Networks Sky ADSL Max BB (non LLU)

I recently decided to take up the Sky BB offer available to me.
I don't live in an LLU enabled area so had to choose ADSL Max.

I was previously with Nildram who have been an almost perfect ISP, no blocking/throttling etc and a generous download cap.

The offer of free BB was too good to turn down so I decided to make the switch, it's not been plain sailing though.

First problem was there was an error in the booking system that delayed my order by a week, then once the order was processed it took 3 weeks for my line to be transferred over to Sky.
Having been transferred over I thought all I had to do was type in my Sky user name and password into my router, only to find out that no one can tell you that info as the details are imbedded into the Sky routers firmware, this is the router they had not yet delivered to me.
I then had 4 days without a connection whilst I awaited the router.

Once I received the router it was just a case of plug and play, speeds were the same as before and game ping times were just as good.

Then came the problem, on Sky connect (not LLU) P2P traffic is throttled, now for Bit Torrent traffic that was easily cured by using encryption in the likes of uTorrent/Azurues.
I now have fast torrent download speeds but very very slow upload speeds.

I am at a complete loss as I don't know of a workaround for this, and it's killing my share ratio.

 

I forgot to update this thread.
So if anyone is interested here we go.

Shortly after posting the original post, my torrent upload speeds settled to what they should be (must have just been lots of seeds at the time)

I did have another issue in that I was only getting 3.5 meg, instead of the 6 or 7 I was getting with Nildram.
This turned out to be an issue with BT setting my IP/bRas profile to 3500kb/s, it took a quick call to Tier3 BB support, they then got in touch with BT and after a couple of weeks my IP profile was reset and I now have 6.5meg
The problem I had was at the time of being connected BT were working on my exchange so there was a lot of line noise, and my IP profile was set based on that.

TBH my only issue with Sky BB is the customer portal is beyond awful, just like the Sky customer website the navigation is the worst I have seen. You can't even check your download stats, and the email system is very basic.
I can only hope this improves with the google tie in. It's a very small price to pay for a fast, stable connection.

Well no price to pay in my case as I get it all free

 

You can only use sky hardware?
BS tell them the hardware is BS and you want to use your own. they must supply the username and password.
BT may be expensive but there noway and troublesome as skys customers service.
Thanks for that, looks like im not going over to sky BB.

This maybe useful to you
http://www.asininemonkey.com/netgear-dg834gt-hacking.html#URL_Injection
Its a way to hack sky modems.

 

We did get an exclusive offer from Sky to get unlimited 8meg bb (7meg on our line) for just £10 a month for a year. However after reading about all the problems with sky including waiting times etc I advised not to go along with it, even if the price was cheap.

My parents are happy paying £24 mo with pipex but the customer service is god damn awful. Pipex fining us £115 a time because we are not keeping up to date with payments yet direct debit is sucessfull each month. So... we are joining Be*as soon as our exchange is enabled for LLU on March 30th. I should be getting between 15 and 19Mbps

Anyhow, on a whole, would you say yes or no to Sky BB if you had to pay for it?

 

Why is it BS, that's the terms of taking Sky BB, you have to use the supplied router, the username is not stored anywhere on Chordiant (the account management software) so cust service cannot supply you those details. It is stored in the routers firmware.

I'm already well aware of that, and I'm currently using my own router anyway using the method posted.
The Sky one works just fine, in fact it's the newer revision of the router I already have.


@Wonka, all I can say is it works fine, stable, fast and no disconnections.
I don't have the customer service problems as I can just phone someone from my desk at work, but from what I hear Tier1 BB support is a bit of a joke, not the operators fault just lack of training, but Tier2 and 3 know what they are talking about.

From my experience I would recommend Sky, the waiting times are much better now, but with 1/2 million customers in only 6 months they are pretty busy.
If you are a Sky TV customer then the price is unbeatable.

 

sorry to bring back to life an old thread but im still really struggling with the sky supplied router.

it seems to be fine for most things (im aware its a home user package) but when i download from HTTP it becomes VERY slow and often the downloads fail and i cant get internet access for a few minutes or i have to reboot the router.

from the other thread i used my own linksys router successfully (TY yoda btw) however, every now and again the router internet connection would drop, i was still connected to the router but the connection just dropped until i rebooted it.... does anyone have any idea why? id much rather use my own as i can torrent fully with my linksys whereas with this sky router i cannot torrent at all, bar 3kb/s downloads... did you say your downloads were fine with the sky router yoda? im using utorrent but its still rubbish

for more info on people like me btw:

http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=18812

TIA

 

I'm on the Connect package which is P2P throttled unless you encrypt the traffic (which I do using uTorrent) and I get full 7 meg download speeds (depending upon the actual torrent), so long as I throttle the upload speed slightly.
If you ar on Base, Mid or Max (LLU) packages you should be able to achieve full download speeds without having to encrypt.

 

im on the same as you fella.... since they said i could have the max package then when i cancelled in order to get it and order sky, i had to pay a one off £40 fee and then £7 more per month. i think the term is conned. however i suspect they may be making less money as they have to go through BT for this pleasure? i still wasnt too pleased however, its costing me more and they said by april i would be on the 10/month. ah well.

so encrypting in utorrent is done how? i looked last night and this morning and im still stumped the ports always seem blocked btw

thanks again for your help

edit: think ive got it sorted, altho would it matter what port i used?

 

I just picked a port at random, the forwarded that in the routers firewall settings, turned on encryption and all is fine.

 

I've been thinking of changing to Sky BB from Plusnet.

I'm paying for SkyHD atm, £31/month I think it is (off the top of my head) - how much more would it be for BB through them?

I'd prefer to use my own adsl router though as others have been lacking in enough wifi signal (Zyxel/3com/Netgear) to even reach upstairs for my lappy to connect and the one I have now (Belkin N1) works perfectly.

 

If your in a Sky LLU enabled exchange the 2meg package is free, 8meg £5/month and 16meg for £10/month.
If you are not in an LLU enabled area you can get regular 8meg ADSL for £17/month, but some people have been able to get it for £5/month.

You need the Sky router initially to connect, but then you can retrieve the username and password (stored in the firmware) and use them on your own router.

 

There's something about LLU I don't get in general. If I was to purchase broadband from an LLU reseller (like Sky or Be*) do I still need a BT line?

Or if for instance I went with Sky TV could I get LLU enabled broadband included in any offers?

 

I'm on the sky LLU package (MAX) but I have found that having torrents with over 200 active connections tends to flood the routers NAT table causing it to crash. I have since set my Max connections per torrent to 125 and it's fine. Though I rarely get much above 100k/s even when encrypted and on a totally random port.

Doug; as far as I am aware you need a BT line, you can't use it on cable etc as their lines come over their own network to which Sky is not connected.
Is that what you meant or am I missing something?

 

Well you need something to connect you to the exchange, and at the moment that can only be with a BT line.
Sky are trialing thier own telephone service at the moment, and will soon be offering full telephony services bypassing BT all together.

 

BioSniper: Not talking about cable, just talking in general. It's been one of the major annoyances to me that I have to pay £11 for a base package from BT per month even though it's never used for making phonecalls.

Yoda: Any idea on timeframes?

 

Thanks yodasarmpit. I like the sound of internets for £5. £17 wouldn't be a significant enough saving to change for me. Is there a particular offer code to quote for the fiver a month deal?

 

Not sure mate, the staff trial has only just started.
However, they have made a commitment to be less expensive than BT.

 

Damnit, if it gets up and running before end of July I'd be well up for it!

 

Ah, ok doug, now I know what you mean
That's been my main gripe about ADSL too.

 

It's basically the "Naked" DSL that there were campaigns about a whole back (someone still has it in their sig).

If Sky can pull it off then I'll be happy.

I may have to ring up LLU providers today :S