Sky are incompetent

Sky took my order on 16th August for Unliimited Fibre Pro service and the Sky Talk phoneline. They sent me paperwork and text messages saying it would all occur today 4th September.

Today I've had no Openreach engineer and when I ring up to check the Sky agent goes away to check and finds out that Openreach had cancelled the order saying "no cabinet capacity" within a few hours of my order being placed.

The ordering system had failed to update from this information and had not been able to notify me, as the customer - and the order had progressed through the ordering system although Openreach hadn't accepted the order. Sky can't cancel on their odering system today, but will cancel as soon as possible, and will let me know tomorrow.

I just spoke to BT regarding my voice line and they've confirmed no order has been placed to move, as the order was rejected from Sky it hasn't affected my voice line.

And today I get an advertisement in the post offering BT Infinity is now available in my road.

Great :-/

(edit - typos)

Edited by jchamier (Tue 04-Sep-12 13:48:56)

Maybe you should have gone with Infinity?

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

Maybe you should have gone with Infinity?

Just ordered it !!

It's odd that Sky have no capacity, perhaps BT reserved them all?

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

It's odd that Sky have no capacity, perhaps BT reserved them all?

You'd have thought Ofcom wouldn't be happy about that - the only guess she had was that they get only a few ports in each cabinet. Surprising since cab was new and went live 16th Aug.

No doubt you'll be tracking your Infinity order like a hawk.

That's just sick, after all your waiting and anticipation .

I expect new capacity has been added since then. Which may have triggered the BT adverts.

And what Sky should have done is just re-submit order.

Openreach "no cabinet capacity" = Due to weather and holidays we are struggling to cope.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

That's just sick, after all your waiting and anticipation .
I expect new capacity has been added since then. Which may have triggered the BT adverts.

Very annoying and I'd be VERY surprised the cab is out of ports given the amount of WiFi around here with "VirginMedia_????" SSIDs. The majority of people are on VM.

Also its the only cab in the area that wasn't live until recently :-/ Bring on BT Infinity and the 18month contract

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

And what Sky should have done is just re-submit order.

Yep - or called or emailed me to let me know the order was rejected by Openreach. Its that inability to contact me which is why I'm giving up with them.

Is it that there are no free FTTC ports available in the cab at all, or there are no ports free "allocated to SKY" or just the cab is not playing ball?

Sorry could not work out from posts above.

In reply to a post by iand:

Is it that there are no free FTTC ports available in the cab at all, or there are no ports free "allocated to SKY" or just the cab is not playing ball? Sorry could not work out from posts above.

I think its neither - but Sky claimed no free ports allocated to them. BT have accepted my order about 30mins later without issue so far.

I think its a systems screw up as the cab only went live on the day I placed the order. Somewhere in openreach/wholesale probably hadn't registered it was live properly but reported the "out of ports" message.

Shame you did not go back to sky and re-order. Would have been interesting to find out if Openreach are "allocating" to ISP's or not.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

Just ordered it !!

You'll be OK with BT, even with an 18 month contract. I have already extended mine by another 18 months to get the "free" upgrade to 80/20 broadband.

Whilst typing this I am watching my download meter in another app show me downloading something at 82.3Mbps/10.3MBps - not bad going really as I was originally rejected for 512Kbps ADSL in 2001 on this same line.

In reply to a post by iand:

Shame you did not go back to sky and re-order. Would have been interesting to find out if Openreach are "allocating" to ISP's or not.

I asked the agent but she said I would have to wait a few weeks and try again - and I don't want to be without internet that long.

In reply to a post by Squirrel:

You'll be OK with BT, even with an 18 month contract. I have already extended mine by another 18 months to get the "free" upgrade to 80/20 broadband.

Whilst typing this I am watching my download meter in another app show me downloading something at 82.3Mbps/10.3MBps - not bad going really as I was originally rejected for 512Kbps ADSL in 2001 on this same line.

Good to know thanks

did the sky website show the install date on the website during this time, or did you never look there?

Just interested if we can trust the sky.com order status page or not

In reply to a post by Kr1s69:

did the sky website show the install date on the website during this time, or did you never look there?
Just interested if we can trust the sky.com order status page or not

It always showed "If you are experiencing difficulties with your order, please call Sky Customer Services on 08442 410 515." in RED, which is why I called up twice last week and the call centre said everything looked good on their system. Problem is that Sky have their own system, and an Openreach system which had rejected me.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

That's just sick, after all your waiting and anticipation .
I expect new capacity has been added since then. Which may have triggered the BT adverts.

Very annoying and I'd be VERY surprised the cab is out of ports given the amount of WiFi around here with "VirginMedia_????" SSIDs. The majority of people are on VM.

Also its the only cab in the area that wasn't live until recently :-/ Bring on BT Infinity and the 18month contract

Hope you enjoy all the BT throttling and usage allowances

As was said earlier, OfCom would get rather excited if Openreach were allocating ports on anything other than a first come, first served basis.

It is possible Sky themselves limit the number of ports on their exchange kit allocated to GEA. Or, (no idea if this could be so or not), the GEA link they have provisioned there was full up. In which case they shouldn't be accepting orders, but Openreach would detect the position.

In reply to a post by dave2150:

Hope you enjoy all the BT throttling and usage allowances

Given I've got no real (affordable) choice for my usage between Sky Fibre or BT Infinity - and I can't have Sky fibre, I'l taking the calculated risk. I've got 18month to regret it

GEA link is just some fibre, so should be able to take all data from all ports on an cabinet, so not the GEA link is full.

Now sky might have got their own backhaul filling up and wanted to delay install until an uplift to Gigabit or 10GigE was in place.

Other than conspiracy it makes no sense, as better to sell the ports to who asks first, as all providers are equal as far as they are concerned and more ports in use helps Openreach financials

OK. That leaves your backhaul thoughts, and my (similar) one about limiting how many fibre connections they allow on their DSLAM.

Simplest solution is often the best and that would be the Sky ordered so soon after cab went live that the order systems somewhere rejected it. Then an hour or two later the live orders started to be taken...

Hope you enjoy all the BT throttling and usage allowances <img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" alt="laugh" />


Which throttling and usage allowance would that be, Dave?

He must be on about p2p throttling

.... and isnt aware that Infinity 2 is "unlimited" so, in theory, there are no usage allowances

Plenty of former BE users have jumped to BT Infinity and they seem generally happy, and they are pretty particular about their broadband.

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

Plenty of former BE users have jumped to BT Infinity and they seem generally happy, and they are pretty particular about their broadband.

Some might say "passionate" about broadband

Yes Bat,as I don't get involvedi n that myself, I never thought about it.
Still pondering over my own Infinity.
Tested 6 times over yesterday and today - 4> 50meg & 2< 20meg. Not sure what BT's phone call this evening will say.....
Cheers,Les.

I agree and suspect not. sell sell sell is the game in town.

In reply to a post by dave2150:

Hope you enjoy all the BT throttling and usage allowances

Most odd, perhaps you can enlighten me as to what my unlimited allowance is and why I can download at 80Mbps any time of the day or night. I am so disappointed that I am not being throttled or subject to usage allowance, in fact I feel cheated.

In reply to a post by Squirrel:

In reply to a post by dave2150:

Hope you enjoy all the BT throttling and usage allowances

Most odd, perhaps you can enlighten me as to what my unlimited allowance is and why I can download at 80Mbps any time of the day or night. I am so disappointed that I am not being throttled or subject to usage allowance, in fact I feel cheated.

It's a well known fact that BT throttle torrents and usenet services. I believe its also in your terms of service that they throttle to improve the service for others.

Take a look on the BT forums and the many threads of people complaining about throttling speeds, here is one of many:

http://community.bt.com/t5/BT-Infinity/BT-throttling...

Edited by dave2150 (Thu 06-Sep-12 19:39:59)

In reply to a post by dave2150:

It's a well known fact that BT throttle torrents and usenet services. I believe its also in your terms of service that they throttle to improve the service for others.

On signing up I was told they throttle P2P services. Since I never use P2P that is fine by me. I use (text only) usenet but that isn't throttled. Other independent sites say the same.

The only real choices are Sky FTTC or BT FTTC unless you don't use very much or have lots of money.

Edited by jchamier (Thu 06-Sep-12 19:53:21)

250GB 8am-midnight, unlimited midnight to 8am, £19.99pm, with P2P limited to 2Mbps 20:00-22:00 doesn't sound much like "unless you don't use very much or have lots of money" to me .

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

250GB 8am-midnight, unlimited midnight to 8am, £19.99pm, with P2P limited to 2Mbps 20:00-22:00 doesn't sound much like "unless you don't use very much or have lots of money" to me .

Yep, but I've also used PlusNet lines before. A friend of mine is on 80/20 and gets faster speeds than you, but I'm not a fan (or a Yorkshireman).

Still a valid third option of four .

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Still a valid third option of four .

With the Plus/Pro (or whatever its called) add on, suddenly the price is less attractive to Infinity. Also at £19 its pretty much the same price as Sky's 40/10 service.

Plusnet Extra at £19.99 is 80/20, not 40/10, and even for people (unlike you) who use P2P the 2-hour per day restriction is irrelevant. Pro is no longer needed in regard to that aspect.

I'm not saying you should have gone for it, just disputing your statement that I quoted . The choice for the vast majority is not only Infinity or Sky.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

I'm not saying you should have gone for it, just disputing your statement that I quoted . The choice for the vast majority is not only Infinity or Sky.

Agreed - with 250GB a month that is undisputed.

The "newsgroup throttling" is simply that the news server news.btinternet.com is throttled, not the nntp protocol.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by dave2150:

It's a well known fact that BT throttle torrents and usenet services. I believe its also in your terms of service that they throttle to improve the service for others.

On signing up I was told they throttle P2P services. Since I never use P2P that is fine by me. I use (text only) usenet but that isn't throttled. Other independent sites say the same.

The only real choices are Sky FTTC or BT FTTC unless you don't use very much or have lots of money.

sadly this bothers me, I am happy to accept the p2p shaping. The issue is tho I want a static ip and uk isp's are charging inflated premiums for them.

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

sadly this bothers me, I am happy to accept the p2p shaping. The issue is tho I want a static ip and uk isp's are charging inflated premiums for them.

Yes, which makes no sense really on an always on 24x7 broadband connection! That said some ISPs with usage allowances are providing static IP for free or one off payment. Its the huge "consumer" focused brands (e.g. Sky, TalkTalk, BT) who are cheap are the ones with no static option. I've got over my static IP requirement with a VPS.

Subscribe to a DynDNS type service perhaps?

no is mainly to be useful for ACL's, tracking etc.

VPS is an idea I am considering, or using one of my own dedicated servers to proxy connections, although it adds complexity eg. if the VPS goes down.

I am ok with sticky ip services like virgin media where the ip rarely if ever changes but on FTTC I have read too many stories of people changing ip very regurly.

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

no is mainly to be useful for ACL's, tracking etc.

Yes, my parents have this, one of my Dad's customers wants his traffic to come from a static IP, AND use their VPN software. :-/

In reply to a post by jchamier:

Its the huge "consumer" focused brands (e.g. Sky, TalkTalk, BT) who are cheap are the ones with no static option.

I have a static ip address on talktalk's plus package. They do offer them without charge if you ask nicely on the TT forums

Edited by deleted (Wed 12-Sep-12 09:13:17)

In reply to a post by dave2150:

It's a well known fact that BT throttle torrents and usenet services. I believe its also in your terms of service that they throttle to improve the service for others.

Take a look on the BT forums and the many threads of people complaining about throttling speeds, here is one of many:

http://community.bt.com/t5/BT-Infinity/BT-throttling...

BT do throttle torrents, that much is true. However they do not throttle usenet at all.