No satellite signal

[PaulinHG]

It's Christmas 2024, Dec 27th. For three days now my Sky Q box has been displaying a no satellite signal message whenever I drop out of a sky recording or exit one of the streaming services. Each time i unplugged the box and normality was resumed. Over those 3 days it got worse. However, I still had recordings (lots) and catch up and on-demand. However those have now gone AWOL too. I checked 0,0,1 hidden menu as instructed. Setting was on Wideband. I rang Sky today (27/12/24) & went through the usual checks. Did a basic reset. Nothing. So I have had to book an engineer visit. However the earliest date is 14 January 2025!

I cannot believe this. I pay Sky a staggering £1230 a year for their service and that's the best they can do?
I don't know why I accepted this 14 Jan visit. I should have just cancelled Sky immediately. What an absolute joke of a company. They clearly don't have enough engineers to provide an acceptable service to their subscribers. I have no problem with the equipment. The Sky Q box is brilliant. Mine (3TB?) is quite old now and has given excellent service. It's probably reached the end of its life now and I can accept that but why do I have to wait nearly 3 weeks for an engineer? Couldn't they just send me a new box and I'd send the old one back?
Surely this level of service cannot be deemed acceptable or am I expecting too much from one of the largest broadcast companies on the planet? 

[Daniel0210]

@PaulinHG 

There has never been a 3TB box. A large number of Sky TV engineers suffered redundancy earlier this year and there are fewer to go round as the need dwindles due to Sky+ and Sky+ HD no longer being supported. 

You wouldn't have been able to cancel immediately. You would, at best, have had to give 31 days notice by which time the engineer will have been. 

Once the dish alignment has been fixed (it's not a box issue), call Sky and ask if they'll consider a credit being put on your Sky account for the time you've been without service but unlike broadband they aren't obliged to offer one. 

[PaulinHG]

Thanks. I wasn't sure about the Sky Q capacity I just thought it was 3TB but obvs I'm wrong.
If it is a dish problem, why am I now getting a "to use this service you need satellite signal" message against all menu options including Recordings, Catch Up, On Demand etc?  These options were all still available (despite no signal) until the telephone agent told me to do a basic reset (first option) from the hidden menu.  
The Sky guy said he would add a £25 credit to my next month's bill which is actually less than a week's subscrition! 
Cheers. 
Paul S 

[nigea99]

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@PaulinHG wrote:

Thanks. I wasn't sure about the Sky Q capacity I just thought it was 3TB but obvs I'm wrong.
If it is a dish problem, why am I now getting a "to use this service you need satellite signal" message against all menu options including Recordings, Catch Up, On Demand etc?  These options were all still available (despite no signal) until the telephone agent told me to do a basic reset (first option) from the hidden menu.  
The Sky guy said he would add a £25 credit to my next month's bill which is actually less than a week's subscrition! 
Cheers. 
Paul S 

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hi @PaulinHG 

this is because the SKY Q boxes need a periodic 'Keep alive' signal which it can't get when there is a problem with the dish or cable.

The boxes work for recordings & apps until the next signal is due and when it doesn't get that, the box effectively shuts down until the satellite signal is restored  

[daveNOS · Accepted solution]

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@PaulinHG wrote:

Thanks. I wasn't sure about the Sky Q capacity I just thought it was 3TB but obvs I'm wrong.
If it is a dish problem, why am I now getting a "to use this service you need satellite signal" message against all menu options including Recordings, Catch Up, On Demand etc?  These options were all still available (despite no signal) until the telephone agent told me to do a basic reset (first option) from the hidden menu.  
The Sky guy said he would add a £25 credit to my next month's bill which is actually less than a week's subscrition! 
Cheers. 
Paul S 

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@PaulinHG Recordings/Apps and catch up will remain available for a short period after the loss of signal, they will stop and that message will appear when the box next tries to get the "keep alive" signal, resetting the box would have forced the box to look for the "keep alive" signal.