Tied to Sky Broadband?

Hi,

I've just come to the end of a 12 month deal with Sky for Fibre Unlimited Pro and so starting looking around for alternative options to get a better deal. Usually, calling Sky to tell them this is enough to get them to come up with a new offer so that you'll stay, but they said they couldn't offer me anything.

I looked at some options online and Plus.net looked like the best deal. I was with them before Sky (at a previous address) and never had any problems with them, so I went ahead and started the process of ordering a package from them. I hit a problem on the sign up in that it said I didn't have fibre available at my address, so I gave Plus.net a call. I'm no expert on any of this stuff but the Plus.net guy rambled on a lot about local loop unbundling and effectlively said Sky is my only option.

I don't really understand this, so I'm wondering if one of you can enlighten me! I just find it odd that I have an existing fibre service, apparently provided over a BT line (in fact, I had to have the cable between my house and the telegraph pole moved due to building work recently and Sky had me call Openreach directly to carry out the work because they said they owned the infrastructure) But it seems that my only option for a fibre broadband service is Sky. I thought the whole point of LLU was to open up the market for other providers, so I find it odd that I apparently have no choice! It might also explain why Sky didn't seem to want to offer me another deal, perhaps knowing that I don't have any options.

Cheers,
Mark.

What does the dslchecker say for your address? http://www.dslchecker.bt.com/adsl/ADSLChecker.addres...

It does seem to be a complete mess once you have full LLU with Sky or TalkTalk. I can't understand it; even less can I understand why OFCOM have allowed this situation to arise, or it allowing in the first place was an oversight why they have allowed it to continue for quite a long time. I'm not sure whether the process is fundamentally broken, or whether Sky are being allowed to get away with intentional subversion of the process.

There is a similar active thread with comments from people who know (MrSaffron and RobertoS); but I can't understand this either. http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/plusnet/f/4369829-t...


I have read in that past that it can even be easiest to get a new line installed (as long as you don't mind losing your telephone number).

Whatever, good luck.

I suspect the check BatBoy has suggested won't come up with much helpful, as you already know what you can theoretically get. The equivalent check using phone number son't come up with anything as the line is in some sense 'not a BT line'

Edited by StephenTodd (Sat 08-Nov-14 12:10:35)

DSL checker says this:


High Low High Low
FTTC Range A (Clean) 80 77.2 20 20 -- 19-Nov-14
FTTC Range B (Impacted) 80 69.8 20 17.7 -- 19-Nov-14

WBC ADSL 2+ Up to 8 -- 5.5 to 12.5 Available
WBC ADSL 2+ Annex M Up to 8 Up to 1 5.5 to 12.5 Available
ADSL Max Up to 5.5 -- 4.5 to 8 Available
WBC Fixed Rate 2 -- -- Available
Fixed Rate 2 -- -- Available
Other Offerings
Fibre Multicast -- -- -- 19-Nov-14
Copper Multicast -- -- -- Available

Should I read anything into that 19th November availability date for FTTC?

Cheers,
Mark.

If you look at the text under the speeds box, it should give a reason why FTTC is not available at the moment.

Sorry, yes the text underneath says FTTC is currently unavailable because "Sorry your cabinet is temporarily unavailable, capacity will be restored as soon as possible.".

So, what does that actually mean?

The cause for my confusion here is that I have fibre broadband right now, so I just don't understand why ISP's and online checker tools are telling me that I don't and why I apparently don't have any other ISP choice than Sky.

I moved to my current address and took the fibre service when I moved in (where I lived previously was semi-rural and only had ADSL) I'd switched to Sky as they'd offered me a free broadband deal as an existing Sky TV customer. Previously I'd been with Plus.net and was happy with them, but you can't beat free

Cheers,
Mark.

It means the cabinet is full or waiting for an extra line card. Wait until more capacity available and moving phone and broadband to others becomes simpler

Ok cool. There is a mention of FTTC being available on 19th Nov on the DSL checker, so maybe I'll give it a couple of weeks and then see if anything changes.

Thanks for your help!

Cheers,
Mark.

That can change daily, so I advise you to check it every day.

There used to be a problem moving Sky to Plusnet but I think that is now sorted. The phone person you spoke to at Plusnet may be one of the many new recruits, and got confused by your number not showing up on his checker. As you say earlier, with being full LLU phone it is no longer a "BT line".

Even now, I'm not sure on moves from full LLU Plusnet don't migrate you to ADSL2+ even though you are already on FTTC, then upgrade you to FTTC a couple of weeks later. I think it might have been a difficulty in the Openreach ordering system.

When you come to order it would be a good idea to get one of the Plusnet forum reps involved.