Poll: Now considering moving from UKFSN to Sky - Sky BB questions.

Do you think Feek should

  • Stick with UKFSN

    Votes: 1 2.4%

  • Move to Sky Broadband

    Votes: 33 78.6%

  • Move to BT Internet

    Votes: 4 9.5%

  • Other - Please post to make suggestions

    Votes: 4 9.5%
  • Total voters
    42

Feek

Feek

Feek

Commissario
Joined
16 Oct 2002
Posts
344,113
Location
In the radio shack
I posted here about switching from UKFSN to BT Internet and opinions were divided. I've spoken to someone at work who uses BT and is happy with them apart from the traffic shaping which he says is terrible at peak times and that the transfer rate slows down to an absolute crawl.

That concerns me.

I've done some further hunting around and have found that Sky BB has LLU enabled at my exchange and they're doing an unlimited package for £12.50 a month which seems very cheap, almost 'too good to be true' cheap. I've learned in life that if things seem too good to be true, they often are.

However, searching the internet does leave me to believe this is a good unlimited package, but I'm naturally concerned about traffic shaping and possible slowdowns.

What's the score with Sky Broadband? Do they traffic shape? Are they a good ISP?

BT is still an option but the traffic shaping is a worry, it was mentioned in the previous thread that it can be got around by using a VPN service but I don't know anything about those so could use some advice on that as well please.

My reasons for wanting to change are in the thread I linked above.

If you vote, it'd be good to post with a reason for your vote.

Thanks.
 
I believe the unlimited Sky package doesn't have any traffic shaping. I've found Sky's customer service to be terrible at times but in the grand scheme of things they're not an awful ISP.
 
Sky because it's inexpensive, I can't comment on tech support but my friends have no quibbles.
 
Have you considered Be*?

I am on their service at present. No caps, no throttling, great service. I just can't sing their praises highly enough.

If you want to sign up to them drop me a message in Trust and I refer you we each get £15.32 off our bill.
 
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Can you get Sky LLU? If not, avoid.

One way to check is via www.samknows.com, put in your postcode and have a look at your exchange LLU status.

I'm on Sky Unlimited and they're very good. No shaping, truly unlimited downloads :)

Had to ring support a few times due to a line problem and they're generally ok. Almost always spoken to english speakers, who are willing to help (including change line modes, reducing max delays etc) but did get an Indian chap when I rung at 1am who was useless! haha

You'll be on DLM for the first 10 days, and likely capped to 4Mb for the first 72hrs, so don't panic, it's normal while they monitor your line capabilities.
 
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Sky are one of only about four doing LLU at my exchange, the others being Orange, Talktalk and AOL.

I've just been reading that they like you to use their router, I'm not happy with that as I want to use my Draytek modem and Time Capsule but I understand it's easy enough to do that once I can get the login details.
 
I only had Sky BB fitted in march, so I had the most recent modem they issue.. it never got connected ;)

Skyuser (unofficial support site) have the unlocking / methods to get your username and password. The older modems can spit out the username and password using an online generator and your modem MAC key but with the new modem you need to run a java app on a computer (modem must be connected to any active ADSL line and have a sync) to get the username and password.

For example, I took my sky issued modem to my parents as it showed up before my line went live.. Plugged in a laptop to the modem, plugged the modem in to their landline then run a java app on the PC which SSHs in to the modem and extracted all the details. Saved that to a text file and now I can use anything I want :)

Edit: See this link for instructions on how to get your username and password from the newest Sky modem
 
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you can use any modem with sky - as above check skyuser forums for details on how to get password/username out of the router.

However Sky's T&C do state that you should always use their router!

Personally been with Sky for about 3 years now (at 2 different addresses) and had no problems with them, no restrictions on speed/shaping etc. Up time has been 99.999%.

Would have no issues recommending them.

When you get connected, use their router for the first 10 days or so as the line is tested using DLM (dynamic line management or something) to gradually increase you speed up to the maximum it supports. After that you could switch your own router however I've had no issues with the sky router and it supplies internet connection to 1 laptop, 1 main pc, 1 server, 2 phones, 1 ps3 etc etc.
 
use this for the new dlink ones need a connection to an adsl line but dose not have to be a sky one.

http://pathogenrush.blogspot.com/2010/10/dsl-2640s-password-extractor.html

moved from O2 recently well 2-3 months ago all is good with sky dropped about 400k on sync speed but other than that all good.

use my own router and not had issues, I would tend to use a broadcom router to get better sync speeds :-)
 
Feek said:
Sky are one of only about four doing LLU at my exchange, the others being Orange, Talktalk and AOL.

I've just been reading that they like you to use their router, I'm not happy with that as I want to use my Draytek modem and Time Capsule but I understand it's easy enough to do that once I can get the login details.
Click to expand...

Yes Sky do 'as per terms of the Terms & Conditions' try enforce you to use their Sagem router - I have been with them since August 2010 and I am on there LLU service and I actually can't fault it surprisingly!

No caps, never been throttled, no download limits, no traffic shaping, no nothing. :eek:

By the way if you don't have Sky TV or Phone it'll be £15.00 not £12.50.. They charge you a 'sur-charge' of £2.50 for not having Sky TV or Phone.. ;) It is still cheap though.
 
I have heard rumours that Sky may be moving away from a username and password type system and be going to IPoE or MER which checks MAC addresses. Using a non-Sky Router? No internet when that happens.
 
currently have a sky LLU connection at home and love it to bits :)

granted its not great as adsl connections go (8 meg/second on a good day) but i leave it running 24/7 maxed out and never get a peep from sky,have occasionaly managed to pull down over a terabyte a month in p2p traffic and they havent commented or traffic shaped once in all the time(2 1/2 years) we've been with them
 
MissChief said:
I have heard rumours that Sky may be moving away from a username and password type system and be going to IPoE or MER which checks MAC addresses. Using a non-Sky Router? No internet when that happens.
Click to expand...

just spoof the mac address I did this all the time when I was on O2
 
no problems with Sky LLU here, 11mbit down 1mbit up. constantly withing 100k/sec of my max in p2p and web based downloads. Youtube 1080 streams instantly. Pings aren't the best 50/60s usually but I dont online game that often. Using dlink router supplied, wifi speeds are crud but fast enough for what I need.
 
MissChief said:
I have heard rumours that Sky may be moving away from a username and password type system and be going to IPoE or MER which checks MAC addresses. Using a non-Sky Router? No internet when that happens.
Click to expand...

I'll continue to use my superior modems, thanks ;)
 
Hmm, wondering how to spoof the MAC address with a Draytek 120 and a Time Capsule if I need to.
 
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