Sky - Maximum Speed Possible on Line

[jonathan_phang]

Hello All,

I have just received an email today regarding the Sky Broadband service, telling me that its now available to buy. I am tempted with the £10 monthly package (Up to 16mb, no maximum) but have a few little questions:

Currently, i am with Pipex, an old £23 package for 1mb so it would be good to get out, but when using the checker on their website, it states that i can get up to 3mb broadband. Now if i go for the Sky MAX package, then would this too be limited to 3mb? Or due some new technology at the exchange, will i be able to get more? Are there any online checkers that i can use?

I have heard that Sky are basically Easynet, so i was wondering if anyone has any comments that they could add? Fair usage policy okay? Traffic shaping... Its not all that important, as i will be paying less than i do now and for a faster connection, but just would like some opinions on the package as a whole. It seems like too good a deal to miss

Regarding switching over, I know that i have to get a MAC from Pipex and then give this to Sky, but is that it? Will i still have to put in new details into my router and such (Sky are giving away free wifi routers with the MAX package, which look like Netgear ones, but i want to carry on using my 3Com one) ???

Any thoughts would be good

Thanks

JP

[Funkstar]

you will need thier Router as they don't support any others if i remember right. Also you are going to be using ADSL2+ as opposed to regular ADSL, i doubt your 3Com is going to support this.

The 3mb quoted as a Max from Pipex is for regular ADSL. Again with Sky it is a MAX connection speed, so it will probabl be less than 16mbit if you can only get 3mbit from an 8mb MAX line.

in fact here is a neat PDF with a handy graph
http://www.exetel.com.au/pdf/downstr...%20adsl2%2B%22

If this is true, then it looks like you will get 3.5mb on ADSL2+ instead of 3mb on ADSL

But then it is £13 cheaper a month too

[adam1701]

When i signed up to AOL, they said that i would have to have a netgear router.... but i got a belkin router, and put all the settings in my self, it worked great for 10 months, i then bought a netgear rangemax, which is just as good..... both worked fine!

[jonathan_phang]

Been trying to read aound some forums to see if this is a good deal - there DO seem to be some teething problems with the system and problems with sustained connections but I cant verify it...

Regarding the router, after reading around it seems that you can change most settings except the username and password, but to be honest, it would be nice to have the option.

Hmmm... Is that graph roughly right? If i can only get that much then it may be better to go for their MID package, with a maximum of 8mb but a 40gb usage limit.... Hmmm... I'm in two minds now - i really cant be bothered with a load of customer services hassle, but then again, i AM paying £23.99 a month...

[UKMuFFiN]

This site is helpful
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/index.php

AFAIK you'r exchange will need to be LLU enabled to get 16mbs. You can find out when that is planned to happen from above link

[jonathan_phang]

Well, i think that it must be as I have got the email saying that the options are now available to me. But if what is said above is true and i can only get 3meg, might not really be that great - especially if its a big hassle

What do you reckon about the chances that if i moan at Pipex that they might upgrade me??? I dont mind the £23 as so far, they have been great in terms of performance and reliability. I might wait for the service to settle down a bit first.

Choices Choices

[UKMuFFiN]

How long have you had the 1mbit conneciton? Im sure most isp's including pipex upped the people on 1mbit to 2mbit and the people on 512kbit to 1mbit for free like ages ago...

[jonathan_phang]

Yep that was me... 512 to 1meg. Gotta dig around to see if the minimum contract period started again after that upgrade or not. But either way, still in 2 minds about it all. Dammit...

[BigFatCat]

I got the sky email too, I'll say I'm tempted but anyone know what the FUP actually entails?

I'm 3.5Km from the exchange too, so I'm not going to get a blinding service, I've been with Plus for yonks without any sign of an upgrade or attempt to upgrade.

12 Month contract at a max of a tenner vs the £15 I pay for half a meg. Ever heard of the perfectly rational donkey? I don't know which pile of hay to eat