Switching from plusnet to sky

ashymark

Hi all,

Hoping any of you can help with this one.

As I've said in the thread title I'm in the middle of a switch from plusnet to sky for my phone and broadband.

I've been through all of the retentions people with plusnet and they weren't able to beat sky's deal so I said that I will be switching to sky, I was told that I wouldn't need a MAC code because they are both part of the BT network. I'm pretty satisfied that this is right as I've been told this from both providers.

The part where I'm getting conflicting info from is that there is a cease on my line at plusnet that is due to complete on the 21st. I've spoke with both of them, plusnet say that there is no trace of the order in their system so it must have been ordered by sky. Is this true? Can sky order something like this with another provider, do I actually need there to be a cease on the line because plusnet are saying that there needs to be one on the line for sky to take over the line but sky are saying that they can't take over the line because there is a cease on the line. Which of them is right??

I feel like I'm going a bit round in circles at the minute with this. As far as I'm concerned, my understanding would be that if the line is ceased, a new number would need to be ordered by sky because my current number would have been cancelled altogether. Am I right in this thinking?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Ta

penrhyn

Sky is certainly NOT part of the BT network they have their own.
Unless you are off net and are taking the awful Sky Connect broadband.
In any event you should have obtained a MAC from Plusnet, ( who are a BT company), and given this to Sky.
The purpose is to avoid the cease charge of £30 or so being billed to you ratther than being picked up by Sky.

ashymark

Fantastic, so the part that I thought was fine I was wrong with.

I have been told by sky numerous times by different people I won't need a mac code but will check this with them so thanks very much for the heads up with that.

macman

Assuming that you are moving to a Sky LLU line from a BTW one, a MAC is not required by Sky.

brewerdave

..But if you move to Sky LLU without a MAC ,you will get charged the cessation fee of £30 by P/Net!

amorphix

My advice is DON'T DO IT.

Consider the financial and practical implications of switching to Sky Talk (which is a condition of having broadband with them) VERY carefully.

You will most likely face WEEKS/MONTH of transfer time if, and when, you decide to leave Sky.

But more importantly, you'll have to pay BT* or whoever you switch to £50, to reconnect to the BT network exchange, as Sky remove your line from the BT exchange, WITHOUT EVEN ASKING OR TELLING YOU.

Furthermore, Sky charge for calls to 18185 and other free call Indirect Access Call (IAC) prefix services (even if you use their freephone numbers!). Yes, Sky charge for calls to a freephone number.

I accepted Sky's "30 days no obligation, no cost trial" 6 weeks ago. It was the biggest mistake of my life. Their service appalling and nothing like they described over the phone. Their sales staff are incredible, the support staff, just as bad. Arrogant, liars and outright deceitful.

Here's my experience of the broadband service....

The speed, below standard. The connection quality, terrible.. mine dropped about 10+ times a day..the dynamic IP address changes randomly and frequently, so no use if you need to do gaming, or run any services/servers. To add insult to injury, the router locks you into a monthly-fee Dynamic DNS updating service, should you need to update domains/host a static url etc.

It took me a month to wrestle back control of my phone line from them and I ended up without any phone line or broadband AT ALL for a month, thanks to Sky. I'm now taking legal action against them and OfCom are very interested in their practices, who I have been contact with.

* Unless you go into another long 18 month contract and pay higher phone line rental.

amorphix

penrhyn wrote: »

Sky is certainly NOT part of the BT network they have their own.

That's the key point, and is not explained to new Sky customers by Sky staff. Customers are simply not aware that accepting their "try us for 30 days without any contract obligation" means your phone line is no longer on the BT exchange if you accept that trial or move to Sky Talk.

You're immediately out of pocket, or put to considerable inconvenience as a result. You will have to pay line rental to Sky and higher call costs, while facing a looooong wait for release back to BT (Sky really drag this out as long as possible to recover the cost of the "free" trial), and/or pay OpenReach line reactivation charges. Until you get your phone line back on the OpenReach/BT network, you cannot get broadband ANYWHERE other than with Sky.

All this should be spelled out clearly on their website. It's not. People are left with the impression they're still on the BT network with Sky Talk, or that Sky will restore them to it quickly and without cost. They don't, and won't.

OfCom seriously need to sort out Sky. This is bang out of order their marketing practices.