Sky Broadband Info

[Zee]

I'm currently on the phone to Sky Broadband, been on for 35 minutes so far in a queue (I've now hung up), not sure if this is some kind of stitch up, but never had this long wait with ntl. I'm calling 0207 032 6352 to avoid costs, could this be the reason why i'm waiting so long?

Anyway, i'm highly thinking of switching all my services to Sky.

I pay for BT Option 1, ntl 10Mbps. I want to get Digital TV but pay as little as possible for a decent service.

So, i've ben on Sky's site, they offer 16Mbps Broadband, 6 mixes & Unlimited calls, i'll copy and paste from their site:

Up to 128 digital channels
More than 200 free-to-air channels
Free daytime and evening and weekend and international calls
No contract
Up to 16Mb download speed
Unlimited monthly usage allowance
All this is £47 per month, is this a good deal and i HAVE included the price of line rental in the price i stated.

Please only fair judging, i don't want to be dissapointed in their broadband.

Also, what would really help me is, if i do get this 16Mbps broadband, what speeds would i get. it says:

You are approximately 780 metres from the exchange (straight line distance).

I also use P2P software such as Morpheus & torrents using private trackers, do they in anyway limit or block my usage of these services, if so, how and what times if they do?

Thanks a lot of any info, and sorry its so much! I just dont want to be bind into a 12 month contract and not be able to switch back to my good ol m8 ntl!

[>DiN<]

Yea me also want to know what speeds i will get with sky broadband max package, im 1.60KM from my exchange, and i also use torrents!

and also what do they mean by:

You can now get any of the Sky Broadband products detailed below. They’re very popular and subject to availability, so don’t delay.

Sky Broadband Max – up to 16Mb** download speed and unlimited usage*** for only £10 a month*. Enjoy almost limitless*** movies, music and sports clips, plus online game playing.

[Paul K]

Limitless apart from the acceptable usage policy which will state that if you hammer your connection you may well find yourself traffic shaped

[Central]

Originally Posted by Paul

Limitless apart from the acceptable usage policy which will state that if you hammer your connection you may well find yourself traffic shaped

Like Cable

[handyman]

Hmm I'm coming to the conclusion that either the contention is really high or they traffic shape to buggery. My torrents are 5-10kbs max till 12pm then they shoot upwards of 100kbs.

I am some way from the exchange which is which the line syncs at 1.6mb only so by my (ntl) expectations I should be hitting at least 180-200kbs. Even the old ntl 512k service was able to hit 70kbs reliably.

Also in the 24hours since getting online the netgear router has needed rebooting 10+ times. Had to move it to the kitchen so its right in the draft. A couple more days of this and they can stick it where the sun don't shine.

There is no way I would have sky anything over Virgin given the choice.

[Central]

Originally Posted by handyman

Hmm I'm coming to the conclusion that either the contention is really high or they traffic shape to buggery. My torrents are 5-10kbs max till 12pm then they shoot upwards of 100kbs.

I am some way from the exchange which is which the line syncs at 1.6mb only so by my (ntl) expectations I should be hitting at least 180-200kbs. Even the old ntl 512k service was able to hit 70kbs reliably.

Also in the 24hours since getting online the netgear router has needed rebooting 10+ times. Had to move it to the kitchen so its right in the draft. A couple more days of this and they can stick it where the sun don't shine.

There is no way I would have sky anything over Virgin given the choice.

Dont forget to take the overheads off that 1.6 sync speed.

[Carl J]

Originally Posted by Paul

Limitless apart from the acceptable usage policy which will state that if you hammer your connection you may well find yourself traffic shaped

Care to show any examples of people who have hammered their connections and found themselves shaped as in your opinon people who do so 'may well' find this happens to them, or would it be more accurate to say that the AUP leaves the possibility of this action open but doesn't say anything to suggest it 'may well' happen?

This isn't Virgin Media where downloading too much in the wrong place at the wrong time results in being cut to half speed ya know

---------- Post added at 22:45 ---------- Previous post was at 22:42 ----------

Originally Posted by handyman

Hmm I'm coming to the conclusion that either the contention is really high or they traffic shape to buggery. My torrents are 5-10kbs max till 12pm then they shoot upwards of 100kbs.

If you're on Connect then yes you're shaped on P2P, if you're not then no you aren't and no there is no visible contention.

I am some way from the exchange which is which the line syncs at 1.6mb only so by my (ntl) expectations I should be hitting at least 180-200kbs. Even the old ntl 512k service was able to hit 70kbs reliably.

ADSL has more visible overheads. The old ntl 512k service was actually 600k and actually ate up a fair bit more of the equivalent of 'sync' rate than this but you didn't see it. on 1.6Mbit sync I'd expect you to get perhaps 160kB/s.

Also in the 24hours since getting online the netgear router has needed rebooting 10+ times. Had to move it to the kitchen so its right in the draft. A couple more days of this and they can stick it where the sun don't shine.

There is no way I would have sky anything over Virgin given the choice.

If the router is overheating that's bad, it should be fine. Find out if you're on LLU or not and I may be able to assist.

---------- Post added at 22:49 ---------- Previous post was at 22:45 ----------

Originally Posted by Zee

I'm calling 0207 032 6352 to avoid costs, could this be the reason why i'm waiting so long?

Probably.

Also, what would really help me is, if i do get this 16Mbps broadband, what speeds would i get. it says:

You are approximately 780 metres from the exchange (straight line distance).

If you're 'on-net' and able to take the 16Mbit product you should see about 13Mbit 'usable' so download speeds of 1,500kB/s and upwards.

I also use P2P software such as Morpheus & torrents using private trackers, do they in anyway limit or block my usage of these services, if so, how and what times if they do?

Not on the 16Mbit product at all, the Connect package does have shaping of P2P.

Thanks a lot of any info, and sorry its so much! I just dont want to be bind into a 12 month contract and not be able to switch back to my good ol m8 ntl!

You're welcome.

[Tezcatlipoca]

Originally Posted by handyman

Hmm I'm coming to the conclusion that either the contention is really high or they traffic shape to buggery. My torrents are 5-10kbs max till 12pm then they shoot upwards of 100kbs.

I downloaded a couple of gigs on Tuesday using my Sky BB connection (erm...Linux distros?... ), & Azureus was happily downloading away at a total of 400 KB/sec in the evening (could've gone faster, but that's what I set the limit at).

[Zee]

Carl J, thank you very much!

I may stick to ntl now, since they are soon to offer 20Mbps connections, we'll see anyway.

[concepttwenty20]

it has just finished the trial