Help needed - BT Infinity or Sky?

BlueFox

Hi all,

My exchange has obviously been upgraded recently as I can now get FTTC from BT. I've looked into this and could get fairly good speeds of up to 35MB/s which sounds great.

However, I've heard plenty of horror stories about BT broadband & speeds being throttled etc so I'm undecided

The other option I'm considering is Sky, I like the thought of their unlimited broadband & the speeds seem ok and we could bundle the TV package in (which the wife would love ), but I'm a little concerned about having to move my phone line from BT to Sky. I've heard there can be problems keeping the number if I wanted to move away from Sky in the future.

So my question is this - in your opinion would I be better off keeping my line with BT & going for their infinity product or are the line problems with Sky the exception rather than the rule, and would Sky be the better bet overall? :think:

Any & all opinions welcome :T

macman

Depends if you need the extra speed offered by FTTC. But even if you do, there are plenty of other providers reselling BT's Wholesale FTTC service better and cheaper.
If your line is LLU'd to Sky, you will not lose your number if you come back. A return to donor is free, but requires a 12m lne rental contract. What you can't easily do is go from Sky direct to another LLU service.
The cheaper Infinity product is pretty pointless, since it has a 40GB cap.

BlueFox

macman wrote: »

Depends if you need the extra speed offered by FTTC. But even if you do, there are plenty of other providers reselling BT's Wholesale FTTC service better and cheaper.
If your line is LLU'd to Sky, you will not lose your number if you come back. A return to donor is free, but requires a 12m lne rental contract. What you can't easily do is go from Sky direct to another LLU service.
The cheaper Infinity product is pretty pointless, since it has a 40GB cap.

So if I went with Sky and decided to leave after a year or so the easiest way would be to return the phone/line rental to BT, rather than take a package with another LLU provider?

I don't think I "need" the extra speed of FTTC, I currently get around 3 MB/s with my current ISP Talk Talk so it would be nice to have a faster connection, but I use wifi so do realise the actual speed would be lower.

macman

The only reliable free way back is to do a return to donor, that requires a 12m line rental contract with BT. Once back on BT, you can place your broadband where you wish.
As already stated, you can't go LLU to LLU.
This assumes that you are on a Sky LLU exchange and will not be on the Sky Connect service (non-LLU). Check on samknows.
Wi-fi connects at 52Mbps , so it's your 3Mbps connection that is the bottleneck-not your wi-fi.
I suggest you check your potential speed on the Sky site using the checker, it will be something less than 24Mbps.

angela110660

I had posted about this recently on another thread. We currently have BT line with AOL at £13.99 per month (plus BT line rental of course). BT have phoned a couple of times to offer the Infinity to us at £7.99 for 3 months and then 15 months at £18.99. Still considering it but we use wifi so having seen the comments above just wonder what if anything improvement we would see. The BT chap did a check based on my postcode and said we could expect an amazing speed but I still think that the wire from the telegraph pole to our house could be a letdown as it is really old. Would this be changed if we went to them?

BlueFox

macman wrote: »

The only reliable free way back is to do a return to donor, that requires a 12m line rental contract with BT. Once back on BT, you can place your broadband where you wish.
As already stated, you can't go LLU to LLU.
This assumes that you are on a Sky LLU exchange and will not be on the Sky Connect service (non-LLU). Check on samknows.
Wi-fi connects at 52Mbps , so it's your 3Mbps connection that is the bottleneck-not your wi-fi.
I suggest you check your potential speed on the Sky site using the checker, it will be something less than 24Mbps.

Yes it is Sky LLU.

The Sky speed check says I should get between 5 - 11.4 Mbps.

BT's infinity checker says 35.8 Mbps.

The problem I have is the line comes into my house in kitchen which is at front & my router is next to it but the computer is in living room at back of house so can't connect it with a cable, hence wifi!

penrhyn

Router in another room to a fixed PC, not a problem if you use powerline homeplugs.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-PA211KIT-200Mbps-Powerline-Ethernet/dp/B004INVKP4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318590232&sr=8-1

for example

BlueFox

Thanks for your advice.

Has anyone got any thoughts on whether you would choose BT Infinity or Sky? I'm moving from Talk Talk so am used to bad customer service so if anyone can share their experiences it would be much appreciated!

The only other LLU options I have are 02 & AOL. I'm not with 02 for mobile so their broadband is quite pricey for non-customers & speeds seem no better than I get now.

Inner_Zone

Sounds like O2 are being realistic and Sky optimistic. Whom ever you go with the line from the exchange will be the same as it is now, so I can't see how the speed can increase with a different ADSL provider (unless others can advise differently).

You can get O2 BB by spending £5 every three months on PAYG or by asking family or a friend with O2 if you can use their number for the O2 texts that will be sent.

If you can get Infinity at a price acceptable to you I would go for it.

I have cable at home 10Mb and ADSL at work 13Mb, cable is defiantly better, and Infinity should also be so.

penrhyn

Can't comment on BT infinity.

I'm on Sky BB unlimited, and recently moved the talk and line rental to them as well.
I've had Sky broadband since the service was launched in my area.
Customer service has improved greatly over the last couple of years, you can usually get through in a couple of rings.
Occasionally you do get the Indian call centre but are referred back to the UK for anything very technical

The line from the exchange is around 3Km (45db), and I get around an 8Mbps sync speed.

I paid 12month line rental up front (£119.40), the cost of BB Unlimited and Talk Freetime is £7.50/month.

Without a Sky TV sub that increses to £10/month.

macman

BlueFox wrote: »

Thanks for your advice.

Has anyone got any thoughts on whether you would choose BT Infinity or Sky? I'm moving from Talk Talk so am used to bad customer service so if anyone can share their experiences it would be much appreciated!

The only other LLU options I have are 02 & AOL. I'm not with 02 for mobile so their broadband is quite pricey for non-customers & speeds seem no better than I get now.

You are not comparing remotely similar products. If you need more than the indicated ADSL2+ speeds of up to 11MBps, then go for FTTC (But I wouldn't get it via BT, and if you do, you'll need the more expensive options, which is vastly more costly than ADSL).
Wi-fi is not a problem, as you already have a connection faster than anything FTTC can deliver to your router.
Personally I'd opt for O2 LLU at 11MBps, but only you can decide.