Two weeks to activation

I've just signed up to Sky Superfast with Talk Anytime for their £25/month for 18 months deal, which is just about half what I'm paying with Plusnet, so I thought worth a crack. In addition, I expect to get cashback which is showing as tracked. Excellent!

Quick question though: is it normal to take two weeks to activate the service on an existing line with fibre already active? I'm out of contract, etc. I was expecting a few days, just enough time for the Sky router to arrive in the post...

Sounds about right. Ofcom require a 10 working day notification period to ensure that lines aren't slammed. You should get a letter telling you an order has been placed and that you have 10 days to stop it. That means that all migration orders take at least 10 working days so 2 weeks isn't bad at all (actually it is as quick as it can be).

EDIT : Clarified it is working days

Edited by ian72 (Thu 30-Jan-20 14:39:18)

Thanks, I was being impatient!

In reply to a post by aks:

just enough time for the Sky router to arrive in the post...

Speaking of allowing time for delivery, when I ordered Plusnet I checked with them with three days to go whether my router had been ordered, and it hadn't. I'd have been without broadband for three days unless I had chased it up...

Cheers, I�ll get on to them if I don�t see the new router next week, although I�ll probably use my own.

Took 2 weeks for my line to migrate from BT to EE. FTTC to FTTC.

The Sky router (SR203 black) arrived yesterday - I received an email update Friday that it had been posted, so quick delivery once sent.

Thursday is go live, I'll faff about with the router a bit between now and then, check out the router UI and WiFi range compared to my Netgear D7000v2.

In reply to a post by aks:

The Sky router (SR203 black) arrived yesterday

Did you have to sign up to 'Sky Broadband Boost' to get the Sky SR203 router?

No, only Superfast BB (£25/month inc Anytime calls).

Looks like the phone is going to be using Sky's VoIP service. It's the only reason they supply the SR203 without having to sign up to the Broadband Boost option.

I did not sign up to that specifically, but the instructions included within the box did indicate to plug my telephone in to the router rather that the main BT wall socket. We�ll see come Thursday.

In reply to a post by simon194:

Looks like the phone is going to be using Sky's VoIP service. It's the only reason they supply the SR203 without having to sign up to the Broadband Boost option.

I upgraded to superfast fibre from sky ADSL and just have the PAYG phone service with sky, but they would not give me a new router unless the BB boost was purchased. I have to make do with the SR102 for now.

The Sky router (SR203) is very basic, as far as I can tell so far it has limited configuration, no guest WiFi, no device blocking, etc. It does allow device IP address reservation, which I use for specific devices like NASs, but that's about it. It should just plug-and-go, which is probably what most people want. The WiFi signal appears good, comparable with Netgear D7000v2 in terms of signal strength, if not a little stronger. I have not checked throughput. I'll check stability once my line is active.

You can get a decent router for about £100, that may be a better option, and it will likely last for years. Check the DSL Hardware area for recommendations.

Edited by aks (Tue 11-Feb-20 11:24:26)

Yep, the service activated smoothly and I am actually on the Sky VoIP telephone service. Although my BT master socket has dial-tone, it does not accept or allow calls. Plugging the phone in to the router enables calls (obviously), however, I did not anticipate this was the service that I was getting!

Curious that Sky are not making this more obvious. Some people still use hard-wired telephone extension sockets and such which would stop working. And the router's location may not be the most convenient spot for the DECT telephone base station.

Yes indeed, but in my case the Dect base station and master phone sit very close to my router. However, I wanted the flexibility of using my own router if I chose to do so, and that's now more tricky. I have a Netgear D7000, it does not have VoIP, but we could argue that an alternative router would be better than the D7000 or indeed the SR203 may be better at some level.

I do recall "accepting" a condition wrt the Talk Anytime terms, but I assumed these were generic conditions alerting you to the fact that VoIP requires the broadband service and power, i.e. cannot be relied upon for emergency calls. Since I had no choice in this selection, I incorrectly assumed that my regular PSTN line would continue to work as was the case for every supplier up to now. I don't think I can change anything from my side, or my account on the Sky portal.

There is a silver lining here too: calls with the VoIP service seem to have no 'noise' or crackles, kind of expect total silence with a digital service, and this sometimes annoyed my wife to death !

I hadn't considered the use of one's own router, that's true also. That said, Sky has never been much of a friend to those wanting to use their own routers! The stipulation has been removed from the Sky T&C and several routers now support WAN DHCP option 61, but that's scant consolation to those who wish to use the phone service.

Yes that's true, and I did investigate the use of my own router and decided that I could get that sorted, even with the D7000!

I just googled this and found a similar thread on the Sky forums, specifically this comment "I was suprised to find that my line had been moved to SOGEA/Voip. I am ex telecom so this wasn't much of a problem, but the issue I'm having is that, Sky didn't inform me that this is happening!". It seems to be a bit of a secret 'catch you out' (or should that be "trap you") !

Sky have a somewhat belated FAQ here: https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Talk/Internet-Calls/td-...

Cheers, they must have received a few calls from confused customers .

I've also started a new thread in the VoIP area to discuss a full switchover, since this is the first time I've ever considered VoIP and have no clue what the issues are.

This appears to be their new standard product ... with , wherever possible, SOGEA being the first choice of product.

I suppose it makes sense from a business point of view, adopt early, and be ahead of the game when this service becomes the norm.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

This appears to be their new standard product ... with , wherever possible, SOGEA being the first choice of product.

I suppose it makes sense from a business point of view, adopt early, and be ahead of the game when this service becomes the norm.

It does seem to be the sensible approach considering the planned PSTN demise in 2025

The only downside of Sky's VoIP service is that Talk Shield apparently doesn't work and Sky, as usual, won't confirm if the issue is being worked on.

In reply to a post by simon194:

The only downside of Sky's VoIP service is that Talk Shield apparently doesn't work and Sky, as usual, won't confirm if the issue is being worked on.

I would be surprised if they aren't attempting to get it up and running on VOIP, if they aren't they should be making that clear when someone orders as its a important selling feature for some people.

In reply to a post by dect:

would be surprised if they aren't attempting to get it up and running on VOIP, if they aren't they should be making that clear when someone orders as its a important selling feature for some people.

Curious they omitted this feature. I assume other features like voicemail are operational.

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

Curious they omitted this feature. I assume other features like voicemail are operational.

Maybe someone with Sky VOIP can confirm what features are/are not available.

In reply to a post by dect:

Maybe someone with Sky VOIP can confirm what features are/are not available.

There is already a precedent for this, those on non-LLU exchanges can't get Sky Talk Shield. No excuse for not implementing it on their VoIP network though.

In reply to a post by aks:

Yep, the service activated smoothly and I am actually on the Sky VoIP telephone service. Although my BT master socket has dial-tone, it does not accept or allow calls. Plugging the phone in to the router enables calls (obviously), however, I did not anticipate this was the service that I was getting!

This thread has got me thinking! I have recently discovered that I can now order Sky FTTC broadband at an address that is connected to a small exchange that most likely does not have an Sky LLU equipment. In the past, I have not been able to place an order despite receiving Sky adverts in the letterbox.

I suspect this is because Sky have introduced their voip phone service. I think that Sky should make it clear that their phone service would not work in a power cut.

I actually can't order the Sky ADSL service. Talk Talk is still not available

Edited by Michael_Chare (Mon 17-Feb-20 18:19:57)

In reply to a post by Michael_Chare:

I have recently discovered that I can now order Sky FTTC broadband at an address that is connected to a small exchange that most likely does have an Sky LLU equipment.

It may not. Smaller exchanges offering fibre are often not LLU, but are connected to an exchange which is. The phone service at those exchanges is WLR3.

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

In reply to a post by Michael_Chare:

I have recently discovered that I can now order Sky FTTC broadband at an address that is connected to a small exchange that most likely does have an Sky LLU equipment.

It may not. Smaller exchanges offering fibre are often not LLU, but are connected to an exchange which is. The phone service at those exchanges is WLR3.

Indeed, I missed a word out!

In reply to a post by Michael_Chare:

Indeed, I missed a word out!

Ah! Nevertheless my point stands, WLR3 was already used for non-LLU fibre customers before VoIP came along, although SOGEA will certainly make those customers more profitable.