Cancelling Sky Broadband early.....

Renard99

Hello

I moved into a brand new property in August and moved all of my Sky packages with me. I was quoted a speed of 6mbps and got that so not too bad and over the minimum I need. We were warned that, being as the cabinet in the road had nobody but BT in it, we'd be getting Sky Connect which 'piggybacks' on the BT connection. Because of this "a little bit of throttling" will take place but will remain above my minimum requirements............ except it's not a little bit, it's massive......... the connection drops from 6mbps to a mind-numbing 0.5mbps from about 6pm (when I get home) until midnight. Sky said give it some time to check that this 'low' is the 'norm' at peak times so I have.

Most providers don't even recognise the address as it's new so my options are limited. I've found another provider (Fast.co.uk) who say that they can provide 6mbps to the address and there would be no throttling on the connection. It costs a lot more but I'm willing to pay for a connection that's actually useful.

What I'm basically asking is, I'm over the cooling off period with Sky, will there be a problem if I say I want to leave their BB even though it's less than the minimum I need, when I need it?

keith1950

Hi, this happened to my daughter and as long as you follow Sky's complaint procedure you should eventually be able to leave.

Firstly you have to follow all the tests etc that they require you to perform, they may send out another router to try and they will consult with BT to confirm a problem.

In my daughters case it took nearly two months to sort but she eventually move without charge.

penrhyn

Sky connect costs £17 a month for 40gb compared with Sky BB unlimited which is £7.50. Reason enough to leave I would have thought, was this no explained to you.

FYI Its not the box in the road, its the boxes at the exchange.
Which exchange is it?

Buzby

I would not say is was 'throttling' but the contention rates - as BT will be servicing multiple customers at the same location, and if they are on on at the same time you will suffer - but this would happen irrespective of who you went with, you are all using the same local loop for infrastructire.

Renard99

penrhyn wrote: »

Sky connect costs £17 a month for 40gb compared with Sky BB unlimited which is £7.50. Reason enough to leave I would have thought, was this no explained to you.

FYI Its not the box in the road, its the boxes at the exchange.
Which exchange is it?

Yes, the £17.50 was explained but because "they aren't in the cabinet" (which is what they told me) I can't go on their Unlimited package (which I was on before) and can only chose the 'Sky Connect' package. Plus, since nearly all ISPs failed to even register there was a house on this site (brand new build), I was left between Sky and BT at about the same monthly cost, except BT wanted something like £100 installation whereas Sky did it for free. No brainer. Believe me, I spent a couple of months researching providers but £17.50 came up the cheapest. Everyone told me that it was all because of the new build status and 'lack of investment/forethought from BT/builders'

The exchange is Locks Heath/Whiteley which is fibre enabled but that's not available at my cabinet (although it's available in the surrounding roads). Virgin cable is also in the area, but once again, not in this road.

Renard99

Just had a quick look around and a few more now supply to the road (although when I was shopping for BB a few months ago they didn't) but some still don't. Talk Talk for example.

Virgin ADSL is available without throttling, which Sky have admitted they do, for £21.99. You can now see why £17.50 sounded attractive.

penrhyn

Market 1 exchange, so Sadly only BT carried services.

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/STWHTLY

Renard99

penrhyn wrote: »

Market 1 exchange, so Sadly only BT carried services.

Hang on, I lied, I just put my phone number in and it says I'm on just Locks Heath (STLOCKH), not Locks Heath - Whiteley, even though they appear to be at the same location.

But, from what I remember of the conversations with ISPs 'Market 1' rings a bell and explains the Sky Connect which is BT carried, but why is my telephone number showing as, what appears to be, a Market 3. I'm confused!

penrhyn

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/STLOCKH

Assuming you are indeed on this exchange then you should be able to get Sky LLU broadband, unless the exchange is at full capacity.
It would appear that O2 and Talk Talk are also available there.

Renard99

penrhyn wrote: »

Assuming you are indeed on this exchange then you should be able to get Sky LLU broadband, unless the exchange is at full capacity.
It would appear that O2 and Talk Talk are also available there.

Funny thing is, O2 and Talk Talk claim they're not there and offer me their BT carried services. Yet, when I continue to enter my phone number on SamKnows, I'm given the Market 3 exchange data. Just have to assume that I am on the Whiteley one regardless.

In that case, if I do change provider from one that admits to throttling to one that says they don't throttle, will I still be subjected to a 90% drop in speed at peak times due to them all being BT carried?