Price hike so want to reduce package

[Tr1ckyTr3v]

Hi all,

New to this community so will try and give as much detail as I can!

Sky Q box

x3 mini hubs in kids rooms and master bedroom

Ultimate TV
Sky Sports HD
Sky Signature
Sky Sports
Sky Cinema
Sky HD
Multiscreen
Ultra HD

Talk anytime

Ultrafast broadband (150mb) with x2 boosters

I think thats about it 🙂

Price was £117 but jumping to £163 today and then £185 next month. 

I have called the retention team to query this but not getting anywhere as their new best price after about 10 years on hold was £169 ... they are citing "legacy Netflix pricing and price hike for April being to blame"

Obviously I'm not hanging about to pay this so will be off when contract is up on the 6th March. 

Question is, if I drop to the basic freeview £20 a month that was offered yesterday is that applicable to all the mini boxes too or does something else need to happen to keep these "live".

(Also, the wifi has always been rubbish despite the two boosters but will be sticking with this for another couple of months until that contract is up in May but thats by the by).

Any hints / tips / tricks to keep the tv's running (albeit on Freeview (but all tvs are 'smart')) gratefully received.

Thanks.

[TimmyBGood]

@Tr1ckyTr3v 

Note it's not 'Freeview' (which is digital terrestrial television broadcast from a mast and received through an aerial) : it's Free To Air satellite service received though the dish.  Confusingly, this is not quite the same as 'Freesat'

Subscribing to 'TV Essentials' used to cause Mini box use to cease, but this appears to have changed.

[PandJ2020]

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@Tr1ckyTr3v wrote:

Obviously I'm not hanging about to pay this so will be off when contract is up on the 6th March. 

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Unless you've given notice already to leave then you're not 'off'.  You have to give 31 days notice for TV and 14 for broadband.

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Question is, if I drop to the basic freeview £20 a month that was offered yesterday is that applicable to all the mini boxes too or does something else need to happen to keep these "live".

Any hints / tips / tricks to keep the tv's running (albeit on Freeview (but all tvs are 'smart')) gratefully received.

You'd have to check if you move to essentials whether this includes multiroom (I believe they are offering that now).  A convenient, but still expensive way of watching freeview.

There's no neat solution for distributing freeview around the house - Q is good at this.  You can change the master box for a FreeSat 4K box.  You'd have to look at whether the other TV's can view what you want via Apps - or install aerials...

[PandJ2020]

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@TimmyBGood wrote:

@Tr1ckyTr3v 

Subscribing to 'TV Essentials' used to cause Mini box use to cease, but this appears to have changed.

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It seems so - but a multiroom sub will be required too.

[Laing1]

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@Tr1ckyTr3v wrote:

Hi all,

New to this community so will try and give as much detail as I can!

Sky Q box

x3 mini hubs in kids rooms and master bedroom

Ultimate TV
Sky Sports HD
Sky Signature
Sky Sports
Sky Cinema
Sky HD
Multiscreen
Ultra HD

Talk anytime

Ultrafast broadband (150mb) with x2 boosters

I think thats about it 🙂

Price was £117 but jumping to £163 today and then £185 next month. 

I have called the retention team to query this but not getting anywhere as their new best price after about 10 years on hold was £169 ... they are citing "legacy Netflix pricing and price hike for April being to blame"

Obviously I'm not hanging about to pay this so will be off when contract is up on the 6th March. 

Question is, if I drop to the basic freeview £20 a month that was offered yesterday is that applicable to all the mini boxes too or does something else need to happen to keep these "live".

(Also, the wifi has always been rubbish despite the two boosters but will be sticking with this for another couple of months until that contract is up in May but thats by the by).

Any hints / tips / tricks to keep the tv's running (albeit on Freeview (but all tvs are 'smart')) gratefully received.

Thanks.

---

@Tr1ckyTr3v as @TimmyBGood and @PandJ2020 have said the Essentials package only includes the main box to add the mini boxes to this you still need the multiscreen package which is currently £15 un discounted and obviously will go up in ther April price increases but still considerably less than what you are currently paying 

[Padam_Padam]

If money is tight and you already have smart TVs in your other rooms then it's worth remembering that most, if not all, content from Freesat is available for free via apps. 

You can stream live BBC channels on iPlayer, live ITV channels on ITVX, live Channel 4, etc, as well as all the catch-up content all at no cost.

Paying for Sky Essentials is only really worthwhile if you cannot live without recording capability.  

[Tr1ckyTr3v]

Thanks all - essentially I'm just looking to keep the same mini boxes operational and the keep the wifi (which has taken an age to get working properly) but understand I'll have to keep the Q box running minimal services. 

Basically just looking for best advice/practice on this as don't really have much of a clue on these things.   

[Chodley]

And do you feel like you have that answered now?