Sky Digital Broadband

Post by **Mike** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 11:02 pm

Hiya

Does anyone know anything at all about this service. Aparently I can get 16mbps bband for ?10 per month. It is very tempting but I want to make sure it is coming through the phone line and not going through the sky digibox. I would be most disapointed with that arrangement since my PC does not have a wireless lan card.

Let me know if you have heard anything.

ttfn

Chrissie · Post by **Chrissie** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 6:10 pm

it does sound good, one of the people in my Chester study group Sarah, her husband works for Sky, I could ask her what he thinks, he might know?

Post by **Mike** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 6:11 pm

That would be good if you have the time / inclination. :D

Post by **johnriley1uk** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 6:15 pm

As far as i could tell, it was ?17 per month to get what I get now for ?24.99. But, for how long, and is there any prospect that Sky will operate a good, reliable service?

I won't be changing.....

Post by **Mike** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 7:14 am

I will be changing. The cost is ?10 per month for the full wack 16 mb broadband on a 12 month contract which is very good. Price is static for these twelve months.

I found out that they have recently purchased easynet which is a service provider buying wholesale from BT. Sky is likely to have some troubles to start off but they are investing 400million to get a toe hold in the market. I am going to take advantage of their subsidy for a while! :D

mr_e · Post by **mr_e** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 6:18 pm

Er...are you actually going to get 16Mbit download speeds (distance from exchange and all that)? Either way, I'm sure it's faster than 8Mbit.

Post by **Mike** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 7:06 am

It is a difficult one to judge, but as the system improves you have a better chance of meeting the max. If you look at it another way, why pay ?25 for a potentially lower service with the same problem?

mr_e · Post by **mr_e** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 6:29 pm

But surely the maximum speed is dependent on the distance from the exchange? So the only way to really increase it is if they build exchanges everywhere, which I doubt is going to happen. Or boost the signal somehow? I must confess, my knowledge of the data transit side is a bit sketchy.

Post by **johnriley1uk** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 10:21 pm

I thought the highest available speed was 8 Meg, and the 16 Meg speed is software-enhanced speed.

We have regularly achieved 6.7 or so.

Post by **Mike** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 7:24 am

Hum, that is interesting. I will look into that. Thanks for the tip.

UPDATE
The 16mb speed is achieved by bonding two 8mb lines together. So you would have two 8mb lines coming into the house and sharing the traffic load.

UPDATE 2
I am 1km from the broadband exchange here.

mr_e · Post by **mr_e** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 4:15 pm

I think within 1km usually means you can (potentially) get the full 16Mbit transfer rate. Of course, this depends on how many other people are using it - whatever that ratio thing is for how many people could be screwing up your bandwidth. Do you anticipate ever needing to use the full 16Mbit speed? Only thing I can think of would be downloading movies and stuff. Or running your own server if the upload speeds are any good.

Post by **Mike** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 9:41 am

I am just a internet power junkie! It is one of those things. I don't need the speed but if it is on offer at a lower price than a reasonable speed, why would I not move? It is a commercial decision not a requirement for faster internet access.

Post by **Mike** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 10:13 am

I have been having some problems with Sky this week. I will list the good points now and then the bad so you can get a good idea.

The Good
1: The activation date was within 10 days of ordering, very slick and informative.
2: Customer service is polite and courteyous. They do try to help.

The Bad
1: They use PARCELINE. This delivery company is the worst I have ever had the displeasure of encountering. They do not respond to instructions from their customers (sky), they do not respond to my messages, despite claiming a 60 minute call back period, they do not answer their phones. They will send parcels back if not contacted in 5 working days. This is quite ironic since I had contracted them, sky had contacted them and they were refusing the act. Aparently this company is now working on a knife edge as Sky are thinking of moving suppliers due to the high number of complaints regarding their delivery service.
2: The internal Sky customer services can not communicate very effectively. I would speak to one duty officer (evening shift) and they had no method of actually passing information to the day shift. I just wish they had nominated one person to be a case officer to overview and chase my queries this would have stopped me from having to re-explain the problem multiple times.
3: They occasionally claim to be an incoming call centre only, this is despite them ringing me four or five times. IE Some of their staff are really not bothered about anything!

The Ugly!
1: You MUST use the Sky router! The serial number is checked with their server and will not allow you to connect unless the number matches their system.

I will update you on the speed etc when the box is installed later this week.

Post by **Mike** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 7:23 pm

I am finally connected with a brand new netgear router. I think they are a bit dragonian about not letting you have access to the router set up but I am sure I will find it soon.

The set up was rather funny they had this little animation for setting up the system. I imagine it is bril for new users as you can instantly tell what you need to do.

Anyway am off now, am noticing a significant improvement in speed at the moment. :D

Post by **Mike** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 7:24 pm

Mike wrote:... not letting you have access to the router set up but I am sure I will find it soon.

Found it!