Am I on Sky's SVBN or EasyNet.....?

I joined SKY 3 weeks ago and today i got a letter from Sky telling me my phone & broadband would me moved over to their "new network" on 10th April. I asked them if this is correct as Iam told Iam already on SVBN for broadband because tracert shows sky.bb.com and Iam connected using MER (which iam told is another way too tell) - I got reply saying I have never been on their networks and that the 10-Day DLM will have to be restarted - as far as Im aware I wouldnt have had 10 day DLM (which i did and it took 7 days to finish) previously if I wasnt on SVBN would i? I may be wrong but I thought I read that Easynet Dslams dont have a profiling system (which is what DLM uses) and that they are manually set from day 1.

I have been connected with SKY for almost 1 month, since going live I have been told Iam on SVBN because tracert says sky.bb.com on 2nd hop and using MER to connect (as already mentioned) - but - my phone line (ive been told) is NOT on SVBN because while 150 get sky, 17070 gets a BT Line Test which means its not on Sky's SVBN...

also, my exchange was unbundled only a few months ago, would it not be counter productive to install Easynet Dslams then and the SVBN Msans 4 months later?? doesnt seem to make sense to me?

can anyone tell me what is going on here?

Iam concerned that my sync rate is going to drop from the 18,013k ive got (after asking for it too be uncapped after DLM had finished) back down to 15,000k (or less) that DLM only seemed to manage last time...as DLM always seems to underperform in terms of profiling a line and ringing to get it uncapped is very hit & miss, i may not be so lucky the 2nd time around and have to accept a 13,000k - 15,000k sync rate on my 25db line that is capable of 18,000k

it seems my broadband is on SVBN but my phone is not, SKY say both arent? - I am starting to believe Iam right and the rep can only assume Iam not because I got the standard default switch over letter, even ignoring the facts I tell them stating the tracrt IP address as incorrect?

heeeeelllppp!!!

here is the tracert and connection stats:

Tracing route to www.bbc.net.uk [212.58.246.91]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.0.1
2 25 ms 23 ms 23 ms 5aca9c3e.bb.sky.com
3 24 ms 22 ms 22 ms 10.245.196.241
4 54 ms 35 ms 35 ms 89.200.131.173
5 46 ms 30 ms 31 ms 212.58.238.189
6 * * * Request timed out.
7 41 ms 32 ms 33 ms ae0.er01.cwwtf.bbc.co.uk [132.185.254.93]
8 37 ms 33 ms 35 ms 132.185.255.165
9 32 ms 33 ms 33 ms bbc-vip012.cwwtf.bbc.co.uk [212.58.246.91]

Trace complete.


Port Status TxPkts RxPkts Collisions Tx B/s Rx B/s Up Time
WAN MER 9300974 12690600 0 798 1761 338:35:05
LAN Down 0 0 0 0 0 338:36:20
WLAN Up 12171728 8746436 0 1761 746 338:36:03
ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 18013 kbps 1164 kbps
Line Attenuation 25.5 dB 14.5 dB
Noise Margin 6.5 dB 8.7 dB

Edited by paulb100 (Mon 19-Mar-12 22:55:23)

Firstly what router are you using and what do you mean by SVBN (Sky Virtual Broadband Network)?

The fact that Sly BB appears as the second hop does not necessarily mean that you are connected to a Sky DSLAM, it just means that your traffic is being handed off to a Sky edge router.

You could try putting your phone number into the BT speedtester at http://www.speedtester.bt.com, if the lookup fails you are likely to be LLU, if not you are using a BT ADSL tail to reach Sky.

In reply to a post by paulb100:

I joined SKY 3 weeks ago and today i got a letter from Sky telling me my phone & broadband would me moved over to their "new network" on 10th April. I asked them if this is correct as Iam told Iam already on SVBN for broadband because tracert shows sky.bb.com and Iam connected using MER (which iam told is another way too tell) - I got reply saying I have never been on their networks and that the 10-Day DLM will have to be restarted - as far as Im aware I wouldnt have had 10 day DLM (which i did and it took 7 days to finish) previously if I wasnt on SVBN would i? I may be wrong but I thought I read that Easynet Dslams dont have a profiling system (which is what DLM uses) and that they are manually set from day 1.

I have been connected with SKY for almost 1 month, since going live I have been told Iam on SVBN because tracert says sky.bb.com on 2nd hop and using MER to connect (as already mentioned) - but - my phone line (ive been told) is NOT on SVBN because while 150 get sky, 17070 gets a BT Line Test which means its not on Sky's SVBN...

also, my exchange was unbundled only a few months ago, would it not be counter productive to install Easynet Dslams then and the SVBN Msans 4 months later?? doesnt seem to make sense to me?

can anyone tell me what is going on here?

Iam concerned that my sync rate is going to drop from the 18,013k ive got (after asking for it too be uncapped after DLM had finished) back down to 15,000k (or less) that DLM only seemed to manage last time...as DLM always seems to underperform in terms of profiling a line and ringing to get it uncapped is very hit & miss, i may not be so lucky the 2nd time around and have to accept a 13,000k - 15,000k sync rate on my 25db line that is capable of 18,000k

it seems my broadband is on SVBN but my phone is not, SKY say both arent? - I am starting to believe Iam right and the rep can only assume Iam not because I got the standard default switch over letter, even ignoring the facts I tell them stating the tracrt IP address as incorrect?

heeeeelllppp!!!

here is the tracert and connection stats:

Tracing route to www.bbc.net.uk [212.58.246.91]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.0.1
2 25 ms 23 ms 23 ms 5aca9c3e.bb.sky.com
3 24 ms 22 ms 22 ms 10.245.196.241
4 54 ms 35 ms 35 ms 89.200.131.173
5 46 ms 30 ms 31 ms 212.58.238.189
6 * * * Request timed out.
7 41 ms 32 ms 33 ms ae0.er01.cwwtf.bbc.co.uk [132.185.254.93]
8 37 ms 33 ms 35 ms 132.185.255.165
9 32 ms 33 ms 33 ms bbc-vip012.cwwtf.bbc.co.uk [212.58.246.91]

Trace complete.


Port Status TxPkts RxPkts Collisions Tx B/s Rx B/s Up Time
WAN MER 9300974 12690600 0 798 1761 338:35:05
LAN Down 0 0 0 0 0 338:36:20
WLAN Up 12171728 8746436 0 1761 746 338:36:03
ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 18013 kbps 1164 kbps
Line Attenuation 25.5 dB 14.5 dB
Noise Margin 6.5 dB 8.7 dB

The old easynet exchange kit would usually be named cr0(exchange name abbreviation).uk.easynet.net the line cards in those had conexant chipsets , and routers with the same chipset brand saw a significant increase in sync speeds

In reply to a post by techguy:

Firstly what router are you using and what do you mean by SVBN (Sky Virtual Broadband Network)?

The fact that Sly BB appears as the second hop does not necessarily mean that you are connected to a Sky DSLAM, it just means that your traffic is being handed off to a Sky edge router.

You could try putting your phone number into the BT speedtester at http://www.speedtester.bt.com, if the lookup fails you are likely to be LLU, if not you are using a BT ADSL tail to reach Sky.

Iam using Sagemcom F@ST 2504N , connecting using MER , sky.bb.com on 2nd hop and DLM profiled my line - all this does not and can not happen on easynet dslams , easynet profiles are manually set, easynet uses PPPoA to connect, easynet tracert 2nd hops are easynet.co.uk

Iam on LLU, Sky have two lots of LLu (MER over SVBN Isam & PPPoA over Easynet Dlsam) , SKY used to install EasyNet Dslams only into exchanges... for past 2+ years they have been installing (and replacing easynet ones with) newer SVBN (Sky Voice & Broadband Network) Isam's (and Ive just found out they also install at least 1 EasyNet Dslam along with the Isam's for those who have alarm monitoring and wish to opt out of svbn as alarm monitoring does not function over sky's new svbn network) - ive been told by many techies, ex-sky staff and BTo and Telehouse engineers that if your 2nd hop shows as easynet.co.uk then your on an easynet Dslam at the exchange, if it shows as sky.bb.com then your on sky's newer SVBN Isam at the exchange

what appears to have happened is that (for whatever reason) the BTo engineer has ported my broadband onto the SVBN ISAM (which is what he is supposed to do) and my phone line through BTw and now my phone is being moved from the BTw provision and onto the SVBN Isam where my broadband is (because this handles both)

- the only reason I can think of for all of this happening is the telephony capacity on the Isam was full and ive been put on BTw provision until telephony capacity was increased, ive been told that SKY know nothing until they get the report once both have been moved over...and that the workload in the exchange could be a factor.

I do know 100% now that my broadband is on SVBN and I know my phone is not, so what Iam now trying to find out is why this would have happeded

ive also been told that my broadband sync should not be affected at all as thats already ported and set, but you never know with BTo...