Question
If you have a Sky system that is 10 years old, and were to upgrade to Sky Plus, would they install a new dish as well as LNB and cabling?
Submitted online from Sheffield
Our Answer
The Sky+ box is what’s known as a “twin tuner” box. This means that it needs two feeds from the dish, and not one.
When the Sky engineer calls, he or she will do what’s necessary to get you up-and-running.
In most cases, the existing Sky satellite dish will be fine, and won’t be replaced. As the new Sky+ box needs two feeds from the dish, the engineer needs to ensure that the LNB on the dish (the box in the middle that does the work) can cope with two or more feeds. Typically this means making sure the box has an LNB with 2 or 4 outputs. Quad-LNBs are pretty common these days, and if your old dish only has a single output LNB, the engineer will replace it with a Quad.
A Quad Satellite Dish LNB
Then comes the wiring. As the Sky+ box needs two feeds, this will mean running a second satellite cable from the dish to where the box is going to go – it’ll need a new hole drilled through the wall. In some cases, the engineer may remove the old wire, and run a twin-feed wire in its place. This only needs one hole in the wall, and your existing hole can be used (possibly made slightly larger)
To book an appointment for an engineer to upgrade you to Sky+ or Sky+ HD, visit the Sky Upgrades Website