Irish Sky viewing Card for use in the UK

[Junior]

looking for a bit of advice.

I have sky digital here in the UK but would like to use an Irish viewing card so as to pick up the irish stations. I believe people are doing this already.

Anyone know the best way to do it? Is it a case of getting an existing Sky Digital customer in Ireland to get a second box and card and using that in the UK (Can you just use the card or does it have to be the card and box together??).

Any help or adivce on how to go about this would be much appreciated.

Jnr

[Macy]

Second box on an existing subscription wouldn't work, as both need hooking up to a phone line. You'd need a second subscription if they already had a sky sub, and then get the box and card brought over/ or you'd have to get the card "married" to another box (maybe easier - hide the number when phoning sky, and then it's only getting the card sent over).

Probably the easiest for you, as you already have the system (assuming it's out of the 12 month contract so you own the sky box, dish etc) would be order the subscription only (therefore no phone connection required contract) from Sky for an Irish address, get the card sent over, and then you phone to marry the card from the UK withholding the phone number.

With RTE1&2 and TG4 rumoured/ confirmed? to be joining the Northern Ireland Sky Lineup, if you could get someone in the North to order it, you'd have the UK stations too.

Think you posted on the sat forum on boards.ie anyway, so probably more thorough advice there. Another place you could do a search on/ post is digitalspy.co.uk (but be prepared for muppets going on about legality).

btw I assume you know there's no equivalent to the Free To View cards in the UK, the irish stations are subscription only. The basic sky line up is the same, just the UK terrestrial stations (and their digital stations) that aren't on the Irish line up.

[Junior]

Cheers Macy. I'll try digitalspy.co.uk as well.

Probably the easiest for you, as you already have the system (assuming it's out of the 12 month contract so you own the sky box, dish etc) would be order the subscription only (therefore no phone connection required contract) from Sky for an Irish address, get the card sent over, and then you phone to marry the card from the UK withholding the phone number.

Some very naive questions from me here, sorry about this.

1) Do I phone Sky in Ireland to order the subscription only?
2) Will Sky want an existing account number or reference if I was ordering a subscription only?
3) When you marry the card to my existing box will that make my existing UK card/subscription redundant?
4) If yes to 3, I guess I can just cancel that subscription?

btw I assume you know there's no equivalent to the Free To View cards in the UK, the irish stations are subscription only. The basic sky line up is the same, just the UK terrestrial stations (and their digital stations) that aren't on the Irish line up.

With the Irish Card in place and working, does this mean I won't be able to get BBC1,2, Itv etc...??

Thanks again Macy.

Anyone out there actually done this??

[Macy]

1) Do I phone Sky in Ireland to order the subscription only?

Yeah, hiding your UK number.

2) Will Sky want an existing account number or reference if I was ordering a subscription only?

No, just your (irish) address. Just say you brought the digibox second hand

3) When you marry the card to my existing box will that make my existing UK card/subscription redundant?

*
Not to sure, one for the experts on the sat forums (don't have a sky sub myself).

4) If yes to 3, I guess I can just cancel that subscription?

*
If you've had sky for a year it shouldn't be a problem - check your terms and conditions.

With the Irish Card in place and working, does this mean I won't be able to get BBC1,2, Itv etc...??

*
You'll get BBC1 and 2 NI on it, and the other BBC digital channels can be got through other channels. No ITV, CH4 or Five on the subscription card - that's why it may be worth waiting to see what happens in the north. You'll could swap the cards with your old one and you should still get the UK terrestrial channels.

Anyone out there actually done this??

Surely one of the exiles must have.

tbh I'd wait and get the advice from the sat forums rather than rely on me, as I aint no expert. Find myself getting confused trying to give the advice, but hope it's some help. Not convinced it's really worth it for what you get.

*Other option is to get a second hand digibox, a dual/quad lnb and pay for the family pack on the irish sub for the irish channels and keep your existing sky sub. Have one for the irish stations, one for the UK stations (and mess around with the channel set ups till you get the mix you want - e.g. Full Irish Sky sub for sports and movies, Free To View Card for UK Terrestrial channels)

[dcfcsteve]

Junior,

I've had Irish Sky in London for 2 years. Here's what you do. Yopu will need a 'phantom' Irish address that doesn't already have a live Sky subscription :

1) Ring the Irish Sky number (it'll still take you through to their offices in Lothian). Make sure you do '141' before you dial to block the sending of your own phone number.
2) Tell them you've just moved to Ireland, have plugged your Sky box into an existing Sky dish at your new place, and everything is working. However, you're still getting BBC London (or wherever) and aren't getting any of ht eIrish channels. Sound like you're a bit confused.
3) After a while, and usually with a bit of prompting, the operator will realise there's a different viewing card for Ireland. DO NOT let them try and fob you off with an engineer's visit - make it clear that the system is working perfectly, just that you don't understand why you're not getting the local channels.
4) They'll then cancel your English viewing card, and send out a contract for an Irish one to the Irish address. You need to sign and return that.
5) Whole process can take a good few weeks though, especially with Sky sending things to Ireland and then you having them forwarded back to your English address, so you'll have only the very basic Sky viewing in the meantime.
6) When you fill-in the contract, put down a credit card for payment every month. That way, the only thing that will go to the Irish address is the viewing magazine etc.

Do yhe above, and you'll have Irish Sky -albeit after up to 4 weeks.

[Junior]

cheers lads thats a great help.