Reliable broadband on Isle of Wight

lesley1966

Hi

My parents live in Wroxall on the Isle of Wight. Their current ISP is Sky, and the service is pants. It constantly drops out and the modem needs rebooting several times a day - and this is the second modem they have tried! They've heard from others that the Sky service in their area is poor, too.

Is there anyone on this forum who can recommend a good reliable broadband service in Wroxall or maybe Ventnor? Reliability is more of an issue than cost, though a good value deal is preferred. The Plusnet deal offered here is £12.99 per month. Any other Plusnet customers from the IoW on MSE?

Thanks for any feedback.

Lesley

macman

Whch exchange are they on? If Ventnor, the only LLU option is TalkTalk. Check on samknows-do an exchange search from the home page:
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/SDVNTNR.
Personally I would rather go with Plusnet and pay a bit more.
But the problem they are having does not sound like it has anything to do with Sky. Have they done all the standard checks-filters, wireless connection channels, plugging into the BT test socket, noise/crackling on the line? They need to eliminate all these areas before blaming Sky. Who is the line rental provider?
Lastly, if they are using an old USB modem, that may well be the problem-they need to switch to a modern router, whether wireless or ethernet. USB broadband is inherently flaky.

lesley1966

Hi

Thanks for your reply.

They are on the Ventnor exchange. They are using a Netgear Sky branded modem, with 2 filters - one at each end of the extension cable. The line is provided by BT.

They have contacted the Sky helpline and have been talked through various checks. An IT expert of some sort has also visited, did some checks and talked to Sky over the phone - he said the problem was with Sky.

I don't think they necessarily need LLU so maybe Plusnet would be best.

Would do you think?

Cheers

Lesley

macman

Do you mean a Sky router? That would be connected by ethernet cable, not USB. Please advise exactly what is fitted-make/model.
The only filter required is on the BT socket, no duplicate filter is required on the end of the extension socket-remove the filter from the modem/router end. If your 'IT expert' did not spot this then frankly he doesn't have a clue.
Using a trailing extension lead is not a good idea, it can lead to drop outs and slower line speeds, most are very poor quality. Better to connect your router direct to the master socket and use wireless connection or an ethernet cable to the PC.
Remove the surplus filter, then plug your modem/router into the BT test socket behind the master socket faceplate (undo the 2 screws and remove the lower half). This will isolate any internal extension wiring. Then retest your line and see if any improvement.
From what you have said, changing ISP's will make no difference at all. The problem is your set up and possibly your old modem.

macman

PS: OP, do they have filters on all active extension sockets? This includes Sky boxes.

slickrick25

hiya mate, I'm in the Ventnor area and with Tiscali broadband (which is now I believe part of TalkTalk). It's very good and very reliable and very fast.

Ive never tried sky BB although i did work in customer services/provisioning for UKOnline years ago which was based in the same building/same floor as the sky team. that was a laugh that job.

lesley1966

Hi all

Having asked a few neighbours for recommendations, they have decided to go with BT.

The reliability of service seems very localised. They have a friend in Seaview who is on Sky and has no problems, but have heard from many others of problems with Sky.

I think there might have been a problem with the router, but think that if Sky spent an hour on the phone to an "IT expert" and didn't sort it out, then either their customer service is rubbish or that part of the problem is new.

Besides, they can't keep Sky and they have cancelled their tv package in favour of freesat :T

Lesley

macman

Swapping ISP's is not going to improve the connection problem if they don't take the duplicate filter off the set-up!
Going from Sky to BT will change nothing, as they are both running on the same BT network on that exchange (TalkTalk is the only LLU option at Ventnor).

lesley1966

macman wrote: »

Swapping ISP's is not going to improve the connection problem if they don't take the duplicate filter off the set-up! .

They will get a new router, so any router software issues will be dealt with. They'll get a new customer services who might pick up on problems that Sky's customer services didn't.

The double filter thing seems to be a debateable issue - I don't know anything about it except that some people who do know about it say you should only have one, while others who also know about it say you should have two...

Cheers

Lesley

slickrick25

There should only be 1 filter for every BT socket..never heard of this double filter thing..

lesley1966

Ok, they've now removed the extra filter at the non-socket end. Hopefully that'll help!

Cheers all.

Lesley