SKY BROADBAND.

[Thos]

In case anyone is thinking of migrating to Sky for their Broadband service, I thought I would let you know my experience so far.

Following the launch of their Broadband servive, I registered with them to be notified when it would be available in my area and on 17 August I received an e-mail confirming that it was available. On the same day, I contacted Wanadoo, my current ISP, and asked for a migration code. In spite of the fact I would be a departing customer, they treated me courteously and said they would let me know the code within two working days by the method of my choice. I chose e-mail and the information arrived on Monday,21 August. That evening I rang Sky and placed an order for Sky broadband mid package, self assembly and paid a connection fee of £20. On 25 August I received a letter from Sky saying that BT had advised that the transfer could take place on 1 September, the following Friday.

However on 26 Sept I had a phone call from Sky to say that BT had detected a problem on the line (I thought of you here, Doug) and that the engineers would work to solve it. On Tuesday, 29 August, the Sky router and connectors arrived and reading the instructions, I realised that I had not got an Ethernet port, so with the help of members of this forum, I was directed to the purchase of a USB hub to fast Ethernet connector.

On 2 September, I rang Sky who told me that they were hoping for a date of 7 Sept, so on that date I connected up. All was straightforward except that, in trying to connect via the new broadband set-up a message appeared saying " H'mm, there is a problem". I rang Sky who said I should have waited for their firm letter. At last, today I have had their "firm" letter telling me that the date agreed with BT is now 20 Sept.

On that date I shall try again and report back, that is if I can log on OK.

Thos.

[djohn]

Looks as though things are starting to smooth out after the initial problems Thos. One thing to act on is the migration code as they have a life of 30 days only. You seem to be very near the deadline and I'm not sure what will happen if you let it lapse. I suppose it could go 2 ways. 1) your current provider refuses to lift their lock on the line and you have to go through the whole procedure again.

2) your current provider cancels your account. If this happens it may take anything from a week to 3 weeks before your ADSL line is released and you can go with another ISP as a 'New' customer rather than a migration. I think it well worth a couple of phone calls to confirm what will happen. I don't know if your new connection with Sky is on their LLU line or normal MAX leased from BT as they offer both. If the former then I'm not sure how the migration from one product to another works, if the latter then issuing a MAC from your current provider should be done while your on the phone. It takes less than 1 minute to generate a MAC. Once you have your MAC then your new provider should be able to migrate you in 48 hours. My present ISP will and is migrating people over to them in less than 24 hours of receiving the code from customer.

Our Curly migrated to my ISP a couple of months back, gave his MAC on the Thurs. afternoon and arrived home from work on Fri. evening to find he had already been moved over that day. Unless your moving from one type of product to another such as IPstream to LLU then on the day of the migration you should still be connected to your current provider and at the same time have access to new provider. Once you log off your router and log back on with new details to new provider you can't log back on to the previous one though. LLU is different in the sense you give up the IPStream line to be placed on the providers own loop line and I believe this can take a little longer but should not exceed a couple of hours if done correctly.

Good luck with the move, hope everything goes fine for you and Sky meets or exceeds your expectations. :)

[andsome]

Best of luck. If you get cut off I will sadly miss our little ding dongs. :D

[Thos]

Looks as though things are starting to smooth out after the initial problems Thos. One thing to act on is the migration code as they have a life of 30 days only. You seem to be very near the deadline and I'm not sure what will happen if you let it lapse. I suppose it could go 2 ways. 1) your current provider refuses to lift their lock on the line and you have to go through the whole procedure again.

2) your current provider cancels your account. If this happens it may take anything from a week to 3 weeks before your ADSL line is released and you can go with another ISP as a 'New' customer rather than a migration. I think it well worth a couple of phone calls to confirm what will happen. I don't know if your new connection with Sky is on their LLU line or normal MAX leased from BT as they offer both. If the former then I'm not sure how the migration from one product to another works, if the latter then issuing a MAC from your current provider should be done while your on the phone. It takes less than 1 minute to generate a MAC. Once you have your MAC then your new provider should be able to migrate you in 48 hours. My present ISP will and is migrating people over to them in less than 24 hours of receiving the code from customer.

Our Curly migrated to my ISP a couple of months back, gave his MAC on the Thurs. afternoon and arrived home from work on Fri. evening to find he had already been moved over that day. Unless your moving from one type of product to another such as IPstream to LLU then on the day of the migration you should still be connected to your current provider and at the same time have access to new provider. Once you log off your router and log back on with new details to new provider you can't log back on to the previous one though. LLU is different in the sense you give up the IPStream line to be placed on the providers own loop line and I believe this can take a little longer but should not exceed a couple of hours if done correctly.

Good luck with the move, hope everything goes fine for you and Sky meets or exceeds your expectations. :)

Thank you doug. I too had wondered about the MAC as it expires on 21 Sept, the day after my hoped for transition. I understand Wanadoo, though having LLU in some exchanges, have not in Orpington so it should be OK. Though if there is a delay I suspect the whole procedure may have to be repeated. I would have liked a week or so's overlap so I can sort out new e-mail addresses and notifications to the myriad of people who are on the "friendly" list.

I am not sure what to expect from Sky Broadband. The Digital TV suits my purpose but I think they are feeling their way with their BB service.

Thos. :)

[djohn]

Thank you doug!!! Whattttt :0

:P

[rong]

It's to do with age

[CurlyWhirly]

I don't know if your new connection with Sky is on their LLU line or normal MAX leased from BT as they offer both.

I agree as with LLU the migration process is a mess as some ISP's offer and accept MAC codes and some don't

I think that the LLU option is only available if your exchange is unbundled by Easynet (whom Sky bought a while ago).

I just checked your Orpington exchange and it looks like you are going to go on Sky LLU:

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange.php?ecode=LSORP

Although I would check with Sky just to be sure and if you are going to go on to Sky LLU then I would also ask Sky if they are willing to accept a Wanadoo MAC code as if not then you will have to cancel your existing broadband service and also go without internet access for a while.

Our Curly migrated to my ISP a couple of months back, gave his MAC on the Thursday afternoon and arrived home from work on Friday evening to find he had already been moved over that day.

Yes migration was very quick B)

I am not sure what to expect from Sky Broadband. The Digital TV suits my purpose but I think they are feeling their way with their BB service.

Personally, I would have waited to see how the Sky broadband service performs from reading about other people's experiences but each to his own ;)

[Thos]

Thank you doug!!! Whattttt :0

:P

Abject apologies, djohn. I did know who it was but I am so used to dougs postings on this subject my fingers (and yes, rong, possibly my age) ran away with me.

Thos.

Although I would check with Sky just to be sure and if you are going to go on to Sky LLU then I would also ask Sky if they are willing to accept a Wanadoo MAC code as if not then you will have to cancel your existing broadband service and also go without internet access for a while.

Thanks. Sky tell me that they have accepted the MAC from Wanadoo. I am not 100% certain that all will go through OK on 20 September but now I can only wait and hope. If it does I will save a lot of money!

Thos.

[-pops-]

I've been with BT for ten+ years.

I'm not going to change.

I have no problems with the service I get from them and the few quid I might save per month is not worth the hassle of what everyone else seems to be getting.

[djohn]

Similar thing going on at another forum with Pipex Thos. The enduser was looking forward to migration taking place today but a hich caused a problem and he had not been back in touch with Pipex.

OMG my mac code has now expired, and I am now internetless. Pipex have cut me off

MAC expired at midnight last night. :(

[Thos]

Similar thing going on at another forum with Pipex Thos. The enduser was looking forward to migration taking place today but a hich caused a problem and he had not been back in touch with Pipex.

OMG my mac code has now expired, and I am now internetless. Pipex have cut me off

MAC expired at midnight last night. :(

Wanadoo, who have been very good throughout, told me that until the transfer actually took place I am still their customer and, in the hope they will retain my custom, I need do nothing more if the line is not activated by sKY.

BUT. All I can do is wait and see for the moment.

Thos.

[djohn]

Wanadoo is a decent ISP Thos. I was with them on a 3 month half price trial on dial-up some 4 years back [Freeserve] For some strange reason my OE kept throwing up an error every time I closed it down, this had not happened with previous providers and we never did find the reason. I was two weeks into the trial period and they let me cancel and gave me all my money back. Can't ask for more than that.

[Thos]

Yesterday was the big activation day and at about 1430 my internet link went off and about 15 mins later my line was activated with Sky BB. I had a bit of difficulty with setting up outlook express but that was largely because it was so easy I was looking for difficulties where there were none. I have been notifying contacts of my new e-mail address ( @sky.com is so much easier than @name.wanadoo.co.uk) and at the moment can receive both.

I had a good deal of very good advice from www.skyusers.com and can recommend membership if anyone goes down the same road.

I took the mid package, promising download speeds of "up to 8mps" but my line test promised 3.5 mps. In the event I am getting 4.4 so I am not displeased.

All in all, so far it has been quite smooth, the only hiccup being that my first activation date was not met because BT found a block on the line. It was cleared however, the USB to Fast Ethernet converter is working well (thanks again, pops, catgate and Chris) and I am wondering what to do with the money I shall save on monthly subs!!

A Happy Thos.

[Alan2273]

I do not want to throw a dampner on a happy Thos, but there is a 40gb a month download restriction and a FUP (fair usage policy) which is dictated by Sky.

So don't go mad downloading big files.

[andsome]

I don't think Thos downloads so called music. No doubt he will correct me if I'm wrong. :lol:

[Thos]

You are right andsome. My cap was 2GB pm on Wanadoo and I used about 1.8 max. though I watched it for the last few days of the month. The present cap is 20 times as much.

Thos.

[djohn]

I'm really pleased its finally gone through for you Thos. It seems as though you have got off to a good start and I have no reason to doubt it will stay that way. Keep us informed of how it goes over the coming months and as you say 40 Gb is a lot more than some people realise. I'm on a 20Gb allowance but even being on-line 16 hours a day 100 or so emails each week with a large proportion of those having attachments and 4 to 6 forums open with constant refreshing of pages I very rarely go over 2.0Gb per month. Usually 1.5 with a couple of months at 3.5Gb. :)

[andsome]

Glad it's all going so well. I would have hated for you to be off line. I would miss our wee conflicts. :D :D :D

[Thos]

Glad it's all going so well. I would have hated for you to be off line. I would miss our wee conflicts. :D :D :D

Keep your weeing for the privacy of your smallest room. :)

Thos.

[andsome]

Glad it's all going so well. I would have hated for you to be off line. I would miss our wee conflicts. :D :D :D

Keep your weeing for the privacy of your smallest room. :)

Thos.

Like it. :D

[Rebel=UK=]

If you play games can you tell me what your ping is like online ...i need to know this before i sign up..

[andsome]

:lol:

If you play games can you tell me what your ping is like online ...i need to know this before i sign up..

:lol:

[Thos]

If you play games can you tell me what your ping is like online ...i need to know this before i sign up..

I don't play computer games but I have seen on posts people talking about "ping" and "pinging" and haven't a clue what they are talking about.

If you can give me some guidance about what my ping is and how I can find out what it is like I will do my best to help. (That is, if you are being serious!)

Thos.

[andsome]

If you play games can you tell me what your ping is like online ...i need to know this before i sign up..

I don't play computer games but I have seen on posts people talking about "ping" and "pinging" and haven't a clue what they are talking about.

If you can give me some guidance about what my ping is and how I can find out what it is like I will do my best to help. (That is, if you are being serious!)

Thos.

I just couldn't imagine you playing frenetic on line games, hence the laughter.

[Thos]

I just couldn't imagine you playing frenetic on line games, hence the laughter.

You don't know what I get up to in my spare time.

If I knew what pinging is I might even have a good ping.

Thos :D