Have your say & ask the experts

recently ive been geting a bit anoyed with the speed of my broadband im subscribed to skys top package (i think 10 gig)so i got her indoors to give them a ring on friday ,now it would seem were only getting 1 gig,im not to shaw if this is correct because she didnt really understand what the operator was saying so it was just left at i would give them a ring when i was home(i will try and find time tomorrow)but if this is correct it dosent seem right ive been reciving broadband from them for the last 3 years at £10 a month(as well as sky hd full package sky multi room and some telephone deal)

should i go for some kind of compo (ie a secound sky hd box not that i really need it as my 2nd sky box is sky plus and it only really gets used on my slingbox solo to laptop,or have thay brought out a better router since my white netgear to give better wireless)its a bit anoying because im shaw sky do a very basic broadband thats free probably 1 gig.

Skys top package is now 20 Meg (Not gig). It was up until recently 16 meg (And some probably still are on 16)

Id suggest you phone them again and find out EXACTLY what your on and what your getting before you proceed

If this runs over a BT landline then your speeds will be 'up to' 10meg (or whatever the maximum quoted by your provider).

I haved looked at the Sky broadband page and - yes - the words 'up to' are used correctly on all packages.

Plug in your BT phone number in the box on that linked page above  to get an estimate of the speed Sky expect you to get in your area.

It does not matter how big a package you order if the BT infrastructure where you live can only give 1meg consistently.

Quoting Sky .....

"Please note your connection speed may not match the speed estimate we
provided - this does not necessarily mean there's a fault on your line.
Broadband speeds can vary and are influenced by the distance to your
exchange, the quality of your telephone wiring as well as worldwide
peak internet usage times (5pm till 12am GMT) which can also slow your
speeds at different times during the day."

Whilst it is no consolation to the OP, as a Virgin Media XL package subscriber, I have been considering moving to Sky to benefit from their superior HD TV and sports channel content. My VM Broadband, touch wood, has been working like a dream for 3 years, not a single problem and large files streamed from Spotify etc. play flawlessly without any breakup, 24/7. So depending upon what you like or use most I would have thought will play an important part in deciding which provider to use. For me I have resisted the temptation to switch as the OP has highlighted that the "grass is perhaps not greener on the other side". I believe that once VM decide to squirt more immediate TV HD material down the cable (in particular live sporting events) it will be on to a real winner. For now I will have to enjoy their "on Demand" HD content, which, with the recent addition of HD stuff on BBC i Player, is steadily increasing....watch out Sky!

Aren't you allowed to keep Virgin media cable just for broadband and have Sky TV just for watching sport?

Surely one provider does not rule out use of another if you are using them for different things.

 

Chebby, 

I was considering that avenue only yesterday and seriously thought about cancelling my sports package with VM. Discounting it boiled down to having more wires coming into the house plus another STB and a dish, which in my opinion look a bit naff. Never say never though and depending upon what each provider offers ongoing then I do not rule out a change in the future.

 Cheers, Rugbynewz

 

just spoke to them and it is meg not gig and im geting 1

should be 10 and yes it is a bt line

thay were able to tell me my line can handle 4 meg thay are charging me for 10meg and im reciving 1meg im confused

When you subscribe to a B/B service they alway's use the term "upto" so just because they say it's  "upto"10 meg doesnt mean that's what you'll get. It's dependent on distance from exchange,line quality etc as to what speed you'll actually get.

thay just told me line can handle 4meg(thay ran some kind of test) ,im now in a que waiting to speak to an expert.

nodnarb4444:

thay just told me line can handle 4meg(thay ran some kind of test) ,im now in a que waiting to speak to an expert.

Well yes if your line is capable of running at 4 and you're only getting 1 then that needs addressing,

30 minutes on hold and counting

after changing the filters(wich changed nothing) and many calls back and fourth we are now getting 4.5 meg wich seems to be much better it took 20 minutes to download an hd trailer from i tunes yesterday and today i tried the same trailer with only about 5 secound delay before i could start playing it.

it seems wrong to me that ive only been geting 1 meg for all this time but to be honest im just happy to have somthing usable now so i didnt ask for any kind of compo(im english after all)

all the staff were helpfull just a shame you have to sit on hold for so long as thay move you around the seperate departments(40 minutes at one point)

Check your speeds daily for the next 10 days. They have a habit of 'training' back to a slower speed.

Every 15 minutes for the next ten days, information on logon and sync 'events' are passed to a Rate Adaptive Management Box (RAMBO) at the exchange and this collated information is analysed to calculate your MSR (maximum stable rate.)

The MSR is calculated then (based on the lowest speed/rate you get over the next 10 days) and rounded down to the closest 500k. At the end of ten days this info is then transmitted to the Rate Adaptive Profile (RAP) and to your ISP.

So don't get too excited about your new sparkly 4.5meg. Wait until at least 10 days time.

This is the filter you should have. It is the one BT engineers will fit. Do NOT touch the wires in the NTE5 box. Just screw the new faceplate/filter in place of the existing faceplate otherwise you are tampering with BT equipment. (Everything up to and including the NTE5 box is theirs. The faceplate/filter is OK for you to replace so long as it is a BT approved item.)

Remember if you have the older NTE5 box with nice machined screws then you will need these as well for 20p extra. (More modern NTE5 boxes use self tapping screws.)

You may want to ask BT/Openreach to fit a new NTE5-A box and filter splitting faceplate with bell wire filter. These run cleaner than your old NTE5 box.