Talk Talk or Sky?! Confused!

billa_champion

Hi all

I am an existing Talk Talk Customer and have issues with the speed of the Internet connection (1-3M). I rang Sky and they said that they could increase this to about 8-10M and offered me:

SKY:
Line Rental: £12.50
BB: £7.50
Discount: 3 months free BB
Total Year Cost: £217.50

TT have counter offered the following:

Call Package(incl BB): £11.82
Line Rental: £12.60
Discount: 1st three months free call package and then £5/month discount
Total Yearly £227.58
Plus they said they'll give me a booster for my internet (whatever that is!)

Not sure what to do - part of me says to stick with Talk Talk as its less hassle but part of me thinks that I should switch to Sky as I have Sky TV with them so would prefer to be billed by one company (if that makes sense). What are people's opinion. Any advice much appreciated.

macman

If your TT line is already LLU'd then switching to Sky directly may not be possible-you may have to go back to BT on a return to donor. This is free, but requires a 12m line rental contract. Once back on BT, you can place your broadband where you wish. Only a couple of people have reported success in going LLU to LLU direct-and one of them was to Sky I believe.
If your line will only support 3Mbps due to distance/quality, then switching to Sky (or any other ADSL supplier) will not get you 8-10MBps. I think you would have been told up to 10MBps?
Your figures are not comparative as you don't show a call package for Sky?
Since the billing is on DD, what real benefit is it to have one bill?

c_smith

I don't understand why OFTEL allow this "return to donor" scam. It's restricts choice for the consumer. What's the difference whether you switch back to Sky or BT, it's just a case of flicking a couple of switches at the telephone exchange.

macman

It does not involve 'just flicking a couple of switches'- that a very common misconception on here.

c_smith

macman wrote: »

It does not involve 'just flicking a couple of switches'- that a very common misconception on here.

Even if it's not, surely BT shouldn't be allowed to monopolize the exhcange and restrict anyone who ports out to an LLU provider from directly porting over to another LLU provider. As I said, it's a scam.

billa_champion

Thanks for the quick responses people! Appreciate it. I should have been clearer in the costings, Sky don't have a 'call package' as such, I basically pay the line rental + BB whereas TT charge line rental + call package and provide 'free' BB but you have a call package so in effect same thing!
I spoke to Sky first and said that I was happy to go with them with the caveat that my TT contract had expired. When I rang TT thats when the offered the counter package - after confirming that the contract had indeed finished. Also with regards to the LLU thingy (admission: I dont know what that means) TT said that they Sky had requested the transfer so I am not sure if the LLU thing still applies in my case?
I do accept that my Internet speed is controlled by the distance from the exchange etc. What do you guys think though? Sky or TT? oh decisions decisions!

macman

Local Loop Unbundled.
If your line is already LLU'd by TT it's difficult, if not impossible, to do a direct transfer to another LLU service. I'm presuming that you are on a Sky LLU exchange and that the package you are applying for is not the dire Sky Connect (non-LLU)?
Check your LLU options by doing an exchange search on https://www.samknows.com-that's the first thing to do when looking for a new ISP.