Your experience with SKY or BT to help me please.

sparkyb

sparkyb

sparkyb

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20 Nov 2005
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209
Hi,

Hope you are all having a great Christmas?

Please can you give me some advice on the following, thank you. Sorry for the long post;

I am a virgin broadband user on ADSL (8mbps, £20.35 / month) as they can't provide fibre where i live. Which is ridiculous as i live on a new large housing development. Recently they sent me a message saying they are bumping all users over to talk talk as they basically dont want to support ADSL anymore. I've been with virgin for about 16 years! My phone line is with BT.

So, i am looking for a new provider of either SKY or BT, who provide fibre where i live. The package i am looking at is fibre unlimited at 39 - 40 mbps, per month SKY is £16.40 and BT is £18. I can get the larger 56 - 70 mbps packages on both, but sky did not think it was worth it for what i used (see end of post).

But i am slightly worried about the routers supplied, both have reports of weak wifi range, particularly the sky version. I live in a fairly large detached house, so this i a concern with wifi.

I have also contacted BT twice and was a little bothered that one person said they drill a hole and route a cable into the house. Whilst the other said they do not. Last thing i want is to come home from work to find cables and holes!

Also it seems that the BT home hub 5 is difficult to access and set up port forwarding for online gaming?

So I was wondering what are your experiences with these providers and routers - particularly for online gaming and wifi range. If it helps my internet usage is as below;

Wifi:

2 android mobiles
2 android tablets
1 apple mobile
2 desktop pcs (upstairs)
2 xbox 360's (upstairs)

Wired:

1 smart tv
1 xbox one
1 xbox 360

We dont download movies, music etc. Mostly used for internet pages. My son can use it quite a bit at times for youtube. But mostly used for console gaming, with the biggest downloads being game updates or PC updates. The mobile devices are almost always on and at worst all 3 xbox' s are on at the same time as well.

Thank you.
 
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I have signed up with BT a few weeks ago for Infinity 2 unlimited at £20 a month for 12 months and £75 Sainsbury voucher but this deal has ended. You can still get BT Infinity 1 for only £10 a month unlimited for 12 months.

£10a month + Line Rental – £16.99 a month or £169.90 for 12 months in advance + £30 Activation Charge.

This deal also includes £125 Sainsbury voucher.

Here is a link.

http://www.productsandservices.bt.c...1_1419960992_14b829653590cfa176a7df9296b1cc1b
 
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I will not have Infinity installed until the 9th of January so wont really know until I start using it but I have just about everything wired to my router and my sons xbox one and my pc upstairs is connected to this.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-125-TP

They work great and I have had no issues.

I have read many threads about the HH5 and there are definite issues with it especially with it losing connection and even after you 10 days of the line settling in people are still reporting problems.

I have ordered one of these http://www.kitz.co.uk/routers/hg612unlock.htm and this will take over from the built in modem that is in the HH5 which does seem to have issues but some people do report having no issues at all.

I just dont want loads of disconnects and then my speed reduced to achieve a stable line.

This does mean however two boxes instead of one but I would rather have some stability.

There are a few products people are using and here is a couple.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-127-TP

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-077-AS

The above router has some issues still with disconnecting which they are trying to resolve with some new firmware updates and there is a thread all about this router on here.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18606945
 
Ok, sorry i thought you already had BT. As for the other routers, I wasn't aware that another could be used instead of the supplied one? Its a good idea, but to me if the isp is stating fast broadband then they should provide the hardware to accompany it.
 
As you already have a line into the house then NO further holes or wires will be required.

The price you quote for Sky is for Line Rental only. The Fibre package is £20 a month on top of that although there are some offers for new customers, I think it's the first six months free on an eighteen month contract.
 
Ok, that's good as the sales rep for BT was unsure. Although if i go for the top package i have to have a new phone face plate fitted.

Yes the total sky cost is £36.40 per month, which is a few quid less than what i am paying now. I'm not too worried about the price to be honest, its really how those routers perform on wifi and gaming.
 
The router performance is subpar for both and if it's that much of a concern you shouldn't be using their kit regardless, BT has awful customer service and Sky has slightly less albeit still awful customer service.

Speaking from experience with both companies, take your pick of the best of the worst.
 
Yes, i think you are right about picking the best of the worst - they seem pretty much identical for positives and negatives.

Ok, so is it possible to use my own router for both providers rather than what's supplied and do they allow this?
 
sparkyb said:
Ok, so is it possible to use my own router for both providers rather than what's supplied and do they allow this?
Click to expand...

You can yes, they don't officially "support" other routers being used but if you have a problem just shove theirs back on before you ring
 
GefGz said:
The router performance is subpar for both and if it's that much of a concern you shouldn't be using their kit regardless, BT has awful customer service and Sky has slightly less albeit still awful customer service.

Speaking from experience with both companies, take your pick of the best of the worst.
Click to expand...

Hi,

I just wondered what model of router are you using with your fibre connection?
 
GefGz said:
You can yes, they don't officially "support" other routers being used but if you have a problem just shove theirs back on before you ring
Click to expand...

Ok, thank you. I think i have read that you need to extract the password and some settings from the sky router? Is this the same for BT? Once you have got this, is it just a case of setting up your own router as normal?

Also, if the password etc is extracted, is this a breach of contract?
 
sparkyb said:
Ok, thank you. I think i have read that you need to extract the password and some settings from the sky router? Is this the same for BT. Once you have got this, is it just a case of setting up your own router as normal?

Also, if the password etc is extracted, is this a breach of contract?
Click to expand...

Yeah you have to get your login credentials from the router itself for Sky, BT I'm pretty sure you don't, once you have it it's literally just the same as usual.


Lots of things are a breach of contract, you ain't gunna be hung drawn and quartered for using third party kit, just as long as you swap it back should you need to contact them it's not an issue
 
Been on Sky fibre unlimited for over 2 years now at 40mb and had adsl with them before that. Only recently had to use their tech support as the connection was dropping out. I used live chat support and aside from the wait to be connected to someone found that to be very good, between us we narrowed it down to a faulty socket faceplate. Currently using their old sagem router with a bt openreach modem and never had an issue with WiFi or needing to port forward. Think I had to use it once for test drive unlimited. They're sending me the latest home hub free so I'll give that a go when it arrives. Would prefer to use a router of my own choice but I've not yet had an issue with the supplied hardware.
 
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GefGz said:
Yeah you have to get your login credentials from the router itself for Sky, BT I'm pretty sure you don't, once you have it it's literally just the same as usual.


Lots of things are a breach of contract, you ain't gunna be hung drawn and quartered for using third party kit, just as long as you swap it back should you need to contact them it's not an issue
Click to expand...

Thank you, this doesn't seem too bad then. I think i will go with Sky, see how it goes with their router for a bit. Then if i get any problems for my usage i will look at buying another router.
 
avrc said:
Been on Sky fibre unlimited for over 2 years now at 40mb and had adsl with them before that. Only recently had to use their tech support as the connection was dropping out. I used live chat support and aside from the wait to be connected to someone found that to be very good, between us we narrowed it down to a faulty socket faceplate. Currently using their old sagem router with a bt openreach modem and never had an issue with WiFi or needing to port forward. Think I had to use it once for test drive unlimited. They're sending me the latest home hub free so I'll give that a go when it arrives. Would prefer to use a router of my own choice but I've not yet had an issue with the supplied hardware.
Click to expand...

Thank you, i must admit when i spoke to Sky today they were very good and helpful. As for my call to BT, well they weren't so helpful or clued up on their own hardware.

out of interest, you say your faceplate was faulty. Did Sky arrange for this to be fixed, or did you have to sort it out yourself (with BT if your with BT?)
 
Faceplates are the customers responsibility. I picked up a new bt mk3 vdsl plate for £12. There's only 2 screws to fit it so any half wit can change one :)
 
I got mine delivered today £9.99 and only 5 minutes to fit no wires to change .

BT MK3 Openreach vDSL ADSL NTE5 SSFP Faceplate Filter Socket.

Here is a video and you will see how easy it is to fit.

 
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