Sky Q + Broadband

funkyphantom · 14 Jun 2016 at 20:37

Hi,
I have taken advantage of a cracking deal for Sky Q with movies and sports plus free internet for 12 months. I was a little apprehensive on Sky Q running well on 'free internet' therefore I made sure that fibre broadband was available in my area, with the view of - if the features that use the internet (Catch up tv/On demand etc etc) wouldn't work properly then I would upgrade to the faster fibre broadband for an extra £10/month.
After having an hours play with it yesterday I decided to give Sky a call and upgrade, but I was told that Fibre is no longer available in my area!
I'm now stuck with a wife that cant catch up on Coronation Street, a daughter that cant stream Disney movies to her ipad, a son that can't play on his xbox, and me watching websites load!! (haven't done that for a while as previously with Virgin, Speed test results are giving me around 2mb d/l)
I am still in my cooling off period with Sky, but can see that if I could get faster internet it will be a superb service! What are my options to increase my speed, I dont mind paying a bit extra per month? Or do I go back to Virgin with my tail between my legs?
Thanks

asim18 · 14 Jun 2016 at 20:40

The 2 meg free internet they bundled in was just to steal the market share so you cant do things online any more. They don't want you catching up on coronation street over the internet, they want you watching it on their box and pushing up their numbers.

funkyphantom · 14 Jun 2016 at 20:44

I do feel a little that way if I'm honest. As I'm sure I ordered the fibre broadband with the package. But they told me that I didn't, and to be fair it doesn't show on the receipt. I do remember thinking about leaving the fibre out but could have swore I ordered it come to think about it.

scorchisio · 14 Jun 2016 at 20:45

anyone who lives in a virgin area and can get their 200mb service but uses a different provider like sky is crazy if you ask me. Take advantage of the best speeds you can. I couldnt be without my 200mb virgin package- i use a kodi android box for live HD sports and movies and i only pay about 45 a month with unlimited phone and all the main tv channels on the tivo box as well.

kibblerok · 14 Jun 2016 at 20:45

Sounds like they told you a lie to get you on board.

Would give my notice in for the cooling off period anyway. Will focus their minds with regards to any requests you have with them ie double checking the fibre situation or a large credit for mis-selling.

Depends how important the BB speed is, that would be a deal breaker for me and I'd be cancelling straight away especially as it appears they lied to get you on board in the first place.

Important thing is you don't let them fob you off and run you over your cooling period expiry.

funkyphantom · 14 Jun 2016 at 20:52

scorchisio said:
anyone who lives in a virgin area and can get their 200mb service but uses a different provider like sky is crazy if you ask me. Take advantage of the best speeds you can. I couldnt be without my 200mb virgin package- i use a kodi android box for live HD sports and movies and i only pay about 45 a month with unlimited phone and all the main tv channels on the tivo box as well.

I've been with Virgin for around 20 years. The fact that they couldnt offer me a decent deal meant that I walked. I managed to get this deal with Sky Q Sports and movies for almost 50% of what my monthly bills crept up to with Virgin. I was expecting 40mb D/L. I'm actually getting at this moment in time 0.3mb/s

Its like a blast back to 1998! haha

kibblerok said:
Sounds like they told you a lie to get you on board.

Would give my notice in for the cooling off period anyway. Will focus their minds with regards to any requests you have with them ie double checking the fibre situation or a large credit for mis-selling.

Depends how important the BB speed is, that would be a deal breaker for me and I'd be cancelling straight away especially as it appears they lied to get you on board in the first place.

Important thing is you don't let them fob you off and run you over your cooling period expiry.

I wont let them get away with it, believe me! I was wondering if there was another company I could get Fibre broadband from other than Sky? Or is that not how it works?

robfosters · 14 Jun 2016 at 20:54

I know what you mean. It's sad that Sky haven't got a rival service to Virgin. Sky's fibre (if you can get it) is just not as good.

Sky's TV service is so much better than virgin though. I have had to bite the bullet and got both. It costs me a fair bit but the overall package is about as good as you can get and it also means I have a fantastic internet connection for my smart TV and kodi box streaming.

Whats the max you would be happy to pay a month?

Em3bbs · 14 Jun 2016 at 20:57

scorchisio said:
anyone who lives in a virgin area and can get their 200mb service but uses a different provider like sky is crazy if you ask me. Take advantage of the best speeds you can. I couldnt be without my 200mb virgin package- i use a kodi android box for live HD sports and movies and i only pay about 45 a month with unlimited phone and all the main tv channels on the tivo box as well.

You don't need 200mb for live HD sports, none of the available streams on Kodi will come anywhere near to hitting that.

robfosters · 14 Jun 2016 at 20:59

Em3bbs said:
You don't need 200mb for live HD sports, none of the available streams on Kodi will come anywhere near to hitting that.

But if the connection is shared round a household you need headroom. I'd say 50mb would be the minimum now for a household of parents and kids.

funkyphantom · 14 Jun 2016 at 21:02

robfosters said:
I know what you mean. It's sad that Sky haven't got a rival service to Virgin. Sky's fibre (if you can get it) is just not as good.

Sky's TV service is so much better than virgin though. I have had to bite the bullet and got both. It costs me a fair bit but the overall package is about as good as you can get and it also means I have a fantastic internet connection for my smart TV and kodi box streaming.

Whats the max you would be happy to pay a month?

My bills were creeping up to around the £100 mark with Virgin, however this was with no sports or movies. (Big Kahuna??) with 150mb internet and an extra box in my sons bedroom.
I'm paying 71.40 to Sky for the Sky Q Silver, with Sports + movies incuding line rental. I must say, I'm super impressed with the Q box! It would be amazing if I had decent internet to run it properly.
Id be interested to see how much it would cost me to get it up and running properly before chucking my cooling off notice in.

Rilot · 14 Jun 2016 at 21:04

robfosters said:
But if the connection is shared round a household you need headroom. I'd say 50mb would be the minimum now for a household of parents and kids.

So anyone who lives outside of a major town or city can't get broadband that's sufficient for a family? Many families manage just fine on 10Mb.

Em3bbs · 14 Jun 2016 at 21:06

robfosters said:
But if the connection is shared round a household you need headroom. I'd say 50mb would be the minimum now for a household of parents and kids.

What exactly are this family doing? Watching BBC iPlayer in HD (not some dodgy quality Kodi stream) uses around 3-8Mbps.

funkyphantom · 14 Jun 2016 at 21:07

Rilot said:
So anyone who lives outside of a major town or city can't get broadband that's sufficient for a family? Many families manage just fine on 10Mb.

Id be happy with 10mb mate. So long as it allowed me to stream a movie from Sky movies without having to wait 3 days for it to download!

MissChief · 14 Jun 2016 at 21:16

asim18 said:
The 2 meg free internet they bundled in was just to steal the market share so you cant do things online any more. They don't want you catching up on coronation street over the internet, they want you watching it on their box and pushing up their numbers.

They don't offer a package that only includes '2 meg'. Every package Sky offers on DSL (both of them!) will give you the full speed the line can support. They only reduce your overall usage on the cheaper, capped package. If your line can support 24 Meg, you'll get it on both packages.

kibblerok said:
Sounds like they told you a lie to get you on board.

Would give my notice in for the cooling off period anyway. Will focus their minds with regards to any requests you have with them ie double checking the fibre situation or a large credit for mis-selling.

Depends how important the BB speed is, that would be a deal breaker for me and I'd be cancelling straight away especially as it appears they lied to get you on board in the first place.

Important thing is you don't let them fob you off and run you over your cooling period expiry.

'Focus their minds'? If Fibre's not available no amount of concentration or meditation will make it suddenly available. Also I can guarantee that the available broadband speeds were read out to the OP when he signed up. It's also worth knowing that the broadband speed doesn't make a damn bit of difference for live TV or playing back recorded content from your box. Sure, boxsets and catchup can be affected though.

robfosters said:
I know what you mean. It's sad that Sky haven't got a rival service to Virgin. Sky's fibre (if you can get it) is just not as good.

Sky's TV service is so much better than virgin though. I have had to bite the bullet and got both. It costs me a fair bit but the overall package is about as good as you can get and it also means I have a fantastic internet connection for my smart TV and kodi box streaming.

Whats the max you would be happy to pay a month?

Virgin only have a Fibre service because they paid for it themselves. It's no surprise that Virgin only really started making a decent profit in the past few years when they stopped expanding. Also Sky's Fibre service is limited by Openreach and their woeful underinvestment and commercial consideration towards more profit that they can hand over to BT rather than improving speeds for those who need it most. People connected to my cabinet, including myself were getting 16Meg+ on DSL. I was getting 23. I've had Fibre for three years nearly. I still see people with 1-2 Meg who don't have FTTC services available.

Rilot said:
So anyone who lives outside of a major town or city can't get broadband that's sufficient for a family? Many families manage just fine on 10Mb.

Exactly. And if 10 Meg is all you can get, you cope.

funkyphantom · 14 Jun 2016 at 21:24

Hi MissChief
It was your New customer Sky friends and family deal I took advantage of.
I ordered over the internet, and Fibre broadband was definitely available, as I remember seeing it on offer of £10 half price for 12 months, it said it was available at my house. To be honest I wasn't expecting a rival to Virgin internet wise, but with these speeds I'd might as well of just gone for the normal Sky HD box, as I can only really use 50% of what the Sky Q box offers

scorchisio · 14 Jun 2016 at 22:28

everyone who is slightly tech savvy should know that virgin cant be touched on broadband speeds. its a big risk to leave them and your seeing just how bad the difference is. if i were you i would cancel and go back to virgin

LeeUK · 14 Jun 2016 at 22:34

You only need fibre if you're an online gamer and need good pings. I've never had a problem with normal broadband.

It's all just marketing hype to get your money.

garak112 · 14 Jun 2016 at 22:34

When I moved into my house I took a sky deal with adsl with a view to upgrading if it wasn't good. In my flat I had the full 24mb which was fine for us but at our house we ended up with 6mb.

When I phoned up I was told I couldn't get fibre in my area (despite the online checker saying I could when I signed up).

I phoned again a week later and was told I could get it. They couldn't offer any explanation for it. Perhaps try in a few days then cancel if they can't do it?

HAz · 14 Jun 2016 at 23:01

IF i lived in a virgin area I would get virgin for internet only and sky for my tv. Make most of living in a virgin area and go back for their internet!

MissChief · 14 Jun 2016 at 23:23

funkyphantom said:
Hi MissChief
It was your New customer Sky friends and family deal I took advantage of.
I ordered over the internet, and Fibre broadband was definitely available, as I remember seeing it on offer of £10 half price for 12 months, it said it was available at my house. To be honest I wasn't expecting a rival to Virgin internet wise, but with these speeds I'd might as well of just gone for the normal Sky HD box, as I can only really use 50% of what the Sky Q box offers

Have a look at http://dslchecker.bt.com and you'll need to use the address option at the bottom using your house number and postcode. Post the details up, minus your details.