Stuck with terrible broadband forever?

Lgas

I live in a new build estate which is 3 years old, I bought from new. My broadband is provided by Sky, initially the speed was a pathetic 0.5mb, after I complained they managed to get it up to 2mb.

In my old rented flat I had Virgin fibre broadband which was absolutely amazing, however we have no fibre facilities on this estate, so that isn't an option. I have searched all of the providers and there are no plans to install fibre cables at all - a neighbour called Sky and she was told that Sky bought the "rights" to provide Broadband to this estate, and there is no chance of them ever installing fibre!

I don't know how much longer I can put up with my pathetic broadband, but if I check all of the other providers (non-fibre), they all estimate that I can achieve 2mb broadband. It's so bad that my OH, who does online gaming a lot, moans continuously if I do anything on my laptop because it makes him lag - even uploading a single photo on my iphone makes his game crash.

Can this be true? Can Sky do this?!

Nilrem

I doubt Sky bought any rights to provide services other than the normal ones, as it'll be BT lines you're all using (Sky have as far as I know, never actually laid down any phone lines, BT and cable are the only people in most of the UK to have invested in putting in cabling to the property on any large scale, Sky and most other providers piggyback off BT lines).

Unfortunately if it's a new estate and there was no agreement with VM to provide cable when it was built (the only time it really makes sense to provide it in many new areas), the only connection will be via BT lines installed as standard, with wherever they're terminated determining your potential speed.

What you might find is that your area might get upgraded to fibre to the cabinet by BT which would probably give you much better speeds, but that might be delayed if it's already been done for other streets in your area and not when the estate was built, or if the company that built the estate won't provide permission for BT to install the new roadside cabinets (they need to installer larger powered ones than the standard old fashioned BT roadside boxes).



In short, despite the advertising normally Sky sells it's phone/BB services over BT lines, they have AFAIK got no exclusive deals to provide residential broadband anywhere in the UK as they (again as far as I know), have never laid a single residential phone line, they use BT lines and BT provides the service (at least to the cabinet or exchange) with Sky (and others) paying the wholesale arm of BT for that usage.
Contact BT for information on potential network upgrades to get an idea if they'll be improving it any time soon,

Gordon_Hose

ADSL is distance dependent, so if you're too far from the exchange to get anything above 2Mb, then you're just too far. Changing ISP's will make little difference, if any, as they all use the same infrastructure.

Check http://www.samknows.com/exchange_search to see what is available to you. I would be very surprised if Sky have sole rights to supply broadband on your estate.

MataNui

Actually the OP could be correct about sky. It can happen in new builds (usually housing association rather than private though) That particular suppliers have exclusive rights for x number of years. It also can apply to other services such as gas/electric. As i said these are normally time limited so it wont be forever.

Browntoa

Look on the bt infinity site , if there are plans to upgrade your exchange then the speeds will increase , if the exchange is upgraded then you may be waiting for the upgrade to your nearest cabinet

penrhyn

OP post your router line statistics.

Lgas

How do I do that? Is it this?

Modem
Modem Status Connected
DownStream Connection Speed 2438 kbps
UpStream Connection Speed 605 kbps
VPI 0
VCI 38

If I look at nearby broadband speeds, the older road at the end has 21mb virgin fibre optic. So does the road on the other side. BT inifinity says my local exchange is 'accepting orders' for fibre yet BT and Virgin say it is not available. Sorry I know it's a BT phone line, but apparently Sky have the rights to supply the broadband, very strange.

penrhyn

You need to scroll down where it says further diagnostic help, then show statistics. user admin, password sky

macman

Just because FTTC is available on your exchange does not mean that every property on that exchange can get it. FTTC is dependent on the street cab serving your property being upgraded-that could be soon, later or never, depending on demand.

penrhyn

"Sky have the rights to supply the broadband"

What do you mean by this?

If the Exchange has been LLU'd i.e. the Local loop has been Unbundled to other operators then any them could supply your broadband. Either via ADSL, or via FTTC if your cabinet is enabled.
You can' check this by performing an exchange search on Samknows website.

Gordon_Hose

If it's a new build chances are the cabinet will be one of the last upgraded for Infinity. We had the same issue at our old flat which was a new build. The whole town's cabinets were enabled for fibre, but the cabinet that served us on the new estate wasn't, and, incidentally, still isn't.

OP use the sam knows link I posted above and tell us what is available on your exchange.