white sky viewing card skynet?

My parents live in spain and have a satalite dish.

I have requested and received the white viewing card and when I rang sky to get it activated they wanted to know details of my box ie version number, model number etc.  I have and pay for sky at home so they said the card was for a digibox / freeview box and he wouldnt activate it because I subscribe to sky?

So my question is I take it that I need the details of my parents box?

Please advise?

Cheers

Hi Paul,

Yes the cards are allocated for each individual box, so you will have to get the information of your parents digi box for them to activate it. It seems Sky are very cluded up on the fact people have digi boxes here in Spain.

Hope you get it sorted :)

Simone

Cards are best activated on "non subscription" receivers...but once activated they can be used on any sky receiver...just like the subscription cards can (apart from the sky sports and sky movie channels).

I have activated about 10 using one receiver only, but it is always best to get the card activated in the receiver that it s intended to be used in.

note that the card will have to be in the box that you are giving the details of for it to be activated....

 I have noticed that my card doesn't just "go to sleep" now, it throws up a rather alarming message on screen. If power is off for over 30 days, when trying C5, etc, the message "This is the wrong card for the receiver call mega expensive number" glares out at you. Within 48 hours all is working fine again.

Mark

Marksfish:

the "wrong card" message it the message shown by new cards when they "go to sleep".

the new white cards are "going to sleep" quicker than the blue cards did.

when the bklue cards went to sleep you got an "upgrade" message,

Are you sure it needs to be activated? Do your perents use 'pay to view' in Spain, or are they using free view/free to air. (I've not worked out the diference myself yet)

I only ask because we (living in Spain for 4 years) requested a new white card via skys internet site. They sent us one, to our UK address. We did not tell them we were now in Spain. The house is rented out, but the tenents were happy to post card on.   We did not have to activate it. Just put it in the box (this is a sky box) and off it went. No problems.

We only have the free chanels. It still amazes me that with 40 odd chanels there's still nothing to watch!                                               However did we cope with the 3 we had when I was a kid? BBC1, BBC2 and ITV.

Febe: free replacement cards are preactivated.

if you pay for the card you have to get it activated. the messge on the screen is "this card is not authorised" if the card is not activated.

freeview is a UK only digital terrestrial service via a TV aerial. you cannot get freeview in spain.the nearest freweview transmitter is in cornwall, and it is just not powerful enouggh to reach spain...and if it was you woul donly need one tv mast for the uk. spain has its own version of freeview - tdt - 30 Spanish digital channels via a tv aerial.

free to air are channel that do not require a viewng card to watch - like BBC channels.

freesat - the name of a brand of receivers and programme guide used to watch free to air channels. a sky box with no card in does the same. as do free to air receivers from most retailers.

free to view channels are those that require a viewing card to watch - but does not need a monthly subscription - see fiver, five usa, sky3, 8 itv1 regions, irish c4.

subscription channels like Dave, Sky Sports are subscription channels and requir a monthy payment.

Hi Satandpcguy,

I have the old blue pay to view card and just recently have lost channel 5 and channel 4 +1. Does this mean I will have to get one of the new white ones? If so will I get those channels back?

Thanks in advance :)

Simone

there are free to air (no card required) versions of c4 and five available.

unfortunalty they are on similar frequencies to BBC2 so will not be available all day.

as I said free to view channels are those that require a viewing card to watch - but does not need a monthly subscription - see fiver, five usa, sky3, 8 itv1 regions, irish c4.

so if you want to watch c4 and five 24/7 then you will need to get a card sorted out.

Thank you Satan!!!  That can't be right!  I'll try again.

Thank you Satandpcguy,

You explained free to air v free to view very well. Your last post explains why the box (no card required) we have in the bedroom some times lets me see C4 and five and some times not! They seem to wander around the channel list.

Thank you again.

Regards, Febe

You will need to supply sky with the "System details" these can be found by pressing services and the system set up, you will need to give all of that information to SKY, if the card was intended to be inserted in to the box in the UK then you should get that box sent over. Failing that you could always buy a box in Spain and tell sky that the box in UK was faulty and that you have just purchased a new box. If you get stuck PM me.

hello,

            Unfortunately  i am not in your area, but can offer a bit of advice.
firstly, you cannot get free view in Spain. free view is the UK digital terrestrial service, that is only available in the uk, via the aerial on your roof. the Spanish equivalent is TDT. check TDT. as to see if this available in your area.
you can get free sat from sky, or freest - which gets the main terrestrial channels via satellite - bbc, itc, c4, five. reception of these does depend on the size of the dish. some areas of spain need a 2.4m dish to get bbc and I TV, some just 1.2m. you may not get all channels 24/7 - bbc2 being notoriously difficult.
you can use your sky card in any other sky receiver and get the "6 mixes" channels. however, you will not be able to view the sports or movies channels as these are box specific - you can get receivers that does allow this, but you do not have hte eay to use sky guide, and are limited to just now and next programmed information!
thanks!!
________________

That looks familiar! :-)

http://www.eyeonspain.com/forums/posts-long-4592.aspx

I hope you are not just "copying and pasting" a post on this forum, without referencing the original post,  over and over again on other forums for spamming purposes...as that would be very rude...!