Buying EE TV Box pro from retailer

[Neil5459]

I understand that the EE TV boxes remain the property of EE and have to be returned at the end of contract, or accrue a non return charge.

It is also obvious that there are many 'new' boxes out there for sale on sites such as Ebay,  CEX, Cash Converters etc.

What happens when the original user comes to the end of contract and is asked for the equipment to be returned. If they don't return it, or pay the non return fee, would EE block the MAC address of the device concerned,  so rendering it unusable to the new 'owners? 

I ask this because I need to replace an old BT Youview box, but don't want any of the EE TV subscription content- just the box itself. 

Thanks

[XRaySpeX]

This EE kit is issued to users as a loan. When they leave EE but do not return such kit they are effectively fined for breach of contract but the kit remains the property of EE.

[Chris_B]

@Neil5459  you also might find it that it doesn’t work as it’s tied into your EE broadband for it to actually activate and be usable.     You need EE broadband and a subscription to EE TV. 

[Midnight_Voice · Accepted solution]

@Neil5459 

EETV isn’t enforcing anything beyond collecting the non-return fee at the moment.

Its difficult to believe that they haven’t put a shot across CeX’s bows - when all these boxes are hastily withdrawn from their shelves is the first point at which I’d start to worry about one I’d obtained ‘retail’

Suggesting that they might stop working, absent any action by EETV, is FUD; anyone running a non-EETV YouView box, no matter how obtained - retail, BT pre-Dec 2019, or whatever, knows precisely what they will and won’t do, in the absence of an EETV subscription,

And you needn’t necessarily put ‘new’ in quotes; I have a non-EETV Box Mini that arrived with the protector strip in the remote still intact, which I don’t think had ever seen an EETV warehouse, unless it had seen one with extremely lax security.

(I didn’t even want a Box Mini, just one of the new remotes, but when I tried for a remote on its own, I just got fakes, and not even Box Mini fakes. Another £7 got me the real deal with the Box itself thrown in 😛)

[Neil5459]

Thanks for that excellent explanation  and clarification.  

I also had a BT Youview box which I bought from Ebay and it operated flawlessly till the HDD died last month,  even linking with the EE app to allow remote timer setting,  and recorded content checking. 

The replacement Panasonic PVR and Blu Ray combo I bought is nowhere near as capable so I am going to take a punt on an EETV Pro box without a contract.

Thanks again! 

[dave_sussex]

Hi Neil, 

How did you get on?  My old youView box has just died and I am looking to replace it with something more current, but I don't want the extra channels over IP, just aerial channels and catch-up apps.

Thanks, Dave

[Midnight_Voice]

@dave_sussex 

Any replacement Humax YouView box will do, except for the DTR-T1xxx models, which are obsolete.

In descending order of attractiveness:- EETV Box Pro, DTR-T4000, DTR-T2xxx (BT or PlusNet), DTR-T2000

[harrysnotter22]

I think it is indeed FUD, otherwise known as outright lies.

EE site shows the oval bt box pro and the new rectangular EE box pro, the latter with the warning that it only works with smart hub routers  "EE TV Box Pro is only compatible with Smart Hub or Smart Hub 2". I've seen a user on the BT site having massive issues setting up his non smart hub router to work with the new EE box, so I tried to order the old BT pro box from CEX. They sent an EE box which looks like it came off the production line yesterday (I ordered grade B). I gave it a go and it works perfectly with my four-year-old Vodafone router.

So is it complete cowpat about only working with Smart Hub routers or was I incredibly lucky? With a company like EE I think I'd steer towards the former.

Also watch out for CEX, a company that doesn't even have a returns policy or indeed returns process linked on its website.

[Midnight_Voice]

@harrysnotter22 

I found this:-

https://www.bt.com/help/tv/learn-about-tv/bt-tv-boxes
which might be what you were talking about, though it’s on the BT site, not the EE one.

I think the context of the compatibility is to get the multicast over broadband; with a Vodaphone router, I d guess you aren’t an EETV subscriber, so you won’t get the multicast anyway, and so you are using the Box Pro as an ordinary YouView box. Which it will certainly do; but I hardly think BT or EE are going to go into the details of how you can or can’t use their boxes, except for the purpose intended, which is in the context of an EETV subscription.

Again, a link to the posting on the BT site would have been useful, or we can’t judge what that user’s router problem might have been, but it sounds like a one-off, not a pattern. I once had so much trouble with a BT router I couldn’t do my job, and I went out and bought a Netgear just to get me through the week while BT hummed and ha’ed about it….

As regards CeX not having a returns policy, one of our son’s friends who manages a CeX store asks how do you explain these?

https://uk.support.webuy.com/support/solutions/folders/80000692056

https://uk.webuy.com/site/terms

(Sections 4/5)

[harrysnotter22]

🙄