Sky Fibre Optic

KIA · 25 Jun 2012 at 13:58

enigma27 said:
600 Mtrs? that seems a hell of a long way for a cabinet. Im only a little bit further than that from the exchange.. I thought most cabinets would be no more than a couple of hundred meters from any house unless its out in the sticks.

It varies. I'm 750m from the cab. 39/13 sync.

ltnmzh · 25 Jun 2012 at 16:38

Anyone knows if sky does traffic shaping?

sunama · 25 Jun 2012 at 17:41

ltnmzh said:
Anyone knows if sky does traffic shaping?

They don't.
That is why most people are happy to pay SKY, more money than BT are charging.

ltnmzh · 26 Jun 2012 at 14:38

sunama said:
They don't.
That is why most people are happy to pay SKY, more money than BT are charging.

Thanks.

Are they going to? Is unlimited/unshaped traffic part of their "policy" like what BE claim?

I had experience with O2 who didn't do traffic shaping initially but started last year or so.

sunama · 26 Jun 2012 at 17:36

I am with O2 (LLU).
Their LLU product is not shaped.
I use torrents without any issue.
I believe their non-LLU product is shaped, so perhaps that is what you have fallen victim to?

SKY do not plan to add packet shaping or throttling...but of course, this may change.

The only reason why I would pick SKY over any other FTTC product is the fact that they don't throttle/shape the traffic.

KIA · 26 Jun 2012 at 20:26

http://broadband.o2.co.uk/home/trafficmanagement.jsp

"The Works" package had traffic shaping until very recently. The other packages all have traffic shaping.

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/5282-has-o2-relaxed-traffic-management-on-the-works-package.html

sunama · 27 Jun 2012 at 13:25

If traffic shaping is employed on torrents, it certainly isnt having any effect on my downloads.

My connection speed is typically around 500KB/s, and I downloaded over the weekend at full speed.
This was on O2 (LLU).

EDIT: I just had another thought. I was on BE, then moved to o2, which is basically the same backbone. It might be that because mine is an old connection, it is unhindered by traffic management. I remember reading that newer connections are cheaper, but are subject to traffic management. This is why I have stuck to the same £18/month broadband plan and havent switched to a cheaper plan.

ltnmzh · 27 Jun 2012 at 14:35

sunama said:
If traffic shaping is employed on torrents, it certainly isnt having any effect on my downloads.

My connection speed is typically around 500KB/s, and I downloaded over the weekend at full speed.
This was on O2 (LLU).

EDIT: I just had another thought. I was on BE, then moved to o2, which is basically the same backbone. It might be that because mine is an old connection, it is unhindered by traffic management. I remember reading that newer connections are cheaper, but are subject to traffic management. This is why I have stuck to the same £18/month broadband plan and havent switched to a cheaper plan.

Very likely the case then. Or you have encryptions enabled?

sunama · 27 Jun 2012 at 17:43

No encryptions (I don't think that this even works).

I remember a while back I read that I could change to a cheaper package, with the same download speed. The only difference would be that because it would be a new contract, the package would be new and this may include traffic shaping.

Becuase I am a 02 mobile user, I also get a £5 discount, so I end up paying £13 for a truly unlimited broadband service. Or I could pay an additional £7/month, for SKY FTCC.

Jonners · 27 Jun 2012 at 20:13

So BT Infinity is now available in my area, the online checker says I can order now! Availability is definite. Seems Openreach finalised the work in the exchange and my local cabinet in the past 24hrs...rather than the new 30/9/12 date set.

I tried to order Sky Fibre Unlimited, but they report ADSL is my maximum service offered, what sort of time frame before I can get Sky Fibre? :confused:

KIA · 27 Jun 2012 at 20:46

Jaymond said:
I tried to order Sky Fibre Unlimited, but they report ADSL is my maximum service offered, what sort of time frame before I can get Sky Fibre?

Weeks to month. I'm still waiting.

Jonners · 27 Jun 2012 at 20:54

Have Openreach not supplied Sky with Exchange and Cabinet information?

I guess a phone call to Sky wouldn't help?!

sunama · 1 Jul 2012 at 16:20

Hi just wondering, if I sign up for the 40Mb product today.
And then after a month, say, can I upgrade to 80Mb, without any extra charge (except for the extra £10/m charge)? Is the upgrade free of charge?

rogan · 1 Jul 2012 at 16:55

got dammit!
Waited till june 30th, phone up to see when sky can get it, they said they've not heard anything from BT about our cabinet yet,

Ring BT and its been pushed back to sept 30th

sunama · 1 Jul 2012 at 18:43

Have you thought about getting BT infinity for 18 months?
I was doing some research today and it would appear that the only real advantage which SKY has over BT is with P2P downloads. If P2P is important you can pay an additional £5-£7 for a VPN service or Seedbox. You will end up paying around £18 (for BT infinity) + £5 for the VPN service, which comes to £23/month (40MBit/10MBit, including P2P downloads).

In 18 months time, you can then switch to SKY or any other ISP which offers you a good deal.

HighlandeR · 1 Jul 2012 at 18:44

sunama said:
No encryptions (I don't think that this even works).

I remember a while back I read that I could change to a cheaper package, with the same download speed. The only difference would be that because it would be a new contract, the package would be new and this may include traffic shaping.

Because I am a 02 mobile user, I also get a £5 discount, so I end up paying £13 for a truly unlimited broadband service. Or I could pay an additional £7/month, for SKY FTCC.

Doing the same thing myself also with an o2 mobile phone so get a little discount, but frankly dont use the phone really just texting/whatsapp and few mins here and there.

Im also on that full unrestricted o2 bb service with 14meg.

It does seem skys fiber optic service is good and the same as what we have currently I like the idea of no limits/restrictions/throttles/shaping.... this is one reason ive stuck with o2 and not gone virgin bb or elsewhere.

Sadly skys bb checkers shows only 34meg I can get.... still that is almost 2x faster then what I have, and only other negatives is its 20 quid (half price for 12 months offer) and £12.25 for sky line rental,

Does anyone whos switched to sky fiber optic know if you can keep your old bt land line number when switching to sky ? Also is 34meg normal perhaps they sometimes show a lower rating and its actually a lot faster when u get it?

Sydk · 1 Jul 2012 at 19:37

Does anyone whos switched to sky fiber optic know if you can keep your old bt land line number when switching to sky ? Also is 34meg normal perhaps they sometimes show a lower rating and its actually a lot faster when u get it?

Yes you can keep your existing number, as I did. Just inform Sky you would like this and they will arrange it for you. I was quoted much lower than the 75mb im getting now, so, i think you should get very close to 40mb with a qutoe like 34mb.

Hope that helps.

KIA · 1 Jul 2012 at 19:57

sunama said:
Hi just wondering, if I sign up for the 40Mb product today.
And then after a month, say, can I upgrade to 80Mb, without any extra charge (except for the extra £10/m charge)? Is the upgrade free of charge?

Yes to both.

HighlandeR · 1 Jul 2012 at 20:23

Sydk said:
Yes you can keep your existing number, as I did. Just inform Sky you would like this and they will arrange it for you. I was quoted much lower than the 75mb im getting now, so, i think you should get very close to 40mb with a qutoe like 34mb.

Hope that helps.

cheers good to know

sunama · 1 Jul 2012 at 20:28

Sydk said:
Yes you can keep your existing number, as I did. Just inform Sky you would like this and they will arrange it for you.

I also want to keep my old number.
I'm signing up on their web page.
At what stage do I need to tell them to keep my old number?
Do I have to phone them up after placing my order through their website?