just signed up to sky, slow internet!

fenwick458

i signed up to sky TV, phone and internet when i moved into my house, the TV is fine but i'm not happy with the internet speed. when i took it out the guy said the average connection speed was about 5MB in my area, but it turns out i get no more than 2.5MB most of the time, and sometimes in the evening it's barely even 1MB.

what can i do about this?

can i tell them to F off and go with another isp? I think i'm paying too much anyway, £17 a month for the broadband and £11 for line rental.

spike7451

You're on the 'Offnet' Connect package which uses BT's own equipment to give you broadband & not Sky's own.The service provided on the Connect package is often dire.When I worked in Sky's Broadband Tier2,we had more faults for this product than the others.

You'll need to go onto https://www.samknows.com to see what is available in your exchange.It's also an idea to look at the link below to fing what speed your line can handle.

http://www.btwholesale.com/pages/static/Community/Broadband_Community/Coverage/ADSL_Availibility_Checker.html#

penrhyn

Totally agree with Spike.
To confirm, log onto your router.

http://192.168.0.1/sky_router_status.html

User admin

password sky

Find show router statistics and post them.

jadziad

Is your wiring okay? i.e. no staples in any cables? Does this problem still happen when no other extensions are wired up? Have you tried the test socket, which should be behind the faceplate (with BT logo) of the first phone socket? Do all phones have a filter attached?

macman

You cannot use the speed you are getting or the fact that you now think you are paying too much as reasons to break your contract without penalty. There is no such thing as 'average speed in your area'. That is just typical sales dept spiel. Note that the guy did not actually say 'you will get about 5Mbps'...
Sky Connect is a notoriously bad service. Bundling phone, broadband and TV might make some sense if an LLU service is available, it makes no sense if not, especially given the hefty price hike.

fenwick458

hi, thanks for the reply.
could you just clear up some points for me please

spike7451 wrote: »

You're on the 'Offnet' Connect package which uses BT's own equipment to give you broadband & not Sky's own.The service provided on the Connect package is often dire.When I worked in Sky's Broadband Tier2,we had more faults for this product than the others.

so i'm on the offnet connect packge, and paying extra (£17) a month as opposed to being free if i lived in the right area.
and the equipment i'm using is still not even sky's and it's just BT's?
is the service better on the other sky package? does that service use sky's equipment?

spike7451 wrote: »

You'll need to go onto https://www.samknows.com to see what is available in your exchange.

i've been here, can't quite see what i'm supposed to be looking for?

spike7451 wrote: »

It's also an idea to look at the link below to fing what speed your line can handle.
http://www.btwholesale.com/pages/static/Community/Broadband_Community/Coverage/ADSL_Availibility_Checker.html#

yep, this makes sense. i checked it and it said
Our test also indicates that your line currently supports an estimated ADSL Max broadband line speed of 5.5Mbps. Similar lines predicted with this speed have achieved ADSL Max line speeds in the range of 4 to 8Mbps.

so with this, can i complain to sky and say, i'm not getting anywhere near the predicted speed, it's too slow i want my money back and i'm going with someone else? or am i tied into a year long contract? i have only been connected for 12 days now, was told to wait for 10 days to see if the line speed would sort itself out, but it's still too slow

fenwick458

my router is plugged in to the main phone socket that comes into the house first and yes all phones (1 phone and 1 skybox) have ADSL filter on.
here are the router statistics:

spike7451

fenwick458 wrote: »

hi, thanks for the reply.
could you just clear up some points for me please



1-so i'm on the offnet connect packge, and paying extra (£17) a month as opposed to being free if i lived in the right area.
and the equipment i'm using is still not even sky's and it's just BT's?
is the service better on the other sky package? does that service use sky's equipment?


2-i've been here, can't quite see what i'm supposed to be looking for?



3-yep, this makes sense. i checked it and it said
Our test also indicates that your line currently supports an estimated ADSL Max broadband line speed of 5.5Mbps. Similar lines predicted with this speed have achieved ADSL Max line speeds in the range of 4 to 8Mbps.

4-so with this, can i complain to sky and say, i'm not getting anywhere near the predicted speed, it's too slow i want my money back and i'm going with someone else? or am i tied into a year long contract? i have only been connected for 12 days now, was told to wait for 10 days to see if the line speed would sort itself out, but it's still too slow

1-If you were on the free package that would be an LLU service which uses Sky's own kit in the exchange & it is,in 90% of the time, a great service.

2-Go to this page & enter your postcode;
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange_search

Click on the exchange name that pops up,down the bottom right hand side of the next page it will tell you what LLU broadband is available to you.(LLU operator presence)

3-The's no guarantee you will get that on your line,what you posted is for an LLU service.But that tells you the speed you can get.

4-Depends how long you've been in contract but I doubt they'll let you go but I have known them to let people cancel in the past when I was at Sky.

macman

Yes, you are on Sky Connect, which is just a resold BT Wholesale service (i.e. resold by Sky).
Sky LLU uses Sky's own network, and LLU is invariably better than non-LLU.
If you look at the exchange search results on samknows, then it will show you which ISP's offer an LLU service on your exchange (if any).
If you are getting less than the estimated line speed then there can be numerous reasons why not, and many of them nothing to do with Sky (e.g. your wireless set up, your internal wiring, filters etc). You need first of all to retest the speed from the BT test socket and post your router stats as advised above.
No you can't walk away after 12 days -you have not yet reported a fault or made any attempt to run the necessary checks. The speed you are getting is well above the 'official' definition of broadband anyway, so Sky are not in any breach of contract if you only get 1Mbps or less.
NB: you need to re-run the tests from the BT test socket-not the master socket. This behind the split faceplate. The lower half pulls away when you undo the 2 screws and the test socket is right behind it. The whole purpose of this is to isolate the connection from your internal wiring and extensions. It makes sense to do this test yourself, as otherwise you will only have to go through it all with Sky tech support if you do report a fault.

penrhyn

From your stats you are either on DLM, are you within the first 10 days of your contract, or you have had your speed capped.
Maybe your line was noisy.

The router should be syncing at around 7 db (noise margin) with your line attenuation of 34db your line should be able to handle over 10Mbps.

I'd get on to Sky and request they reprofile your line.

spike7451

penrhyn wrote: »

From your stats you are either on DLM, are you within the first 10 days of your contract, or you have had your speed capped.
Maybe your line was noisy.

The router should be syncing at around 7 db (noise margin) with your line attenuation of 34db your line should be able to handle over 10Mbps.

I'd get on to Sky and request they reprofile your line.

You would need to be put thru to what was the old Tier 2 (where I worked) as only they can do that.Unfortunatly,you will need to go thru troubleshooting with the Tier 1 dept so they can raise a fault ticket.