Does a Sky + box reqire a communal (standard) ariel ?

[Crabit]

Engineer turned up to upgrade my Sky + box to Sky Q, but informed us it wasn't possible in our location, however, the communal ariel was down, and he informed us that it would have to be repaired before the box would work. Strangely, our next door neighbour has had Sky + for 10 years without a communal ariel. 

 Any advice would be appreciated. 

[Mark39]

Unless you have your own satellite dish, you're reliant on the communal dish, I'm afraid.

[TimmyBGood]

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@Crabit wrote:

 Strangely, our next door neighbour has had Sky + for 10 years without a communal ariel. 

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They either have their own satellite dish or access to a communal signal distribution system attached to a dish (note: not an 'aerial', which is a collection of bent wire used for Digital Terrestrial television rather than Sky satellite television)

Sky Q uses a different reception system to Sky+, and it's certainly possible for a communal system to be compatible with Sky+ but not Sky Q

[Crabit]

When I say a communal ariel, I mean a digital terrestrial ariel which the engineer said I needed for the box to work, yet my neighbour has never had one in 10 years. Its all very misleading  ?

[GD1]

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@Crabit wrote:

When I say a communal ariel, I mean a digital terrestrial ariel which the engineer said I needed for the box to work, yet my neighbour has never had one in 10 years. Its all very misleading  ?

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A "Digital" terrestrial aerial is for Freeview  TV not satellite.

You need a dish either your own or Communal (commonly referred to as an IRS setup)

Not sure why the engineer told you you need an aerial as they should really know the difference between the 2.

[Mark39]

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@Crabit wrote:

When I say a communal ariel, I mean a digital terrestrial ariel which the engineer said I needed for the box to work....

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Not for a Sky TV box.

For Sky TV, you need access to a satellite dish, either your own, or a communal dish.

Or for Sky Stream TV you need access to good broadband, but neither a dish nor an aerial is required.

[TimmyBGood]

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@Crabit wrote:

When I say a communal ariel, I mean a digital terrestrial ariel which the engineer said I needed for the box to work

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Simply not true for Sky satellite television hardware or service.  It would however have been the case for a BT TV box, where live content arrived over broadcast DTTV.