BT or Sky Broadband?

[trainer]

I haven't searched the forum as these things change almost weekly.

I am currently an orange broadband customer and have been less than thrilled with their service in terms of connection and call centre. I have had their white hen house router and the smaller gigaset router both of which drop connection when they feel like it. I haven't experienced this with other routers in the past.

Our house phone is with BT tied in for another year and we have SKY. I know both of these supply broadband which can be linked in to the existing packages both provide us with already.

We are supplied by an exchange that can offer up to 8mb but as we live 1 mile away across the field this drops significantly when it gets to us.

Can I have some advice please on the services that both these companies supply in terms of connectivity, customer service and of course value for money.

Thanks in advance

 

[ashakeeluk]

BT is better than sky, its more flexible service for the following reasons.

If it's for business use then I would recommend Zen Internet.

You can use their supplied router or use your own, sky will restrict you to only use their equipment even if the wireless reception is poor in your house with their router.

Use any email address with outlook, sky only allow use with their @sky.co.uk with their service.


If you need any more info let me know.

 

[EDZ649]

BT without a doubt, SKY are a shambles IMHO.

 

[d w124]

BT from me to

 

[Mudster]

I use BT for home and at my business, never had an issue with either.

 

[crockers]

Why restrict your choice to Sky or BT ??

 

[oldcro]

Bt

 

[JonnyCJ]

O2 without a doubt. Customer service is incredibly good. I've put all my family on it and never had cause to have a gripe in 3 years. I've actually spoken to the call centre manager on a few occasions just to tell them how good the call handlers are !

 

[thebook]

SKY for me - BT were a nightmare

 

[c32 amg]

Never ever Bt,more trouble than its worth ! Try 02,best of a bad bunch.

 

[Doug_]

I've experienced both, Sky initially provided a faster line speed than i previously had from BT. However, one day, it simply dropped the connection, 8 weeks without a connection and of suffering call centre muppets who couldn't deviate from a set script and i was ready to kill someone.

In frustration i returned to BT because i needed a connection. It is not the fastest as we live a long way from the exchange, but it has been reliable.

As for Sky, i am still trying to get them to stop charging me for the broadband two years later. Now my Sky box is playing up and SWMBO wants to upgrade to their HD offering. I just want to dump them and never hear their name again.

You takes your pick and lives with the consequences, neither are brilliant.

Doug

 

[trainer]

Thanks for all the replies so far. Crockers I have highlighted SKY and BT as I already have one service from both of them and they do offer bundles if you take broadband. I will look at O2 and anything else anyone can suggest.

 

[Frank O' Phile]

Trainer, have a look here SamKnows Broadband - Comprehensive Broadband Information and see who has equipment in your nearest exchange. Those with their own kit will provide faster speeds otherwise they are renting from BT.

I was getting 3 Mb from tiscali but now 7 Mb from O2. It took them 8 days to get it working and customer service was hit and miss.

 

[JonnyCJ]

Go to Quidco.com as well and follow the link to O2. I think you get £50 cashback as well

 

[s500colin]

BT the best

 

[AbbieCadabra]

for us, BT was expensive, poor connection & abysmal customer service.

been with Sky for about 2.5 years, perhaps longer now. only had 2 short periods of downtime, stable connection, no connectivity issues - all for £5 p/mth.

 

[trainer]

What do you get for the £5 per month in terms of speed and download limits?

 

[oldcro]

Do you mean you can get broadband by giving Sky just £5 per month?

 

[G-Force]

I don't think this is helping you decide trainer...

I have been with SKY for the last 5 years, yes i admit it is over-subscribed but i have never ever had any issues to call to complain!!!!
I dont know about BT but was advised by others to avoid them.

Pound for pound i think Sky offer a better value service, i guess it also depends on what you need broadband for, max i can get is 8M (cable not available where i live yet) i believe some time fairly soon BT are going to double-up the cores on their network to allow approx 12M. I work from home occasionaly and my kids use xbox live (me too) and their has never been any issues.
Average speed tests show 6.5M download and just under 1M upload.

Sky gets the from me

 

[oldcro]

A lot of rural exchanges use BT Wholesale so changing ISP will have no affect on broadband speeds, only the cost per month.