Sky Broadband? [Archive]

Pie In The Sky

26-05-2008, 12:39 PM

My dad works for sky, so we have had sky broadband for years.
They are very reliable, but when things do go tits up the customer support is impressive. We have been with tiscalli and virgin before my dad got the discounted deal for sky, and sky have been the best IMO.
Also, as an employee we act as guinne(sp) pigs for sky, and atm have the soon to be next version of Sky+ tv and Sky broadband. Dad says I can't talk about it for obvious reason but I can say that it's pretty impressive (if a bit buggy atm).
From my experience they are a great option to go for, but I do know others have had problems with them in the past. Would be interesting to see others opinions.

neyo

26-05-2008, 01:03 PM

Chris I have Sky Broadband in my apartment in Manchester. Admittedly, I live in the city centre so I get a hefty 16Mb/768Kb, and it's awesome; on that alone, i'd recommend Sky to other people. I just advised my folks back home to finally get away from Pipex and onto Sky, and they're on the same package as you're looking at. They can only really peak at something like 3Mbit, so they opted for the 2Mb package. I've been home the past week or so now and have been using it on Live and it's seemed fine. Of course you're not going to get host or anything like that, but it seems good to me bud. Any questions, let me know...

They also give you a netgear, 4 port, wireless router too which is zero config as far as internet is concerned which is quite nice...

KONSPIRACY

26-05-2008, 01:12 PM

Sounds good to me then! :cool:

I moved from Pipex a while ago cos the were crap, changed to Bulldog and they have been takeover by Pipex so back to square one. TBH I think its cos my exchange is crap.

Spoke to Sky n they reckon I need to go back to BT from Bulldog before they can do anything about my line though so could be quite a painful process :(

EduTech

26-05-2008, 01:15 PM

I used to be with sky, very fast.. very reliable.. never used tech support as done it myself lol but here there good to. if i remember the engineer who installed was a 360 gamer lol he was fun to talk to not a moody swine.. ermm oh get close to the exchange like mwoi it helps lol 16mb broadband package. actually got 15.5 Meg :)

so thats only thing if you live quite away from ur exchange the connection is usually poor but thats the same for everyone (Y)

Oh and now i'm with Be Unlimited :)

Regards

James

Dark

26-05-2008, 01:33 PM

Thats good time for a thread like this, my rents were talking about changing from virgin which has got pretty expensive now and onto Sky. I'll recomend it to them then.

Broadband with virgin is **** as well, very slow esp at peak times

Terbinator

26-05-2008, 01:56 PM

if you get anything other than cable for internet im sure id be right in saying its basically BT? my uncles got sky broadband and seems fine, although i have virign my self.

KONSPIRACY

26-05-2008, 02:03 PM

Yeah from what I understand, your connection via phone line is simply restricted to what your local exchange is capable of until they get round to upgrading your area...as such I think I think I'll be stuck on the same crappy 2MB whatever ISP I use.

EduTech

26-05-2008, 02:04 PM

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/search.php

search for your exchange, it will tell you when you get the 21CN upgrade :)

James.

neyo

26-05-2008, 02:05 PM

I presume you can't get Cable where you live, either Chris, no?

Use this site to check out some stats on your exchange, you can be updated on planned work on your exchange etc, pretty useful:

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/search.php (just whack in your postcode)

carocat

26-05-2008, 02:08 PM

Chris, can you get Be Unlimited? If so I couldn't recommend them more. Their customer sevice and their connections are pretty awesome and their prices are good too.

KONSPIRACY

26-05-2008, 02:09 PM

Nice one...looks like I can get cable now! w00t! :D

Whats this Be business all about then?

carocat

26-05-2008, 02:10 PM

https://www.bethere.co.uk/

I can only recommend it and I know some others here are on it as well. Bonzo, Anthonyyy I think. Connection's consistent, I always had 7.5Mb down and around 0.8Mb upload.

neyo

26-05-2008, 02:10 PM

Be uses ADSL2+ to deliver upto 24Mb broadband. It's really well regarded, but it's coverage in the UK is low. Be are now owned by O2, so you'll see similar offerings from O2.

Xg Corkin

26-05-2008, 02:34 PM

I've got Sky and it I get kicked offline every week. Trying to call Customer Support and from my experience its awful, they didn't have a ****ing clue and didn't help one bit.

neyo

26-05-2008, 02:40 PM

I had to call Sky once myself. After getting through the muppets, I got to some really helpful engineers in Scotland who spent a good hour, tweaking noise and all kinds of advanced settings to try and resolve my issues. So as a result, i've been wholly pleased with my Sky service.

EduTech

26-05-2008, 03:01 PM

BE i think are the best you are going to get, if you can get them your rocking and rolling. i have been with them for 6 months now.. i know people who have been them for allot longer. great broadband.

also so a friend at one point was only receiving 8 meg instead of 24 meg so they gave him 2 months free broadband :D

James.

Nuked

26-05-2008, 03:34 PM

i got the max package since there launch, they used to be awful bad scustomer service and always down, but this last yr n a bit its been faultless and the customer service is very good.

im far from my exchange so i can only get 1.8mb down and 700kb up, dont see why people need any more download speed tbh, unless ur downloading alot of illegal stuff

neyo

26-05-2008, 03:44 PM

Nuked - What about on demand TV, from e4, BBC and not to mention Sky's own 'Anytime' service? I use those services, as well as content from Apple, including video podcasts. Then there's the Xbox Live content, all in all there's plenty to download, legitimately, maybe speed isn't a concern, so much as your download cap, is.

Chris, it's worth pointing that out actually, Sky's 'Anytime' service allows you download shows you are entitled view on your Sky box, and watch at your leisure. Depending on your package, (no pun intended) this can include movies, sports highlights and al-sorts. It's a fairly nice service, free to Sky subscribers.

DinnyHoon

26-05-2008, 06:25 PM

Broadband with virgin is **** as well, very slow esp at peak times

It's ****, but it's definitely not slow. Paying for the 20Mb package (£20/mo), I can get speeds of around 2.2MB/s on sites like Rapidshare and the usenet.

Terbinator

26-05-2008, 06:36 PM

mine isn't slow either, it only drops in speed if you download over 300mb a day (on the 2mb package) and its only between 5-9, other than that i can download at a constant 270kbps and upstream of bout 190/200 kbps

Bonzo

26-05-2008, 07:28 PM

Kon get Be, honestly it's amazing.

You have a 1:1 contention ratio with the exchange which means you dont share speeds with other users (it WON'T slow down in the evenings).

Im currently syncing to the exchange at:
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 1,468 / 7,433

I've never been out of green bar when playing on live, even when im playing with mates who are on Virgin and BT they are much more suseptable to go into yellow bar than me especially in the evenings when you start playing on US host online, my mates ALWAYS have much higher pings. Words cannot explain how good the connection is.

One of my mates has a 18 month contract with BT, he jumped at the offer because he got a free homehub and phone. For the next 2 and a half years he will be getting **** speeds (less than 5meg down when he lives less than 1 mile from the exchange) aswell as being capped to high holy hell when he does get good speeds. GREAT DEAL.

I've never had to contact customer support because i've never had any problems. What i have experienced though is when they do maintance on your exchange they do it at reasonable hours, i've never been affected. They also send you tons of emails explaining what they are doing, how long the service will be down for.

This is the amount of emails they send you like 4 days before they do maintance:

http://www.halo3forum.co.uk/forum/uploaded/814_1211829702.jpg

PM or MSN me for a referal to get 1 month free (worth up to £22 depending on what package you pick).

KONSPIRACY

26-05-2008, 09:41 PM

I think I might just do that. Only complication I can see is the problem with my phone line being in the hands of Bulldog now...if its anything like when they took it over, it could take over 8 months to get rid of them! :eek:

Hit me up on msn with that referral please mate :cool:

neyo

26-05-2008, 10:15 PM

Be is awesome, nobody disputes that, but I don't think Chris is on an exchange that is equipped to handle Be's service. I surely wouldn't think so if you've a line seemingly capped to 2Mbit.

I really wanted to use Be, myself, I live equal distance (300m) from two exchanges, one has Be, and one doesn't. Needless to say, mine didn't, but as I said, my 16Mbit from Sky is perfectly acceptable! :P

Zyber

26-05-2008, 10:26 PM

I can reconmend Be as well, if you can get them Chris, do it. 24MB FTW!

KONSPIRACY

26-05-2008, 10:36 PM

I did that checker on the link Steve posted n it said I can have Be...but the Be website doesnt recognise my phone no (presumably cos of Bulldog). Will give them a call tomorrow.

edit: not too sure how accurate it is though as it reckons I can have cable as well which is news to me! lol :D

The good news though is...

O2 / Be: Enabled as of 31/03/2008

EduTech

26-05-2008, 10:41 PM

* Steve nicked my link :P * haha.

Yh BE is the way to go kon, i always seem to hear good things about them yet to hear anything bad yet pal.

EduTech

BlueHoopedMoose

27-05-2008, 10:05 AM

BE = the shiznit.

Infidel

27-05-2008, 10:33 AM

21CN WBC status: RFS date set : 18/11/2008
21CN PSTN switchover target: Q4 2010

from here http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/EACLN

Can somebody explain to me what that means, i.e. when am i going to be able to getter better speeds and how much better are they going to be.

quickshot89

27-05-2008, 11:06 AM

21CN is BT's new infastructure im guessing the WBC is when they start putting everything in to support it and the switchover is when they turn the old systems off

Innes

29-05-2008, 08:24 PM

quickshot89

29-05-2008, 08:56 PM

im pretty sure if they say unlimited they cannot cap you

Innes

29-05-2008, 09:05 PM

I'm on BT Option 3 - 8mb Unlimited - and I get capped to ****. Normally only at evenings, like now for instance, I'm meant to be downloading at 800+kbps, but I'm just managing 60 :(.

Renegade

29-05-2008, 09:07 PM

That's not a cap, that's a throttle. They can't cap your downloading - so you can download an unlimited amount of data, but they can throttle the speed you download at.

Terbinator

29-05-2008, 09:24 PM

innes, if your using a torrent client try having your transfers encrypted so bt cant estimate how much your using.

Bonzo

29-05-2008, 09:34 PM

I'm thinking of upgrading to Sky's Up to 16Mb for £10/month, unlimited option. And I have a few questions if people could answer them:

1) Will they cap me? I download between 20 and 80gb a month, depends.
2) How is the service, speed wise? Slowed down in the evenings? Weekends?
3) Is that wireless router any good?
4) What speeds will I get from that 16mb? I live about <2 miles from the exchange?

Thanks :D

You won't get 16 meg, i live exactly 1645 metres away from my exchange. Im on Be and getting around 7.5 meg down (Would be a little higher on another provider as they wouldn't have to take away some download frequencies to give you a higher upload). 8 meg sounds about right depending on your line quality to the exchange.

Dark

29-05-2008, 10:40 PM

That's not a cap, that's a throttle. They can't cap your downloading - so you can download an unlimited amount of data, but they can throttle the speed you download at.

I guess thats what virgin are doing with me then, but sometimes I can't access internet at all when I'm downloading from utorrent, even when it's really really slow (eg 5kbps)

Innes

29-05-2008, 11:11 PM

innes, if your using a torrent client try having your transfers encrypted so bt cant estimate how much your using.

Don't use torrents, mate. Mainly Rapidshare + Warez.

That's not a cap, that's a throttle. They can't cap your downloading - so you can download an unlimited amount of data, but they can throttle the speed you download at.

Ah, :( is there any way I can slam something in there face like a bit of legislation to make them remove it?

Pirate Balloon

29-05-2008, 11:20 PM

Well you could say that you're not getting the speed that was advertised and you payed for, but then they'd probably just tell you to read the terms and conditions that you agreed to which would say that speed restrictions would be in effect.

Zyber

29-05-2008, 11:24 PM

Yea man, you probly have to adhere to their fair usage policy so.

Terbinator

29-05-2008, 11:25 PM

i just meant as a precaution for over upload/ download innes, not bit torrent alone;)

Nuked

30-05-2008, 09:45 AM

quickshot89

30-05-2008, 10:32 AM

you should get more than 3mb if you live at 2 miles

im 3 miles and i get 3.5mb with talktalk

Bonzo

30-05-2008, 02:50 PM

no
steady all day everyday
not the best
about 2-3mb. im 2.2 miles away and i get 1.8mb
You must have terrible line quality. No wonder your such a sponge on XBL ;)

neyo

30-05-2008, 07:02 PM

Haha 'Sponge', i've not heard that term, since oooh... XL.

BlueHoopedMoose

02-06-2008, 01:38 PM

Ah, :( is there any way I can slam something in there face like a bit of legislation to make them remove it?

No - cos they'll just come back at you and shop you to the rozzer's for downloading illegal shiznit.

Innes

02-06-2008, 01:41 PM

No - cos they'll just come back at you and shop you to the rozzer's for downloading illegal shiznit.

What if I say I use bbc's, sky's and channel 4's online services. That's not illegal. How about itunes as well. Just because I download alot, doesn't necessarily make it illegal.

Bonzo

02-06-2008, 03:13 PM

What if I say I use bbc's, sky's and channel 4's online services. That's not illegal. How about itunes as well. Just because I download alot, doesn't necessarily make it illegal.
Until they sit at the exchange and see where your packets are going/coming from......

BlueHoopedMoose

02-06-2008, 03:16 PM

What if I say I use bbc's, sky's and channel 4's online services. That's not illegal. How about itunes as well. Just because I download alot, doesn't necessarily make it illegal.

Don't use torrents, mate. Mainly Rapidshare + Warez.

Never knew that those broadcasters were using Warez to distribute their media...

Innes

02-06-2008, 07:47 PM

Never knew that those broadcasters were using Warez to distribute their media...

I was just saying. What if I were using them. And not downloading, how are they allowed to slow someone down, if the reason they're consuming bandwidth is completely legal?

kurosaki7

02-06-2008, 08:27 PM

Im pretty sure its a fair usage policy in the contract as anywhere they did the same to me when I used to d/l a fair bit.

BlueHoopedMoose

03-06-2008, 09:06 AM

As Tao says, it's fair usage policy. There is no ISP on earth that can survive with customers who download 80Gb a month and then expect to pay nothing more than £20 a month. It's simply down to economics and basic business sense.

quickshot89

03-06-2008, 09:31 AM

they can in europe

SrT Sacred

03-06-2008, 11:04 AM

I've heard mixed reviews from Sky users basically it comes down too.

Sky llu (connecting to their own server infrastucture) - This has very good reviews.
Sky ipstream (connecting to BT's backbone so they have more national coverage) - Terrible reviews.

Basically if your exchange is enabled for the Sky llu service then that's a decent option, if it isn't your best avoiding at all costs because you'll be on the **** ipstream service. Like people have posted to find out whats available on your exchange goto www.samknows.com great site, if BE is available though Chris it's an easy decision.