Sky no longer supporting 'Sky+' (Letter 6th November 2024).

[BernieH2]

Received a letter from Sky informing me they would no longer be up dating Sky+ boxes. (6th November 2024) 14 days later 'catch-up' would not work and WPS would not restore it. I wrote to Sky (Subscription Service, PO Box 43, Livingston, EH54 7DD) on 26th November 2024, informing them of the difficulty and, as was at the end of my 18 month contract and would be 'out of the country' until 22nd January 2025, that I would be cancelling my direct debit and would make a decision as to a new service provider on my return. I had a number of Emails from Sky, all of which I answered, and finally called Sky on their 0*** *** *467 number had the 'run around and lots of 'dead air' could not actually get through to someone with enough authority to make any sort of cohesive decision, just some one who would go over the same speil over and over again whilst I was paying the 9.5 pence per minute charge, after 51 minutes I signed off without coming to any sort of resolution. My problem with Sky after being a subscriber for 24+ years is that they only left me with the option to 'upgrade' to Sky Q, although this would mean them 'piggy backing' my internet provider, who will no doubt increase their charges, in an area of the country that does not have great internet provision with a large transiant student population, overload and slowing down internet services in the area.

[Annie+UK]

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@BernieH2 wrote:

Received a letter from Sky informing me they would no longer be up dating Sky+ boxes. (6th November 2024) 14 days later 'catch-up' would not work and WPS would not restore it. I wrote to Sky (Subscription Service, PO Box 43, Livingston, EH54 7DD) on 26th November 2024, informing them of the difficulty and, as was at the end of my 18 month contract and would be 'out of the country' until 22nd January 2025, that I would be cancelling my direct debit and would make a decision as to a new service provider on my return. I had a number of Emails from Sky, all of which I answered, and finally called Sky on their 0*** *** *467 number had the 'run around and lots of 'dead air' could not actually get through to someone with enough authority to make any sort of cohesive decision, just some one who would go over the same speil over and over again whilst I was paying the 9.5 pence per minute charge, after 51 minutes I signed off without coming to any sort of resolution. My problem with Sky after being a subscriber for 24+ years is that they only left me with the option to 'upgrade' to Sky Q, although this would mean them 'piggy backing' my internet provider, who will no doubt increase their charges, in an area of the country that does not have great internet provision with a large transiant student population, overload and slowing down internet services in the area.

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Your ISP will not increase your charge because of Sky Q. If you don't change your usage patterns then Sky Q will use a similar amount of broadband as Sky+

[TimmyBGood]

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@BernieH2 wrote:

My problem with Sky after being a subscriber for 24+ years is that they only left me with the option to 'upgrade' to Sky Q, although this would mean them 'piggy backing' my internet provider, 

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Sky Q is a satellite television platform.

The online-only Sky technology is Glass and Stream.

[BernieH2]

Thanks TimmyBGood. Absolutely none of this was explained by Sky in their letter of 6th November 2024, it went "We're no longer updating Sky+ boxes. Hello Bernard We've stopped delivering regular software updates to your Sky+ box, which means you won't be getting the best Sky experience. So you can now upgrade to SkyQ at no extra cost. Set up is on us, which means you'll save £99." It then continued to promote "Whats great about SkyQ".  and a what happens next?  As I said my 'Catch-up' then stopped within 12 days. I've always considered Sky very difficult to contact which is why I contacted them via 'snail mail' back in November 2024. It didn't change my opinion last Friday (13/02/2025) when the operator refused to transfer me to someone who could actually make decisions and kept going around in circles whilst I paid for the call, all 51 minutes of it. I consider this just a tactic to put disgruntled subscribers under additional pressure to pay for a service they stopped delivering on last November after ammending a contract without mutual consent. Had Sky been more professional they may have caused less friction with myself. As it is the matter has not been resolved as yet.

[Annie+UK]

You getting a letter about Sky+ being discontiued has nothing to do with your loss of On Demand as 1,000's of people got this letterI (us included) and  have not seen 1,000's of complaints about loss of On Demand and our OD is working as normal

[Mark39]

@BernieH2 the reality is that your Sky box hasn't received updates for some time - well over a year. As @Annie+UK posted, that alone wouldn't stop your Catch Up working..

If I've read your post correctly, the issue is that your Sky box won't connect to your wifi service by use of the WPS button. Have you tried connecting via use of your wifi username and password, as an alternative?

[BernieH2]

If, as TimmyBGood states SkyQ is a satilite service why would I need to link to my broadband provider?

[caesarome]

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@BernieH2 wrote:

If, as TimmyBGood states SkyQ is a satilite service why would I need to link to my broadband provider?

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To access on demand content, it is the live tv that is provided via the satellite, anything else is provided via  the Internet connection.

[nigea99]

@BernieH2 

As others have indicated the lack of Software updates does not mean your service will change  - the only real problem is that SKY HD boxes are now old and can fail but that does not mean it will

Should it fail you can no longer get a 2nd box and pair your card with it 

You may, also, wish to read some notes I have made for people considering switching from SKY +/HD to SKY Q

SKY +/HD to SKY Q 

[Ellie_TV]

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@BernieH2 wrote:

If, as TimmyBGood states SkyQ is a satilite service why would I need to link to my broadband provider?

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Sky Q is, and always has been, a satellite service. You only need to connect the Sky Q box to your broadband in order to download on demand content, or to stream content from any of the included apps such as iPlayer, ITVX, Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+. 
You don't need to switch your broadband provider to Sky, you can stay with your existing service provider. 

[Mark39]

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@BernieH2 wrote:

If, as TimmyBGood states SkyQ is a satilite service why would I need to link to my broadband provider?

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For the same reason as with your Sky+ box - for Catch up and other On Demand services.

[PCOOK1977]

Just been told the Sky HD Plus Box I have will not work soon. You do have an option do as I will. I will take all of my services elsewhere.

[SKY1992bf]

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@PCOOK1977 wrote:

Just been told the Sky HD Plus Box I have will not work soon. You do have an option do as I will. I will take all of my services elsewhere.

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@PCOOK1977  Does it actually say "will not work "?

Sky haven't released software updates for a number of years for sky plus boxes but they DO still work and will continue to work for some years yet 

in theory the only time you would have to upgrade if you chose to do so would be if your box completely breaks beyond recovery this is because you can't now replace existing boxes with replacement ones 

[caesarome]

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@PCOOK1977 wrote:

Just been told the Sky HD Plus Box I have will not work soon.

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If they have told you that then t try hey shouldn't have as they will continue to work despite what you might have been told.

[BernieH2]

bf Thanks for the information. I made a call to Sky on 14th February and had the staff been that straight forward the 9.5p per minute it cost me to call might have been of some use. But first I was put through to someone whose only job, so they said, was to take payment before passing you on to someone else. That someone else just tried to drag the call out for as long as possible, 51 minutes plus in my case. During this time there was a lot of 'dead air', whilst 'talking to a colleague' instead of passing me on to that colleague, direct. So, no resolution and a real possibility of a court case pending. Had I encountered someone with the 'common sense' of SKY1992bf I can't help thinking my 24 year association would continue.