Moving away from Sky but to what?

JaseUK · 5 Apr 2015 at 10:06

Hi,
I have decided to ditch everything Sky. I currently subscribe to Sky TV, Fibre optic and telephone line.

I have never had any real issues with their Sky Fibre but the routers they provide aren't the best. I want something that will use Gigabit Ethernet. What used to annoy me a little with Sky was the fact that you couldn't just use any router you wanted. Something to do with MER I seem to recall.

All in I am averaging about £85.00 a month which for me is too much.

Therefore I am looking for a new Fibre Optic deal that provides a decent hub/router and telephone line.

I have heard the BT hub is one of the best, is this true?

Any suggestions are welcome

Orcvader · 5 Apr 2015 at 10:27

I would recommend Plusnet and then buying your own router, Asus routers work very well. Supplied routers are fine but are quite limited in what they offer. For example, QoS is very handy if you have multiple devices.

JaseUK · 5 Apr 2015 at 10:33

Orcvader said:
I would recommend Plusnet and then buying your own router, Asus routers work very well. Supplied routers are fine but are quite limited in what they offer. For example, QoS is very handy if you have multiple devices.

Thanks for the info. Not sure that I want to purchase a new router straight away though. I am just wanting to keep the costs down for now so whichever provider supplies the best router/hub that'll do me.

Yaayuh! · 5 Apr 2015 at 11:00

What's wrong with the router?

I'm paying about £85 a month as well, including plus and multi room.

JaseUK · 5 Apr 2015 at 11:06

Rossi~ said:
What's wrong with the router?

I'm paying about £85 a month as well, including plus and multi room.

The Sky router SR102 is not gigabit Ethernet plus I am trying to save a bit of money.

Tealc · 5 Apr 2015 at 11:08

Plusnet provide a very basic router with just 10/100Mbit ports.

I'm with Plusnet so I bought myself a refurb TP-link something or other with gigabit, dual channel wifi (but not AC) for £30 and run an ethernet cable from the Openreach modem to it. There were lots of BT Homehub 5 and other AC type routers on ebay for £40-£50.

Most providers routers are pretty low end.

Yaayuh! · 5 Apr 2015 at 11:57

JaseUK said:
The Sky router SR102 is not gigabit Ethernet plus I am trying to save a bit of money.

Why do you need gigabit on the WAN?
If it's local you need gigabit, just get a standard gigabit switch, plenty of compact solutions out there.

KIA · 5 Apr 2015 at 13:18

BT or Zen. Get your own router.

nutcase · 5 Apr 2015 at 14:52

If it's only the router you have an issue with just get an Asus one and flash it with the custom firmware and use that?

JaseUK · 5 Apr 2015 at 18:39

I have subscribed to BT Infinity 1 plus line rental. Saved myself £50.00 a month.

Happy. Thanks for all the input guys.

Sparx · 5 Apr 2015 at 19:00

JaseUK said:
I have subscribed to BT Infinity 1 plus line rental. Saved myself £50.00 a month.

Happy. Thanks for all the input guys.

What was the individual cost of your Sky TV package may I ask...?

Garyj881 · 5 Apr 2015 at 19:18

I went from Sky to Plusnet and like you didn't see a point in upgrading the router.
However once up and running with the Plusnet router, I did indeed find it be to be very poor. Frequent wifi drop outs, and very weak wifi signal when going through 1 or more walls.

Upgraded to a TP Link WDR3600, not the best out there but does the job for me.

Plusnet are very reliable and offer a very good service.

JaseUK · 6 Apr 2015 at 09:36

Sparx said:
What was the individual cost of your Sky TV package may I ask...?

About 26quid. I also kept getting charges for phone calls which often bumped the price up. The fact that there are films to rent on sky didn't help. Too tempting.

Terrier_Jimlad · 9 Apr 2015 at 00:52

Should have simply done what most Sky Fibre users do and get yourself an Asus/Billion router which supports MER.

MissChief · 9 Apr 2015 at 02:20

Terrier_Jimlad said:
Should have simply done what very few Sky Fibre users do and get yourself an Asus/Billion router which supports MER.

Fixed that for you.

russ9898 · 9 Apr 2015 at 07:02

MissChief said:
Fixed that for you.

Agree'd. I would class myself as an intermediate user and for the best part I find the router very good and suits my needs just fine.

The router allows me to setup port forwarding as required, static lan ip's and the wifi is more than sufficient even giving good coverage on the third floor of my house.

More importantly, I can't ever recall it crashing or dropping out unnecessarilly.

Andy7 · 9 Apr 2015 at 17:52

JaseUK said:
I have subscribed to BT Infinity 1 plus line rental. Saved myself £50.00 a month.

Happy. Thanks for all the input guys.

I am happy with mine

Terrier_Jimlad · 9 Apr 2015 at 22:11

MissChief said:
Fixed that for you.

I think if you did a poll in the Sky Fibre thread, you might be wrong ... go back in your box MissSkyEmployee

russ9898 · 9 Apr 2015 at 22:45

Terrier_Jimlad said:
I think if you did a poll in the Sky Fibre thread, you might be wrong ... go back in your box MissSkyEmployee

The sky fibre thread maybe...but that doesn't represent the all of Sky's customers doesn't it? I hazard a guess that the people in that thread don't even represent 0.5% of Sky's subscribers. The majority of the UK population won't give a damn what router they use as long as their connection is semi-stable. I bet 50% don't even know their approx sync speed.

MissChief · 9 Apr 2015 at 23:59

russ9898 said:
The sky fibre thread maybe...but that doesn't represent the all of Sky's customers doesn't it? I hazard a guess that the people in that thread don't even represent 0.5% of Sky's subscribers. The majority of the UK population won't give a damn what router they use as long as their connection is semi-stable. I bet 50% don't even know their approx sync speed.

This.