BT or Sky Broadband?

[mapleleaf]

BT and Also Zen Internet here too

 

[gazzz]

Customer service apart and assuming you can't get cable, the real decider should be whether there are LLU services available in your exchange or not.

LLU is where the operator has their own equipment in the exchange and usually their own "backbone" which connects the exchange to local points of presence and national network. In this case the technology used is ADSL2+ which offers speeds of up to 20 meg or so dependent on distance to exchange and line quality.

If there are no LLU services available because the exchange isn't unbundled or it's run out of space then the only service you can have is either BT's ADSL Max service direct from BT or rebadged BT ADSL Max from another provider. ADSL Max is older technology, uses the BT network and is notorious for slow speeds at peak times. The only way to get a decent ADSL Max service is to buy from a specialist provider with resultant higher cost as they will have bought higher bandwidth etc from BT than the standard service. Otherwise you're buying the same poor BT service from whichever company you're ostensibly buying it from. The only cable operator is Virgin Media. Theoretically higher speeds than ADSL2+ but rarely delivered, particularly at peak times.

So. LLU is first choice as it will (usually) offer higher speeds at a much lower cost. If LLU isn't available in your exchange and you can live with low speeds at peak times then you may as well go BT.

An LLU service will typically cost ~£10 month unlimited, ADSL Max (from all providers) ~£30 month, heavily limited, and higher capacity ADSL Max (not available from BT as a residential service) ~£40 month plus depending on usage.

In my opinion, O2 is the best LLU operator.

Lastly, if your home wiring is poor, no operator can provide a good ADSL service of any flavour until you get it sorted.

 

[fudge1200]

Why not look into Talk Talk, used to br Tiscali, We have been with them for about 9 years never had a problem, 3 computers in use a lot of the time. we have looked at other packages but T. T. seems to come out as no1 every time.

 

[AbbieCadabra]

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

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

i do, yes. broadband mid it was called when we first took it out as a stand alone bb service for £5 p/mth. we changed that to include their line rental & calls about 18 months ago & it's now called BB 'everyday' (i've just checked & this package is actually £10 p/mth with a £5 credit p/mth as we've got skytalk calls).

10GB max per month & up to 10mb speed, we only get about 1-1.5mb as we're so far from the exchange.

sky bb info

 

[oldcro]

i do, yes. broadband mid it was called when we first took it out as a stand alone bb service for £5 p/mth. we changed that to include their line rental & calls about 18 months ago & it's now called BB 'everyday' (i've just checked & this package is actually £10 p/mth with a £5 credit p/mth as we've got skytalk calls).

10GB max per month & up to 10mb speed, we only get about 1-1.5mb as we're so far from the exchange.

sky bb info

According to your Sky link you have to have Sky TV and Sky talk before getting Sky broadband for £5 per month. Obviously terms have changed since you first took out sky broadband.

I had Sky TV for about 15 years and got tired of their ever increasing charges, so changed to Freesat. Not such a wide selection of viewing options, but £600 per year in my pocket.

 

[fuzzer]

According to your Sky link you have to have Sky TV and Sky talk before getting Sky broadband for £5 per month. Obviously terms have changed since you first took out sky broadband.

I had Sky TV for about 15 years and got tired of their ever increasing charges, so changed to Freesat. Not such a wide selection of viewing options, but £600 per year in my pocket.

i think sky have to have a POP in your local exchange for this cheap rate.

give them a call , they will be able to tell you over the phone if they can do it.

 

[crockers]

i think sky have to have a POP in your local exchange for this cheap rate.

give them a call , they will be able to tell you over the phone if they can do it.

Yes I think you will find that is correct. Same with O2 - as I was looking at swapping to them.

I am with AOL (awaits the hisses) and have been for donkeys years. I looked at the exchange and they use BT lines - but TalkTalk have their own equipment in the exchange but AOL don't use them - go figure that one..

 

[stevesey]

Trying to switch to BT from Virgin - been wanting to get off Virgin (just Phone + BB) for a while, current offer get's me a similar package with BT Vision on top for a similar price. Especially attractive as our Thomson 20Gb Freeview box is crashing more regularly thes days - so we are saving £100+ on a new box (and the vision box and re-connection to BT are free). So all was ordered on BT.com.

All sounds good - was expecting BT man today (1pm-6pm) - confirmation e-mail said that BT Hub + welcome pack would be with us by 2pm. Enigineer would re-connect between 1pm and 6pm. 2:30pm arrived no sign of that the hub and welcome pack (or BT man) - phone to check - can't find the order on the system. Send confirmation e-mail to them - no help. Apparently the system can loose orders - anyway get lost of apologies and put through to sales so I can redo order over the phone (much more long winded).

Overall not a good start - the Scottish ladies in the call centre were very apolgetic and helpful (I was dreading getting through to a non-UK call centre). However I will be sending a complaint in about how this can be allowed to happen though. It should be possible to run a simple reconcilation of the order system against the confirmation e-mails or the web site audit database and show up these problems (actually BT have been one of our customers in the past - perhaps there's a sales opportunity here ).

 

[Mr E]

Why not look into Talk Talk, used to br Tiscali, We have been with them for about 9 years never had a problem, 3 computers in use a lot of the time. we have looked at other packages but T. T. seems to come out as no1 every time.

Well, I'm still getting billed by TT after moving to BT in January. I have an email from the CEO that says that their new billing system means I cannot be removed so they have to remember to credit the account each month. I waiting for them to actually pull money from my account so that I can pull them to pieces.

In my case they lied in order to get me to sign up to their broadband package that they could not deliver from my exchange. I was billed both for their "Essentials" package (including BB) and they set up a shadow account to bill for BB at £30/month. I never had a phone call to them that lasted under an hour - and the only time I got a resolution was when I eventually got the CEO's direct email. To give him his due, he replied and I got out of the comms hell that is TT... well, almost. They also screwed up passing my landline number to BT so that I had to change my home number too.

Since Jan, I've had a faster and more reliable service with BT, and the one query I had was dealt with quickly and efficiently without having to be passed from one department to another.

I did look at the Sky package but they couldn't give me all the features that I wanted (I work from home, so like to withold number, free international calls, and other bits and bobs).