Fibre switching issue - Vodafone/Sky NBI

mik_da_man

Odd issue I've just come across...

So we got FTTH through NBI/Vodafone just over a year ago.

Now the contract is up and I want to switch, just on to Sky and they can't do the transfer as it was through NBI originally...

Anyone have similar issues or any decent alternative?

heavydawson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058266271/fibre-switching-issue-vodafone-sky-nbi

NBI don't handle any consumer contracts. Vodafone/Sky/etc. are acting as re-sellers of NBIs network services. So as a consumer you should never have to contact NBI for anything. The resellers are the only people that have a direct relationship with NBI. So Vodafone are misleading you.

You should be able to ring Sky and order their broadband. Then once they've sent you the equipment, you can cancel your contract with Vodafone.

I don't think there's a single switching process that "moves" you from one provider to the next. I believe you still have to request a new contract with Sky and cancel the old one with Vodafone. You should try ringing Sky and see what they say about cutting over....perhaps they'll cancel the VF connection on your behalf.

mik_da_man

Sorry if the above was not clear but I've already tried all that.

Sky have informed me that because I went with Vodafone already through the NBI process they can't resell it to me..

My UAN and CRN numbers are identical as it's part of the NBI setup.. Sky's system can't work with that, it expects different numbers...

heavydawson

This sounds similar to https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2057973100/eir-crn

Have you a regular phone line in the house?

mik_da_man

It does sound sort of similar, but we never had a phone line here.

We used mobile broadband, then fibre through NBI/Vodafone.

Perhaps that's why the numbers are all the same, there is no phone line at all...

heavydawson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119712922#Comment_119712922

Was the mobile broadband pay-as-you-go or billpay?

Ah-Watch

Someone did mention recently that Skys system wouldn't read their Vodafone Siro UAN, I could be wrong but I think they said their Vodafone UAN started with something like SIVFXXXXXX but Sky couldn't read it. Maybe it's similar here? I would think that's a Sky problem not a Vodafone issue. You could cancel the Vodafone one down and then ask Sky to set you up either. If you're happy with Vodafone but the price is going up why not just call Vodafone and ask for the Customer Options team and ask them to match the same price again/new customer price and save the hassle of switching.

mik_da_man

Tried that and Sky still couldn't switch me over.

Vodafone won't match the price unfortunately... If they would I'd stay with them.

mik_da_man

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119712998#Comment_119712998

It was bill pay, a one year contract.

In fairness to Vodafone they did a deal where I could hand back the mobile device once I moved to fiber with no contract penalty.

coxy123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119712922#Comment_119712922

Hi there - I'm in the very same position as you. Vodafone NBI fibre customer since Oct. 2021. Want to change to Sky NBI as deal is better and I'm out of contract with VF. Guy in Sky sales took all my details and said I'd be waiting 5 days probably for new kit to arrive and they would look after switching for me - happy days! Then I got a call earlier on to-day from Sky saying that I could not switch from VF to Sky as their system is not compatible to do the switch!! He did say if I was switching from VF to another NBI reseller it should be fine! This sounds ridiculous to me - it reduces competition and thus savings potentially for consumers who are willing to switch.

njburke

Looks like I have the same issue in switching from Vodafone to Sky. Format of the UAN number appears to be the issue. Spent the day with sky customer service back and forth. Now tomorrow I've to ring vodafone. The number format I have is SIVFXXXXXX, I'm not part of the NBI as far as I know.

mik_da_man

Problem does seem to be with the system Sky uses.

Some other providers can do it, but the prices are very high, apparently the wholesale prices from NBI dictate this, so the cheapest alternative I've found is 45 per month for 500MB

Eir might be be able to do it, but I had awful hassle with them before so want to steer clear...

coxy123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119782274#Comment_119782274

Just on Eir as a provider - they only offer 1GB speeds with NBI.

mik_da_man

Good to know, thanks

snapper365

I have also found myself stuck in this situation! It's rather ludicrous.

We have a granny flat here where my in-laws live. We already had an NBI connection into our own house and we had been extending it to the granny flat via mesh, but it was stretching things in terms of distance/connectivity and it wasn't too reliable. So I connected the granny flat to its own NBI connection last November (thankfully I'd already gone through the process of getting it a separate eircode in anticipation of the NBI rollout).

At the time I signed up to Vodafone for €35 per month and now that contract is ending.

VF have offered me another 12 months at €40 per month.

Sky are offering €32 per month, so I tried switch to them, but my online sign up spun out half way through. When I contacted an agent via chat, they told me that the CRN should start with "888". It doesn't. They told me to contact Vodafone to check it with them, but from reading this thread it seems there's little point in going down that road.

Other options:

Eir is €45 per month for 24 months. Admittedly that's for a 1Gbps connection but the granny flat doesn't need those speeds. I am still scratching my head as to why they don't have a 500Mbps offer.

I found a Digiweb on Bonkers of €34.95 per month for 12 months, but this is at odds with what Digiweb are advertising for NBI connections on their own website (which is a 12 month contract at €29.95 for 3 months then €54.95 for the remaining 9 months). I filled out their contact form for the €34.95 offer but am fully expecting their Sales person to tell me I can't get it for that price when they call me.

So it appears Vodafone's €40 per month retention offer may be the best I can avail of due to this Sky CRN/UAN 888 issue.

Ah-Watch

Did you speak with the Customer Options team in Vodafone or was it the first agent you were dealing with when you dial 1907? The customer options team give higher discounts than the normal operator. The customer options team matched competitor pricing for me the last few years without any issues but it was the customer options team I spoke with.

snapper365

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119831968#Comment_119831968

Yeah the first agent I dealt with transferred me to the retentions agent. He was adamant that 40 pm was the best he could offer. I told him that was fine and I'd switch to Sky for 35 pm (before I found out that I couldn't!). I assume if he was able to match 35 pm he would have done so at that stage.

snapper365

"I found a Digiweb on Bonkers of €34.95 per month for 12 months, but this is at odds with what Digiweb are advertising for NBI connections on their own website (which is a 12 month contract at €29.95 for 3 months then €54.95 for the remaining 9 months). I filled out their contact form for the €34.95 offer but am fully expecting their Sales person to tell me I can't get it for that price when they call me."

Just got off a call with agent from Digiweb and I was right in having this expectation. The lady I spoke with said that Bonkers was displaying non-NBI offers incorrectly, which is annoying.

I was also on to ComReg to query this UAN issue and the guy confirmed that Sky DON'T need a UAN beginning with 888. In fact he said that 888 is the formatting of a Calling Line Indicator (CLI) which is linked to a UAN but is NOT the same thing and should never be requested of a consumer. He recommended I lodge a formal complaint with Sky as they are blocking my ability to switch. Part of me is tempted to but I know it will drag out for weeks and in the meantime my monthly cost with Vodafone will increase to 60pm - a couple of months at that rate would pretty much wipe out any potential savings I might make by switching to Sky.

mik_da_man

From what a pretty helpful guy in Sky told me making a complaint will not do a lot.. He admitted it's an internal issue and their software systems expect a certain code setup so they cannot proceed without it. They are aware of it and it's being worked on, but no idea how long that will take.

Although, saying that, a few complaints might move it along...

snapper365

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119842878#Comment_119842878

I suspected as much, but if it's a known issue, their agents should be briefed on this. Instead, they are sending people back to other suppliers with the info that the UAN they have been provided with by that supplier is incorrect. EG I was told to go back to Vodafone and demand a UAN beginning with 888. If I hadn't been aware of this thread, that's probably what I would have done.

So I raised a formal complaint with Sky, more out of curiosity as to what they will say about the issue than in any expectation that it will be resolved soon.

My VF contract ends in 2 weeks so I will most likely renew with them for 40pm rather than pay 60pm whilst I wait for Sky to sort things out.

spaceHopper

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119831919#Comment_119831919

It would be cheaper to get an electrician to install an outdoor grade ethernet cable between the two and put in a wifi router. Less hassle longer term to.

snapper365

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119844186#Comment_119844186

Well "granny flat" is slightly misleading as it's a separate building, detached from our house. We have a sky dish on our house and there is a cable running underground to the granny flat but to run a new cable for internet would require a fair bit of disruption, digging up the driveway etc. It would eventually pay for itself I'm sure but it's not something I can be bothered with right now!

snapper365

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119844084#Comment_119844084

Just to give a further update on this.

As I mentioned, I raised a formal complaint with Sky on 7th Nov (in which I mentioned ComReg, FWIW).

Yesterday one of their complaints team called me to say that actually they would be able to sign me up with the UAN number I had (ie not a number beginning with 888).

So I signed up over the phone for their 500Mbps package for 12 months at 32 euro pm.

They are sending out the router by post so I should have it tomorrow and the switch is scheduled to go through on Friday.

mun1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881675#Comment_119881675

I’m in the same boat trying to switch from Digiweb NBI to sky. Any chance you could share complaints contact details and working of complaint ?

snapper365

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881675#Comment_119881675

Another update...

So I never got the router in the post... I contacted Sky today to see what was going on. Apparently they tried to call me a couple of times last week (hmmm, phone never rang and I never got an SMS to say I had a missed call like I usually do but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt).

Anyway, this is what they had to say: "a service cannot be provided as there is an NBI infrastructure already in place, We can't transfer it over either so unfortunately we cannot provide the service. Other providers might be able to install the service but we cannot."

So we're back to this again. Obviously there is some internal system issue that's preventing them from switching but they're not admitting as much so I have re-opened my complaint with Sky because this is really starting to annoy me now.

I'm happy to go to ComReg formally if they can't give me a satisfactory answer.

mik_da_man

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881675#Comment_119881675

Cheers for the update.

I called again last Friday and got it through too. The agent didn't think it would work, but used the Vodafone supplied UAN and I got the contract..

Fast forward to today, no update so I rang them, oh that was cancelled due to NBI issues.. were you not informed?...

And I had even signed up for a new TV package on the back of the broadband promise.. another complaint on the way but I was told that it would be next year before they could take me on as a customer

terryduff12

Had the same problem today was ringing Sky to see prices as contract is up in 3 weeks with vodafone and they're looking for 55 euro a month. Guy at Sky was looking for that 888 number guess im stuck so! Waiting on a callback from Vodafone customer service team, wonder what offer I'll get. He was asking was I with Siro but I got it all done through Vodafone so thought it was just a normal fiber contract with Vodafone. Is it the same trouble to switch to Eir or is it just Sky that are having problems connecting people?.

snapper365

Just another update from me...

I eventually raised a complaint to ComReg (as they had advised me to) regarding the info provided by Sky and the fact their website/sales teams seem unaware that there is a blocker on switching to Sky at an already connected NBI premises.

Sky came back to say that they can't switch these properties as NBI haven't provided them with the process to do so. I queried this as it didn't make sense - other suppliers can switch just fine. I suspect what they mean is that their systems are incompatible with the standard process for some reason, but they seem intent on blaming NBI. So I asked them for clarity - that was last week and they have not responded.

Then yesterday ComReg came back to say that Sky had told them the above and that based on this they were closing my complaint(!). I went back to them to ask whether the explanation given by Sky makes sense to them.

It is so frustrating to have ComReg just decide to close a complaint based on Sky's say-so, with no input from the complainant, especially when the response from Sky doesn't stand up to any level of scrutiny.

They have also completely ignored the main part of my complaint which is that Sky continue to waste people's time by supposedly allowing them to sign up but then cancelling when they discover it's an NBI-connected premises (often with little or no communication to the customer). Even if you accept their explanation as to why they cannot sign up such premises, they should still be directed to update their website and sales team training documents to reflect this.

mik_da_man

I'll fire in a complaint to COMREG too.

I have one with Sky and it's gone nowhere..

keg

In the same boat. Signed up last week on the one big switch campaign. Router to be delivered Friday with today for changeover. Never got the router so called today and they told me they cannot transfer or reactivate an NBI line. Even if I cancel with my current provider they cannot reactivate. This seems very uncompetitive that I am being forced to stick with my current provider.

keg

Apparently they don’t have the license to transfer or reactivate