Sky price increase

richiethekid

Not sure if this is the right place for this, so feel free to move it if necessary.

I've been with Sky since March last year, and have had broadband with them since April of this year. The broadband connection keeps dropping and I can only get it back by resetting the router, then disabling and re-enabling the internet connection in control panel, although this doesn't always work. I've tried contacting tech support but as usual with Sky, they didn't want to know. Now my Sky+ is playing up as well, and I have to unplug it from the mains for a few minutes every day in order to get it to work.

Last week I had a letter saying that the price was increasing from £48.50 a month to £50. Now I know it's only an extra £1.50 a month but I think that's just taking the p!ss. It's the second price increase in just over a year. I signed up for a contract costing £48.50, not £50. Can they legally do this? I'm moving soon anyway so I've written to them saying that I'm not happy and I want to cancel my contract. Of course I could just wait until I move, then cancel the direct debit and let them whistle for it.

Is anyone else annoyed by this? Does anyone have experience of cancelling within the minimum contract?

penrhyn

It may be possible to sort out your internet connection, if you can provide some information.
Log into your router and post your simple router statistics.

To do this, click on this link http://192.168.0.1/start.htm
Username : admin
Password : sky

At the botton of the page click on show statistics, you should see something like this:

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 8190 kbps 397 kbps
Line Attenuation 45.5 db 27.1 db
Noise Margin 10.5 db 23.5 db

Post your results and I may be able to make some suggestions.

You can cancel within the contract period but you will have to pay up to the end of the year, better to dry a bit of DIY fixing.

BTW Which package are you on Mid/Max/Connect/Base?

Bufflowbill

The usually increase their prices once a year.

mhoc

I was actually going to ask about this but didnt know where to put the question - thought sky might even have its own forum!

Just been looking at the sky skeak, surf, talk thing and at the bottom of the bage it says that there are going to be changes to sky TV from September, assume it means September 2007 and assume it means price increases. Does anyone know for sure?

Mary

penrhyn

There is a dedicated site for Sky users: https://www.skyuser.co.uk

richiethekid

Have tried accessing the router admin page before but haven't been able to get into it for at least a few weeks. Have definitely been able to access it before. I assume this means the router's faulty in some way.

pamelab21

My parents have just got the Sky broadband in and are having problems that sound exactly like you say. We think its the router, I was on the phone to them for over three hours, 2 people hung up on me, one was very helpful but could only take diagnostics so far and stated we would get a call back after 3 days, still waiting. My mum called them last night and after 2 hours on the phone finally got someone helpful (after going through 3 people), seems to have rectified itself but she called me today to says it stopped working again. :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: is all I can say

nightowlqueen

My mother also has sky broadband (basic) and she can only connect to internet when the phone is off the hook! Initially made many calls to Sky and they upgraded problem to a high level & someone was meant to call, but never did! They said that they couldn't undertand why it worked when phone off the hook. Have checked with BT & there is nothing wrong with line. All microfilters have been checked & r in place. Haven't tried calling again as she doesn't use it much, but want to get problem sorted. Anyone got any suggestions? Not much point in having bb if you can't use phone at same time.:mad:

---lee---

richiethekid wrote: »

Of course I could just wait until I move, then cancel the direct debit and let them whistle for it.

I wound not recommend this. Check your contract it's normally 30 days notice outside of any minimum contract period. If you do this they will almost certainly chase you for the money (and more) and you will end up trashing your credit hisotry.

Your best bet would be to write to them detailing all your technical problems. Explain that the problems have been long term and that you have been unable to get any satisfaction. Tell them you want resolution within a fixed period say 14 days or they are to cancel your contract. Explain that they have breached the contract with you by not providing the service you have paid for. Send the letter recorded or special delivery.

That should either get your problems fixed or give you a get out of jail free card.

mrJ_5

nightowlqueen wrote: »

My mother also has sky broadband (basic) and she can only connect to internet when the phone is off the hook! Initially made many calls to Sky and they upgraded problem to a high level & someone was meant to call, but never did! They said that they couldn't undertand why it worked when phone off the hook. Have checked with BT & there is nothing wrong with line. All microfilters have been checked & r in place. Haven't tried calling again as she doesn't use it much, but want to get problem sorted. Anyone got any suggestions? Not much point in having bb if you can't use phone at same time.:mad:

Maybe there is a faulty filter - or you missed a phone, sky box, or extention

To check for a faulty filter unplug every phone except for the one with the modem connected to it, then call yourself with a mobile - if the internet works, add another filter to your setup - otherwise, swap that filter with a different one

MercilessKiller

Nightowlqueen, you're problem does really sound microfilter related. You say its been checked, but you tried different ones? Just because the phone works through it doesn't mean its working correctly

On the router thing,

My Experience:

every day (sometimes several times), my interent connection would drop with LCP being down. I'd have to reset the router to get it working again...

This is a KNOWN fault from netgear where when the connection drops it won't auto pick up again and the router has to be reset.

A new firmware has been released from netgear due to this. So now we have 2 choices:

1) Flash our router with Netgears firmware. This breaks Sky's T&C which tells us to only use Sky Netgear Firmware, not netgear's own.

2) Wait until Sky modify Netgear's new firmware and release it.

I personally did the first option. Now eveyrhting works perfectly. If its been disconnected, i haven't even noticed!!!!

Note, flashing the firmware KEEPS all usernames, passwords, and WPA keys, however firewall rules are reset in case you're using port forwarding.

If anyone needs more information on this check out skyuser.com . I got instructions on how to do it from there... You need to download the recovery tool from netgear, stick a pin in the router while starting it, then use recovery tool to put the image on the router.. a standard update won't work as netgear won't go onto sky if ya get my drift.

This indeed fixed my problem.

I was also receiving CRC errors in my line statistics. By opening up my phone socket and removing the orange wire with some tweezers (slot 3), it removed all of these.

I was very nervous about doing that, but its eeeeeeasy and worked.