TataSky – Everywhere TV? Not Really!

After having tried the TataSky “Everywhere TV” for almost two months, I would like to share my experience so far. I will be giving it up for the following reasons.

1. The quality and usability
2. The broadcast is crippled, not all programmes are available even on channels that are listed in “Everywhere TV”
3. Does not work all the time. At times the video feed just does not come through at all
4. The last, but not the least, is the customer support for this service. I have had TataSky since it came on the scene and have been quite satisfied with the customer support for DTH, but, not for the “Everywhere TV”

So, here goes the story of my experience…

I initially installed the app on my iPhone and then called up customer support to activate it. It took 2 days to activate. No issues for a new service, although, as I later found out, it could have been done instantly online.

The app was slow and buggy and crashed at will with no help from my side. The channels were limited and the UI (player) did not work as one would expect. In short, quite buggy.

Anyway, a couple of days later I decided that the iPhone screen was too small for this purpose and installed the app on my iPad and the reality hit me. After talking to customer support, it turned out that I could not “switch” devices and I would have to use (read pay) the service on the phone for a month.

If that was not enough, I could not have a cancellation request queued for the same. I would have to call customer support on the “exact” date in order to cancel the subscription, or be charged for another month. The Interesting fact is that although you can activate the subscription online, you cannot change/switch or de-activate it. You will have to call customer support for de-activation, and there is no concept of switch or changing devices!

Since I really do not watch much TV, it did not make a difference to me. It was just the novelty of the service that I wanted to check out. Once I managed to cancel the subscription on my phone, I activated the iPad service online.

On the iPad, I was trying out the service a lot more than I did on my iPhone. There were 3 major factors that came up during the time I was trying out the service on my iPad…

• The service did not work all the time. Some channels worked and some just did not!
• The quality of the video was generally pathetic even on my 8 mbps dedicated connection, and 3G, for most channels whenever I tried them.
• Quite a few times, I selected a programme only to see a message that the programme was not available on “Everywhere TV” even though I could see the same on the DTH.

In short, it’s a good idea with not a very good start. I hope that someday it will be practically usable. For now, the free apps for TV viewing do a far better job and offer more channels. Considering that I can view live news channels and almost all else becomes available on YouTube, DailyMotion or similar sites, “Everywhere TV” has some way to go. Unless “Everywhere TV” provides a better quality experience, I do not see myself paying for such a service when I can do a lot better for free!