To Be, or Sky that is the question

[chadders]

Finally got MAC code, had the choice of only Sky but now Be have enabled local exchange.

So, on the face of it £10 per month for Sky Max seems too good compared to say £18 BeUnlimited.

Both seem to be OK in terms of Hexus posts (i.e. bad things said).

Going to be used for working from home (VPN) and VOIP - can anyone see any reason to go with Be over Sky (and be worth putting £100 each year in Be's pockets vs mine)?

[moogle]

if you got sky tv then sky bb is the way. if you haven't then be/o2 is the way.

[MadduckUK]

whichever way you choose, you know your not going to be bummed. which is nice

[SuicidaL]

Originally Posted by moogle

if you got sky tv then sky bb is the way. if you haven't then be/o2 is the way.

and remember if your an o2 mobile customer then you get a £5 discount every month off you bb package.

[chadders]

Cheers for the comments, didn't think I could spot anything between them - looks like Sky due to having the telly with them.

[Skinleech]

Originally Posted by SuicidaL

and remember if your an o2 mobile customer then you get a £5 discount every month off you bb package.

With Be? How do you organise that? I'm on a contract with O2.

Can't speak for Sky bb, but Be are excellent.

[moogle]

Originally Posted by SuicidaL

and remember if your an o2 mobile customer then you get a £5 discount every month off you bb package.

yep, if you choose the be/o2 route rather than sky and you dont need ultra low pings (for gaming) then you can get o2, and if you want the higher speeds on o2 but dont need the lower ping you can take out a payg o2 phone (£40 a year or something) and then the o2 bb will still be cheaper than be's respective tariff.

Originally Posted by Skinleech

With Be? How do you organise that? I'm on a contract with O2.

Can't speak for Sky bb, but Be are excellent.

Be/o2 are the same just the pricing is different and you have different options. If you want to go with o2 just raise a ticket or contact be and you can be switched over to them, the only things you will lose are a static ip and fastpath/low pings. Majority of users don't need that so it's okay to switch over.

[chadders]

Will fastpath/low-ping benefit VOIP / VPN?

[moogle]

Originally Posted by chadders

Will fastpath/low-ping benefit VOIP / VPN?

it wont be that much of a difference as be/o2 have the lowest pings all the time. fastpath just decreases the pings even more, which for gamers helps when you play fast paced fps shooting games. I doubt it will be much of a difference on voip, as for vpn fastpath might not be much of a difference but the upload+ will help if you transfer alot of files. you can halve the time you spend sending files if you opt for upload+ (only on pro package on be) as you can get up to 2 meg or 2.3 upload.

[chadders]

Hmmm... the increased upload is tempting - workload is modifying lots of scripts/files daily, back and forth with database work.

I'm thinking that the missus will "just have to lump it"!

Thanks for the help (again).

[moogle]

no problems, I also forgot to mention that fastpath increases your synchronization speed as well so you can get a bit of a speedboost of about 100 - 200kb/s or 1-2 meg.

[Skinleech]

Ah well, I make use of Upload plus, so that'll be no use for me - cheers anyway...

[j1979]

ive had expericence of both, and id go with 02/be. although hopefully ill be getting 50mbit down and 1.5 up for a fiver by the end of the year cuz i work for VM

[Blitzen]

Used SKY for nearly 2 years and cant fault them.

For £10 per month the speeds and stability of the service are fantastic.

Just remember, as both services are LLU for the high speeds, if you can get top speeds with one of them, you will be able to with both of them.

[chadders]

Well the switch has finally happened, and for the benefit of anyone considering them thought it might be useful to write my experience:-

Thursday, 15th May: order placed.
Saturday, 17th May: BeBox and docs arrive.

Friday, 23rd May: well...
Orange internet disappears late morning, but no Be internet. Orange it seems have disabled my user account but the broadband is still on and with them.

Long wait for Be support - apparently an issue with migration, problem being escalated, expect service in 48 hours. Oh well, early finish for the bank holiday weekend!

Saturday, check to see if back on, no joy. Ring the Be tech. support (as text message received to say update on problem). What a joy to get through, give account details and have the chap on the other end of the phone say "hi yes it was me you spoke with yesterday here's the update".

Later on Saturday, have working Be broadband.

Moral: whereas there was a problem, the measure of a company can be had with support like that - whilst they appear to be foreign, their English is clear, they *listen* (e.g. you tell them you had working broadband and have only changed the router to theirs - they don't get you faffing around wasting time) and clearly make good customer notes.

So, it now seems my line speeds are slowly creeping up up and away... gone from what seems 4mb to now 9mb and still climbing.

p.s. thanks to Moogle, pointing out about Be referrals and also a cash-back deal elsewhere. Unfortunately, I'd already placed my order but a support ticket to Be (with a link to this forum posting) and within a few hours they'd authorised free connection and first month free - Moogle PM on it's way for your prize

[vhero]

I say go with Virgin they truly are the best net provider been with them 4 years without a single problem and my 20 meg about to goto 50 meg for free next month! So damn fast and perfect for online gaming and streaming not to mention completly UNCAPPED the only ISP in UK to have true uncapped service.