o2 / sky = out of here

[cava83]

Hi,

A long time ago I used to be on Virgin and had shocking service (7 years ago)

I then went to Sky and that was just as bad.

Been on o2 for around 3 to 4 years and apart from 2 instances it's been great.

Since bought out by Sky, I don't feel confident with them.

Are any of you changing to another provider because of this?

Considering PlusNet on Fibre or maybe even Virgin again.

Thanks,

​G.

 

[d4vy]

Having had horrific experiences with sky broadband I don't think I'd feel very confident them buying O2 out, which is a shame as O2 IMO are prob the best supplier of broadband out there!

 

[Jonny1*2]

I've got virgin, and never had an issue. I know lots if people who have problems with sky however

 

[Emma.]

I'm with sky, have been for years. Just upgraded to their fibre service. Ive never had an issue with them personally.

​

 

[BatFastard]

Hi,

A long time ago I used to be on Virgin and had shocking service (7 years ago)

I then went to Sky and that was just as bad.

Been on o2 for around 3 to 4 years and apart from 2 instances it's been great.

Since bought out by Sky, I don't feel confident with them.

Are any of you changing to another provider because of this?

Considering PlusNet on Fibre or maybe even Virgin again.

Thanks,

​G.

move
I am with BE which was owned by o2. I reckon I'll be staying until Sky intend to move me over to their LLU and network. I will probably move to PlusNet fibre as they can offer me a static IP address unlike BT.

 

[cava83]

move
I am with BE which was owned by o2. I reckon I'll be staying until Sky intend to move me over to their LLU and network. I will probably move to PlusNet fibre as they can offer me a static IP address unlike BT.

Ahhhhhh that was going to be the other question, whilst I was at it, was going to get a static IP to backup from work home and vice versa (well make it easier) and BT want a business line for that.

PlusNet I think is who I will try, I hope they are ok, been reading some semi good reviews on HotUkDeals but some atrocious ones too sadly.

 

[JaredHasNoBrain]

I've got plusnet and honestly I've never had a problem with them! and I get 40+mbps too and thats a hell of a jump from when I had talktalk at 0.5mbps and Sky "promising" 4.0mbps+ I was only getting 1.1mbps.

So Plusnet is awesome!

Edit: I do use a ethernet cable to get these speeds btw!

 

[MRBILLYUK]

I've got Sky 20mb and Virgin 120mb broadband and never had a problem with either . Been with Virgin for over 10 years and in all that time only had about 5 days where i didn't have a service , been with Sky for about 4 years now only time i had an issue was when the router packed up , a replacement was sent out within 48 hours . I think it seems to depend on what part of the country you're in as to how good their services are from what i've read .

 

[Norris_309]

I'm with O2 for broadband at the minute, get a cheaper price as the mrs mobile is on O2.
I'm guessing the sky take over will bump up the price of my broadband then....
She'll be happy as O2 mobile signal is rubbish in our house but i've not mentioned her changing to another provider as i wamted the cheaper Broadband lol.
Looks like it'll be time for a change soon, i was looking at plusnet as well, seem to have some good comments.

 

[Cookie]

I was with be for 5 years, Plusnet fibre arrives on Thursday

 

[cava83]

I was with be for 5 years, Plusnet fibre arrives on Thursday

What deal did you go for? Would be interested to know.

I think I will place the order soon hopefully. Need to find SIP phones too.

 

[Cookie]

What deal did you go for? Would be interested to know.

I think I will place the order soon hopefully. Need to find SIP phones too.

The 80mbit one I think, through a link on Quidco. Can't remember the cash back, 40 quid or something. Half price broadband for 6 months though.

 

[daydotz]

Im waiting till sky take over I'm undecided where im moving

 

[cava83]

Looking at BT, they are unlimited but more money and their landline is more expensive too.

I wonder how badly plusnet throttle and how smart they are, if a VPN service would avoid those issues.

 

[Goodj]

If you start having problems, move. It's not hard.
But at least wait out until you actually have an issue first.

In all my years, I've never had a problem with broadband that wasn't resolved by a phone call and 24 hours down-time (MAX).

As for "poor service", if you go to the providers with the same issue, chances are you'll find they all react the same. Just depends if you're speaking to Bangledesh or Barnsley..... tough to think which is worse actually.

 

[sn00p]

My virgin connection:

I personally don't have any problems with virgin, although obviously some people do - it depends how utilised your local area is.

We have BT infinity in the office and that also works well.

There's not a chance in hell I'd ever go back to a "normal adsl" connection.

 

[Cookie]

Looking at BT, they are unlimited but more money and their landline is more expensive too.

I wonder how badly plusnet throttle and how smart they are, if a VPN service would avoid those issues.

Plusnet don't throttle that I can see, looks more like QoS/CoS

 

[cava83]

Plusnet don't throttle that I can see, looks more like QoS/CoS

today is your install I think, would be good to find out how you get on

 

[Gareth]

I was with Sky for a few years and loved the TV service, broadband was always available but not the fastest with me being on the 10MB deal and I did get the occasional issue. Unfortunately I chose to move to Virgin but their Tivo boxes are a load of sh*t IMHO and not a patch on Sky, I for one can't wait to the end of the contract with Virgin and will be going straight back to Sky albeit with fibre broadband this time.

 

[sn00p]

The worst broadband service I ever had was with Plusnet, granted we are going back in time a bit. It all started well and then after about 12 months they decided to invest in packet shaping hardware and then more packet shaping hardware and then even more packet shaping hardware.

They throttled the hell out of connections, they would also throttle anything that was unidentified, so ssh tunnels and VPN were subject to the maximum throttling.

But we are talking maybe 6-7 years ago now, so obviously things will have changed (they were bought by BT for one thing, wern't they?).

I think they did a lot of damage with their existing customer base, there were a lot of unhappy people about at that time.

It's what ISP's do best though, sleight of hand.

 

[Darren S]

I've got Sky 20mb and Virgin 120mb broadband and never had a problem with either . Been with Virgin for over 10 years and in all that time only had about 5 days where i didn't have a service , been with Sky for about 4 years now only time i had an issue was when the router packed up , a replacement was sent out within 48 hours . I think it seems to depend on what part of the country you're in as to how good their services are from what i've read .

Either that, or pot luck!

I've been with Netcom, Freeserve, NTL, Zen and BT and have never had an issue apart from a small outage for maybe an hour. Same with mobiles too.

I'm either one of life's lucky b******s with stuff like this - or like you say, it's purely geographic placement.

D.

 

[Nick172Cup]

BT for me. Though I do work for them... lol

 

[cava83]

BT for me. Though I do work for them... lol

View attachment 96851

Fellow Guildfordian !!! Any special deals you can get us????

Additionally, what's the traffic shaping like?

Thanks,

​G.

 

[Nick172Cup]

Fellow Guildfordian !!! Any special deals you can get us????

Additionally, what's the traffic shaping like?

Thanks,

​G.

No deals i'm afraid, we're lucky to get any benefit from them these days!

Nick

 

[cava83]

No deals i'm afraid, we're lucky to get any benefit from them these days!

Nick

That is a shame, I do deal with a lot of BT installers and they all say how bad the company has become.

Oh well.

Still un-decided between BT and PlusNet, hopefully Cookie will be able to let us know some of this experience soon.

Thanks,

G.
​

 

[Nick172Cup]

That is a shame, I do deal with a lot of BT installers and they all say how bad the company has become.

Oh well.

Still un-decided between BT and PlusNet, hopefully Cookie will be able to let us know some of this experience soon.

Thanks,

G.
​

Oh don't get me wrong, it's still a really good company to work for! Just dont get as many benefits as the older generation of engineers used to receive, which for even a large company some things were mental.

With regards to traffic shaping, I wouldnt have a clue. Something that we have been told nothing about.

Nick

 

[cava83]

Oh don't get me wrong, it's still a really good company to work for! Just dont get as many benefits as the older generation of engineers used to receive, which for even a large company some things were mental.

With regards to traffic shaping, I wouldnt have a clue. Something that we have been told nothing about.

Nick

Right, I am popping round your house to check it out !!!!

 

[Cookie]

Openreach fucked up and didn't bother coming (and then lied to say they had). Waiting for a new appointment, going to be at least 2 more weeks.

 

[cava83]

Openreach f**ked up and didn't bother coming (and then lied to say they had). Waiting for a new appointment, going to be at least 2 more weeks.

FFS. Why don't they admit they are in the wrong instead of lying.......

Did you tell them they had bullshitted????

Thanks,

G.
​

 

[kaz19880]

personally im with EE due to the cheap deals i get with having my mobile with them i get decent speeds and decent quality connection however recently while gaming ive been getting some suspesious disconnections from lag and time out so i dunno

again tho its cheap and with buying a new house cheaper is better

 

[James28]

I'm with o2 currently. Been okay for me. Don't plan on changing tbh even with Sky takeover.
Yaay. We don't live in a cable area unfortunately

​

 

[llgsimpson]

View attachment 96989

 

[MRBILLYUK]

I'm more than Happy with VM download speeds , upload speeds aren't too shabby either

 

[S2H]

I have sky fibre unlimited and it's brilliant. Can't fault it.

 

[Ad]

I was with Sky for a few years and loved the TV service, broadband was always available but not the fastest with me being on the 10MB deal and I did get the occasional issue. Unfortunately I chose to move to Virgin but their Tivo boxes are a load of sh*t IMHO and not a patch on Sky, I for one can't wait to the end of the contract with Virgin and will be going straight back to Sky albeit with fibre broadband this time.

Ditto...I hate our tivo box. No sky fibre in our area yet, but hoping come next april when my virgin contract is up, there will be.

 

[stevescort172]

Bt for me. Was constantly getting dropped with virgin and sky was just terribly slow.

 

[cava83]

Just read in one of the other halfs magazines that if you take out a BT broadband package (fibre) you can get a free youview box! Can't find this though, only if you take out their TV package which is pointless

 

[steviem]

I was with Orange had been ever since it was Freeserve then Wanado then Orange and not had a problem. That is untill last year when it was impossible to load up a pc never mind surf/download/watch or even play online games (xbox 360) without lag. I was on their max package and paying £36 pm. Enough was enough and after long long waits trying to get through to customer service i cancelled and went onto Plusnet. Quick and easy to change over and os of yet (he says crossing everything) no problems and all for near as damn it half the price.

 

[d4vy]

Openreach fucked up and didn't bother coming (and then lied to say they had). Waiting for a new appointment, going to be at least 2 more weeks.

Try 3 months worth of cancelled appointments for a new installation! Whenever anybody mentions the word openreach I want to hit something lol.

 

[Millsy]

We were with Sky for the last year, we are not on a LLU exchange unfortunately so prices are higher than normal. Swapped to Plusnet after family and friends having good experiences, can honestly say it was the best thing we did, paying less for line rental and BB. Sky would throttle my connection heavily in peak traffic times, making it completely unusable to stream/download even a Youtube video let alone a movie from Sky's on demand library.

Been with Plusnet for the last 2 weeks and EVERY time I've checked the speed its been 6.60mbps compared with Sky which used to get throttled to 1mbps or less and be all over the place.

Would highly recommend Plusnet as their Network seems to be a lot more robust compared to Sky.

P.s I wouldn't go with BT ever again, after a complete fiasco and rude CS when swapping my mum from them to Plusnet. took 3 months for them to stop charging her line rental!