Cancelling Sky. What now?

[OhWifey]

I'm just on hold to Sky after another ridiculous bill. I'm ready to cancel unless they offer me something quite special. I will get pay as you go Sky Sports through our Now TV dongle. Should I buy a Smart TV? Any other good TV and Broadband packages? I'm a bit stuck in the noughties so I don't know what the best alternative is. Been used to having phone/broadband/TV all through Sky for the last 10 years

Sports is a bit of a spanner in the works. We need it really (need being a first world problem word I know). I've got what is actually a great deal out of them. £46 for unlimited broadband, phone with any time calls, entertainment package and sports plus an upgrade to Sky Q

Netflix is cheaper and has no adverts. No brainer for me.

I thought sky were doing 50% off packages for Black Friday for new and existing customers

I just watch the free channels on sky. If you pull your sky viewing card out you will be able to Flick through and see which channels you will get free. I’m sure there’s a 50% off Black Friday sky deal for new and existing customers?

We want to ditch sky but can't unless I can get any other type of tv with a broadband speed of less than 1mbps? Freeview not an option as no signal when we have high pressure. Any ideas? We pay a ridiculous amount for a shit service when people pay less for fibre.

@OhWifey, that sounds a good deal think I'm due a call to them today now.

The new deal is half our current deal. And with free calls which we don't currently get and a better box. If Sky Sports are required this is the best I can find

Get some good friends I pay for Prime and Audible, 1 daughter pays for Netflix and Disney life, the other pays for Now and Spotify.

We live in different houses and on some platforms have to pay a little bit more to get the maximum devices but we each pay around £!5 - 20 a month but have access to everything.

FireStick currently available in three flavours.
Basic stick which gives you Amazon tv + Prime, Netflix & Apple TV (subscriptions payable for last 3)

Voice control stick which gives you all of the above + Alexa

Fire cube Everything on the voice stick plus the ability to voice control TV, HiFi Sat/Humax boxes as well.

Black Friday deals available on all.

We use Voice Stick (got the 4K one to allow TV upgrade later) + Humax to record. Ditched Sky 5+ years ago!

We left Sky and moved to Now TV. The main reasons were that we didn't watch a lot of tv, mostly dc, and were spending £50 on the variety package, plus £18 line rental and £10 a month for internet. Ex DP works in IT and had lots of issues with the internet cutting out whilst on conference calls etc so we decided to switch. The woman on the phone, when I said it was due to internet, said I could pay £X extra per month for faster internet. I said no thanks, I don't want to get into a new contract and she laughed at me and said if you want a cheaper deal thats how it works! I was very angry and made it clear that I wasn't 'leaving' for a cheaper deal, I wanted the internet that I pay for to actually work! Even though Now TV is owned by them, the internet is much better. I paid about £20 for the stick and just pay £3.99 a month for kids channels. That's it. They're really good and you can always get through to their customer services quickly (though it's all online and you can't call).

We had sky for about 6 years and this year our bill went right up and the "deal" they offered to stay was still 50% more than I had been paying.

We bought a smart TV so have access to now TV, prime, netflix etc. Through that, as well as freesat which seems to be pretty much all the channels I would need. I do miss being able to record stuff but 99% of programmes can be found on catch up or streaming services so it isnt too bad and it is worth it to save £25+ per month.

We want to leave Sky but we're not sure what the alternatives are - suspect none. We're not allowed to have TV aerials where we live, there is no cable television so I think we are stuck with Sky. We've got Amazon Prime and can get Netflix obviously.

4K TV's have a Satallite input so you can plug the Sky Dish directly into the TV. It will give you all the free Sky channels. Then for the premium channels you can pay using Now TV. That's what I do. So no contract and can dip in and out of Sky Premium channels on a pay as you go basis.

Amazon fire stick is the way forward, and a Netflix account.
If you want live sports, there are many ways to see them (dodgy ways) but a bit of internet research can save a lot of money. No need for a landline these days either. Talk of £150 a month is nuts, they rely on people who just keep the package going because it’s easy. They are making so much money when people can get most of what they want way cheaper. You just need a decent internet connection, and not even a smart tv (if you are using a fire stick, but you must have a hdmi port if not). 🤓

If you have decent broadband, LG TVs (and probably some other brands) can access virtually all the UK streaming services. One TV remote, no switching inputs, it's great.

Sky are currently offering half-price cinema, kids, sport and UHD, plus netflix and Sky box sets for £6 a month, if you re-sign for 18 months. Ends Dec 2nd.

If you quit sky and do not yet have Sky Q, your cable can plug straight into a Freesat TV or box.

If you have Sky Q, you will need to replace the LNB (box on the end of the arm in front of the dish) with a cheap replacement from Amazon to get Freesat.

Amazon are flogging their firestick half-price at the moment. You can get that and a freet month's trial of Prime. (You can have one free month every year.)

One tip for anyone who is up for the gamble. Tell Sky you are quitting. Say no to their offers. You have a 28 day period (or approx one month) then of Sky until the contract ends. That last week, on your Sky remote control. Press 'Services' button, within there, to tempt you to stay, they will give you offers. And tend to drop 50% on packages (in desperation)

Really only works if you have Sky Sports

But the gamble is usually worth it. Be prepared to leave Sky though to get the best deals as you have to leave it until the last minute

I had no idea Sky did Black Friday, thanks for this! I’ve just text my Dad to tell him, he’s been out of contract for ages and pays a whopping £106 a month! I don’t think he even has SkyQ; hopefully he can bag a good discount

Firestick and freesat have provided all of our TV needs. Sky just got ridiculously expensive when we had them.

P.S. Be prepared you will be harassed by Sky for weeks after you quit with 'come back to us' messages and offers.

@Mockers, thank you for that, soon as I get home from work I will be calling them.

I'm on Sky with a fire tv stick - it's £27 a month for fibre optic broadband and a phoneline which I think we can use free at weekends, but don't bother as the mobiles cover it. Had the tv stick for 3 years now, no problems, no extras to pay, we'll subscribe to prime or netflix when suits, but that's monthly and we make sure to cancel payment card when watched what we want.

We've got sky, but TBH rarely watch real TV (masterchef at the moment, nothing else though!) DP spends his time watching Twitch and Youtube, and the occasional thing on Netflix, kids watch youtube and Netflix, I watch Prime and Netflix, and occasionally get a temporary Now pass so I can watch a specific program/boxset.

When I do turn on the real TV, I just get so frustrated with adverts, that it's better to just set it to record and watch it the next day and fast-forward through the adverts (or wait and watch it on Netflix in a few months).

So, you might not even miss it if it goes!

On the subject of Sky, am I correct that you still need a dish for it? They've been promising Sky Q without it for a while, but I don't think it ever arrived.

Black Friday Offers:

www.sky.com/shop/offers?irct=ShopHomeDefault-Offers

You should be able to access these directly via your box.

I have a fire stick upstairs in my bedroom. That TV hasn't got any aerial socket in the wall to plug into. Does anyone know how I could watch live television with this set up? For example tonight I'd like to go to bed at 9pm and watch The Apprentice in bed on that TV but I don't know if I can see live TV on it. Normally I either watch it downstairs or wait until 10pm when it's on catch up. First world problem I know, but can anyone help me to be able to watch it at 9pm live but upstairs where there is no aerial socket and no BT box?