How does Sky on demand work? It says it's free with the 50mbps plan. Does it mean I technically don't need to subscribe to cable TV anymore since I can watch any channel, any show, anytime I want?
Sky on demand newbie questions, thanks.
Bro, I inquired with Sky about this -- well, the 1599 plan with 8Mbps + Sky on Demand. This is akin to PLDT Fibr with modem that streams Cignal channels to the TV.
With this, instead of a digibox, you will be given the Sky On Demand box, which is a modem that will stream your cable channels. Plan 1599 includes the Dual Def 299, which has 41 channels (5 are HD) -- I'm not sure about the higher plans like the 50Mbps one.
Aside from this, you will get a Sky On Demand account that you can use to login to their Android/IOS app. With the app, you get access to movies and other contents on the portal plus all the cable channels available to you plan as well. In effect, you get a free extension but limited to one device at a time only (excluding the TV). To be clear, you get to watch cable on your TV via Sky on Demand modem and another family member can stream another channel via the app on a separate gadget -- you can even stream channels on the go if you have a reliable to mobile connection. I think this is a good deal from Sky.
What is not clear to me is the bandwidth used by the modem to stream the channels to the TV. I think it shares the same Internet bandwidth allocation. In this case, it will compete with the household internet traffic and the effect will be felt especially when watching HD channel on TV. But for 50Mbps, there should be more than enough headroom to worry about this.
What puzzles me also is the fact that they have a 2Mbps plan that inclues the Dual Def 299 plan as well. I'm not sure how much bandwidth is needed to stream a HD channel but 2Mbps seems to be too low for this, which makes one think the Sky on Demand box uses a different bandwidth allocation dedicated for streaming on TV. I think this is a possibility since the household can't watch Youtube and Nat Geo HD at the same time on the same 2Mbps line.
Actual users, please share your experience.