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12 Feb
1:45pm, 12 Feb 2025
90,680 posts
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Diogenes
My current Sky TV subscription has expired and I am looking at the best renewal options. I would be grateful for any advice, experience, or expert knowledge you might have
A few years ago I moved my broadband provision from Sky to BT because BT could somehow offer me better speeds over the same line. I have also recently moved my mobile contract to an EE sim only deal (£10 a month with 20GB of data doubled to 40GB because I am an BT broadband customer), therefore I ahve also been looking to move my TV service to EE. I think I can get the full works package which includes everything I'd get from Sky and more, plus Netflix cheaper than Mrs D currently pays, all for less than I'd pay with Sky if I renew. This includes a free mini box for a second room, something that's also an extra cost with Sky. I recon I can save at least £15 a month with EE, depending on the options I select.
My concerns are will my broadband be up to it, and will the picture quality be poorer over the internet? We already stream services and only really notice poorer quality on Prime.
Secondly, if broadband is down you can't watch anything, whereas Sky's satellite and dish are very reliable. Sky is committed to keep using satellite tech until 2029, so there's no urgent need to move away from using the dish.
Finally, they offer a couple of different boxes. One is like the Sky Q box, that lets you record tv but, as far as I can tell, their mini box doesn't record or let you watch programmes you've recorded via the main box, unlike Sky's. Then there is the Apple 4k box which is another thing entirely but I don't think that lets you record either.
Finally, EE's member benefits seem quite useful, unlike Sky's VIP package which offers nothing worth having, I've found.
Let me know what you think
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12 Feb
3:28pm, 12 Feb 2025
3,558 posts
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Mushroom
Hi Dio
You can continue to use the satellite dish even after you cancel a sky satellite package.
For a very small fee you can get a Freesat box that gets many channels. For slightly more cash, you can get a recorder version so you can record for later viewing. The satellite will continue working and be available for use if, for whatever reason, the broadband / internet service is down. After the initial outlay on the box, there is no annual fee.
At the same time, you can use your broadband to stream TV through the various packages. I use BT / EE as the broadband provider and the TV is usually pretty good, even with the WiFi router upstairs and away from the living room.
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12 Feb
3:33pm, 12 Feb 2025
90,681 posts
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Diogenes
Thanks, Mushroom
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12 Feb
3:45pm, 12 Feb 2025
23,564 posts
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rf_fozzy
I've just gone the other way from BT (EE) to Sky - mainly because I was paying too much for my broadband and landline, but the bit that made the difference over what BT could offer was that they'd give me the basic TV deal which had Netflix included in the price (which I currently pay for) and that made the landline free.
Worth haggling with them as I've come out with a deal I think is pretty good.
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12 Feb
3:45pm, 12 Feb 2025
23,565 posts
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rf_fozzy
(same to be said for BT too btw)
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12 Feb
3:49pm, 12 Feb 2025
12,959 posts
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lammo
For me, who moved from Sky to Virgin, for broadband speeds a few years ago, the sky interfaces and usability is streets ahead of everybody else, and the sky go capability isn't shared through third party contracts, well not virgin anyway, so i can't watch sky sports on my ipad, basically.
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12 Feb
3:56pm, 12 Feb 2025
26,629 posts
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larkim
Freesat can be very good, though obviously it's "only" the free to air channels.
The streaming quality really should be more than good enough for no drop in quality, though I would be worried if you already notice a drop in quality with Prime; that should be really pretty robust and up to 4k. I'd be looking at whether your internal network is performing well enough (i.e. the wifi). We were always good for streaming on "normal" broadband, but since moving to fibre it's been even more robust.
EE used to do an absolute fabulous recording PVR box as part of their package - it recorded all of the BBC channels simultaenously for 24 hours so you could rewind through the guide and it was there just waiting for you. Could never understand why they abandoned it. Maybe their new box (EE TV Box Pro) is good too though?
I'm an enthusiast for hard disk recording in digiboxes, but they seem to have been pretty much abandoned by most in favour of streaming services instead; which is fine for me if I want to watch BBC, but it would force me to watch ads if I tuned into channel 4.
Broadband shouldn't really go down, but I suppose it does happen from time to time. I've not had an outage though in the last 5 years I don't think. You might find with the EE package that if broadband physically goes down they allow a back up via your mobile devices?
Other than that I think you're understanding the package properly and what the devices can do.
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12 Feb
4:08pm, 12 Feb 2025
12,960 posts
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lammo
To moan slightly more about Virgin, our broadband went down for about 8 hours on Monday, though that is rare it meant no TV or broadband, it was like the 1980's, i read a book and mrs lammo did a jigsaw puzzle 
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12 Feb
4:32pm, 12 Feb 2025
264 posts
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Stander
If we had 8 hours free time, I know what the missus and I would be up to.
Finding stuff to do for the next 7 hours and 55 minutes.
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12 Feb
5:22pm, 12 Feb 2025
3,436 posts
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Jen HB
Need to remember to sort my broadband/phone package. (Will probably renew with plusnet for broadband/phoneline).
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