BE* broadband cancelled - need new ISP!

kingshaun2k

kingshaun2k

kingshaun2k

Associate
Joined
28 Dec 2010
Posts
201
Been with BE broadband for over 5 years now, Internet went off last night and I phoned up to ask why. Apparently they went out of business or whatever and they are transferring everyone to Sky. I've heard sky is pretty crap so I'm looking for a new provider. I was paying £18 a month and I was getting around 16mb/sec download and 1.2mb/sec upload, plus it was unlimited. I'm from Carlisle and only parts of it has fibre so far and that's not my part so I can't get that yet. What does everyone recommend?
 
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kingshaun2k said:
Been with BE broadband for over 5 years now, Internet went off last night and I phoned up to ask why. Apparently they went out of business or whatever and they are transferring everyone to Sky. I've heard sky is pretty crap so I'm looking for a new provider. I was paying £18 a month and I was getting around 26mb/sec download and 1.2mb/sec upload, plus it was unlimited. I'm from Carlisle and only parts of it has fibre so far and that's not my part so I can't get that yet. What does everyone recommend?
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BE didnt go bust, they were bought (along with o2) by Sky. Over the past 12 months they have migrated people off the BE/o2 network and on to Sky.

I would wait if I was you.. I was moved on to Sky about 1 month ago.. Like you I had heard the scare stories, and expected to move on as soon as I was migrated.. However, 1 month down the line and I have:

1) Had no downtime (except an hour or so on migration day)
2) Speeds remained the same
3) Billing is correct.. They charge £20 per month, however we should all have got a discount when being moved (mine was £10 per month), so I end up paying £10 per month (for 12 months).

Thats just my 2p.. If you do plan to move I have heard good things about PlusNet..

Also, just to add.. You are not tied into Sky, so can move on as soon as you want.
 
Scope said:
BE didnt go bust, they were bought (along with o2) by Sky. Over the past 12 months they have migrated people off the BE/o2 network and on to Sky.

I would wait if I was you.. I was moved on to Sky about 1 month ago.. Like you I had heard the scare stories, and expected to move on as soon as I was migrated.. However, 1 month down the line and I have:

1) Had no downtime (except an hour or so on migration day)
2) Speeds remained the same
3) Billing is correct.. They charge £20 per month, however we should all have got a discount when being moved (mine was £10 per month), so I end up paying £10 per month (for 12 months).

Thats just my 2p.. If you do plan to move I have heard good things about PlusNet..

Also, just to add.. You are not tied into Sky, so can move on as soon as you want.
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I've not actually been move to sky yet because I didn't reply as the letter was sent to the wrong address so I now have no internet except my phone.If I did go to sky they said it would be a 12month contract at £10 a month.
 
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kingshaun2k: That wont be the case.. I never replied, and I was moved when they finally moved everybody on my exchange.. Everybody will be moved (automatically), eventually, to Sky.. All I had to do was factory reset my BE modem.. If you asked to be moved early (some people did in order for them to get some good offers) you would be on a 12 month contract - I was offered 12 months contract for £15 for the year - a GREAT offer, but I didnt want to be tied into a contract with Sky in case they were rubbish - automatic move = no contract (tie in).

I would call them again and ask what was going on.. First though I would factory reset (switch modem off, find a thin stick and hold the pin at the back of the modem in while you switch it on - hold it in for atleast 10 seconds, then wait and see if it connects)
 
They reduced my bill going with Sky, my upload speeds have been halved and download speeds remain pretty much what they were with BE.

My router went funny about a month ago (when i was officially switched) all i had to do with reset the router and click connect whilst in the router to get my internets working again :)
 
One of my best pals got migrated from BE Pro over to Sky, I changed the details in his Asus router for him. Sync rates, SNR margins and ping times are about the same and he's quite happy to stay.
 
I migrated from Be to Sky fibre Pro (got the migration deal).

Pretty smooth migration, had a fault on the line which was fixed the next day. Can't fault Sky for the Customer services either.

Pretty happy tbh.
 
BE/Sky have been cutting customers off with no notice, sending out letters to the wrong address, sending out letters with incorrect mac codes, etc etc etc.

I work for a big bus company and this week they cut off our primary line without any warning.

We had 14 BE lines for a particular service. They sent us 8 letters with only a transfer code for reference. We spent two days on the phone trying to find out which letter referred to which line. We then spent a further day trying to find out where the missing 6 letters were. We were then sent a further 6 letters some of which were duplicates of the first 8 letters.

I could go on and list all the other issues but the BE to Sky transfer has been a complete shambles and I've lost count trying to explain whats happening to different operators when I have rung.
Now mind this is business not home broadband but Sky Business dont even have static IP's yet! We've gone to Talk Talk because thats what we have to use and they are just as bad.
We've got 3 routers that have been sent god knows where and signed by god knows who and trying to track them down.

bit of a tip. use BE online chat you get more sense and help rather than speaking to some muppet on the phone.
You also have an audit trail of what was said too.
 
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Just seen Watchdog on BBC1 and there was a section about Sky. A lot of people have complained because when they moved from BE/O2 to Sky and did not take Sky TV or Sky Phone when they got their first bill sky had added charges like this

Supplement for not having Sky TV £5.88
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So Sky are charging ex BE/O2 customers a charge for not having a service ! Crazy. Sky said it was because they do not qualify for the discount you have if you had Sky TV also so they are taking the discount off in this way.

Its been said the practice is highly irregular and Watchdog wanted more viewers to contact them and Sky Customer service.

I've seen it all now!
 
Since moving to Sky I've had daily disconnects, 2-3 times every day. Speed went down by about 15% and my Internet light is permanently red now (doesn't seem to affect anything). Oh, my torrent traffic was strangled immediately too - had to enable encryption for it too work. Nice!


varkanoid said:
Just seen Watchdog on BBC1 and there was a section about Sky. A lot of people have complained because when they moved from BE/O2 to Sky and did not take Sky TV or Sky Phone when they got their first bill sky had added charges like this

So Sky are charging ex BE/O2 customers a charge for not having a service ! Crazy. Sky said it was because they do not qualify for the discount you have if you had Sky TV also so they are taking the discount off in this way.

Its been said the practice is highly irregular and Watchdog wanted more viewers to contact them and Sky Customer service.

I've seen it all now!
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Better yet, they wanted to charge me for not having a Sky TV service when I DO have a Sky TV service. When they moved people from Be to Sky they just opened up new accounts and did not merge them with any existing TV or Phone accounts. The result is extra charges and hours on the phone/emails to get them to sort it out. Wonderful.

MagicBoy said:
Put away the Daily Mail and the tinfoil hats - it's just the way the Sky billing system works.
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Well, I would argue that it doesn't really 'work' if it ends up overcharging people.
 
MagicBoy said:
It's not overcharging people. The Sky system is billing for a purpose it wasn't designed for, the breakdown of charges alarms people with half a brain at first glance.
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You do understand that by 'Sky billing system' we mean the software/hardware AND people in charge of it?

So, it's not a matter of asking the software to do sth it wasn't designed for. It's a matter of the people in charge making a mess out of it and using their billing system in the wrong way.

You see awfully sensitive to people criticising the Sky billing system. Did you design it or something?
 
MagicBoy said:
Nope, I'm just a satisfied Sky customer. There seem to be a contingent of irrational ex-Be customers bigging up any excuse to stick the boot in to Sky without giving them a chance.
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Ping to the USA has gone from 80ms to 160ms, upload sync decreased, throughput decreased from 1.4mb/s to 0.99mb/s due to massively increased error count, Youtube slower, more 507 bad gateway errors than ever...

The only choices are: Xilo, Aquiss, Vivaciti
 
Seamless transfer from O2 to sky here and got a great deal by contacting them when the first letter landed! Have used bt O2 and sky for broadband and can honestly say I've noticed no difference but then I don't spend time looking for problems!
 
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