Sky Broadband

Originally Posted by Neil

They can't provide the 10Mb customers with a stable connection yet.

mines been stable except for the dos attacks all along

[James Henry]

Originally Posted by cookie_365

Am I right in thinking that if I go for the Max option (the only unlimited one) I have to pay:

• £10 a month for the BB
• £12 a month for the BT phoneline
• £5 a month for Sky Talk
• £15 a month for the basic Sky digi TV package

Since I've long since dumped my landline phone (email & free mobile minutes do me) that doesn't look too competitive against £25 pm NTL BB.

Or am I missing something?

The Sky Talk part is optional, the rest you are right.

On the other hand, most people do tend to have a landline still, and the majority watch pay TV. You are in a big minority.

Also if we compare like for like you're talking £35 / month for unlimited 10Mbit on cable vs £37/month for unlimited up to 22Mbit with basic digital TV and a telephone line.

It might not suit you but with the packages as they stand the vast majority would be better off with the Sky deal, that's an indisputable fact.

Just to prove the point, 10Mbit broadband + Talk Weekend + TV Base Pack = £34.99 + £11 + £11.50 = £57.49, 4Mbit broadband + Talk Weekend + TV Base Pack = £47.49.

When you compare those to the Sky deal with Sky Talk and the up to 22Mbit uncapped the ntl deals look less attractive.

Think about it this way though, without the TV package the Sky deal is £27 for an uncapped 22MBit and a phone line, and it's only available to Sky subscribers so from your point of view it's a complete non-issue anyway!

Can't please everyone, but if you're a Sky subscriber in an unbundled area it's a non-issue, if you're in an unbundled area, would like a PVR or interactive that works or HD but stay with ntl for the broadband, the choice is clear. Sky will be attacking ntl on the fronts of both the triple play and the people who take Sky's TV but ntl's broadband.

All the above said, if you don't have or want a landline, and don't have or want Pay TV, cable broadband a la carte is the best deal. For all the people who like all three and are in an unbundled area Sky is almost certainly the best choice, for people who want TV and broadband only, Sky may not be a better option now that ntl have released the restriction forcing people who take TV to take a phone line as well.

[Stop It]

Am I the only one NOT wanting a price war here? In the last few years prices have been tumbling, and with it, service is going with it, Sky are sinking a lot of money into this, as are CarphoneWarehouse and France Telecom, they will want a return from it, in the end, we, the customer, will pay for this price war, in one way or another.

I hope if ntl choose to act, I hope its not a knee-jerk reaction, and is something measured and affordable to the company, if not, I see service going downhill, and after 3 years of excellent service, I dont want to see it go tits-up just to pay a few less pennies every month.

Anyway, good luck to Sky, but Ill give this a miss for the moment, if reports come back positively, I may enquire, though, (Which, is unlike what I've heard about TalkTalk "Free" broadband, I wanted to sign up, had a 3 month lead time, then I heard some horror stories, no thanks :/).

[zoombini]

The £50 installation appears to be optional as you can install the modem yourself.

But IMO the big drawback there is mcafees suite!

Why get Broadband then slow your PC down with that crud? lol

I'm going to wait like stop it.

Zoom

Originally Posted by Neil

They can't provide the 10Mb customers with a stable connection yet.

Another sweeping, inaccurate, statement.

Mine is perfectly stable, and always has been - and no, that's not unique or unusual in this area.

* Is every BT connection stable ? No, of course not.
* Will everyone who signs upto Sky actually get 22 (or even 16) Mbit ? No.


It looks like it may be a good deal, and I shall be looking carefully at it, but it's not going to suit everyone.

My main problem atm is that I have no BT line, so do I really want to swap to a possibly dodgy (overhead fed) BT line, from my nice stable underground ntl line. That's before I even look at the other possible advantages/drawbacks.

Originally Posted by Paul M

Another sweeping, inaccurate, statement.

Mine is perfectly stable, and always has been - and no, that's not unique or unusual in this area.

* Is every BT connection stable ? No, of course not.
* Will everyone who signs upto Sky actually get 22 (or even 16) Mbit ? No.


It looks like it may be a good deal, and I shall be looking carefully at it, but it's not going to suit everyone.

My main problem atm is that I have no BT line, so do I really want to swap to a possibly dodgy (overhead fed) BT line, from my nice stable underground ntl line. That's before I even look at the other possible advantages/drawbacks.

It was just a automatic I hate NTL statement from someone that Hates all things NTL.
I get 10 meg for 98% of the day. Stable connection, Faster connection than was capable on my crappy BT line via adslmax "4meg max on my BT oh so advanced BT never goes wrong line"

[Paul K]

Originally Posted by zoombini

The £50 installation appears to be optional as you can install the modem yourself.

But IMO the big drawback there is mcafees suite!

Why get Broadband then slow your PC down with that crud? lol

I'm going to wait like stop it.

Zoom

Think the Mcaffee will be an install if you want option too, I must say I'm tempted since we already have a BT line. Think we'll wait for the appearance of a FreeSkyBroadbandHell site before we decide

[Tezcatlipoca]

This is soooo tempting....

Currently have a BT landline, Firefly 2meg ADSL, & Sky Digital.

Got another 6 months left on the FF BB contract though, so can't change to anyone else yet. Still, it's another option to choose from when my contract runs out next year.

[James Henry]

Originally Posted by Paul M

My main problem atm is that I have no BT line, so do I really want to swap to a possibly dodgy (overhead fed) BT line, from my nice stable underground ntl line. That's before I even look at the other possible advantages/drawbacks.

That's also a bit of a sweeping statement. Most of the cable in North America is overhead, overhead doesn't mean dodgy by default

A few good points though, both have their upside and downside without a doubt. At present though I would say its' undeniable that ntl will need to provide a response to this as the current packages aren't competitive.

[Rough.D]

BB war




About time

[kronas]

Originally Posted by Rough.D

BB war




About time

hell yeah!

i currently have the 10mbit service from NTL thats all.....16mbit for a tenner per month id be crazy not to take that up

£34.99 for 10mbit or 16mbit for £10 hmmmm.....already have a BT line and sky!

[Gareth]

Originally Posted by kronas

hell yeah!

i currently have the 10mbit service from NTL thats all.....16mbit for a tenner per month id be crazy not to take that up

£34.99 for 10mbit or 16mbit for £10 hmmmm.....already have a BT line and sky!

What he said... need to check it out a bit more, but as I already have the BT line and Sky Digital (both of which work so much better than the service I was getting from NTL that it's a wonder I stuck with NTL as long as I did... and no more dealing with NTL's call centre muppets either - yippee!!!), that's 2 marks in the check boxes already

[etccarmageddon]

remember you can only get 2mb 8meg 16meg etc on ADSL if you are close enough to the exchange.

For those that think they will get the full speed on ADSL i suggest you put you BT number in here and check. I bet most of you will get 4 meg or less.

I have just spent 3 very annoying months on ADSL and in the end i could not get above 4 meg with any of the providers.

here are my sam knows results for you to look at.



BT ADSL broadband availability
You are connected to the Warrington telephone exchange.

ADSL is available in your areaYour exchange is also enabled for ADSL Max services
According to BT Wholesale, your line should be able to support a 4.5Mbps or greater ADSL connection via ADSL Max.

Standard ADSL RAG results:
You can receive 2Mbps ADSL
You can receive 1Mbps ADSL
You can receive 512Kbps ADSL
You can receive 256Kbps ADSL

You are approximately 1.38km from the exchange (straight line distance)


1.38km and i could only get 4 meg. I can see the roof of the exchange from my back windows for gods sake.



I get this from Wanadoo


Phone number 019254***** can receive broadband at speeds of up to 2Meg.




And this from Ukonline aka SKY Broadband.

Due to overwhelming demand for our services in your area, we will be delivering your services using BT's network. Currently £9.99 Broadband and 22Mb Broadband is not available in your area. We anticipate being able to offer these services soon. You can however still choose from our great unlimited broadband services below.

So thats no ADSLmax and NO ADSL2+

Been like that for over 3 months now




And remember all of these speeds are for a BT line that is 1.35km line of sight 2.4 km true distance.

And finally for those that need more info look here for information on ADSL HELL

Originally Posted by James Henry

That's also a bit of a sweeping statement.

There is nothing sweeping about it - I never said anything about all BT lines, I was clearly referring to my BT overhead fed line, which was very dodgy before I moved to ntl (and is one of the reasons I moved).