Thinking of joining Sky - advice please

Hi

I'm currently with BT Option 1, 1MB fixed connection, and thinking of switching to Sky (probably the Mid deal). I'm a fairly light user (just use for normal internet brousing/e-mail, no heavy file sharing etc)

Before I decide, I wanted to ask Sky users if there is any problem with Throttling on Sky (BT throttling all peak hour web traffic is one of the reasons I'm thinking of switching), or any other traffic calming measures (tough "fair use" policies etc) I should know about?

Thanks

No known case of throttling on any of their LLU products

Base, Mid or Max are throttle free.

If you really are a light user (would Sky's Base 2 GB be enough for you?) and you are on a long line (why the 1mb fixed speed with BT?) then I would recommend you go with Base.

If Base is enough for your needs then you won't pay anything on top of your Sky TV sub.

If you find out that Base isn't enough for your needs (or Sky ask you to upgrade your package if your usage is much greater than 2 GB) then you can always upgrade to MID or MAX inside of the 12 months contract.

You can't, however, downgrade within the first 12 months from MAX to MID or MID to Base.

"You can't, however, downgrade within the first 12 months from MAX to MID or MID to Base. "

One user yesterday reported that he was changed from MAX to MID but had to pay the current month at the higher price.

I guess you may be able to get downgraded depending on the situation. I don't think it's policy though to freely allow downgrades.

Still I was kind of offered the option to downgrade to Base today. I had to call Tier 2 as my line is being knocked out when it rains. The guy had looked at the checker and asked if I had considered Base as the line checker informed him that my line would only do 2mb. I said that I had chose MID as I knew that 2 GB wouldn't be enough and that my line was 100% ok at the current 2.5mb speeds except when it rains.

You have to pay a �30 one off fee for any of the broadband packages even if you migrate in, .I did see not long ago it was �40 for base,�20 for mid,and no fee for max but it seems to have changed.

A couple of weeks ago, I found out that my exchange was enabled for Sky LLU back in June, and I was a little dubious about migrating at first, because my ISP at that time was (and still is) considered to be one of the best. However, as I am a Sky TV subscriber, an ADSL2+ connection for �10 a month (�20 cheaper than Zen) was really too good to miss, so I bit the bullet, and held my breath.

Sky are not as fast as Zen for administration, but the migration went through quite smoothly, and my Sky BB went live today. On Zen ADSL, I was sync'ing at around 4160 kbps, and now I'm currently sync'd at 6528 kbps. Not a huge difference, I agree, but it was all quite painless, and I'm �240 a year better off.

So far, so good.......

I know Sky are charging �30 for any type of activation (it would be �30 if you were to get Sky BB, TV and phone at the same time OR just one of the packages at a time).

The previous �40, �20 and �0 charges were just Broadband activation prices. I migrated in July and incurred the �20 charge, if it were a few weeks later it would have been �30.

Anyway, I don't know if Sky charge you to upgrade (or downgrade) once you are already a Sky BB subscriber. I'm guessing that it's quite easy to upgrade and then be charged the higher monthly fee. Downgrading is another matter though.

Don't want to spoil your happy moment but you're unlikely to be on ASDL2+ if your previous connection was ~4mb and current connection is ~6.5mb.

Sky only ever put people on ADSL2+ if they are hitting 8mb on MAX DSL (or if you're near 8mb and can twist there arm to put you on ADSL2+).

What you can do is to post your line stats first, then check out your internal wiring to see if you can increase your speed by reducing any noise.

Edited by deleted (Thu 23-Aug-07 20:48:49)

No chance of squeezing any more from the connection. I've already done the optimum (filtered faceplate, router connected directly to master socket). Even without ADSL2+, it's still performing better than Zen's �30pm package, and is 1.5 mbps faster.