Sky Broadband.

hyperborean

Nice one Boards, I was about to move to SKy to save a few sheckles but no way if the service is crap in the evening (when I am at home).

Will stick with eircom, pity because I dont need a landline and I am being charged for it, after 3 years I can even remember what the number was but the 8mb I have has consistantly been 7mb 24 hours a day.

kaltz

I know that some people are having problems but I moved to Sky from Vodafone in January and the service is much better. I was having constant drops from Vodafone and since the move there have been no issues. Speed is constant at 5mb all day and in the evening. Just thought i'd add this for some balance. I'm in Mullingar.

ClonNGB

I have no love for Eircom, but they can provide me with a rock solid service. The fact that they are now offering 24Mb is enough for me to swallow my pride and go back to them. If Sky did what they promised I would have stayed with them. My advice to anyone thinking of going to Sky is to find out from others already on the exchange if the service drops off peak. I also think the lack of Caller ID on Sky is a disadvantage. Cant see why they don't have it.

butts

Since switching to Sky at the start of February I've only had issues on the one day where a lot of users had problems connecting to the network. Download speeds have remained at 14Mb throughout the day. The Greystones exchange has BT gear in it so whether or not that's a decisive factor I don't know.

adox

kaltz wrote: »

I know that some people are having problems but I moved to Sky from Vodafone in January and the service is much better. I was having constant drops from Vodafone and since the move there have been no issues. Speed is constant at 5mb all day and in the evening. Just thought i'd add this for some balance. I'm in Mullingar.

Same as myself, constant speed throughout the day and night.
Also caller ID is working for me without issue.

Skidfingers

Think I'm going to switch from Eircom to Sky. I'm currently getting 2.4mb with Eircom, but Sky can max my line of 7.6mb. Currently have TV with Sky. Sky are offering the TV and broadband and phone for 20 euro less per month than sky TV and eircom phone and broadband.

My Browser fails to open a page sometimes with eircom, takes ages to load than says they currently cannot display this web page. I also lag/disconnect while gaming.

I usually have a ps3, iPad, laptop and sometimes phone connected to it and I believe it cannot handle all these devices.


Also, Sky, UPC and PermaNET offer a static ip for free but eircom charge 50 quid which is a joke! I wanted to get static ip as I heard it stops the disconnecting/lag while gaming.


Am I right to go and switch?

0141607

I was an Eircom customer up until around 2 weeks ago and even though they are more expensive I do regret leaving!

I joined and everything seemed fine to start with but then I started having speed issues. I was told I would received speeds of upto 4Mbps but having run speed tests on a regular basis since it was introduced the only time I get those speeds is just before I leave for work at 7.30 in the morning.

The evenings are a complete joke! I rarely get above 1Mpbs and it's usually around 0.5Mbps or 0.6Mpbs! I have contacted them about it and was told it was their policy to check line for the maximum speed for the first few days! Funny how my speeds never went above 4Mpbs but always below!

I have just been onto them again and they are having an engineer check the area as a test they conducted on my broadband and phone line both failed! The hub is receiving the 4Mbps but my download speeds aren't matching up!

I understand that the line is shared and it can slow down but I have run tests at 11pm and 12pm when I would have thought the line would be back to normal but still under 1Mbps.

Oh and my PC is connected direct to the hub via an ethernet cable and the hub is around 2 feet from the socket point so it's not a wireless issue either!

I will see what happens after the engineer checks the area and if it is still the same I'm going back to Eircom! I was offered €35 a month for 6 months and then €50 after that! Works out €10 a month more expensive a month when the price goes up but for the amount of downloading I do (around 60GB a week) I reckon the price of having the computer on for that extra time downloading because of the slow speeds would probably get close to that €10 a month anyway!

I would just suggest that you think carefully before switching to Sky! Don't have a problem with them, in fact I love their TV service and have no problem with the phone but the broadband issue is very frustrating!

Skidfingers

0141607 wrote: »

I was an Eircom customer up until around 2 weeks ago and even though they are more expensive I do regret leaving!

I joined and everything seemed fine to start with but then I started having speed issues. I was told I would received speeds of upto 4Mbps but having run speed tests on a regular basis since it was introduced the only time I get those speeds is just before I leave for work at 7.30 in the morning.

The evenings are a complete joke! I rarely get above 1Mpbs and it's usually around 0.5Mbps or 0.6Mpbs! I have contacted them about it and was told it was their policy to check line for the maximum speed for the first few days! Funny how my speeds never went above 4Mpbs but always below!

I have just been onto them again and they are having an engineer check the area as a test they conducted on my broadband and phone line both failed! The hub is receiving the 4Mbps but my download speeds aren't matching up!

I understand that the line is shared and it can slow down but I have run tests at 11pm and 12pm when I would have thought the line would be back to normal but still under 1Mbps.

Oh and my PC is connected direct to the hub via an ethernet cable and the hub is around 2 feet from the socket point so it's not a wireless issue either!

I will see what happens after the engineer checks the area and if it is still the same I'm going back to Eircom! I was offered €35 a month for 6 months and then €50 after that! Works out €10 a month more expensive a month when the price goes up but for the amount of downloading I do (around 60GB a week) I reckon the price of having the computer on for that extra time downloading because of the slow speeds would probably get close to that €10 a month anyway!

I would just suggest that you think carefully before switching to Sky! Don't have a problem with them, in fact I love their TV service and have no problem with the phone but the broadband issue is very frustrating!

I would be on unlimited and I should be getting about 7.6mb according to their speed test on website.

Anyone know what Sky are like for gaming?

Tayla

aramush wrote: »

Can anyone tell me if you sign up for broadband does that mean your tv service is tied into a 12 month contract as well?

Your tv is not tied into a new contract, I cancelled my tv package the other day.

keno-daytrader

Skidfingers wrote: »

I would be on unlimited and I should be getting about 7.6mb according to their speed test on website.

Anyone know what Sky are like for gaming?

Great for gaming until 6pm to 12am, then slows to a crawl and pings sky rocket. Totally useless for the evening.

Skidfingers

keno-daytrader wrote: »

Great for gaming until 6pm to 12am, then slows to a crawl and pings sky rocket. Totally useless for the evening.

Oh dear... Is it like this for everyone?

ellieh1

I have just come off the phone with sky after noticing that my speeds were falling from 12Mbps during the day to 0.41Mbps from about 9pm. The guy on the phone said it is due to bitrate, 48:1, can anyone explain this to me in simple terms and is it a possiblity that this is to blame for my sow speeds??

Worztron

ellieh1 wrote: »

I have just come off the phone with sky after noticing that my speeds were falling from 12Mbps during the day to 0.41Mbps from about 9pm. The guy on the phone said it is due to bitrate, 48:1, can anyone explain this to me in simple terms and is it a possiblity that this is to blame for my sow speeds??

Contention ratio refers to how much of ISP bandwidth is shared between users.

For instance, a 20:1 contention ratio means if there are 20 users on the network at once. When I say ‘network’ I’m referring to the internet space ISPs assign to the users. This system usually works without problems but relies on users making reasonable traffic demands on the network. If a user is a heavy downloader, he will eat into the other users’ bandwidth.

keno-daytrader

ellieh1 wrote: »

I have just come off the phone with sky after noticing that my speeds were falling from 12Mbps during the day to 0.41Mbps from about 9pm. The guy on the phone said it is due to bitrate, 48:1, can anyone explain this to me in simple terms and is it a possiblity that this is to blame for my sow speeds??

Bitstream = resold Eircom dsl line.

What Sky reps are telling people is that it is Bitstreams fault, ie Eircom, however I never had these slow down while with Eircom.

I think all users on a LLU exchange (where BT/Sky have their own equip) are fine.

Sky clearly doesnt have the backhaul to accommodate its users in the evening, not a thing to do with Eircom.

notahappycamper

My router has dropped syncing from 10MB to 6MB. Nothing has changed on the line. Sky has said that 6MB is the max. the line can take. Yes - max. at ADSL but not max at ADSL2+. My line stats are as follows:
Broadband Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 6827 kbps 1020 kbps
Line Attenuation 37.5 dB 18.2 dB
Noise Margin 17.0 dB 13.13 dB


When it was syncing at 10mb the noise margin was 6dB and was stable.

Anyone else noticed this happening to them?

Sky are going to raise it to their "Tier 2" people, so we will see.

120_Minutes

Moved back to vodafone this weekend, we'll see in a few weeks i suppose. No way was i gonna go to eircom.

1huge1

keno-daytrader wrote: »

Bitstream = resold Eircom dsl line.

What Sky reps are telling people is that it is Bitstreams fault, ie Eircom, however I never had these slow down while with Eircom.

I think all users on a LLU exchange (where BT/Sky have their own equip) are fine.

Sky clearly doesnt have the backhaul to accommodate its users in the evening, not a thing to do with Eircom.

So basically they are reselling Eircom's product right? They don't seem to have made investment in the Irish broadband sector other than their €10 million marketing campaign.

Just for my own knowledge, the only real DSL owners in Ireland are Eircom and BT right? (Vodafone use BT's infrastructure for example right?)

Lets just hope UPC keeps putting down more fibre and getting to more areas of the country.

NEWGUY2013

I'm moving back to Digiweb call them last Friday so hoping to be back with them by this Friday.
Sky was great for a few weeks but on goodfriday the evening speeds got very poor was getting under 2Mb from 6 PM to 1 Am and all weekend. In the day time I was getting up to 18MB down. It was just very poor in the evenings.

Thanks.

cork_south

For all the people who moved from Eircom to Sky and "did not send a letter to Eircom giving 30 day notice", please expect a direct debit bill of 1 months phone and broadband as a penalty from your direct debit.
Thanks Eircom.

DouglasGunner

Hi
I got an offer last week from sky for €20 a month for unlimited broadband and off peak phone, for the first 6 months and €40 a month after that. I was with somebody so i asked could they ring me back, and they said they would. Didnt hear anything from them and decided to call myself. When i called Sky they said they heard of no offer but it could have been from abtran in Cork and that sky could only offer me the same package for €40 a month without any discount. I tried ringing Abtran in Cork and they told me i had to ring Sky.
Anyway round this or is it "tough luck".

keno-daytrader

DouglasGunner wrote: »

Hi
I got an offer last week from sky for €20 a month for unlimited broadband and off peak phone, for the first 6 months and €40 a month after that. I was with somebody so i asked could they ring me back, and they said they would. Didnt hear anything from them and decided to call myself. When i called Sky they said they heard of no offer but it could have been from abtran in Cork and that sky could only offer me the same package for €40 a month without any discount. I tried ringing Abtran in Cork and they told me i had to ring Sky.
Anyway round this or is it "tough luck".

Countless complaints about Sky broadband, think long and hard before going with them and read the forums about all the problems.

Want to watch Netflix in the evening, or God forbid on the weekends? You cant because of the slow speeds, useless for many things, this is like 2003 all over again with Sky.

JodTT

cork_south wrote: »

For all the people who moved from Eircom to Sky and "did not send a letter to Eircom giving 30 day notice", please expect a direct debit bill of 1 months phone and broadband as a penalty from your direct debit.
Thanks Eircom.

From Comreg's website:

http://www.askcomreg.ie/tell_us/switching_fixed_telephony%28landlines%29___exercise_your_choice.232.LE.asp

Do I have to tell my existing provider that I am switching?

In general, you do not need to tell them unless your current contract requires you to give them cancellation notice. Check the terms and conditions of your current contract to see if this is required and see the different situations below.



So I would have thought once you're out of contract with whoever your provider is there is no need to formally cancel.
That aside, the logistics of cancelling one contract while porting over to a new provider would cause all kinds of problems with loss of service etc.

petersburg2002

Was contemplating switching from Eircom to Sky broadband until I spotted the Eircom lads installing a fibre cabinet at the end of my estate. Happy days!

cork_south

JodTT wrote: »

From Comreg's website:

http://www.askcomreg.ie/tell_us/switching_fixed_telephony%28landlines%29___exercise_your_choice.232.LE.asp

Do I have to tell my existing provider that I am switching?

In general, you do not need to tell them unless your current contract requires you to give them cancellation notice. Check the terms and conditions of your current contract to see if this is required and see the different situations below.



So I would have thought once you're out of contract with whoever your provider is there is no need to formally cancel.
That aside, the logistics of cancelling one contract while porting over to a new provider would cause all kinds of problems with loss of service etc.

Thanks a lot, I am going to follow this up with Comreg.
Skys site just says to switch online and leave everything up to them which is false advertising IMO:
http://www.sky.com/ireland/switching-to-sky/broadband/
Step 1
Find your UAN (or Eircom Account Number) at the top of the first page of your Eircom bill.
Step 2
Choose your products and place your order. Don't forget to provide your UAN to complete your purchase.
Step 3
We'll take care of the rest and will be in touch to confirm your order.

churchbay

Joined Sky from Vodafone three weeks ago. Sky speeds abysmal. Was promised 19mb download, never got it.
Getting 1.5mb in the evening and all weekend. Hopeless. Was getting 3 to 4 prior to switch.
Tier 2 Tech support on today to say that there was a 48:1 contention on the line and they could do nothing about it.
Gave me my UAN number and suggested I get service from another provider.

paulski999

All,

Is this a case of false advertising?

http://www.sky.com/ireland/broadband-talk/broadband-unlimited/

Under "Features"

"We won’t slow your broadband speeds down at peak times"

Like others my speeds slow down considerably after 6pm!! What to do? Any ideas? Am out of 30 day "trial"

Thanks
Paul

Skidfingers

paulski999 wrote: »

All,

Is this a case of false advertising?

http://www.sky.com/ireland/broadband-talk/broadband-unlimited/

Under "Features"

"We won’t slow your broadband speeds down at peak times"

Like others my speeds slow down considerably after 6pm!! What to do? Any ideas? Am out of 30 day "trial"

Thanks
Paul

Should contact them about that

lewis

petersburg2002 wrote: »

Was contemplating switching from Eircom to Sky broadband until I spotted the Eircom lads installing a fibre cabinet at the end of my estate. Happy days!

What county ya in man?

paulski999 wrote: »

All,

Is this a case of false advertising?

http://www.sky.com/ireland/broadband-talk/broadband-unlimited/

Under "Features"

"We won’t slow your broadband speeds down at peak times"

Like others my speeds slow down considerably after 6pm!! What to do? Any ideas? Am out of 30 day "trial"

Thanks
Paul

I`d say if ya rang them they`d probably take it down, seeing all the complaints about the slow speeds at evenings.

Let us know if ya do ring them.

Harry Deerpark

paulski999 wrote: »

All,

Is this a case of false advertising?

http://www.sky.com/ireland/broadband-talk/broadband-unlimited/

Under "Features"

"We won’t slow your broadband speeds down at peak times"

Like others my speeds slow down considerably after 6pm!! What to do? Any ideas? Am out of 30 day "trial"

Thanks
Paul

No. That would suggest they won't throttle your speeds in the evening; they're not throttling them, high contention is slowing the speeds down.

1huge1

I suppose it will never be the case that Sky actually do the investing in infrastructure themselves so can you really rely too much on them to improve the service?

Would they give money to Eircom directly to update the lines for example?

Perhaps a bit of bad publicity for them might get their act in order.

I am always up for more competition in the Irish Broadband market but this is pathetic.

java

1huge1 wrote: »

Would they give money to Eircom directly to update the lines for example?

This ISN'T an eircom line problem. There are many providers using eircoms network without any issues. This is a Sky problem.

A great post here about how it works: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=84033737&postcount=118

1huge1

java wrote: »

This ISN'T an eircom line problem. There are many providers using eircoms network without any issues. This is a Sky problem.

A great post here about how it works: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=84033737&postcount=118

Interesting, thanks for the link

ckeng

Just switched to Sky broadband a couple weeks ago. I started out with about 10.5 MB, this evening and yesterday evening I was lucky to break 1 MB. Haven't been able to raise Sky tech support yet but checking the hub gave me the following numbers:


Broadband Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 12284 kbps 670 kbps
Line Attenuation 30.0 dB 15.2 dB
Noise Margin 6.3 dB 23.23 dB

Does that downstream connection speed actually mean anything? It doesn't make sense to me that the speed to the hub would be fine but hub to pc would be crap. If this is the best they can do I'll have to go back to eircom

Banjo String

ckeng wrote: »

Just switched to Sky broadband a couple weeks ago. I started out with about 10.5 MB, this evening and yesterday evening I was lucky to break 1 MB. Haven't been able to raise Sky tech support yet but checking the hub gave me the following numbers:


Broadband Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 12284 kbps 670 kbps
Line Attenuation 30.0 dB 15.2 dB
Noise Margin 6.3 dB 23.23 dB

Does that downstream connection speed actually mean anything? It doesn't make sense to me that the speed to the hub would be fine but hub to pc would be crap. If this is the best they can do I'll have to go back to eircom

Same as this for me. Sky customer care were actually feeling me that afatwc the hub was receiving the correct speed promised, but laptop was getting nowhere near that speed.

Things seem to have improved this evening anyway

keno-daytrader

ckeng wrote: »

Just switched to Sky broadband a couple weeks ago. I started out with about 10.5 MB, this evening and yesterday evening I was lucky to break 1 MB. Haven't been able to raise Sky tech support yet but checking the hub gave me the following numbers:


Broadband Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 12284 kbps 670 kbps
Line Attenuation 30.0 dB 15.2 dB
Noise Margin 6.3 dB 23.23 dB

Does that downstream connection speed actually mean anything? It doesn't make sense to me that the speed to the hub would be fine but hub to pc would be crap. If this is the best they can do I'll have to go back to eircom

The speed your hub is telling you is what your line is profiled for or set at, what you actually get from Sky in the evening is a different story. Go here to test what download speeds you are getting.

www.speedtest.net

Im getting 0.86 mbps in the evenings but my Hub says 14mbps. In other words Sky broadband is useless between the hours of 6pm - 12am.

I have already started the process of moving away from Sky as according the the Sky reps there is nothing they can do and the problem wont be fixed.

ckeng

Yeah, I tried a bunch of speedtest sites - anything between 0.3 and 2.6 MB, but generally less than 1 MB. 6MB consistently with eircom prior to this

FaganJr

keno-daytrader wrote: »

I have already started the process of moving away from Sky as according the the Sky reps there is nothing they can do and the problem wont be fixed.

I am awaiting a Tier 2 Tech support call regarding this on Wednesday, dont think I want to wait anymore, how do I start this process without being liable to a 12 month contract buy out?? :mad:

Is Tier two just a higher stack of ****e??:mad:

petersburg2002

lewis wrote: »

What county ya in man?.

Northern suburbs of Cork city. Looks like E-fibre is a bit ahead of schedule down here. Eircom might be slow, but my signal and speed were always rock solid. Haven't had to use their tech support (woeful as it is) in years. But I'll take the free upgrade me thinks.

uck51js9zml2yt

keno-daytrader wrote: »

The speed your hub is telling you is what your line is profiled for or set at, what you actually get from Sky in the evening is a different story. Go here to test what download speeds you are getting.

www.speedtest.net

Im getting 0.86 mbps in the evenings but my Hub says 14mbps. In other words Sky broadband is useless between the hours of 6pm - 12am.

I have already started the process of moving away from Sky as according the the Sky reps there is nothing they can do and the problem wont be fixed.

got an email today saying they can't fix my speed.

phoenix999

Glad I didn't fall for Sky's advertising guff. Look's like I will have to renew my love-hate relationship with Eircom.

Worztron

paulski999 wrote: »

All,

Is this a case of false advertising?

http://www.sky.com/ireland/broadband-talk/broadband-unlimited/

Under "Features"

"We won’t slow your broadband speeds down at peak times"

Like others my speeds slow down considerably after 6pm!! What to do? Any ideas? Am out of 30 day "trial"

Thanks
Paul

This quote comes to mind.

H. G. Wells: "Advertising is legalized lying."

degsie

Is everybody suffering from the contention issue on sky? Is it specific to the exchange that is supplying the landline? I ask because I was ready to jump on the sky offerings (unlimited) but then checked the threads about the slow speeds.

I am in Lucan village, anybody on here using sky in the village?

naughto

i still get the max out of my line no matter what time of the day it is

Lumi

naughto wrote: »

i still get the max out of my line no matter what time of the day it is

+1
I've had a steady 10mb since I switched over in December. No noticable drop off at all

churchbay

Hi degsie, I am in Leixlip, not too far from you and Sky broadband is unusable in the evenings and weekends. 48:1 contention ratio.

paulski999

In Kells, County Meath evenings >1Mb daytime ~12Mb

aramush

Tayla wrote: »

Your tv is not tied into a new contract, I cancelled my tv package the other day.

Yes, I was on the phone to Sky soon after I asked the question here and they confirmed the same. Thanks for your help.

Lord Trollington

Hi guys, typically what speeds are people getting in Dublin from Sky?

I'm in Dundrum and thinking of switching from UPC

Vico1612

Lord Trollington wrote: »

Hi guys, typically what speeds are people getting in Dublin from Sky?

I'm in Dundrum and thinking of switching from UPC

Mixed bag really , depends if you are on a LLU exchange ...
Check out the comments on the Sky forum ..
http://helpforum.sky.com/t5/ROI-Broadband-Talk/bd-p/ROIbroadbandtalk

I'm with Sky on a LLU exchange, and speeds drop by 25% in the evening ...
Would stay on UPC

keno-daytrader

Lord Trollington wrote: »

Hi guys, typically what speeds are people getting in Dublin from Sky?

I'm in Dundrum and thinking of switching from UPC

Im in Galway and speeds drop 93% in the evenings.