Sky Broadband UK Move to Fix Sky Talk Activation Bug on FTTP Lines
Some customers of UK ISP Sky Broadband, usually including those who have just had a new Full Fibre (FTTP) package installed and are using Sky’s latest Max Hub router, appear to be struggling to get their new IP-based phone (Sky Talk) service activated after installation – a situation that can sometimes persist for several weeks. But a fix is on the way.
First things first. Home phone services can sometimes go wrong due to all sorts of different reasons, and the move to digital services only adds an extra layer of complexity to that. But in this particular case we’re largely talking about new FTTP customers who have also taken the Sky Talk Internet service, which requires handsets to be connected into the back of Sky’s router.
“I’ve just had Sky Broadband FTTP installed last Friday 11th OCT. The installation went ok and the broadband is up and running with no issues. The problem I have is with the VoIP line, which connects direct in to the router. I have a dial tone, but when I dial out it just reverts back to dial tone after a couple of seconds. When I try dialling the landline number, I get a “number not recognised” message,” said Nathan, one of ISPreview’s readers.
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The official Sky Talk Forum has quite a few similar complaints, but not all are related to this specific issue, and those that are seem to indicate that it is a known problem with service activation. Most phone services go live normally shortly after the broadband side has been connected, but some others can take days or weeks to reach that point, and related faults appear to have become more common over the last month.
Sky’s support agents have been generally advising those impacted by the problem to try a number of things, such as forced firmware updates and a 10-minute power cycle to get the router to pick up a new IP address. But while this seems to work for some, it doesn’t for others, and they then get put on a list of the unresolved. But the good news is that Sky are now starting to deploy a firmware fix for the bug.
A Sky spokesperson told ISPreview:
“A small number of Broadband customers experienced an issue with activating Sky Talk Internet calls. A fix is rolling out that will resolve the issue for the majority of customers without them needing to do anything.”
Sky adds that a very small proportion of impacted customers may also need to restart their routers, even after the firmware update, to resolve the issue. But at the time of writing, those that first reported the issue to us are still continuing to suffer from it.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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Glad to see them work to rectify the issue, than let it hang out in dry air for ages.
It’s been awhile already, but at least it isn’t at the month mark since it started getting reported.
To be fair to them if it was an issue that required a new firmware then the bug needs to be found, fixed a new firmware built then some testing done to try and ensure the new firmware doesn’t break something else.
So it does unfortunately take a while.
No point having sky as your isp if you want to build your own home network
Are you talking in general or if you want telephony?
I ask because if it’s the former, Sky/Now is perfectly usable without their router as long as the replacement supports DHCP Option 61.
It doesn’t even require credential extraction, on pfsense I just use this:
dhcp-client-identifier “12345678@skydsl|12345678”
Good as Sky appear to be pro-actively contacting FTTC customers, mid contract, to convert them to FTTP. The Openreach appointment is in December, so there must be a lot going on in that area.
(No change of contract or price increase. That probably follows later)
It’s a pity that all ISPs aren’t required by Ofcom to provide SIP credentials to allow customers to use their own equipment for VOIP services, It’s kind of like the pre 1981 days when BT had a monopoly on the supply of telephone equipment.
Ofcom would also have to effectively deregulate the service for that to be feasible. You can’t expect BT, Sky, etc to comply with stringent regulations on availability and quality of service, access to 999, etc when someone is using whatever junk they’ve found on eBay.
They’d also expect the customer to agree to pay for the costs of any fraud that may result from a misconfigured SIP device.
It’s not like the old days at all – you can plug anything you like into their router (and in BT’s case you can use many DECT handsets with its built in base). It isn’t that dissimilar to how they always supplied the NTE for ISDN lines, or in the early days for ADSL pre wires only.
If you’re desperate to use your own router, don’t take the ISP supplied voice service.
Personally as an alternative, I’d be happy with either:
1) Modem mode where the ATA still works (one of the few things VM has done right…..where available…..5x aside)
2) A separate ATA
3) their router/ATA can be used behind another gateway (effectively making their router a bulky ATA)
Virgin benefits from having the work done for them – their phone service is based on “packetcable” and there are no shortage of cable modems (without router functionality) + packetcable ATA, so the router is just a separate function within the same box and can be disabled if needed.
BT does provide separate hardware on business services, but I guess the assumption there is that you are either using their router or you have an IT person who knows what they are doing (and part of the contract / sales documents actually gives the IP ranges used so that your firewall/QoS settings can be correct)
I don’t think there’d be much appetite for consumers to use a separate ISP provided ATA, still too much to go wrong. Given the overall decline in landline services the business case isn’t there to do option 3 either.
You can use your own equipment, just not with their services.
I struggle to see how it’s anything like monopoly days. You can plug any phone you like into your ISP supplied equipment and if you want to use a different provider and use your own equipment you can do that too.
Just moved our landline to AAISP. Best thing I’ve done in a while.