Forums Forums Enthusiast Forums A - Z Gadgets & Tech Sky Broadband - Ongoing Review Of The Service

Okay there still having an issue with my second account
and the Remote record.

Its now at the second level of Tech Support.
Its crazy as someone must have used the mobile number
i have registered and it can be found in the system.

A very helpful engineer called up, and we went through the
motions again. Until again they cant find the number in there
system. At that point he told me they cant search as there
query keeps timing out.

I told him to search by 1 year at a time to shorten the
query criteria, "Cant do that" in other words if i wasn't
compitant with databases and how you query them,
i was able to inform him that i wouldn't be parmed off with
can not search a database, because you can.

They called to day and i missed them, so i will keep
you updated, its taking a bit longer to sort, but the
bottom line is if someone uses your mobile number
to register "Remote Record" your stuffed. And they cant
just remove it from someone's account. They have to
contact them and ask them to remove it.

Pain in the ass i say.

Any further developments on the install of your mums system yet?

She's waiting until the 29th. She's okay with that ive since
found out that because the dish is to go around the
back of the house the dish needs to be Higher than normal,
i'm guessing more than halfway up the side of the house.

And because of that need a Double ladder ( I think).


BT INSTALLED My Telephone today.
Remember i have sky paying for this, but its still £124.99
and the engineer also said its a rip off.
He works for Open reach and says no matter who it is
there getting charged the full wack.

Anyway its installed now, and he didn't have to touch the wiring
at all, even though it only needed a switch on at the cab.
I'm happy that i got sky to pay.

Now i can phone sky and say send me the broad band
which i will do in a mo

Hummmmmm

Just ordered my broadband, and they say that i can only
max out at 4mb due to the line?
This can be anywhere from my house to the exchange.

So even if i got 16mb Broadband i would be maxed at 4mb
There is 3 miles between my house and the exchange,
but this is 3 miles of cable, and not as the crow flies.

I wish i new more of the actual details at the start.
But its still faster and cheaper than virgin media
so pros and cons at the mo.

Now i just have to wait for the router to arrive
no time scale given for delivery but a max
15 day for the broad band.

p.s i only got BT installed today,
and the letter says wait 4 or 5 days (NOT) lol

This is standard. I did say your line check would probably come up as 4Mbps, if further then 1.5Km it never goes about 6Mbps.

Mine came up as 4Mbps, but the proof is in the pudding, I download at the full 8Mbps no problem.

As you say though, even if you only see 4Mbps, its faster and cheaper (by far) then any competitors, and you got the free Sky+ to go with it lol.

The 16Mbps package for 90% of customers will only really be of use if they download copius amounts each month or require a better upload as most people wont see abouve 10Mbps downstream on their lines.

Yeh hopefully i will be able to pull some nice speeds
Proof will be in the pudding.


My gripe was, when i called up about getting sky in the begining
they said please wait while we check your post code.
And i could get the broad band service.

No when i call they instantly informed me that i could only
ever archive 4mb. So i'm saying why not tell new customers
that at the start too.

I did have Virgin call me up to say can we offer you anything
to stay? I said a Sky Dish lol...

So after 12 years with Virgin / NTL its bye bye on the 15th jan.
And there coming out to get my box. They can keep it lol.

Router Arrived Yesterday, its not a "NetGear" its a black one
made by Sagem, the only difference is that there are no aerials
and the menus are the same as the netgear only it has sky logos
in it. You can however stand it on its side,

I have it half configured to switch over, just have a couple
more internal tweaks to copy over from my existing router.
ADSL isn't alive just yet, but shouldn't be too long now.

They still have not called me back about my Remote Record issue #189527 - 20th Dec 2007

Yeah, you got the V2, only released in December, its supposedly rock solid in operation, more reliable (basically tweaked) then the V1. Hardware and software is still developed by Netgear, Sagem manufacture the unit though, possibly as they usually offer lower OEM costs then most manufacturers.

You can stand the V1 on its side too.

I "may" be changing to o2 Broadband in a few weeks... I have been offered their 8Mbps/1.3Mbps service for £5.00 as I am a contract customer and enquired but stated I was on Sky at the moment.

Ive not been using my Sky+ service for months, mainly cos my LNB was goosed for a long period of time so the second feed wasnt reliable enough, and I have come to the conclusion that right now, as even though its fixed im still not using it, its constantly turned off, the BBC iPlayer, ITV.com and UK Nova are perfect substitutes, I may just get rid of it after my contract is up in February.

Im in two minds, as I love Sky broadband, and if I get back into the swing of using the Sky+, its the best thing since sliced bread, but I havent had the box turned on for weeks now, and im essentially paying for a TV service im not using. Im not even missing not watching the football on it either lately!

The other thing that is attracting me to o2 broadband is the higher upload speed of 1.3Mbps (amazingly, they are one of only a handfull of ISP's that allow you to run a web server using their network lol) and a few extra features they offer like 1000 email to SMS per month, which would be handy for things like server outage alerts and trouble tickets regarding my business.

Still, I have no complaints with Sky Broadband, so I will be doing a lot of research to see what the service is like first. I get top notch speeds and reliability from Sky Broadband, and I love Sky TV in general, I have also been a Sky TV customer myself for nearly 4 years, so its a tough decision...

Id also like to retain Sky Talk Landline and Sky Talk Freetime rather then going back to shitty BT if possible, so that has some bearing on my decision as well. Not sure if they offer it as a seperate service to their TV service...

When does your broadband get activated Mark? Im gonna have to phone Sky in the next few days, still aint made my decision about what im going to do though.

Not sure?
Its about 10-15 working days after the install (24th December)
So its got to be any day. If i have time later
i will try it all connect up via my laptop
as i may already be active but not sure.

Mum got BT installed today.
So now we can call and ask for her broadband and skytalk.

Not sure if i said why the delay was with fitting the dish
and what it was that they needed the "High Team"
as it was fitted on the the chimney breast. On the Roof.

But she's happy now,
she missed east enders the other night and watched it back with +


They have been trying to call me this week,
at the same time everyday, haven't they realised i'm out at that
time of the day yet

I think ill be phoning up Sky in the morning to cancel the TV... and I doubt they will let me keep the broadband at £5.00 a month, in which case ill be moving to o2. It should revert to the standard "connect" price of £17.99 per month.

I will see what happens though. I'll be sorry to see it go if I have to get rid tbh, im thrilled with both the speeds and reliability of the service.

If its hassle free why move?
Hope it works out for yu?

Why pay £20 per month after removing the sports channels for the TV service if im not using it? Im not particuarly missing the sports channels anymore, only had them for the Liverpool matches and to be quite frank, after much initial optimism, we are going nowhere this season, on or off the field. Its better to watch the highlights on MOTD then the full matches and any big games I can go the pub down the road, and still spend less then the £17 per month the Sky Sports was costing!

Think I only watched about 5 or 6 games at my flat last season anyway, so its essentially £200~ a year im paying to watch a small amount of games. May as well go the games, would be cheaper lol.

Im not stupid, if I dont use something, I wont pay for it. Ill still be able to reconnect to Sky TV if I want to at any point, but it is a false economy keeping the TV just to get the broadband at £5.00 per month, essentially im paying £25 a month for me broadband or summit like that.

Its just that after 4 years of being hooked, ive grown used to not using the Sky+ now and converted to IPTV practically instead, caused by problems with my Sky+ LNB, which although they are now fixed, I am just not used to using it anymore.

I was offered broadband from o2 for the same price of £5.00 per month with a couple of things that will benefit my business on top. Even if im not allowed the special price, its still only £7.50 per month.

If Sky let me stay on at £5.00 per month without the TV, ill be keeping Sky Broadband no question about it, but if not im not into paying £17.99 per month when I can get it from o2 for £5.00 per month.

Just like I wasnt into paying Virgin £17.99 per month when I got a better and as reliable a service from Sky for £5.00 per month.

Its a buyers market, and im a well educated buyer who isnt afraid to try something else to get the best deal. Besides, o2 have a 100 day money back guarantee; if the worst thing happens, I jump back to Sky after a few months.

My Sky Broadband became Alive sometime today

Going to do some download testing tomorrow and re configure
my router and settings (Fingers Crossed).

Need to get my old router / network to work with the new router.
Hopefully shouldn't be too much of a pain.

1. Downer ive noticed with the SKY Router is that
the "Remote Management" isn't active in the settings?

I will when i speak to sky ask why, as i do need it to activate
firewall rules if im away.

Router was ordered 21st December and is active on the 7th Jan
A few bank holidays and weekends there.