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Tempted by Sky Ultrafast+ FTTP but boy... those Trustpilot reviews!

gypsymoth

Super Pro Member
Anyone on Sky Broadband FTTP?

Tempted to take their 18month deal thru Quidco which drops the effective price to around £27 per month.

But had a peek at their Trustpilot and it's a binfire: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/skybroadband.com

I mean, it's an Openreach service near me so that should be fairly robust, but the vibe I'm getting is that Sky customer services have a habit of pushing back install dates and messing people around with billing. Hard to know where the issue really lies

Any opinions appreciated!
 
your on the wrong one, the correct sky trust pilot is this https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.sky.com

its pretty bad like the one you sent however, its bad as sky has been offering internet since the adsl/fttc days where getting internet was dogshit, FTTP makes everything better.
 
The broadband itself will work pretty much just as reliably as any other Openreach FTTP ISP. So I wouldn’t worry about the connection itself.

The routers they like to REALLY push their customers to use are pretty crap though imo. Poor networking performance, limited features and options etc.

Installation dates being pushed back will be Openreach or their contractors. Not Sky. They don’t install broadband themselves. Pushing back dates isn’t exactly uncommon especially with full fibre when you’re getting a new line if they realise more work is necessary outside of your house to prepare for your install for example.

I don’t know about billing issues specifically but I certainly don’t rate their customer service for being quick to respond, or actually being helpful when they do for example.

Also, if you look at most ISPs reviews on there they aren’t exactly well rated. That’s not to say most of the big companies are awful, but rather that most happy customers don’t take the time to say they’re happy. But if someone has reason to complain they’ll find as many places as they can to share and make sure people know about it.
 
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No direct experience myself but I thought Sky do use their own engineers for some of their broadband installations....

When Sky use their people typically OpenReach do the external work and Sky do the internal work....

It's an interesting transition and reskilling of their existing Satellite engineers to become network engineers handling fibre, ONTs, routers and WiFi and that their Sky media services are working. You could see in his situation that a customer with some genuine issues might have more chance of getting practical help from Sky verses most other UK ISPs.
 
The broadband itself will work pretty much just as reliably as any other Openreach FTTP ISP. So I wouldn’t worry about the connection itself.

The routers they like to REALLY push their customers to use are pretty crap though imo. Poor networking performance, limited features and options etc.

Installation dates being pushed back will be Openreach or their contractors. Not Sky. They don’t install broadband themselves. Pushing back dates isn’t exactly uncommon especially with full fibre when you’re getting a new line if they realise more work is necessary outside of your house to prepare for your install for example.

I don’t know about billing issues specifically but I certainly don’t rate their customer service for being quick to respond, or actually being helpful when they do for example.

Also, if you look at most ISPs reviews on there they aren’t exactly well rated. That’s not to say most of the big companies are awful, but rather that most happy customers don’t take the time to say they’re happy. But if someone has reason to complain they’ll find as many places as they can to share and make sure people know about it.
Thanks for this (and you @plunet and @YuGi )

I need to do some research on whether I can replace their router with my existing ASUS router (AX-TUF5400). I know some providers dont hand out credentials for this reason

Certainly feels like a risk to go with them for the sake of a few quid a month
 
No direct experience myself but I thought Sky do use their own engineers for some of their broadband installations....
They will send their engineers out for fault finding purposes rather than going straight to Openreach so they don’t have to pay for unnecessary appointments if it’s caused by internal wiring for example.

Sky engineers will also come out and install things like the WiFi boosters for you if it’s at the same time as a TV installation, or the end user doesn’t feel capable of doing it for themselves.

But an actual broadband installation appointment will always involve a Sky router being posted out to the user and an Openreach engineer (or subcontractor) being sent out to do all the work as far as I know.

Certainly feels like a risk to go with them for the sake of a few quid a month
I would personally always go with someone else and pay that little bit extra to avoid Sky but that’s just me. I have a greater dislike of the company than most do.
 
Thanks for this (and you @plunet and @YuGi )

I need to do some research on whether I can replace their router with my existing ASUS router (AX-TUF5400). I know some providers dont hand out credentials for this reason

Certainly feels like a risk to go with them for the sake of a few quid a month

As far as I know there are no credentials for Sky, you just need to ensure that your router supports DHCP Option 61 on the WAN interface. If it does that then it should work.
 
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I've had Sky's LLU, FTTC (both their own and Now[TV] branded flavours) and FTTP and overall they're probably the best ISP I've used in terms of the stability of service. Their speed was best in the LLU/ADSL days too, but that's ancient history at this point.

Their routers are weak but to be honest I would strongly suggest investing in your own home networking equipment so you can get this right and not be tied to an ISP for a working setup, keep the ISP router in case of a fault (they often need to see their equipment on the line to help you these days) or in the the case of VM put it in modem mode.
 
As far as I know there are no credentials for Sky, you just need to ensure that your router supports DHCP Option 61 on the WAN interface. If it does that then it should work.
Just had a look and... I think it does! Magic. Thanks

Screenshot 2024-01-20 at 10.56.52.webp
 
I've had Sky's LLU, FTTC (both their own and Now[TV] branded flavours) and FTTP and overall they're probably the best ISP I've used in terms of the stability of service. Their speed was best in the LLU/ADSL days too, but that's ancient history at this point.

Their routers are weak but to be honest I would strongly suggest investing in your own home networking equipment so you can get this right and not be tied to an ISP for a working setup, keep the ISP router in case of a fault (they often need to see their equipment on the line to help you these days) or in the the case of VM put it in modem mode.
Thanks - I believe my existing router can be used (based on the Option 61 feedback above, or a Merlin firmware update if it doesnt).
 
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I wouldn't take trustpilot at face value as happy customers generally don't post reviews whereas people with complaints will
That's very true. Also Altnets figured this out early on and decided to play this to their advantage by telling their installers and customer service they will be rewarded if a customer leaves a positive review on Trustpilot. The result is that you now have Altnets with thousands of positive reviews looking a lot better than the big old Telco dinosaurs. I don't actually dislike this practice to be honest, it's a much better reflexion of reality if you encourage the good reviewers since the bad reviewers don't need much encouragement.
 
I've had Sky in various forms since 2008, ADSL2+, VDSL and I found them to be pretty decent for what they are. Just upgraded my dad to 150/30 FTTP with Sky and its been great.
 
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