is enough to easily make it worth while having them for me anyway.

Frank Black

Rylan Happy Tequila wrote: »

35 euro a month certainly isn't an issue. Its 8.75 a week, less than two pints.

Your's costs 0 euro but you also have a much worse service, no sports channels (which as a massive sports fan I can't be without), poor selection of entertainment channels and no documentary channels.

I don't have a much worse service. My folks have $ky and I personally find my Humax box far superior in both picture quality and ease of operation - I can survive easily without the documentay channels I think, and I never miss a match I'm interested in watching - even the 3pm kick-offs. The internet is a wonderful thing and £5 for 2 months HQ streaming of all the sports channels knocks the socks off your €35 package. Of course you have to be entirely comfortable with the quasi-illegality of it all, but there's plenty of discussion in the soccer forum of these sites.

Rylan Happy Tequila wrote: »

Streams are absolute rubbish to be fair,

Nope, mine are as good if not better than SD tv broadcasts

The Pheasant2

Sky tv is vastly superior to UPC

astrofool

Frank Black wrote: »

Actually I was answering the OP's comment where he specifically said he was not interested in any bells and whistles - if this is what you're after, it's a very fair comparison indeed.
Sure, some 'Sky-Atlantic Fanboys' won't get what they're after, but paying €27 a month (plus VAT) for a couple of channels that have the very occasional decent programme strikes me as very poor value.

Sorry to be a bit facetious, just "get freesat" is becoming the new "use Linux/openoffice/firefox instead" stock answer that doesn't really solve the issue at hand, as if freesat was something that know one had ever heard of, and isn't plastered everywhere by installers of it.

Frank Black

astrofool wrote: »

Sorry to be a bit facetious, just "get freesat" is becoming the new "use Linux/openoffice/firefox instead" stock answer that doesn't really solve the issue at hand,

What are the OP's 'issues at hand' which Freesat doesn't solve as a matter of interest?

Penny Dreadful

nc19 wrote: »

do you know if i can just use UPC for the BB(no phone) and SKY for TV?

Thats what I have in my house. Works a treat. UPC all the way for broad band but had their tv in the past and its pants. I love Sky tv.
Actually today I upgraded my old white sky plus box to their HD box package. Wanted it for on demand. Get all HD chanels for an extra €7.50 per month. Don't really care for HD too much but it is free to do it that way rather than €109 for the box only. Works out a bit cheaper over the year. Can canel the HD after the 12 months if I wish and the box remains with me.
Really helpful nice guy to deal with on the phone too, call answered quickly.
Love Sky and not just for Sky Atlantic (although that is the main reason).

Fighting Irish

Sky for TV
UPC for broadband

Simple

Terry1985

I don't have a landline for sky.

Just wondering could I use Upc broadband and free phone, and will sky TV work with upcs 'phone line' which I imagine is over the net... ?

IvySlayer

Have Sky Broadband and TV

Both are excellent tbh.

Penny Dreadful

Terry1985 wrote: »

I don't have a landline for sky.

Just wondering could I use Upc broadband and free phone, and will sky TV work with upcs 'phone line' which I imagine is over the net... ?

you don't need one. I have no house phone other than my mobile and have Sky.

Ilyana 2.0

We have Sky broadband and TV. TV is great, although we need a new Skybox at this stage. But we record loads so it's worth paying for Sky. We had UPC in college last year and it's just not as user-friendly.

The broadband is woeful though. It disconnects itself all the time and the connection drops in different spots around the house (which isn't huge to begin with). And we're not in the back arse of nowhere either, just outside a main town. The sooner we get UPC broadband the better.

Cantona's Collars

Terry1985 wrote: »

I don't have a landline for sky.

Just wondering could I use Upc broadband and free phone, and will sky TV work with upcs 'phone line' which I imagine is over the net... ?

If you get the phone bundle with UPC it's actually slightly cheaper than standalone Broadband,just don't plug a phone in to avoid temptation.

It will work with Sky multiroom,not as straightforward as a standard Eircom connection but it will work.There's threads on it in the satellite forum.

Ush1

I use freesat, saorview and upc basic 16 all through a pc with windows media center.

UPC broadband is the only bill I pay. Streams for football games and UFC, or I'll download it the next day.

Don't watch any other TV anyway.

kingtut

I have UPC and my parents have SKY.

UPC broadband is far superior than SKY!
SKY tv is slightly better than UPC but costs a lot more so cost wise I am so glad I have tv with UPC !

tobsey

Terry1985 wrote: »

I don't have a landline for sky.

Just wondering could I use Upc broadband and free phone, and will sky TV work with upcs 'phone line' which I imagine is over the net... ?

You only need a phone line for multi room. If it's a single box installation they don't look for a phone line. I remember when I was setting up the On Demand I think it was I had to plug the phone line in for a few minutes for it to be activated or something. I have UPC BB and phone so everything is behind the main TV which is handy for connecting the Sky box to the internet for On Demand.

I'm paying nearly 100 a month for the full Sky pack. Every month I tell myself I'm cancelling but we watch the sports and movies a lot and I'd rather skip a night out for us to pay for it. The old UPC TV we had was rubbish by comparison. The red button was class last year for the olympics and when the Golf majors and stuff like that are on. Also being able to watch every Champions League game at the same time is pretty cool.

Frank Black

tobsey wrote: »

I'm paying nearly 100 a month for the full Sky pack.

Jesus, that's crazy.
Even if you bought an apple tv, you'd have all the movies you could want through Netflix or itunes rentals cheaper.

Like I said before, you can get a subsciption to a quasi-legal website which will provide all your sports needs for less than €5 a month in SD quality if you have a decent BB connection.

tobsey

Frank Black wrote: »

Jesus, that's crazy.
Even if you bought an apple tv, you'd have all the movies you could want through Netflix or itunes rentals cheaper.

Like I said before, you can get a subsciption to a quasi-legal website which will provide all your sports needs for less than €5 a month in SD quality if you have a decent BB connection.

No thanks. SD I could live with, but I work in an industry which suffers from piracy so if I'm not willing to pay for it then I won't take it.

Frank Black

tobsey wrote: »

No thanks. SD I could live with, but I work in an industry which suffers from piracy so if I'm not willing to pay for it then I won't take it.

Sir, I admire your morals.

Cantona's Collars

tobsey wrote: »

I'm paying nearly 100 a month for the full Sky pack. Every month I tell myself I'm cancelling but we watch the sports and movies a lot and I'd rather skip a night out for us to pay for it. The old UPC TV we had was rubbish by comparison. The red button was class last year for the olympics and when the Golf majors and stuff like that are on. Also being able to watch every Champions League game at the same time is pretty cool.

€100 a month is nuts,just ring 'em & tell 'em you're cancelling,they're sure to give you a deal.We haven't paid full price in my house for nigh on 3 years now.Currently we have the full Sky pack with HD for just over €40 a month,I also pay for Setanta/BT at a reduced rate.

BTW. Anybody on Sky can get BT sports/Setanta for €1 for this month with no contract,you can cancel it at the end of the month.http://www.setanta.com/ie/subscribe/

wicklowstevo

finally after hours being used for something usefull !! thank budda