# Question about Sky plus



## leedsutdgem (Jun 3, 2010)

Hi there,
I have sky plus and was told that in order to use the sky plus you must have a subscription (which I do), Im thinking of getting rid of the subscription and I hate the thought of losing the sky plus function, does anyone know if there is anyway around this?


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

leedsutdgem said:


> Hi there,
> I have sky plus and was told that in order to use the sky plus you must have a subscription (which I do), Im thinking of getting rid of the subscription and I hate the thought of losing the sky plus function, does anyone know if there is anyway around this?


Apparently, when you cancel your subscription, Sky sends a 'kill' signal over the satellite to disable recording function (among others) on your set-top box. The signal acts on your viewing card. So the thing to do is to remove the card from your box before your cancellation takes effect so that the kill signal won't affect your card. You have to keep it out of your box for up to 3 months, as the system retries a number of times to send the signal until it gives up. Then you can reinsert the card and it will still decode FTA channels and record.
You can carry on until Sky decides to replace all cards (it was last done in 2009, so not due for some years).
I'm sure Sat will be here soon to put me right!


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## sat (Jul 20, 2008)

You must pay sky something per month to use the Sky+ record features.

Either subscribe to at least 1 mix at £19 per month (prices going up again in January by about 25p or 50p due to UK VAT increase), or £10 per month if you want no PAY TV channels.

Normally if you cancel your subscription, the card will revert to a freesatfromsky card, with no record functions, but will still be able to be used to watch the "free to view" channels, like Fiver and Five USA 

You dont need a sky card for the "free to air" (FTA) channels - you have not needed a sky card for the BBC channels for over 7 years now!

The old trick of "removing your card" to stop Sky+ deactivation may have worked with the old cards, but a few people have tried this with the new cards and it has not worked


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## leedsutdgem (Jun 3, 2010)

Thanks everyone! very helpful as always!


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## donz (May 5, 2010)

Sat a quick question while we're on the subject of Sky+

If I got an engineer out to the house I am buying before I arrive (i.e. while the old people are still there) to have the wiring upgraded for sky + (they only have normal sky at the moment) I presume the engineer can do that without a box? I am taking my box with me and want to be able to arrive and plug it in hey presto (then I won't miss too much stuff lol!!)


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## sat (Jul 20, 2008)

donz said:


> Sat a quick question while we're on the subject of Sky+
> 
> If I got an engineer out to the house I am buying before I arrive (i.e. while the old people are still there) to have the wiring upgraded for sky + (they only have normal sky at the moment) I presume the engineer can do that without a box? I am taking my box with me and want to be able to arrive and plug it in hey presto (then I won't miss too much stuff lol!!)


That shouldnt be a problem for them - I do second cables to areas with no boxes all the time - and use my meters to ensure signal are there


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## donz (May 5, 2010)

sat said:


> That shouldnt be a problem for them - I do second cables to areas with no boxes all the time - and use my meters to ensure signal are there


thanks appreciate it


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