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Sky Connect speed issue

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In the last 7 days I have been having serious problems with my Sky Connect broadband connection.

My line will support up to 3Mbps according to BT and for the first few months Sky managed a constant 2.2Mbps. I was pleased to get this as my last house could only get 1.1Mbps. I joined Sky in April this year.

Since Friday 22nd June I have had a very slow connection of between 200 and 66Kbps. The upload speeds have been nearer 400Kbps.

I phoned Sky several times to let them know the situation but they always want you to run a series of 'tests' like re-setting the router. I wondered if the router was the problem but I managed to connect my old Pipex Thompson SpeedTouch USB modem and it still runs at a similar speed.

My line was checked by BT and an engineer called out to inspect the line but there was not enough line noise to cause a problem.

I've contacted sky again in the last few days to tell them that our 12 month contract simply isn't working. They took it quite well and told me that they would issue a MAC but I would need to write a letter to Sky Customer Services in Scotland to explain the problem I have encountered and to allow the contract to be broken.

My question is - If/when I migrate to a new ISP would I be expecting the same issues? Could my exchange be the problem? I'm only after a reliable 2 or 3Mbps broadband - cost unimportant...

(Have a Hotmail a/c.. richardwillis998@hotmail.com) Wellington, Somerset, UK.
 
It does sound like a capacity problem at your exchange. The connect package used BT IPStream, and as such is not representative of a typical Sky Broadband connection. Have Sky told you if/when your exchange is going to be unbundled?
 
Thanks for the reply. That helps a lot. I think the exchange is unlikely to be unbundled in the near future as it's too 'rural'.

If I migrated to IDNet (or similar high quality), would I regain a solid connection speed via this Wellington exchange or would every ISP be suffering?
 
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If the problem really is congestion, then it wouldn't make a difference which ISP you use.

It mihjt be worth asking a neighbour on another ISP to do a speed test though, just in case it is your ISP throttling your line that is causing the problem.

Andy
 
If your exchange is red then all on that exchange wil be suffering the same issues. Have you tried talking to neighbours who also have ADSL to see what problems they are having?
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

I've just talked to my neighbour next door. She has BT Broadband and it would appear that their broadband stopped working at around the same time as mine. She says she is having to use dial-up.

Interestingly, she and I are using extension cables to the main BT testbox in order to get any connection. However, my connection is so weak that the Sky NetGear Router can't keep it's connection. The ADSL light won't stay green and keeps flicking on and off as it tries to find it again. I've managed to connect my old Pipex Thompson Speedtouch 330 and it manages to hold the ADSL fairly well.

I've contacted a guy off the Sky Users Forums who lives in Wellington also but he says he isn't having any problems at all with the Wellington exchange.

I've just called Sky to chase up my MAC and it's 'in the post'. I'm tempted to orgainse a BT IT Home Visit to set up Option 3 BT Broadband just so it gets sorted out. Any ideas? An independent Telecom Engineer?
 
Another update.

This evening I had a play with the main BT socket. I removed the cover and plugged my telephone extension directly into the test socket. I plugged a filter into the end of the extension and used my Thompson Speedtouch 330 to get a connection.

The Speedtouch network connection icon tells me I'm connected at 3.3Mbps but speed testing the connection gives much slower speeds.

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results/id/11834099789737302306.html
 
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website speed tests cant always be taken as correct downloading a file from somewhere like microsoft would give a better reading. If you sync faster at the test socket than where the modem is normally then you need to check all filters, phones and wiring to find the noise.
 
Mel:
I can't get the BT checker to work as it want's my @sky.com email to validate my phone number and it doesn't accept it for some reason. My @sky.com mailbox does work as I set it up yesterday to see if Sky had emailed me anyting to do with my MAC or connection issues.

Kits:
I've been trying to download from Microsoft Windows Update site and it continues to download very slowly. I opened the Speedtouch connection icon at the bottom right of the XP screen and there was a large number of errors in the recieve section - some 500 errors over 7,000,000 bytes downloaded. It continues to tell me that I'm connected at 3.5Mbps.
 
I thought you was supposed to use their suppled modem what happens with that as Sky will not support you on other modems?
 
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Sky use the Netgear router as standard but I've managed to find out my user ID and Password so I can use my old Pipex issue USB modem. I can maintain a better connection using it and can see when I'm disconnected/connected.

The Sky Router will keep dropping connection but still show that it is connected. Other times it can't find the ADSL and other times it keeps hunting around for the ADSL. I'm sure it would (and was 80% ok before the problems) be fine on a reasonable connection but I don't have that.

I've used the Netgear diagnostics to find out my connection information. Before connecting everything to my main BT Test socket I was getting a download of 800kbps (which transpired to be more like 112kbps according to speed tests). Once I was connected to the main test socket that rose to 8100Kbps.
 
If you download faster on the test socket then the fault is after the BT master socket, you need to check your wiring, filters and phones to see which is causing the extra noise on the line.
 
The BT checker wants the Sky ADSL login you extracted from your router, I think they end @skydsl.com

Try disabling UPnP on your sky router as I believe someone posted that they can be prone to locking up if UPnP is enabled.
 
Last edited:
i was with sky connect it was terrible allways down maybe 3 or 4 times a week remember its through bt that package if you want sky to be good im on max package now and had no problems at all
 
forgot to say connect is throttled all sky packages are not so if you use P2P forget connect
 
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I realise now that the Connect package was not a good one. Everyone on the Max etc.. packages appear more than happy but I can't get these where I live.

Just for the record I've just re-connected today with BT Option3. Sky sent me a letter of apology about their service which was nice but they cut the ADSL off before I recieved the MAC in the post so I've had to wait to be connected.

The connection is faster and more reliable so far but I do have some issues with my internal telephone wiring in the house. Does anyone know of any internet info on how to wire up a phone socket correctly?
 
Thanks for the links. Make it sound really easy to do.

Well as you guess I have been chasing BT for the Hub and other equipment. Turns out they left BT without a problem but the 'Home Delivery Network' couldn't find my house yesterday to deliver the equipment. Strange how they just ignore you and wait for you to do the chasing up. Not the way to do buiness. Surely these people have my phone number from BT? Still waiting for them to call me back with a delivery time and date.

While on the phone to BT I asked if my line had become activated by BT away from Sky. It was due to happen yesterday so equipment could be plugged in at same time as activation. Well BT transfered me to the right department and the guy tells me that my MAC was given incorrectly and that an alphabetic 'O' was given as a numeric '0' so the MAC didn't go through. So if they can tell me this over the phone and tell me my line will be activated tomorrow then why wasn't some one doing this yesterday or before?

Anyway, I've managed to run the BT Speedtester and got this:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test: -provides background information.
IP profile for your line is - 250 kbps
DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM) 4576 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 163 kbps

If you wish to discuss these results please contact your ISP.

If you are experiencing problems with specific applications, servers or websites please contact your ISP for assistance.

Your test has completed please close this window to exit the performance tester.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
So I'm still under Sky which is working slowly but well enough to do things. However, would I be correct in thinking that Sky has been limiting me to 250kbps all this time despite denying they have limited my speeds directly?
 
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