Sky: Appaling internet speeds

antsmusic1

Wondering if anyone else has had similar issues;
We are currently locked into a 12 month Sky contract due up in July,

Looking at uSwitch's StreetStats page, all Sky connections in our area are measured at around 2-3mbps. Meanwhile BT sits about 20-150mbps and other providers sit around 15-18mbps.

The welcome pack from Sky gives the following info:
"Sky Broadband Unlimited which offers maximum download speeds of up to 17Mb"
"We estimate the download speed your line could support will be between 9.5 and 17.8Mb"
"You should expect a guaranteed Minimum Access Line Speed of 7.0Mb"

We can't even stream Netflix on our smart TV at the moment, with 3 iOS devices and a tablet also on the network. Frequent speed checks over the past month have varied between 1mbps and 5mbps.

Is there any way we can ditch our Sky broadband without ditching Sky TV (which to be honest we love and wouldn't want to get rid of). Or should we just suck it up until July then ditch the whole lot? In July we move to a new home anyway so could we ditch the broadband part of our connection and keep the TV?

Hoping anyone has had a similar experience and any advice. Spoke to tech support at Sky 2 weeks ago and the tech guy on the phone did a few silly bits and bobs (restarting connection etc) which didn't do a lot.

Rubidium

The only speed tests that are valid are those done with the Sky Hub/router plugged into the master test socket and the device e.g. PC connected via an Ethernet cable.

This eliminates any internal wiring and wireless issues.

Post your line stats with the Sky Hub/router connected to the master test socket and that is the starting point for any diagnosis.

see http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/view-routerstats.html

duchy

Have you called Sky and asked them to see why you are having issues? Restarting the router isn't a full troubleshoot. Sky have a clear process for issues like this. Did they ask you to do something (like find your spare filter and change it ) and then call back?

Could be a line fault, could be your set up or could be a wireless issue. All are easy to resolve once you ring up.

No ISP is going to let you break a contract without you doing this first.

Once you are out of contract you can cancel the BB and still have TV though.

penrhyn

If you post your router stats folks can help.
If you have multiple devices on your network they will share the available bandwidth.
Its unlikely that another supplier would give an improved ADSL connection, assuming no underlying fault. Is Fibre broadband or Virgin available to you?

antsmusic1

Thanks all for your helpful responses
Feel a bit silly as I am usually quite tech aware but appear to have resolved the issue in the simplest of ways.....
So in my frustration I called Sky again yesterday. The guy I got this time was really helpful and actually told me the speeds my router was registering: 19mbps!
So we've had a play around and done some under carpet wiring - moving the router higher up and to the centre of the house, as well as connecting our main devices with Ethernet, and our main bugbear (Netflix streaming on TV) has resolved itself!
Nonetheless, we didn't have these problems when the Wi-Fi was first set up so will continue to keep an eye on it - but as the guy at sky was actually helpful (first one of 3 calls) I'm actually impressed for the first time....
Here are the stats anyway:

System Up Time: 28:56:55

Port Status TxPkts RxPkts Collision Pkts Tx b/s Rx b/s Up Time
WAN PPPoA 7857221 21958843 0 0 0 28:55:13
LAN Up 20466624 6647466 0 1 2 28:56:55
WLAN Up 1919591 1513836 0 2 2 28:56:55

Broadband Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 19178 kbps 1172 kbps
Line Attenuation 16.5 dB 9.9 dB
Noise Margin 7.1 dB 9.9 dB

Fibres aren't available (have done some research) to us. The house we are moving to is a cul-de-sac behind a church so I have a feeling we won't be able to get fibre put in there either....

pappa_golf

antsmusic1 wrote: »

Wondering if anyone else has had similar issues;
We are currently locked into a 12 month Sky contract due up in July,

Looking at uSwitch's StreetStats page, all Sky connections in our area are measured at around 2-3mbps.(ADSL) Meanwhile BT sits about 20-150mbps (FIBRE) and other providers sit around 15-18mbps. (ADSL)

The welcome pack from Sky gives the following info:
"Sky Broadband Unlimited which offers maximum download speeds of up to 17Mb" (ADSL)
"We estimate the download speed your line could support will be between 9.5 and 17.8Mb" (ADSL)
"You should expect a guaranteed Minimum Access Line Speed of 7.0Mb" (ADSL)

.

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brewerdave

antsmusic1 wrote: »

Thanks all for your helpful responses
Feel a bit silly as I am usually quite tech aware but appear to have resolved the issue in the simplest of ways.....
So in my frustration I called Sky again yesterday. The guy I got this time was really helpful and actually told me the speeds my router was registering: 19mbps!
So we've had a play around and done some under carpet wiring - moving the router higher up and to the centre of the house, as well as connecting our main devices with Ethernet, and our main bugbear (Netflix streaming on TV) has resolved itself!
Nonetheless, we didn't have these problems when the Wi-Fi was first set up so will continue to keep an eye on it

...The wireless side of these ADSL modem/routers can be the first thing to fail -I've had three routers fail in the last 10 years or so -two of them were thrown out because the wireless side had either gone flakey or failed totally -but both were still working as ethernet routers.