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Sky still any good?

Hi,

I'm debating whether to move from O2 (LLU) to Sky - the router on O2 is crap and since they are putting their prices up they will cost the same (more or less) as sky.

The last time I looked, Sky bb was only available to TV customers, but they have dropped this now.

So: are they any good? I download a bit, but mainly I browse and play Xbox online, so ping speed is more important than bandwidth.

Also, is the router any good? My O2 router keep messing up NAT settings, effectively disconnecting the Xbox, then refusing to re-accept the settings I want. Its infuriating!

Any comments?
 
Firstly, which packages are you comparing? I'm guessing you're with their older legacy deals and find the new ones to be less attractive?

Sky Broadband Unlimited is £10 per month standalone (with SkyTalk Freetime for free) or £7.50 when bundled with Sky TV. They seem fine for me but don't expect the best customer support in the world.

As usual experiences do vary and Sky Broadband are usually rated just below O2 and or Virgin Media's cable service for quality (out of the big ISPs that is - about middling). My brother also got Sky for awhile in London but didn't have the best experience, mind you I think that's because they were on the BT based 'Connect' package and not their LLU network.

As for the router, well they do sometimes give out NetGear's but I got a Sagem. It does the job fine but it's definitely not the most flexible device and lacks customisation options. Basic router for a basic price, as you'd expect.
 
Thanks Mark,

As far as the router is concerned, the only thing I really need to do is NAT forwarding for my Xbox (and PS3 if I ever get it working) - as long as the Sagem can do that (reliably) then thats fine.

I am currently on the £7.66 (with O2 phone), but that will soon be going up to £9.50 / month - close to the £10 Sky are offering.

To be honest, I'd pay a bit more if the service was worth it - I just remember Sky having a reasonably good rep.

Andy
 
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Judging by the comments I've read, their non-LLU package, Sky Connect is best avoided. I'm happy enough on sky unlimited, but I gather they've had some congestion on parts of their LLU network recently, although that may have been fixed by now. http://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Technic...eryday-Lite-Update-14-January-2011/td-p/28139


They're now mostly supplying a router made for them by D-link. I think the web interface and features (or lack of them) should be pretty much identical to the sagem. I got hold of one to try to extract the password, so I haven't actually used it, but I'd think "basic router" sums it up pretty accurately, neither particularly good, nor bad, although I certainly wouldn't want to pay the £30 quid I believe Sky charge for it as a replacement. Unfortunately they've just released a firmware update, which stops my password extraction hack from working.
 
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The Sagem I have seems to handle the XBox360 and PS3 connections just fine, I think it's firewall has been pre-configured to recognise that stuff. You can do normal NAT via the usual static IP networking setup but it is still a very basic router.

As Mel hints at above, there are some tools that allow you to extract your sky login and pw from the router (good for using a better router) but a couple of recent updates have stopped it on some models. Mind you, Sky did tell me that they do not conceal these details and you might be able to pressure support into releasing them until the PW extractors are fixed.
 
Sky will probably be sending out d-link routers with the original firmware (Sky_1.11) on them for a little while, so new users will have a brief opportunity to extract the password before it updates.

My program requires an adsl sync to obtain the password, but doesn't require a PPP connection, so either plug it in and extract the password before Sky take over the ADSL service, so there's no possibility of it updating, or use the shell injection option in my program to kill the upgrader process "killall upgrader" before connecting the router to the phone line and extract the password before you reboot the router and allow it to update.
 
Having spoken to a couple of friends on Sky, they were ...ahem... less than complimetary about them, so I might just upgrade my router.

Which is the best one (on a budget)?

All I need is a modem/router thats good at holding a connection and can cope with NAT routing for my consoles - wireless-N not needed.

I found this one:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/52244

I know its old but seems to tick all the boxes.
 
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Maybe your friends are on Sky Connect, which I gather is pretty poor. But I wouldn't recommend changing ISP to get a better router anyway.

Incidentaly, I've just read that Sky have finally started supplying a wireless N router (made by Sagem), although I'm not sure how they decide who gets that, and who gets sent a d-link.

I don't know much about the DG834G V5 other than it is conexant based. Someone's tested the V5 against a few other routers on a BE connection here http://www.vwlowen.co.uk/misc/routers/compare.htm#intro although it doesn't give much info, other than relative sync rates.

I think I'd rather have a broadcom based router myself as Netgear used in the dg834g v4 and dg834gt.
 
Incidentally, I've just read that Sky have finally started supplying a wireless N router (made by Sagem), although I'm not sure how they decide who gets that, and who gets sent a d-link.

Apparently this new Sky router it is not fully wireless N capable :rolleyes: I find it amazing that they still don't offer a wireless N router considering that they don't make the password available to allow you to use your own.
 
Lost my tember with O2 (constantly disconnecting, router keeps forgetting settings etc, O2 didn't give a *&^%) so I am now joining Sky for both TV and Internet.

TV being installed tomorrow, but bb won't be connected until 4th May.

I'll just have to see how it goes!
 
You'll probably get the sagem 2304 router now, although it seems a few people are still being sent d-links. Apparently the wireless range is better than the previous models, but they're only good for 75mbps on wireless N.

If you want to use a better router, you can still get a valid password from the password generator site :- https://www.cm9.net/skypass/ by selecting the old sagem model.
 
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Cheers Mel - the only kit I have with Wireless N is my printer - which is about 3m ftom the router.
 
Yep - recieved a Sagem router this morning.

Service is due to be transferred on tuesday.
 
Will do - its due to transfer some time tomorrow
 
I have to say, total rubbish, avoid like your worst enemy

Constant disconnects, zero net access, i also have the misfortune of having the phone line which also constantly disconnects, and no it is not my hardware, as I have a neighbour with the same issues with this provider
 
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Constant disconnections can be caused by all sorts of problems, such as a high resistance fault or not having filters on your lines. Does this occur for broadband or are your landline calls also being dropped as the two should function semi-separately? Also can you hear any noise/cackling on the line? It might help if you posted your router stats (attenuation, noise margin etc.).
 
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