Engineer unable to install antenna

[WelshDave]

Hi All,

When I recently ordered BT TV, Broadband and telephone I requested and paid for an engineer to come out and install an antenna (previous supplier was SKY).

The engineer attended last Friday and after 15 minutes decided there was nowhere on my house he could install an antenna that would give us any sort of signal and suggested we should just plug our BT TV box into our Sky antenna.

IS this normal and will I get any channels this way?

Activation is this Friday and my hardware is due to arrive Tomorrow.

Any suggestions folks?

[DarrenDev]

Sounds like a misunderstanding? There's no way that a Sky satellite dish can provide a Freeview signal, and I can't imagine any TV engineer ever suggesting something so stupid?

In your situation, I would wait for the box to arrive and then buy an indoor aerial from somewhere local (e.g. Argos). Check whether this works for you, and whether you can get a good enough signal to use the service for a few weeks. If you can't get any signal, then you won't even be able to set up the BT TV box. You can take the aerial back for a refund, and cancel your BT order.

It's no secret on these forums that BT will soon be launching an option to watch Freeview over broadband*, after which you won't need a TV aerial.

* you will need fibre broadband to use the new service. Either FTTC or FTTP.

[WelshDave]

There was no misunderstanding, he told my wife to just connect the box to the sky dish and it would be fine.  She said he literally could not wait to leave!

I paid BT for the antenna installation so am very disappointed in this to be honest with you.

[DarrenDev]

Sorry to hear that - I recommend giving us a call to complain, so that BT can raise it with TSG.

Did he say why he couldn't find anywhere to put the aerial?  Do any of your neighbours have one?

I'd hope you should get a full refund on the aerial installation cost.

[rbz5416]

Plug your address in here & see what the predicted coverage is. If it's good then given that he obviously had no idea what he was doing, I'd either request BT send someone who does or ask for a refund & source a proper aerial installer locally. But the latter will be significantly more expensive.

[WelshDave]

And the bad news is:

Freeview at your address

Unfortunately, you are not predicted to receive services through an aerial at this postcode. 

 

[WelshDave]

He spent less than 20 minutes at my home and said he couldn't find anywhere were an antenna would get signal

[DarrenDev]

Yikes. I think the username is a giveaway, but do you happen to live somewhere in the middle of Wales?

I'm surprised the engineer even accepted the booking.

[WelshDave]

Yes Mid Wales but I live in a town not in a rural area.

Iam surprised BT don't do a quick check of whether Freeview is available at the location when an order is placed TBH.

If I cannot get a working antenna what channels will I get access to?

Someone mentioned on another posts that all the included channels will be available over broadband VEY soon, is that right?

Best Wishes

Dave

[DarrenDev]

Without an aerial, you currently won't even be able to set up the box - it'll get stuck on the first step I believe.  If you can get it to a house with a working TV aerial to get it set up, you'd then be able to plug it in at home and receive all the channels that you're paying BT for as part of your subscription.  You'll also be able to use the on-demand and catch up services (they'll be based on the TV region you initially set the box up in), so e.g. you could still use iPlayer, ITV Player, etc.

Yes, you'll be able to get Freeview over broadband "soon", but no date has been announced yet. If I had to set expectations, I would say a minimum 6 weeks from now - but don't quote me on that.