Is Sky Broadband really "Unlimited" (fair use policy)

[bambam]

Hi ppl
I have been a virgin broadband & phone customer for many years but lately there prices have gone up.from paying £25 per month to £33 per month. and also i am sick to death of there shitty fair usage policy. I get capped frm 10mb to 2mb every time & from reading there fair usage policy they don't cap between 3pm-4pm & 9pm-10am on 10mb broadband. thats rubbish.

sky say there 20mb broadband is truely unlimited & don't cap speeds but by reading there fair usage policy. it says it caps speed if they suspect a heavy download user. but then it says that this doesn't apply to sky unlimited broadband package. been to sky on phone they say they don't cap at all on unlimted package & can give phone & unlimited broadband for £23.75 per month. sounds like a good deal but......

i would like too know does sky cap your speed on 20mb unlimited braodband at all or is it really unlimited for example i download a newsgroup a 7.5gb file at 1pm will i get capped like virgin cap your speed within first 10 minutes. any replys would be great.

 

[ManofScience]

VM only throttle your SPEED and they are unlimited in how much you download every month. they are not CAPPED which refers to the amount you download. For me, their BB is second to none so i can live with this. most stuff i leave downloading over night anyway so even if i'm restricted it always catches up.

if you consistently download LOTS every month on sky then they may do something about it. by lots, over 40GB

 

[oneman]

Couple of things,

Cost of 10mb bb plus phone with unlimited weekend calls is £25. I assume you are ordering extra services ?

Quite clearly stated on the website that P2P and newsgroups (none time critica apps) are potentially throttled between 5pm and midnight weekdays and midday to midnight weekends. TBH of late I have found newsgroups not being throttled but I could just be lucky and you should assume they will be to around 25% (so 2.5mb in your case), so the protocols still work, just more slowly. Don't forget that there are way around this if you are that desperate.

Between 3pm and 4pm there is no capping and no throttling of P2P and newsgroups.

Our traffic management policy


Yes sky have a download cap though they don't give a hard figure as it depends on when it starts effecting their network.

According to other forums I am on, when this whole QoS thing kicked off lots of people threatening to leave that sky users reporting that newsgroups are being throttled, though there is no offical policy from sky to confirm/deny this. At least VM are upfront about it. BTW the forums report that BT also throttle but talktalk don't.

Have you checked what speed you are going to get on sky ?

 

[bambam]

thanks for the replys. sky say i should get between 10mb-20mb. I think sky does throttle speeds but at funny times. with virgin the caps are clearly stated on there website also i am wanting to get unlimited phone package with braodband. I think i will try to see if virgin will price match sky cause i ain't paying £32.99 a month and calling a few 0845 numbers will send phone bill over £40. so maybe sky broadband is not really truely unlimited then??

 

[janobi]

All ISPs will throttle/traffic shape you. None have a truly unlimited package, BE used too, but dont know if they still operate it.

If your really concerned about download speeds then get a VPN, or a seedbox. That way all your traffic is done off a server, and you can simply download what you want via FTP which is not throttled.

Avoid talk talk like the plague!

 

[ManofScience]

Does Sky's price include line rental?

 

[Shield10]

thanks for the replys. sky say i should get between 10mb-20mb. I think sky does throttle speeds but at funny times. with virgin the caps are clearly stated on there website also i am wanting to get unlimited phone package with braodband. I think i will try to see if virgin will price match sky cause i ain't paying £32.99 a month and calling a few 0845 numbers will send phone bill over £40. so maybe sky broadband is not really truely unlimited then??

hi m8 first of all any bb by telephone wire is 6-8 megs max stable over that and it comes very unstable so expect no more then 8 megs stable and that if you live right next to the exchange

 

[janobi]

hi m8 first of all any bb by telephone wire is 6-8 megs max stable over that and it comes very unstable so expect no more then 8 megs stable and that if you live right next to the exchange

Lexmark, lay off the drugs mate. I have 16mb on a BT copper line, and it works flawlessly. Things have moved on a little mate, and you can get upto 24mb without problems. I live about 2 miles from the exchange too.

 

[bambam]

i think sky does throttle speeds. as with virgin it states the times when it happens but with sky its not really clear but 5pm-midnight really limits your speed.

just been off phone to virgin & spoke to a very rude very aggressive lady in cancellation dept (honestly do they train these ppl in customer service)
& she says that i will only get less than 8mb with sky thats crap cause my brother is on sky he gets round 16mb on his connection. she also offered me very rudely £26.04 for unlimited phone & broadband & then said to me i will not get this offer if i cancel as my broadband size is not offered anymore. talk about crap customer service. she constantly argued with me on broadband speeds that i can get through sky. stupid dog needs a good few slaps???

 

[ManofScience]

they can check what area you are in and what average speed you might get on ADSL. Those speeds were probably right at one time but ADSL seems to be catching VM.

However, lots of areas have had improvements recently (exchanges) as well at the telephone line upgrades (BT Infinity fibre optic, i saw the bloke swapping ours over a few months ago)

Depends whats important to you - if you REALLY want quality broadband to download SHEDLOADS a month, then stick with VM. if u only download the odd film , bit of online gaming, general browsing and price is more important - then swap.


Plus, ALL customer service desks these days are twunts, they will all do what they can to keep you, don't expect any different from Sky. they were the worst when i tried to leave about 5 years ago, wanted extra money, didn't cancel the DD then had the cheek to ring me WEEKLY trying to get me to come back!

 

[oneman]

I would recall connections, hopefully get somebody else.

Ignore crap about 8mb connections, they don't know. You might get 2mb, you might get 20mb. If you have anybody else on the street with ADSL, they would be the best person to ask. samknows website can also given an indication of how far from the exchange you are. Also has details of when BT infinity is due in your area (does not mean your street).

It does not matter which ADSL provider you are with to some extent, generally speaking people in the same area will get the same speed regardless of ADSL provider.

 

[Shield10]

Lexmark, lay off the drugs mate. I have 16mb on a BT copper line, and it works flawlessly. Things have moved on a little mate, and you can get upto 24mb without problems. I live about 2 miles from the exchange too.

first of all i not on drugs secound of all i live about 200 meters from the exchange and the max i can get stable is 7 megs although i have 20 megs paid for

 

[janobi]

first of all i not on drugs secound of all i live about 200 meters from the exchange and the max i can get stable is 7 megs although i have 20 megs paid for

The equipment in the exchange will only support that then, once its upgraded then you will get much higher.

 

[jamesyboyjim]

I'm on sky unlimited and have never noticed a drop in speed but there again i do only get just over 3meg on my line but even so i can still download 8gig easily in around 6 hours and have never noticed a speed drop but that might be because im only getting a low speed from them so i dont affect the network too much

 

[Dutcho]

I'm with sly 20 meg and hammer it downloading films as well as having 4 lappys and 3 ps3's online all the time.

I have never seen it slow down though, top marks to them I say

 

[The Dentist]

I have just ordered sky broadband and their phone line as well for 23.50 a month inc line rental. Not installed yet but hearing good things here. Plus im just under 100meters from the exchange

 

[nozzer]

first of all i not on drugs secound of all i live about 200 meters from the exchange and the max i can get stable is 7 megs although i have 20 megs paid for

Its often more about the quality of the line installed rather than distance. BT went through a phase in the 70's/80's where a lot of lines they installed were cabled using aluminium rather than copper. These tend to be quite dire for the high frequencies used on ADSL so you end up with very low speeds.

Unfortunately, BT simply wont rewire anything unless there is a major fault so these aluminium lines are still very widespread.

 

[Deusevil]

Were I am Sky and BT are Shocking. I was on there 20Mb package and never got over 2Mb that's before traffic shaping. So I went to Vermin

I've had them for around a year and the only time I've notice any drop in speed is when I haven't paid the bill. ( B*gger I knew there's something I forgot)
I wouldn't say I'm a hardcore downloader ( Around 1-200 gigs a month) but I do use a fair bit and I'm never reduced. But thinking about it I am on 50Mb line and there's unlimited usage on it.

But around the corner at the inlaws they have the 20Mb and there always suffering slow speeds etc and traffic shaping.

Deus

 

[prezzy_78]

Sky are definately unlimited no traffic shaping - I do 250gig+ a month no problems and have a steady 17mb connection no matter what time of day

Was with BT before and could not downoload anything (I could at half a meg) between 6 and 12pm

 

[Shield10]

Its often more about the quality of the line installed rather than distance. BT went through a phase in the 70's/80's where a lot of lines they installed were cabled using aluminium rather than copper. These tend to be quite dire for the high frequencies used on ADSL so you end up with very low speeds.

Unfortunately, BT simply wont rewire anything unless there is a major fault so these aluminium lines are still very widespread.

well that awnser that, that when they rebuilt the echange in the 1977-78 remember it well was a good play ground for my friend and i .