Can't decide whether to switch or not

greencreeper · 20-10-2007, 02:27

Now I've got Sky+ and quite liking it, even though I am up til 4 in the morning watching Star Trek, I was thinking about their broadband. £5 a month for the speed I have now, which is a £20 saving. One-off £30 charge. I can't decide whether to risk it. Only real downside is the connection - with it being ADSL. I'd have to either have the router downstairs and wire a CAT5 socket upstairs (two floors up), or have the router upstairs and wire a CAT5 extension from downstairs. Wireless is an option but it's not reliable enough yet. Not sure what to do

I'd lose my email addresses too - have to create new ones and change over everything.

Paul · 20-10-2007, 10:16

Why not do what we are about to do, get the base/ free package in, check what the speeds and stability are and then upgrade if it proves to be a good move. Sky are moving across to a Gmail based email account setup but there used to be an option to use a dial up account on VM and your email accounts would stay live as long as you dialled in regularly. Don't know if that still works though.

greencreeper · 20-10-2007, 11:56

It's not so much the speeds and stability - can't be much worse that NTL, surely

It's the hassle of switching versus the savings. Just weighing them up and seeing where the scales settle. Just can't decide.

Getting a filtered face plate does seem to make an incredible difference to the speed, so that would be factored into the cost - plus the CAT5 extension. Cost me about £40 to do a similar thing for my mum - worth it though for the speed increase.

Copperfaced Jack · 20-10-2007, 14:04

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/63...l#post34412833

I've just done it. It's not a problem. See my post in the above thread.
Additional tip; Book Bethere through Quidco, a cashback scheme, and you will get £55 cashback which covers the connection charge and gives £30 off the BT line install/reinstall.

And for sky, this jumps to a whopping £110 cashback.
Take your pick......

lsproc · 20-10-2007, 17:57

I have heard that the sky kit and TS is bad, but your mileage varies (of course) :P

WHISTLED · 20-10-2007, 18:25

TS with sky is shocking! I got through to the front line 'help desk' ok and ran through the basics like turning it on and off and discon/recon through the router settings page but when that didnt work they tried to put me through to TS, after a VERY short time they came back to tell me they are only allowed to hold for 2 mins and I would have to call back later. I id so 3-4 times without ever getting past the front line staff.

Ridiculous situation to be in, I dont mind holding to get through If IU need help but you dont even get the chance

greencreeper · 21-10-2007, 01:45

Can't be as bad as TalkTalk. Some place in India. Took my mum two phone calls, over the best part of two hours, for them to tell her that the problem was her computer. I took two minutes to determine the router had somehow lost her username/password, and had her up and running. Shocking.

Still chewing it over. The phone is stuck with BT for a while - fixed contract thing. It's just the logistics of getting a decent connection. Decisions, decisions

[edit]

My parents TalkTalk speed is 3.5Mbps - and is free. My NTL speed is 3.5Mbps and costs me £25 a month. Hmmm

Trouble is, looking at Money Supermarket, very few of the providers have a good rating, and those that do have a good (green) rating, have very mixed comments, from "rubbish" to "excellent". It just feels as though I'm rolling a dice. Plus there's this thing about changing provider and needing a MAC to do this. I think this is ADSL-only - but it sounds like it makes it tricky to change supplier if you are using ASDL, because you have to get your current provider to cough up a MAC so you can switch. Are they likely to want you to leave? No.

Down the Pub · 21-10-2007, 15:46

well at the moment i might not have a choice in the matter as my landlord is thinking of selling this house (even though he has quite a few and 2 of them have been empty for a couple of months). so just in case, have been doing some checking and a house we've seen is not cabled unfortunately.

but this house is only 400 meters from the exchange, so Be might not be such a bad idea (although would prefer to keep what i have now) although i'd prefer to be in my grave before getting bt and sky back in.

greencreeper · 21-10-2007, 16:10

I looked at Be on Money Supermarket and overall the rating was good, but the comments were very mixed, which made me think that customer service is inconsistent. That said, I think all customer service is inconsistent. Where I work, if you get a newbie, chances are they won't fix your problem, or will take an hour to sort it out. I think what's important is how much the customer service varies, and how often. If it's regularly either very good (very polite and helpful, problem quickly resolved) or very bad (some complete numpty, multiple calls, an age to resolve the problem), then that's not good. I can live with service that is either good or very good, with the odd "off day" when I end up with a numpty.

I think all you can do is roll the dice and hope - and switch again if you're not happy

So do I stay with what I know, and the high price tag, or risk it for saving a few hundred a year. Wouldn't be so bad if you could easily switch.

greencreeper · 27-10-2007, 18:47

I've done as Paul suggested, and ordered 2MB Sky broadband - it's free. Just a £30 setup fee. Chap at work has Sky - no problems. I'll see how the free broadband goes, and if all is well, I'll cancel NTL and upgrade to 8MB with Sky. Being with NTL years - first proper ISP I signed up to, after dial-up.

Mick Fisher · 27-10-2007, 20:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by greencreeper

I've done as Paul suggested, and ordered 2MB Sky broadband - it's free. Just a £30 setup fee. Chap at work has Sky - no problems. I'll see how the free broadband goes, and if all is well, I'll cancel NTL and upgrade to 8MB with Sky. Being with NTL years - first proper ISP I signed up to, after dial-up.

Good luck, hope it works out well for you.

**David F** · 27-10-2007, 20:36

Any reason you have not considered home plug as a way of getting the connection upstairs???

greencreeper · 28-10-2007, 01:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

Any reason you have not considered home plug as a way of getting the connection upstairs???

Is that Ethernet over mains cabling? Have you seen my mains cabling

Some of it has the creeping green goo problem.

Chrysalis · 01-11-2007, 06:55

sky broadband is fairly high quality considering the cost of it, its one of a few isps left that do not throttle/shape anyone and have a generous FUP. Providing its not the sky connect.

The downside to it is the copper local loop it uses so the only real risk for you is if you have a bad phone line.

greencreeper · 01-11-2007, 12:08

Phone line should be alright - supposedly about a mile from the exchange.

The router arrived this morning - flaming courier left it with the neighbours over the road. I don't even know them