Sky broadband package

Cobra

Cobra

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I guess I must be about the only one in the UK without Sky TV
A pamphlet dropped through the door the other day offering 2 meg B/B ( the fastest available in this area at present) and various "free" channels ( plus a phone deal) for £26 / month
I was thinking of moving my Broadband account anyway I get 1meg from Tesco at 19 odd quid / month
The sky is limited to 40 gigs / month I have no idea what my download is per month as its unlimited on Tesco. But for another fiver it is unlimited on Sky
Anyone else on sky B/B? Is it any good or should I look elsewhere?
Cheers Peeps
 
I would personally advise against Sky BB Chris, I've not heard many good reports. Lots of people who waited for ages and never got their lines activated, etc.

1meg from tesco for £19 quid a month is a rip off.

I put Sue's mum and dad on tiscali well over a year ago and they haven't had a single problem with it at all.

http://www.tiscali.co.uk/products/broadband/2mb-unlimited.html?code=ZZ-NL-11GK

£14.99 for up to 2meg which is your fastest option locally at the moment anyway. Plus its unlimited.

I'm presuming you're not in an area with cable?

hth

Matt
 
Hi

My parents have got Sky tv broadband and phone, never had a prob. checked their speed and it was about 1.5, but that going to vary depending where you are, how far from the exchange etc.

Chris
 
I have sky broadband ..... And it really is pants!

Wireless router keeps cutting out.

Can't think of a time when I have had a whole hour uninterupted.

Just glad I am moving soon .... Might try Tiscali
 
Matt Charlton said:
I would personally advise against Sky BB Chris, I've not heard many good reports. Lots of people who waited for ages and never got their lines activated, etc.

1meg from tesco for £19 quid a month is a rip off.

I put Sue's mum and dad on tiscali well over a year ago and they haven't had a single problem with it at all.

http://www.tiscali.co.uk/products/broadband/2mb-unlimited.html?code=ZZ-NL-11GK

£14.99 for up to 2meg which is your fastest option locally at the moment anyway. Plus its unlimited.

I'm presuming you're not in an area with cable?

hth

Matt
Click to expand...

I live on the last "estate" built in this area without cable, Matt, bummer :bonk:
Looks like the "againsts" have the majority,
Tiscali was also an option I was looking at
Cheers
Chris
 
I am a huge fan of Tiscali, been with them for years, never any problems. Constant/ Stable connection always. :thumbs:

Have heard many horror stories about Sky, including them 'tagging' your line, so if you decide to leave them, you are knackered with regards to getting another provider.

HTH ?

:)
 
I am with www.force9.net for the last 3 yrs or so.
£14.99/mo, 8mb unlimited (no monthly contract because I stayed them too long) and in the last 3 yrs it's probably once I did not have a broadband connection for 2 hours or so.

A few weeks ago, like you, I decided to switch to the Sky BB and within my cooling off period I was back with my current f9 package as being with Sky I was barely able to bring this page up in which I am currently typing.

Maybe I had an aweful experience with Sky but I am just narrating you my plight with SKY and they might be absolutely brill of all you know.

I would recommend trying Virgin as they have a 28 days money back guarantee but do read their fine prints but being neck to neck with SKY they may go all the way to please their new & existing customers.

The sad fact is that all ISP providers are thieves at the end of the day as all of them promise "upto" 8mb to 40mb of download speed but you end up with only 1/3 of their promise.

So think hard before you commit with any of them. Good Luck

Also check by www.skyuser.co.uk, the unofficial sky forum for good or bad or ugly feedbacks.
 
Dalton said:
I am a huge fan of Tiscali, been with them for years, never any problems. Constant/ Stable connection always. :thumbs:

Have heard many horror stories about Sky, including them 'tagging' your line, so if you decide to leave them, you are knackered with regards to getting another provider.

HTH ?

:)
Click to expand...

Actually now you mention it I did hear something about "tagging" & Sky on the radio awhile back but didn't realise what it meant (until now)
Cheers
Guys
ps someone please explain "HTH" I ma still trying to get my head around all these abbreviations you yung'ns use :D
 
The Sky 'tagging' story relates to LLU lines only and can apply to any LLU supplier. As I understand it, it is not so straightforward to switch if the line has previously been moved from BT to another supplier using LLU. I believe there will be rules in place in the future to allow LLU moves to take place as simply as non-LLU do now.

It's ironic that Dalton should mention this whilst being a fan of tiscali as it was they who, until recently, wouldn't let broadband customers move away.

Cobra - if you know your line can't take more than about 2Mbps then you don't want to be paying more than about £15 pm.

There may be a good-value alternative, however. If your local exchange has LLU equipment installed then you could get a deal including line rental and (up to) 8Mbps - although you would only have about 2Mbps in your case by the sound of it. Such a deal could cost £19.99 - and that's including line rental which is normally £11. I make that £8.99 for high-speed (best-speed) broadband.
 
I belong to several forums as well as this one. One of them is a forum specifically for techies and network/broadband ideas, solutions, problem solving etc.

I could copy and paste some of the horror stories for ALL BB providers, but I won't as most try to be fair to their customers, even if they fail dismally. However, for the providers with the highest complaint ratio, SkyBB and TakTalk are the two biggest offenders.

The ones with least are Tiscali,[which is excellent because 2 or 3 years ago when i was studying IT at college, they were known as THE worse provider among students and tutors alike], Ukonline [my own provider and very good they have been for the last 2 1/2 years, not entirely problem free, but they DO pull out the stops to help when there is a problem] and orange [as was wannadoo, as was feeserve]

However, whoever you go with, a few things to remember - that demand for new installs is high, so there is a chance of a delay with any of them, both for connections and for delivery of modems, routers, etc. If you are going for a 2mg+ connection, expect no stability from it for at least 10 days, and often upto 3 weeks, and make sure the phone socket you are using is in absolute perfect condition - high speed connections do NOT like old weary phone sockets and will mess you around a treat.


OH, another thing Sky do, is 'lock' your modem router - in other words unless you are prepared to hack it to get your username and password, you cannot change or upgrade to a different model unless you do it through them. I did hear this was going to change, but I dont know whether it has or not.
 
2blue4u said:
It's ironic that Dalton should mention this whilst being a fan of tiscali as it was they who, until recently, wouldn't let broadband customers move away.
Click to expand...

Wasn't aware of that, but then due to having no problems with them have never tried to leave them!

:lol:
 
There may be a good-value alternative, however. If your local exchange has LLU equipment installed then you could get a deal including line rental and (up to) 8Mbps - although you would only have about 2Mbps in your case by the sound of it. Such a deal could cost £19.99 - and that's including line rental which is normally £11. I make that £8.99 for high-speed (best-speed) broadband.
Click to expand...

Cheers 2Blue I have no idea about the LLU I could look into it though

The ones with least are Tiscali,[which is excellent because 2 or 3 years ago when i was studying IT at college, they were known as THE worse provider among students and tutors alike], Ukonline [my own provider and very good they have been for the last 2 1/2 years, not entirely problem free, but they DO pull out the stops to help when there is a problem] and orange [as was wannadoo, as was feeserve]

However, whoever you go with, a few things to remember - that demand for new installs is high, so there is a chance of a delay with any of them, both for connections and for delivery of modems, routers, etc. If you are going for a 2mg+ connection, expect no stability from it for at least 10 days, and often upto 3 weeks, and make sure the phone socket you are using is in absolute perfect condition - high speed connections do NOT like old weary phone sockets and will mess you around a treat.
Click to expand...

Cheers for the heads up Ladylens
 
DONT DO IT!!!!
I chose to have SKY BB, within days of calling them I was advised both here & elsewhere, not go ahead with it due to their appalling reputation, so I called & cancelled.
6 months on ... yes 6 months! I still have a tag on my line despite numerous phonecalls & letters to them to remove it.

OFFCOM say they cant do anything other than log my complaint and BT Wholesale say their hands are tied too.
Next step is to threaten them with small claims court for loss of business, due to them keeping me stuck on blimmin dial-up!
 
It depends what you are looking at.

If you have the TV package, then you get BB for free which is only good.

Its not business quality, but, it is EasyNet driven (UK Online) - both owned now by BSkyB and so very big players in the Internet delivery market.

Sky do make you use their managed CPE (router) otherwise they won't support you. This is due to the fact that some people put their own router on their connection and cannot get support from their ISP anyway.

2Blue is right, if it is LLU then they put a tag on your line because you can't transfer it. This is being ratified hopefully soon, but right now thats the issue.

All the other services they provide are what is known as option 4 which is resold BT package (through easynet) and this means it has to confirm to all offcom regulations so you can transfer it.
 
Cobra, there's two of us, I don't have sky either!


Sky (of any flavour) have probably the worst customer service in the world, stay away.

Go here http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ to see reviews and compare providers, when you have seen one you like, read their forum on there to see what the complaint v service level is like. Remember though that most people who have no complaints don't post to say so.
 
One other thing, someone said this to me last year, and I can see some logic in it. BT are not the cheapest provider by any stretch of the imagination, BUT, its all their equipment. So, when problems do happen, you are dealing direct, not with a middle man that is renting the lines, etc, from them. Many complaints I have seen, particularly concerning moving isp's have been of the 'he said, she said' nature where the isp and bt are both blaming each other for problems, delays, etc. frankly I dislike BT intensely so didn't go with them, but it may be a consideration for some.

LLU lines - MAC codes are worthless - to transfer it takes about 10 days for the tag to be removed [good isp's will do this without problem], you can then sign up with another provider, which will take another 10 days or so. Non-LLU, they should give you the MAC code to pass to your new provider. It may take 48 hrs for them to give it you, but transfer should only take a couple of hours, 24 at most.
 
The issues with the MAC codes will clear up eventually - OFCOM need to sort this out the same way they sorted out PAC codes on mobile number transfers - before PAC codes it was unheard of to transport your number to a different network, now everyone does it.

Just needs a bit of time is all.

I've said the same thing regarding BT to people too Ladylens - especially when it comes to ADSL for home business and things.
 
LadyLens said:
One other thing, someone said this to me last year, and I can see some logic in it. BT are not the cheapest provider by any stretch of the imagination, BUT, its all their equipment. So, when problems do happen, you are dealing direct, not with a middle man that is renting the lines, etc, from them. Many complaints I have seen, particularly concerning moving isp's have been of the 'he said, she said' nature where the isp and bt are both blaming each other for problems, delays, etc. frankly I dislike BT intensely so didn't go with them, but it may be a consideration for some.
Click to expand...

that used to be the case - but it isn't any more. The work is carried out by a BT Openreach engineer who is supposed to treat all suppliers the same. And, with LLU lines, the isp are not renting from BT - they own the equipment.

If anything, the reverse is now true in that a good, non-BT, provider will manage faults in a far better way and keep on top of the situation until it is resolved.
 
Steep said:
Cobra, there's two of us, I don't have sky either!


Sky (of any flavour) have probably the worst customer service in the world, stay away.

Go here http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ to see reviews and compare providers, when you have seen one you like, read their forum on there to see what the complaint v service level is like. Remember though that most people who have no complaints don't post to say so.
Click to expand...

So I am not the only one then Steep !:clap:
Thanks for all the input guys. You could well have saved me money and grief!
I have some ideas to think on.
One other thing I did hear a rumour that where I live ( Milton Keynes) we are supposed to be getting a "Beta" trial of free wireless broad band soon I don't know if any of you IT guys have heard this?
 
2blue4u said:
that used to be the case - but it isn't any more. The work is carried out by a BT Openreach engineer who is supposed to treat all suppliers the same. And, with LLU lines, the isp are not renting from BT - they own the equipment.

If anything, the reverse is now true in that a good, non-BT, provider will manage faults in a far better way and keep on top of the situation until it is resolved.
Click to expand...

Fair enough, Like I say, BT have never been an option for me. But if thats the case, all the better. I suppose I really should pay another visit to my old broadband forum and catch up! ;)
 
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