FTA Card Problems

kennyk

Hi,

I have a UK FTA card that I bought with a secondhand Digibox on Ebay.

I have had no problems with this until about a week ago when Channel 4 and Channel 5 suddenly stopped working, the screen that appears id the standard "For Your Information" screen with details about the channels and a UK 08702 number to call to "upgrade your subscription ".

Has this happened to anybody else? and have Channel 4 and 5 become subscription channels?

Any suggestions as to how I might "fix" this problem, the rest of the UK channels work fine.

Cheers

Ken

bkehoe

Have you been unplugging your box?

kennyk

bkehoe,

I have never had the box connected to the phone line, so I don't think that could be it, any other suggestions?

Cheers

Ken

Mossy Monk

i think he means unplugging the box from the mains

carrolls

I think your problem is that you have a disabled ex-Sky Subscription card and not an FTV card.
Sky tend to switch off some of the terrestial channels a period after they disable the subscription. This won't happen with an FTA card because they have no reason to track the customer.

Cloud

Do the cards look different? Or can you tell from the Viewing Card numbers if they are FTV or ex-sub?

telecinesk

Both cards have the Blue Skydigital logo> Look at the phone number written on the card on bottom right.If its 08702404040 its an ex sky card.
My bbc card has the ftv number on it like in the menu of digibox. Incidentally I always disconnect the box when i go out to work in the morning.Plug it in 12 hrs later approx, every day>

I did this also when I had a sky sub, I never experienced this card going dodgy syndrome that everyone writes.
Check out the card and let us know.

Best of luck.

kennyk

Hi,

I pretty much never plug out the digibox from the mains, would this have something to do with the problems with the card? I usually have my "proper" sky card in the box.

The number on the card is "08702 404040" so it looks like it is an "ex-sky" card! I don't suppose there is any easy way to get this fixed is there?

All the other BBC, ITV channels work fine, so it is still of some use.

Cheers

Ken

Cloud

That's a pain Kenny, let us know how you get on (I have two boxes like yours).

carrolls

I have had no problems with this until about a week ago when Channel 4 and Channel 5 suddenly stopped working

I think Sky use this tactic to piss people off into renewing their Sky Subscription.
After all they feel they have invested a lot into each subscriber.
You will find that the other channels will start disappearing as well
eventually.
It is probably an automatic process.

John R

Having the card ot of the box for a few hours at a time shouldn't cause any problems, but if you have your sky card in the box most of the time and the FTV card missed an update signal you could just be unlucky. Leave the FTV card in the box tuned into one of the affected channels for a few days continuously and they just might come back.

I just recently bought a box off ebay and when I plugged it in none of the FTV channels would work, I left it tuned to one of them and after about 30 hours they were all switched on.

BTW it is an ex-sky card.

jez

This was posted by me to another thread but got no response. I think its of interest.

"Interesting development re FTA Cards. I have a UK sky digibox with bbc channels etc...All ok..... However,was alarmed to hear that ex Sky subscriptions may be turned off at some point.. I've had three trouble free months so far. However, I rang the FTV number in the UK to order a FTV card (just in case) as I have a UK address I can use. However,they will not just send out the card,you must have a digibox which you have already advised Sky of the details re serial number etc. then they will send you the card. Looks like they are clamping down??

By the way,I'm going on holidays for two weeks shortly. If I switch everything off ,ie sockets etc should my system come back up normally or is there a risk of losing channels. Don't really want to leave things plugged in that long.
Appreciate feedback.


__________________

carrolls

If this was the case you would get
"This programme is not available",
not
"For Your Information" screen with details about the channels and a UK 08702 number to call to "upgrade your subscription ".

seano

i had an ex sub card from ni and on the screen was Call broadcaster To autherise etc.i called bbc and was told card was out of date.nice lady sent out new no probs,,this was two months ago.hope it is not the same problem as mine

jez

Can someone reply to this please . ThanksInteresting development re FTA Cards. I have a UK sky digibox with bbc channels etc...All ok..... However,was alarmed to hear that ex Sky subscriptions may be turned off at some point.. I've had three trouble free months so far. However, I rang the FTV number in the UK to order a FTV card (just in case) as I have a UK address I can use. However,they will not just send out the card,you must have a digibox which you have already advised Sky of the details re serial number etc. then they will send you the card. Looks like they are clamping down??

By the way,I'm going on holidays for two weeks shortly. If I switch everything off ,ie sockets etc should my system come back up normally or is there a risk of losing channels. Don't really want to leave things plugged in that long.
Appreciate feedback.

Our man in Havana

Jez I have unplugged my box for 2 week holidays before and they worked ok on my return.

Well I left my off off for 3 months one time and it was ok

carrolls

If you have an ex Sky subscription card, BSkyB are prone to switching off the terrestial channels after
you stop subscribing. It does not always happen, but there is no comeback if it does happen.
(Especially if you buy your Digibox and card from eBay). This is only a problem with ex
Sky Subscription cards.
With FTV cards, this never happens. But if the FTV card is unused for a period of a few months,
it needs to get the automatic update signal again. Leaving the card in overnight will sort this out.
This happens because Sky has updated the Operating System (EPG) or moved channels around.
It does'nt mean the card has expired. Leaving the card in for a few hours usually sorts this out.

jez

ok,so can you explain how best I could get a FTV Card.
I have an ex SKy card working ok.Should I wait for the day which may never come when it packs in or should I try and get one now.I believe you have to give the serial number of box before they send you the ftv card and sky also have to be aware of the box details.I was told this yesterday when I phone the FTV number in UK.
Appreciate your feedback.

carrolls

Simply, get a contact in the UK or Northern Ireland.
Get them to order a card.
The Sky/BBC person will take their name and address
and give them an access number (26****).
A few days later the FTV card will arrive at said address.
Your contact posts the card, name , address, and Access
number over to you.
You call up the Sky/BBC number to activate the card.
Be sure to have all the details close by when calling.
After all they are robots and nothing but the correct input
computes.
The number to call is (0044 )+0870 243 8000

Cloud

And you mentioned earlier that you don't need the box serial number?

carrolls

And you mentioned earlier that you don't need the box serial number?

In my experience that is correct.

John R

Originally posted by carrolls
If this was the case you would get
"This programme is not available",
not
"For Your Information" screen with details about the channels and a UK 08702 number to call to "upgrade your subscription ".

I assume this is in response to my post.

Before my card re-authorised it showed the FYI/ update your subscription screen with the sky phone number attached for all FTV channels (I remember this because it had region specific info for ITV1 Tyne Tees on 103) and it still re-acquired all the channels without any action on my part.

I thought that the "This Programme is not Available" message only came up when trying to access channels barred by location ie Ch4 on an ROI card.

carrolls, I am not doubting you, but you are the first person I have heard say that SKY are routinely switching off legitimate ex-subscription cards. I bought one over 2 years ago and although I sold it a few months ago, I am informed that it is still working perfectly. If SKY are doing this it must be a recent development, or possibly it is boxes/cards reported stolen that are being invalidated.

I would be interested to know how many occourences of this you know of.

seano

i know of one//mine, and it was not stolen etc

carrolls

A friend on mine bought a Pace box and ex-subscription card on e-bay and it arrived just before Christmas.
On Christmas Eve, Channel 4 and Channel 5 came up with the dreaded "upgrade your subscription " message.
He didn't have the card out for long periods of time and all channels were working when the box arrived.
Then a few days later Granada ITV1 stopped working.
I'm not sure what the situation is now, but simply put, you cannot depend on the ex-sub Sky cards.

PS John R, are you sure your card was not an ordinary FTV card?
What telephone number was on it?

jez

I bought a Grundig silver digibox from UK in March and its working perfectly since arrival.It's ex Sky subscription.If it packs in some day then I'll resolve the problem either through FTA or some other method. The digibox is better than the original Pace I got with the Irish subscription .2nd digibox is also important for taping ,someone else watching channels in other rooms etc so whatever happens it wasn't money wasted.We should probably stop talking about cards being cut off for various reasons etc as its only giving ideas out that they(unowho) probably haven't considered.

jabarrett35

Hi, I've got a FTA card but for some reason BBC 1 has an 08 message. I have spoken to BBC FTA and they say they are sending a stronger signal but this seems to have made no diffrence. I was wondering if any has any advice. The card is registered to my UK address.

John

Mossy Monk

Originally posted by jabarrett35
they say they are sending a stronger signal

sorry for taking this off topic but what do they mean when they say that. i used to get that line on the phone when i had problems with Sky analogue. i didn't think signals that activated cards could be strong or weak

carrolls

Correct, the amplitude of the signal remains at a constant level in Digital satellite broadcasting. This also applies to Analogue Satellite broadcasting too. It never varies.

jabarrett35

Hi thank you for that information re the signal. But what ever they did or may be they did what they should of done in the first place, but it work. So I am quite happy now that I have BBC 1

John:)

sayireland

I suddenly lost all the BBC channels about 5 hours ago but I still have Channel 5 and I imagine Channel 4 and ITV as well (I don't actually see them where I am in Spain because of the dish size.)

I got the card from ebay but the telephone number on the card is the 0870 243800 BBC number rather than the 0870 2404040 Sky number so I'm hoping that I wasn't shafted into buying an ex-sub card and not a FTV card.

However, the message that is coming up on all the BBC channels is that I should upgrade subscription and ring the 0870 2404040 Sky number.

Has that been the case with people who have 'lost' the signal temporarily? Unfortunately I don't have the card holder's address so I'll have to bank on the seller's goodwill.

Has anyone had a sililar experience?

Originally posted by sayireland
I suddenly lost all the BBC channels about 5 hours ago but I still have Channel 5 and I imagine Channel 4 and ITV as well (I don't actually see them where I am in Spain because of the dish size.)

I got the card from ebay but the telephone number on the card is the 0870 243800 BBC number rather than the 0870 2404040 Sky number so I'm hoping that I wasn't shafted into buying an ex-sub card and not a FTV card.

However, the message that is coming up on all the BBC channels is that I should upgrade subscription and ring the 0870 2404040 Sky number.

Has that been the case with people who have 'lost' the signal temporarily? Unfortunately I don't have the card holder's address so I'll have to bank on the seller's goodwill.

Has anyone had a sililar experience?

Don't worry!
Simply leave the digibox on with the bbc card in and the box tuned to BBC One overnight and if neccessary during the day and the channels will return.
All thats happened is for some reason your card and box has missed one of the regular update signals from Sky.
Doing the above will fix the problem.
*Do not Ring* sky or the number on screen and theres no need to contact anyone.
BTW the number is different as its a special section that deals with the issue of BBC Cards.
mm

kennyk

Hi,

I was going away over the weekend so I left the "Ex SKY" card in the box tuned to C4 and when I returned all was well again!

Did have me worried for a bit though!

Cheers

Ken

sayireland

I suddenly lost all the BBC channels last Sunday but I still have Channel 5 and I imagine Channel 4 and ITV as well (I don't actually see them where I am in Spain because of the dish size.)

I got the card from ebay but the telephone number on the card is the 0870 243800 BBC number rather than the 0870 2404040 Sky number so I'm hoping that I wasn't shafted into buying an ex-sub card and not a FTV card.

However, the message that is coming up on all the BBC channels is that I should upgrade subscription and ring the 0870 2404040 Sky number.

I've left the box on BBC1 all the time since then and nothing has changed. I'd imagined that the channels would come back in a day or so but no go.

Could the box need a software upgrade?

How often do these update signals get sent out?

Is there anyway that I can find the details of the person who ordered the card without having to go through them?