Fresh Plastic

How to get Sky TV for practically nothing a month

This is going to be a very short, and to-the-point, blog post as I can't be arsed dressing it up with pretty pictures or adding hypertext links.

Fancy Sky TV for 64p a month - with a Sky+ thrown in for good measure? Read on...

Sky's 'Original' bundle is currently (it's mid December 2014 as I'm typing this) being discounted by 25% (for the length of the contract).

On top of the the 25% discount, Sky are crediting £75 to new accounts (but charging £10 for set-up).

That makes a year's worth of (many of the better, but not all) basic Sky channels £128.44. This includes a Sky+HD box - which gives access to a handful off free HD channels and catch-up TV. The box is yours to keep. 

If going through TopCashBack (and if it tracks) you'll get £120.75 back.

£128.44 minus £120.75 = £7.69 per year / 64p per month!

I'd go for this in a heartbeat if it included HD channels. HD would be £9.60 per month. 

Just a reminder, there's a caveat, or two, with the deal. It doesn't include sports, movies or subscription HD channels, and it relies on cashback being paid out. Cashback from TopCashback (and similar sites) is never guaranteed and, if you do get it, expect to wait a few months for it to be paid out. The deal is only availble to UK customers, not Sky Italia, Deutschland or Irish ones. 

Oh, and one last thing... if you need Sky Movies, shop around for a Now TV movies bundle. As I type this there's 2 months of Sky Movies (in HD) plus a little box to watch the films on for £14. That's waaaay cheaper than subscribing through Sky.

 

Want Sky Movies for 83p per month? It's possible! Here's how...

I've written a few times before about Now TV, the Now TV box and the cheap deals that can be had. So, I'll spare you much of that on this occasion. Instead I'll jump right on in and give you the bare facts.

Sky Movies is available via Sky's internet streaming service Now TV. Since the service launched it has always been much cheaper to subscribe via Now TV than it has been to subscribe via Sky satellite or Virgin cable. And Now is now even cheaper...

Currently shops such as Tesco, Sainsbury's, Currys/PC World and e-tailer Shop.To are selling Now TV set-top-boxes - with 3 months Sky Movies (via included voucher) - from £12.49 to £12.99. The box itself normally retails for £9.99, and offers BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4OD and Demand 5 as well, as a bonus.

If you want the box, the deal makes Sky Movies effectively 83p per month! If you don't want nor need the box (maybe as you're an existing customer and/or prefer watching on another device) it's still cheaper to get the bundle as £4.16 per month (£12.49 / 3) still beats the usual price of £7.99 hands down. You can then either keep the box as a spare or sell it on (I hear CEX are buying them for £7!) Batteries and HDMI cable are included, which is none too shabby.

You can register up to 4 devices with one Now TV account - and view simultaneously on two of them. So, for £50 (4 bundles @ £12.50 each) you could fit out your home with free catch-up telly and a year's worth of movies.

Don't like movies? First of all, what's wrong with you?!? Secondly, Now TV also have an Entertainment Pack that works like the Sky Movies one. Same price, different channels and four months instead of three. Featuring the likes of Sky1, Fox, MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, it's ideal for those heading off to uni in September. A year will only set you back £37.50, and, if only the on-demand programmes, rather than the live channels, are viewed, a £145.50 TV Licence won't be neccessary. Saving them, or their parents, £108 in the process.

O2 Refresh refund: Everyone hates waiting

Currently O2, the UK offshoot of Spanish telco Telefonica, are running a TV spot about how everyone hates waiting. I agree. Waiting sucks. Since the 8th of April (21 days ago) I've been waiting for a refund from said company. That's when they took £246.76 from my bank account in error, leaving me overdrawn to the tune of £59.97.

That's the reality of their O2 Refresh plan even when you follow their rules, to the letter, in ending a contract early, supposedly penalty free (as long as you've paid off the handset costs - which I did).

 

Unfortunately my bank, Halifax, were less than helpful, so I gave up trying to get an 'immediate' refund - or a refund at all - through the Direct Debit Guarantee. Confusion over the amount wrongfully taken has also complicated matters.

I'm at a stage now where I'm wondering if standing outside my local O2 store, telling prospective customers about my experiences, will speed matters up. At this point I really have nothing more to lose.

So I bought myself a new laptop that's cheaper than my toothbrush

I have before me a new laptop. Not only is it before me, I'm typing this on it. Nothing out of the ordinary in that, I hear you say. Well, runs full-fat Windows 8 and cost £150. That makes it even cheaper than my electric toothbrush!

Don't believe me? Here you go...

Now, you're probably saying to yourself - seriously, you spent £250 on a toothbrush?!? I didn't, mine actually cost comfortably under £100. But that is how much it retails at John Lewis. So much for 'never knowingly undersold'.

But I did pay £150 at ASDA for that Medion 'The Touch' E1317T. So it's crap, right? Not quite! It's actually a rather good laptop - once you've spent about 24 hours removing all the bloatware that bogs it down and do all the updates for Windows 8.1 after doing all the updates for Windows 8.

You'd think I was kidding, you'd be wrong! But, once this is all done, it's by far the best £150 brand new computer I've  ever used. Seriously, it's actually quite good. Screen isn't brilliant, not very vibrant. Touch pad can be a pain (disabling Synpatics Touchpad Enhancements helps somewhat). But keyboard and touchscreen are hard to fault.

In the end, you've got full Windows in a 10" screened portable package. One that can handle many a task its beefier brethren can handle and has full Office to boot.

Final note: The toothbrush is pretty good too. Not £250 good though!

Today I upset a phone-y caller. So much he phoned back three times to tell me!

Scam caller (caller ID: 02837754159, probably spoofed) calls up pretending to be from BT. Although it's incredibly hard to decipher anything else through his thick Indian accent.

He says something about how important the call is, that he is calling to help fix the broadband - or whatnot. And then the ol' 'please turn on your computer' is uttered. Probably. Like I said, his patter is incredibly hard to comprehend.

Hanging up, he calls back seconds later from "03910" (almost certainly spoofed) and makes it incredibly clear, as a man with a near incomprehsible accent can, that he is a tad peeved to be hung up on.

So we hang up again.

He calls up again.

This time he's 'Private Caller'. This time he's even more angry. Or just more passionate about his job. Who knows? After a stern telling off (again) for once again hanging up on him, he orders us to turn on the computer while he waits.

Oops, we've just hung up again.

No worries, he's got our number - and he's not afraid to use it. Which he duly does, seconds later. This time he's back to using "03910" and the brief passage of time has left him no less angry. I mutter a few muted 'okays'* and, getting a bit bored of whatever it is he's saying this time, I hang up once more.

Now, after about 20 minutes, he hasn't called back - and I'm beginning to worry about him. Maybe he's spilled boiling hot coffee on himself, had to dart to the loo with IBS or been attacked by escaped zoo animals.

It really is a mystery.

My tip to avoid such nuisance calls?

Get rid of that landline and replace it with something like Three's 'The One Plan'. That offers 2000 minutes, 5000 texts and unlimited way-faster-than-ADSL-in-my-area internet for £20 p/m. In my locale, speeds are 10 times (yes TEN times) faster than BT or Sky, and cable isn't an option. It's also cheaper than BT and Sky. I now never get sales calls and/or scammers ringing up when I'm at home. It's bliss.

*I can't say much more than 'okay' at the moment as I have a throaty/coughy thingy that disapproves of me flexing my vocal chords. Which probably further infuriated the gentleman.

Edit: More about the scam can be found here

BBC Three and BBC iPlayer: Why the BBC's axing the former and 'taxing' the latter

Today the BBC will officially announce the axing of BBC Three. Y'know, that
fine bastion of public broadcasting which bestows upon the nation such gems
as 'Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents' and 'Snog Marry Avoid?'. Although it
won't be an axe in the traditional sense. No, 'Auntie' is planning to shift
the channel from the airwaves to the interwebs.

This follows the BBC's director-general speech, just last week, where he
called for a change in the law so that a TV Licence would be required for
iPlayer use.

Are the two connected? You betcha! It looks like the BBC want the
Government to extend the TV licence fee to cover broadband usage too. It
will be much easier to persuade Government of the need for this change,
come the BBC's upcoming Charter renewal, if these two things happen.

But I have my doubts the BBC really want to axe and/or shift BBC Three to
online only. Here's why:

• They have form for threatening to axe a service, waiting for spirited public campaigns calling them to reverse the decision, and then reversing the decision (BBC 6 Music being a prime example)
• Without the likes of BBC Three, Auntie risks the antiquated TV viewing fee becoming even more irrelevant. Their target demo is teens and twenty-somethings. A generation that's grown up with hundreds of channels. And a generation who might start questioning why we still need such an anachronism in this day and age. BBC Three makes a bitter pill easier to swallow
• When opponents suggest the BBC fund itself from subscriptions - thereby enabling those who don't want it to opt-out - the broadcaster argues how such a move goes against the universality that underpins the ethos of public service broadcasting. If any of their channels become internet-only, the BBC will no longer be universally available
• If the axe falls on BBC Three, what will happen to CBBC, the children's channel it timeshares with? The BBC will either have to find something else to fill the void, axe another channel or sell the space on. Of course, the first option won't exactly help them to save any money

It seems this blog of mine is slowly becoming an anti-TV Licence one, rather than one about gadgets. Well, judging by the site's stats, that's what you, the people, want to read. And I'm more than willing to provide such a public service.

Win independence, lose BBC, Maria Miller tells Scots

Maria Miller, the United Kingdom's Minister of Fun (aka 'The Culture Secretary') has threatened Scots they'll lose the BBC if they vote to leave the UK. I say 'threat' but I think some would see this more as a promise - the cherry on the top of independence, if you will.

Will an independent Scotland take in those seeking asylum from the harassement and persecution that comes from not being licensed to watch TV in England, Wales and Northern Ireland? Or could they not handle that many immigrants?

All joking aside, the problem with Maria Miller's threat/promise is that the BBC broadcast (almost) all their TV channels and radio stations unencrypted via satellite. And that's not going to change. Anyone with Freesat north of the border will be able to continue watching the 'Beeb' after independence simply by inputting an English postcode into their set-top-box. Just like the Irish do now.

A year of what was LOVEFiLM, (now the catchier Amazon Prime Instant Video) for £49

Goodbye LOVEFiLM, hello Amazon Prime Instant Video!

Amazon have decided to rechristen 'LOVEFiLM Instant', the video-on-demand portion of the DVDs-by-post company they bought years ago, 'Amazon Prime Instant Video'. Not only that, but - as the name suggests - they've merged it with Amazon Prime. Amazon Prime, for the uninitiated, is/was a service that gave Amazon shoppers 'free' one day delivery for a year for an upfront cost.

That's all well and good, I hear you say, but what does it mean? In a nutshell, the facts about Amazon Prime Instant Video:

• Was LOVEFiLM Instant
• Now not LOVEFiLM Instant
• Cheaper than Netflix if you sign up today
• Not cheaper than Netflix if you sign up tomorrow
• Cheaper than a Sky Movies Pass on NOW TV - if you sign up today or even tomorrow
• Not cheaper than NOW TV's Entertainment Pass tomorrow, but is today
• Well and truly cheaper than having both Movies and Entertainment packs on NOW TV
• Staler films and TV show than those found on NOW TV, but a lot more plentiful
• Includes a bunch of Kindle books to borrow
• As well as 'free' one day delivery on 'millions' of real, tangible items available on Amazon

 

Here's the results of some (very basic) number-crunching I've done...

Netflix = £5.99 pm (£71.88 pa)
Sky Movies on NOW TV = £8.99 pm (£107.88 pa)
Entertainment NOW TV  = £4.99 pm (£59.88 pa)
Amazon Prime Instant (today) = £4.08 pm (£49.00 pa) 
Amazon Prime Instant (tomorrow) = £6.58 pm (£79.00 pa)

Whilst doing those sums I found out NOW TV are offering new bundles that make that service even cheaper - plus you get a new/extra set-top-box to boot. It's a bit too confusing to work into my above number-crunching, so I've left it out. See below instead...

5 months of Sky Movies on NOW TV would normally be £44.95 (£8.99 x 5). However, if you choose the bundle option on NOW TV's site you'll only pay £34.99. And, like I said, that includes their NOW TV box (which usually retails at £9.99). Not only that, the dinky box also provides access to the catch-up services BBC iPlayer, 4OD and Demand 5.

Remember, if you don't watch (or record) any television as it is broadcast, you don't need a TV licence! That's £145.50 you could be spending on some quality on-demand viewing instead. Don't forget a licence ISN'T even required if you watch the likes of iPlayer. So, you can still watch the majority of the UK's most popular TV shows without one - legally!

Hacking Netflix whilst legally avoiding paying a penny to TV Licensing: A year in review

Happy New Year, and all that jazz. Welcome to my first post of 2014 - and a very belated Year in Review.

In 2013 the two most popular pages on this here blog of mine were Open up a whole new world of TV and film with this little Netflix 'hack' and How to legally avoid paying the TV licence whilst still watching lots of TV.

Almost all of those who ended up here did so after searching for Netflix hacks and ways to avoid paying the ridiculous TV licence the UK has. So expect more posts on both in the future.

After TV Licensing and Netflix, my posts on the pros and cons of Sky's Now TV service - which included how to watch Sky Movies on the cheap and how The Simpsons were missing from it - proved the next most popular. Again, expect more upcoming posts on that.

Breaking away from moneysaving film and television tips, the next most searched for, and read, post was about the awful mess that was made to my Dell Latitude 10 tablet after I updated it to Windows 8.1. Dell themselves dropped by and, not long after, the problem was fixed for all of us poor souls affected by it (which was pretty much everyone who upgraded). Don't expect any more posts on that!

And finally...

What's been missing is a bit of banter, some dialogue. Feel free to comment, I publish all I receive unless they're from bots or human spammers. Heck, I even published this rather patronising, condescending nonsense from a company that ripped off my sister's mobile phone.

Tech toy tips. Save money, time and headaches this Christmas!

Here's some buying, and post-buying, advice if you're giving the gift of tech this Christmas.

Hooking up: HDMI

• Check whether your media streamer, DVD/BD player, gaming console etc comes with an HDMI cable. If not...
• Buy £1 HDMI cables from Poundland (never spend anything over £5 elsewhere)
• HDMI cables are HDMI cables, an officially licensed PlayStation 3 one, for instance, will work no better but it will leave a bigger hole in your pocket
• Check how many HDMI sockets the TV it's going to be hooked up to has. If there won't be enough, buy an HDMI switch - such as this £7 from Amazon...

Buying a new TV?

• Don't be fooled by brand names. The likes of Toshiba, Sharp and Philips aren't quite what they used to be. Now they're often just rebadged "supermarket" models from Turkey and China.
• There's nothing neccessarily wrong with "supermarket" models but, if you want one, you should only pay supermarket prices.
• Budget plasma TVs from the likes of Samsung and LG tend to look better than similarily priced LCD or "LED" ones - even from the same manufacturer.
• If you still watch a lot of standard definition stuff an 'HD Ready'/720p plasma TV will knock the spots off a 'Full HD'/1080p LCD one.

The games people play...

• Any new console you buy will almost certainly require a software update as soon as you switch it on. Little Timmy won't be impressed if he can't use his new toy straight away come Christmas morn. If you can, it might be a good idea to carefully open the box beforehand, plug it in and let it do it's thing before the big day.
• It's not just the console that might need an update, the games themselves might too. So it might be a good idea to let them do their thing too.
• Some games available in a bundle may actually be a digital download, not a physical copy. Again, it might be an idea to download them before Christmas Day if you can.
• Buying an Xbox 360? If you are, and it's the 4GB model, you might want to pick up a 32GB USB memory stick (or a compatible hard drive) as games such as GTA V will not be playable otherwise.

And finally...

• Batteries. Most things come with them these days, but it doesn't hurt to check. It also doesn't hurt to charge up anything that requires a charge before first use.