Sky broadband issues

Tombles · 12 Aug 2009 at 14:14

Hi guys,

Having some problems with my sky broadband. Will try to keep it as brief as I can.

Originally myself and my fiancée rang up Sky to order BB and phone for our new house. We wanted the unlimited package and they said we could have it in our area and it will be 14 days for the phone line to be activated (BT came out to fit new line) then 24 hours after the BB will be activated.

Once the phone line was activated I was expecting the BB to be up and running 24 hours later (as they had said) but we had no router sent to us so we rang them up to ask where it is. Sky then told us they haven’t ordered BB for us due to not having an active phone line when we originally ordered. They then told us they cannot give us Sky unlimited due to our line and can only give us Sky connect (less than half speed for same price as unlimited and a usage cap). Once they had told us all this and the order was put through they then said it was another 15 days (not what we were originally told).

Anyway fast forward to last Monday (3rd August) our BB was finally activated but it was seriously slow. It took over 2 hours to view a movie trailer on the Apple website and loading web pages was painful too. I thought I would leave it a couple of days due to their 10 day testing period but on the Wednesday (5th August) we lost all BB. Since then we have not had BB even though I have phoned their tech support almost every day. They have contacted BT who said their line is clear so it is down to Sky.

We had Internet for the first time last night after speaking to their tech support but it went down again after about 3 minutes and is still down now.

We are both fed up of this and the only reason we took out the phone with Sky was because we had to have a BT line to get the BB and now we just want to cancel as it is not working and when it is it is unusable, oh and their support is woeful.

Would you think I have any chance to cancel either or both phone and BB? We are out of our 8 day cancellation period (conveniently it’s 8 days after phone line activation which is still a week before our BB was even activated).

Hope it makes sense, sorry for any bad grammar, in a rush as I am at work. Any help would be great.

Thanks

scruffeh · 12 Aug 2009 at 14:41

You can probably get the broadband cancelled if you argue your case. I doubt that you'll be able to cancel the phone line though. BT are very hard nosed and unsympathetic about that sort of thing, and Sky will say that their responsibility doesn't extend to other companies and services.

When my new Sky+ box was buzzing, and the support people wouldn't help, I emailed the CEO ([email protected]), and one of the minions sorted it out very quickly. You may benefit from doing the same if you find the support people unhelpful

Tombles · 12 Aug 2009 at 16:27

I think you are right. I feel we have a strong case for the broadband but could imagine they will dig their heels in for the phone. I will give it a go though.

Will keep that email in mind if I don't get anywhere

Guest2 · 12 Aug 2009 at 16:36

Thank for that email address. At least you had a phone line installed properly!

edit - steaming letter in the making...

scruffeh · 13 Aug 2009 at 14:12

Yeah, I'm lucky to have a good phone line that's near to the exchange. I don't envy people with weird connection problems

Tombles · 13 Aug 2009 at 15:14

Well i sent a letter through their KANA system yesterday so i will see where that gets me.

Everything so far from them has been so poor and frustrating. At least my Sky TV is working (why should i sound surprised? :/).

Guest2 · 13 Aug 2009 at 15:24

Tombles said:
Well i sent a letter through their KANA system yesterday so i will see where that gets me.

Everything so far from them has been so poor and frustrating. At least my Sky TV is working (why should i sound surprised? :/).

my steaming letter to them hasjust been sent. see GD

Hank_Marvin · 14 Aug 2009 at 11:56

off topic but about the sky unlimted pack, in these special areas, my current home not being one, what actual speeds do you get and what connection is it? it says 20mb, is it like a cable network or adsl?

they will do the adsl 8mb max one for £5 a month currently now for the people not in there perfered areas.

Daegan · 14 Aug 2009 at 12:27

Hank_Marvin said:
off topic but about the sky unlimted pack, in these special areas, my current home not being one, what actual speeds do you get and what connection is it? it says 20mb, is it like a cable network or adsl?

It's an ADSL2+ service made possible by local loop unbundling (where an ISP installs their own kit in the exchange). So similar performance to Be/O2's LLU offerings and the WBC services being rolled out by BT, i.e. up to 24mb broadband via your phone line, with speeds affected by line length/quality in the same way as ADSL.

kitch9 · 14 Aug 2009 at 12:48

Tombles said:
Hi guys,

Having some problems with my sky broadband. Will try to keep it as brief as I can.

Originally myself and my fiancée rang up Sky to order BB and phone for our new house. We wanted the unlimited package and they said we could have it in our area and it will be 14 days for the phone line to be activated (BT came out to fit new line) then 24 hours after the BB will be activated.

Once the phone line was activated I was expecting the BB to be up and running 24 hours later (as they had said) but we had no router sent to us so we rang them up to ask where it is. Sky then told us they haven’t ordered BB for us due to not having an active phone line when we originally ordered. They then told us they cannot give us Sky unlimited due to our line and can only give us Sky connect (less than half speed for same price as unlimited and a usage cap). Once they had told us all this and the order was put through they then said it was another 15 days (not what we were originally told).

Anyway fast forward to last Monday (3rd August) our BB was finally activated but it was seriously slow. It took over 2 hours to view a movie trailer on the Apple website and loading web pages was painful too. I thought I would leave it a couple of days due to their 10 day testing period but on the Wednesday (5th August) we lost all BB. Since then we have not had BB even though I have phoned their tech support almost every day. They have contacted BT who said their line is clear so it is down to Sky.

We had Internet for the first time last night after speaking to their tech support but it went down again after about 3 minutes and is still down now.

We are both fed up of this and the only reason we took out the phone with Sky was because we had to have a BT line to get the BB and now we just want to cancel as it is not working and when it is it is unusable, oh and their support is woeful.

Would you think I have any chance to cancel either or both phone and BB? We are out of our 8 day cancellation period (conveniently it’s 8 days after phone line activation which is still a week before our BB was even activated).

Hope it makes sense, sorry for any bad grammar, in a rush as I am at work. Any help would be great.

Thanks

Being on Sky connect has nothing to do with the quality of your line as far as I am aware. Sky connect is a service they buy from BT wholesale broadband when your exchange as not been LLU'd by Sky.

Sky provide their own broadband when they have performed LLU on your exchange and the operator should have known if this was done or not when you were ordering, (The Base, Everyday and Unlimited packages.) therefore it is they who are a fault and not you if they did tell you that you could have the Unlimited package.

I am on Unlimited and get speeds of 9Mb, but I do need the Unlimited downloads that this service provides.

Hank_Marvin · 14 Aug 2009 at 13:27

Cheers Deagan, here's to waiting for some LLU action then

scruffeh · 14 Aug 2009 at 14:14

Hank_Marvin said:
off topic but about the sky unlimted pack, in these special areas, my current home not being one, what actual speeds do you get and what connection is it? it says 20mb, is it like a cable network or adsl?

they will do the adsl 8mb max one for £5 a month currently now for the people not in there perfered areas.

It's ADSL, just Local Loop, rather than BT's equipment. I get 1.6MB/s (maxed 16 meg) and am expecting a bump to 20 meg sooner rather than later

Daegan · 14 Aug 2009 at 15:00

Hank_Marvin said:
Cheers Deagan, here's to waiting for some LLU action then

It may be that they have no plans to unbundle your exchange, if for instance it serves a relatively small number of premises and wouldn't meet their targets for being cost effective. If that's the case then WBC will probably provide the first opportunity for some increased speeds.

scruffeh · 14 Aug 2009 at 15:11

Daegan said:
It may be that they have no plans to unbundle your exchange, if for instance it serves a relatively small number of premises and wouldn't meet their targets for being cost effective. If that's the case then WBC will probably provide the first opportunity for some increased speeds.

They should have a date on here: http://www.samknows.com/broadband/search.php

Worth a look. I've been very impressed with Sky LLU