Sky Broadband

[Jay86]

They are a massive pisstake. I'll get on the phone to them tomorrow and see what they can do because I know for a fact I'll be paying for a lot higher speeds than that. I've checked the surrounding areas and the speeds seem to massively differ, most seem to be between 20-40 with quite a few over 70. Surprise surprise what's the only speed under 10! On the map Sky have about 15 on there that are under 10.

[Jay86]

 

This is what I've found on Sky's website, that can't surely be true. Why would they spend 2 to determine what speeds best when they could just pump you with the faster they can offer from the off.

[Guest Pistonbroke]

I pay for a 100 and average 95-96 Mbps, I'd get the whole 100 but due to my network set up we have about 10 devices running through the router. Most of those devices receive top speeds as to what they are capable of. I'm with Unity Media which is a German cable service so the signal is sent down the same system as the Digital TV. Before them (about 10 years ago) I was with Freenet who were taken over by 1and1 and they were fucking shit unless you threatened the cunts with legal action. 

[Fugitive]

Providers will always use "Up To"** when speaking in speed terms. It is always wise to find out what speeds your area, more specifically your home address can receive with the various providers. If you don#t the chances that you end up paying for something you can't even get are high.

 

** I believe plans are being discussed at Govt level that providers change this con procedure.

I was getting over 30Mbps a few months ago and then it suddenly went shit. I'm on my third router in 4 months and still no joy. They just keep sending me new routers but have not actually bothered to look at any other factors.

 

They are useless.

[Jay86]

I've only had it 1 day and it's driving me mental, I've just done a BT open reach fibre optic test to see if my area can get it and it's says I can but was told by Sky that I couldn't. I haven't even tried playing online gaming on it yet, I dread to think what that's going to be like.

[Kant]

We have Talktalk at work, and I have an annual phone call where I call them up and call them a bunch of cunts because broadband speed has gone to shit.

Then they "have a look at the settings" and hey presto.

[Guest Pistonbroke]

I was getting over 30Mbps a few months ago and then it suddenly went shit. I'm on my third router in 4 months and still no joy. They just keep sending me new routers but have not actually bothered to look at any other factors.

 

They are useless.

 

Sound like cowboys mate, if they have tried replacing the router and things don't improve then they should be sending a Technician to check sockets and the signal strengths coming through, sometimes they are more than the socket can handle which is also dangerous. 

[skend04]

I'm sure you are able to cancel your contract because you aren't getting what you signed up for. This explains it a little bit more in depth.

 

https://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/guides/help/broadband-consumer-rights

[Jay86]

Sound like cowboys mate, if they have tried replacing the router and things don't improve then they should be sending a Technician to check sockets and the signal strengths coming through, sometimes they are more than the socket can handle which is also dangerous.

Mine can't be socket issues or the cables coming into my home because they put all new ones in when they came out the first time as there was no phone line into the property.

[Guest Pistonbroke]

Mine can't be socket issues or the cables coming into my home because they put all new ones in when they came out the first time as there was no phone line into the property.

 

That still doesn't mean they are set up properly mate. They have different fuse type things in them which allow different speeds through etc. (Not totally sure what the technical jargon is for these things). Plus it could be a problem with said sockets letting the speeds through or something simple like them sending a new signal. 

[bigbak]

I've had similar speeds on BT broadband for a little while.  Rebooting it would sort it for a while.

They came yesterday and fitted a new socket.

 

I now get this, but it has been flaky:

 

One thing he did advise was to get a shielded twisted pair modem cable.  The ones that come in the box are shit and get a lot of crosstalk if close to electrical items.

[jimmycase]

 

This is what I've found on Sky's website, that can't surely be true. Why would they spend 2 to determine what speeds best when they could just pump you with the faster they can offer from the off.

 

Its right. Its an automated process that pushes the maximum speed down your line to find out how stable it is. If the connection frequently drops due to this, the speed is slowed down until connection is no longer dropped. Then, its speeded up again to find the maximum stable speed.

 

If the connection continues to drop after this period, there's a fault somewhere in the system.

 

For best results, you want your modem router plugged in at the box where your phone line comes in from the street. In other words, you wont get the best if your modem router is plugged into an extension socket.

 

I cant speak for Sky but I ditched the BT modem router and got a 3rd party router.