No BT Sport - Sky Box saying wrong card - again!

[#1]

I pay £7.50 pm for BT Sport HD to top up my son's subscription to Sky Sports/Movies etc..
It was mainly for him but I watch MotoGP and the odd football match.
He has moved out and cancelled Sky so I can't record matches on the Sky Box, and I bought a Humax box.
Every now and again the Sky box tells me I have the wrong card inserted and PlusNet reset the serial number and all is well.
On 3rd Jan I found it had happened again when I tried to watch Darts.
I raised query number 97110677 at 1.48pm and reviewed it twice since, but have yet to see anything being done or had a reply.
If this is better support than your rivals I am amazed!!!
I have paid for an annual line rental and the telephone line is noisy and my broadband is as slow as 200kb downloading (500kb uploading) and all I get back is to remove everything and connect my hub to the master socket which I don't think exists. The first phone is connected behind a 6 foot high freezer which I cannot move unless I empty it.
I asked how much I'd be charged for fibre (in the hope it would work) and was refused a quote until my hardwire issue is resolved. But nothing is being done.
All I get is I could be charged £50 or £60 if BT attend and there is no problem. The phone is worst during wet weather but do I risk that they come in a dry spell?
It all adds up to a rubbish service!
No Sports, noisy phone, crap broadband and a complaints service that never answers the phone. And to top it off, no refunds for my missing service and no response to online questions.
At least I have made this public now, having missed Everton v West Ham last night = what a crock!

[#2]

The question is not if you are going to move the freezer, but when? If the problem is external the engineer will require access to the master socket (to either investigate the fault or set you up for fibre). Peering behind the freezer can you see enough to see if the face plate has a removable lower half?
They are absolutely right to refuse to consider fibre when there is a known problem with the line.

[#3]

Hi mkpike,
I've asked one of my colleagues to have a look into the issues with BT Sport for you.
The other parts of your post are relating to a fault, unfortunately without being able to test at the master socket there is a risk of an engineers charge, we like to mitigate the risk of this charge hence the testing we ask for.
It's likely that once the noise on the phone line is resolved the broadband speeds will improve. I'm going to send you a ticket so we can look into noisy phone line.

[#4]

To add to the post above, I've had a bit of a play around with your BT Sport.
I've resent the signal now, so theoretically it should be working again, though I won't count my chickens until you can confirm.
I'm looking into a long term fix for you, but our BT Sport systems are so simple that there is not much we can do to troubleshoot, or locate a problem. Though I can confirm that your box has been paired right.
Just out of interest, are all the other channels working? Not that I have the intention of passing the buck at all, but the signal seems to leave without any intervention, and we keep needing to repair your card. This suggests that it could be something to do with the wiring inside your box.
Let me know what you think, and if it starts working again.
Matty

[#5]

Thanks guys.
My Sky Box is still claiming a wrong card , but I believe it can take a while for resets to be received.
Only subscription channels raise the wrong card message, the free channels have been fine throughout. I'll watch some TV to keep the box active so refreshes have the best chance.
BTW Sky sent a system upgrade over Xmas - new displays etc - so that may be relevant?
I look forward to my phone line being corrected, I got 3.5Mb last year (for a day) after you did something but then it reverted to 200kb-500kb.
An engineer sent me a chart showing breaks in service and on bad days they were very frequent (minutes or hours rather than days).
Thanks for responding, Mike

[#6]

The speeds are likely to be low at the moment, the noise on the phone line will be causing disconnections, this in turn causes the line management equipment to alter the line profile to improve stability which means a lower speed. So we get the phone fault fixed and hopefully the disconnects stops and the speed increases.

[#7]

Just had a call from Openreach who are on their way to see me.
Happy days.
Jelv, I think I looked at the socket when I first had a problem. It probably dates back to the 1950's.

Hopefully the BT guy will fit a modern master socket.
Cheers.

[#8]

Quote from: mkpike

Thanks guys. My Sky Box is still claiming a wrong card , but I believe it can take a while for resets to be received.

Do you power of the Sky box for extended periods? As it sounds like you're missing/not receiving entitlement updates.

Quote

Only subscription channels raise the wrong card message, the free channels have been fine throughout.

Well theres no encryption on FTA channels, so they would be.

[#9]

Quote from: MattyC

Just out of interest, are all the other channels working? Not that I have the intention of passing the buck at all, but the signal seems to leave without any intervention, and we keep needing to repair your card. This suggests that it could be something to do with the wiring inside your box.

I wonder if this is relevant:

Quote from: mkpike

I pay £7.50 pm for BT Sport HD to top up my son's subscription to Sky Sports/Movies etc.. He has moved out and cancelled Sky so I can't record matches on the Sky Box

Perhaps Sky's system has still got the card associated with the OP's son's account?  How easy is it to send out a new card and setup a new account within the entitlement system, so there's a clean slate?

Quote

and I bought a Humax box.

You are using the old Sky box for BT Sport and not the Humax box aren't you?

[#10]

Quote from: mkpike

Just had a call from Openreach who are on their way to see me. Happy days.

The fault report I raised was for a non-engineer appointed fault, so I wonder if he's checked externally already and wants to hear the noise.

[#11]

Quote from: pwatson

How easy is it to send out a new card and setup a new account within the entitlement system, so there's a clean slate?

That is a possibility, though my concern is that if it doesn't resolve the issue we're still at square one.

Quote from: mkpike

Only subscription channels raise the wrong card message, the free channels have been fine throughout. I'll watch some TV to keep the box active so refreshes have the best chance.

Are other subscription channels (that you pay Sky for) not working at the same time as the BT Sport? I'm not surprised the free to air stuff stays active as per DaveyH's comment.

[#12]

Thanks Matty,
BT Sport is back and Openreach have visited.
We don't have a Master socket and he could not work out where it should be either.
The wires into and out of the eaves are different so there must be a connection or maybe socket hidden away.
The extra good news is that the fault is external and at least half a mile away. He has passed it to the Underground team ( though it could be above ground).
I await their diagnosis and fix.
Thanks again,
Mike

[#13]

jelv,
The engineer did not need a master socket of course.
Last time and this they simply disconnected the house at the junction box outside .
The incoming wires can then checked for faults.
Our bungalow make this possible, I grant you. Working 16 feet up a ladder is probably less attractive than using a master socket.

[#14]

pwatson,
I don't think I can get BT Sports from PlusNet unless it comes from Sky?
I wish I could get it through Humax box so I could record stuff I currently miss.
My son left the kit intact (and paid for it for a while) so the card should be ok.
When I view the Setttings however the serial number appears to end "space 1".
I have wondered whether that is significant. Is the space supposed to be there, and is it a zero or null?
Davey, good thought but I leave the boxes powered in standby. The sky box reset is too slow to power it down.

[#15]

Matty,
Thanks for your posting on Members area - your offer is gladly accepted, thank you.
BT Sports is now fine and an Openreach engineer appeared this morning.
He found that the overhead line on the other side of the road had 'tree rub' and needs replacing.
This explains why wet weather makes things worse I guess.
They need a hydraulic platform to put up a new line but he expected to get it done this afternoon.
It is getting a bit late unless they work after sunset but it seems likely to be the right conclusion.
I'll get back to you once the work is complete.
Best wishes,
Mike