Do I need to have my phone line connected to Sky?

Sky box - Why does it need to be connected to phone line?

• A friend of mine just mentioned that Sky charge her extra for her digital TV service because she doesn't have a landline, and this got me scratching my head. Why must the digital set-top box be connected to a phone line? Just to put things in context, here in Ireland, Sky don't sell internet or phone services, they're strictly TV. The set-top box gets its TV signal from the dish...so why the phone-line?

• Answer:

  Because Sky needs to contact your box at night on some occasions to administer updates which can only be done when your box is on standby. Without this function you will be using old software. Remember that your Sky box is just a computer which does a particular job.