Sky connection super slow

manolo1975

All,

I live in small village where unfortunately the wired internet connection is slower than most of the places I lived in. I subscribed with Sky as I like to have phone TV and broadband on the same bill but since the beginning we have moved to the new house, the internet connection has been ridiculous.

At first there was none, less than 0.1 Mbps, called Sky and they checked everything from the line to master socket, to the hub etc... anyway after calling we were told there was an issue with a network card and that it would be sorted out. When they did the speed moved to about 2.2mbps which was not exceptional but enough to survive. They told us that anything less than 1.8Mbps is unacceptable according to their standard and that we should notify if anything goes below.

Now I have at most 1.5Mbps and at week end I can get a fantastic 0.7Mbps!!! Enough say that I am tired of such a poor connection and want to move to fibre.

My question is: do I have any right to leave Sky even if I am still within the first year of contract? I am not sure sky has fibre in the area but plusnet and BT has it. I am thinking of moving away from sky but worried that I will have to stay with this poor connection for another 8 months.

Advice please!!!

macman

No you don't. Anything above 256kBps is (laughably) classified as broadband. Speeed is not guaranteed. If those speeds are all that your line can support, (probably just due to distance from the exchange) then that's all you can get on ADSL, and switching provider will not help.
Is this Sky Connect (rather than Sky LLU) by any chance? Given that it slows down at weekends (and evenings?) it sounds like a contention issue.
All fibre services (except VM cable) are just resold BT Wholesale products, so if BT offer Infinity, you can get Sky fibre too.
Are you doing your speed tests using ethernet from the BT test socket?

weegie.geek

Didn't they give you estimates based on the line length before you signed up? The !!!!!!s should be obliged to give you a rough idea based on customers nearby, and your line length.

You must have a fairly long line (a good few miles between you and the exchange) for it to sync so low, or there could be aluminium instead of copper for part of the way I guess.

You can check where your exchange is using: http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange_search

manolo1975

they gave me an estimate at sign-up anything between 2 to 5 Mbps... I was OK with that but lower than 1 Mpbs even if it is so called broadband is laughable and guess I would have gone with fibre if I knew.

macman

I repeat, how are you running your speed tests?

manolo1975

macman wrote: »

I repeat, how are you running your speed tests?

With the ethernet line

Eydon

How long have you been with them.

If your line speed is "significantly lower" than the estimate they gave you and they can't increase it, then you can leave without penalty within the first three months.

For me my estimate was 12-19MB, but I was told that if my speed turned out to be less than 9.2MB then I could leave.

Check your online account. Go to My Sky > My Account > My Broadband. It should tell you your estimated speed and also what they consider to be "significantly lower" in your case (click where it says "significantly lower").

EDIT: just re-read your post where you say you have 8 months of a 12 month contract remaining, so you might have just missed the boat on this one.

StevieJ

macman wrote: »

All fibre services (except VM cable) are just resold BT Wholesale products, so if BT offer Infinity, you can get Sky fibre too.
Are you doing your speed tests using ethernet from the BT test socket?

So how come BT tell me that Fibre is available and Sky say No?

Based on the information provided, Sky Broadband Unlimited Fibre is not currently available, so we have been unable to add it to your basket.

Great News! You can get superfast fibre optic BT Infinity

macman

You'd have to ask Sky that question; presumably their own database has not been correctly updated yet. But any FTTC service you can get is a BT product.

StevieJ

macman wrote: »

You'd have to ask Sky that question; presumably their own database has not been correctly updated yet. But any FTTC service you can get is a BT product.

And Plusnet (or is that BT)

Sorry, fibre optic broadband isn't available in your area yet

Super fast broadband is being rolled out all over the UK, so it's likely that it'll reach your area soon.
In the meantime, you can still choose one of our great-value broadband packages below.

macman

The same. Since Plusnet is owned by BT and run on BT's network, there should be no issue in getting FTTC from them where BT can provide it.
Are you sure that BT haven't given't you the wrong info about FTTC availability? Dates for FTTC are being shunted back all over the place; my own cab is now over a year late and has recently gone to showing 'no date available'