Problems with Sky Broadband and Sky phoneline

fluffykins13

I recently got a Sky bundle installed - TV, landline and wireless Broadband. My phone line, since connected (I moved into a new build) has always crackled and over the past couple of weeks I have had, at best, intermittent service with my Broadband - I repeatedly get the error message from Sky - 'Your Internet connection is not available, please try again in a few minutes'.
I have phoned Sky technical support about this many times and Broadband support just go through a chekcklist of questions and can never fix it (although when I'm on the phone to them it irritatingly sometimes works again). They think it might be to do with the phone line but if they find the fault is my end, they will charge me for an engineer to come out.

Has anybody else had this problem?
Thanks

penrhyn

If its a BT line and you are only paying Sky for the line rental then its BT that Sky should book to look at the problem.
Try the BT quiet line test, if you still get pops and crackles then you should get it fixed for nothing.
Quiet Line Test

Unplug any extention phones, extention cables, answer machines or fax (anything except the phone you will use to do the test!).

Plug a normal touch tone phone directly into the BT master socket.

Dial 17070, press option 2 (quiet line test)

You should hear 'Quiet Line Test' and then silence, there should be no pops, clicks, whistles, buzzing etc. If there is noise on the line, make sure it's not your phones connection to the socket (wiggle it about a bit) and that you are using the master socket. If you are sure its the line making the noise then dial BT (or WorldOnline) and report the fault, they should be able to sort it out. Remember that 'mis-reporting' a fault (e.g. if it turns out to be your phone, extention cord etc.) may be charged a call-out fee by BT (/WOL).

macman

Almost certainly a line fault. Plug your phone/router into the BT test socket, which is behind the cover on the BT master socket. If you still get noise on the line then the fault is in the part for which BT/Sky are responsible, i.e. upstream of the master socket. If not, then the fault may be with your own internal wiring downstream of the master socket, for which you are responsible. You will not be charged as long as the fault is external. You just need to tell Sky that you have done all the internal tests and insist that they escalate the fault to OpenReach.
Have you tried swapping out the ADSL filter to see if this fixes it? Do you have ADSL filters on all your active extensions, including that serving your Sky box?

DavidJSlight_2

Check the maximum capabilities of your line. There are sites where you can do this. I had the 16mbs sky broadband but, although on the edge of London and less than 1 mile from the exchange my line can only manage a maximum of 8mbs. The noise on the line causes the broadband failure. Sky had to cap mine at 8mbs - but still charged for 16!!

I ended up changing to Tiscali. If you consider this option, don't!!

iceburn

could you not downgrade to the 8mb so you get charge 8mb the service you were getting?

penrhyn

DavidJSlight wrote: »

Check the maximum capabilities of your line. There are sites where you can do this. I had the 16mbs sky broadband but, although on the edge of London and less than 1 mile from the exchange my line can only manage a maximum of 8mbs. The noise on the line causes the broadband failure. Sky had to cap mine at 8mbs - but still charged for 16!!

I ended up changing to Tiscali. If you consider this option, don't!!

The service is up to 16mbps. It is also unlimited, and has a higher upload speed than Mid which has a 40Gb cap, and of course............

Beware Tiscali.

The_Sky_Bandit

Was this a New Line Provide by Sky (did sky send Openreach to your door to install your phone line?