Networks Sky BB vs O2 BB vs Virgin Cable

The password is generated from your Sky user name so there is several websites that will show you your sky router username and password for you. Just like this one. I used my own router with Sky BB for years with no issues.

 

With BE, the basic 8mb package (£13.79pm) gives you up to 8mb d/l, up to 1.3mb u/l but no email or webspace - these would be extra. I don't know the contention or even if it is stated anymore.

It basically does what it says on the tin, is very reliable (mine only goes down when I reboot the router) and the service, in my opinion, is second to none. They don't cap or traffic manage either - at all!

I was only able to sync at around 9 or 10mb when I joined and, after a lot of diagnosis by the BE techies, they found that it is a limitation of the line between the exchange and my house. I simply dropped down from the Unlimited package to the Value package and I get a full 8mb sync. BE could not have been more helpful.

The supplied Thomson router is pants but you can use your own without breaching their T&C's. All they ask is that you hang on to it so that it can be used if troubleshooting any problems if required.

 

My brother is with sky. He hates them. Took ages to set up and had poor connection stability etc.

I was with bethere.co.UK at hone in London and down in Brighton for 2 years. I cannot fault there technical support, very quick response, provided all settings required when I wanted to use a different router (although they don't actually support you if you encounter problems with your custom router). Brilliant for 2 years never 1 problem. Been with o2 for a year, not had to deal with customer support as I've had no problems. But i downgraded my connection just via their website no hassle atall.

In preference, bethere 1st, o2, and never sky.

 

Same experience as I have had with O2 broadband at my last house.

O2 are a dream to deal with when moving house / cancelling and signing up and have had experience at 4 different properties with nothing to complain.

Just upgraded my parents from Sky to O2 and even they have noticed an improvement.

 

Okay - I just received another marketing mail shot from Virgin, which offers me 10Mb BB for 12.50 a month, or 20Mb for £20 if I take a virgin phone line (11.99 PCM).

On the face of it, this sounds like a good deal, as it's double my current speed, for the same price, if you factor in the need for a BT phone line with my O2 ADSL.

What I know need to know is how good is the Virgin service? It (according to the marketing spiel) has just won a whole load of award for it's performance...

Also - with the virgin phone line, does this go down the cable - or is it the same as with other phone providers, with them taking the line rental but you keep your residential line and number?

It's important, as I have a monitored alarm that calls out on the BT line if the alarm is triggered.

 

id highly recommend BE....been with them for a year or so..never any traffic congestion(since its adsl2),no caps..my speeds are ALWAYS 2 mbs per sec..amazing value.

 

I'm on O2, and I couldn't be more happy with the service.
Even their liasing with the enemy (BT) seemed competent and my intermittent problem was resolved within a couple of days.

 

yeah virgin service is very good as long as its the FTTC. im on 10mb now and i always get 10mb 24 hrs a day.

get very giood pings to often been <50 in most FPS

only draw back is if your a big downloader. they limited your total dowload between certain hours if your on the 10 or 20mb service. if your on 50mb they dont.

10mb

10am-3pm = 3GB MAX
4pm-9pm = 1.5GB MAX
9pm-9AM = Unlimited

double the limits if your on the 20mb package.


edit - the phone comes down the cable so no line rental to bt is needed. you can keep your existing number as my parents did that.

 

http://www.virginmedia.com/myvirginmedia/traffic-management-table.php

That details the traffic limits on cable.

I've had SKY in the past and personally found it to be pretty good, but I was reasonably close to the exchange (about 2-3k) though the BT equipment (the line) is what let it down, specifically in bad weather.

Like all ISP's YMMV.

 

When I was on virgin 20mb, we occasionally got our speed cut down because my brother went over the download limit. But as soon as I made sure he did his downloading out of the peak times it basically never happened.

Now we are on 50mb so he can download all he likes, as long as he isn't torrenting 10 things at full speed I can usually still play games and chat on skype with good ping.

Performance wise you can't touch Virgin in my experience. When I worked at PC world for 3 weeks (dark times, dark times indeed) the rep from Sky came in and was talking to us about the deals, and he said that if they have Virgin Media broadband they are essentially a lost sale for BB, because no one in the UK can touch them for speed and its pretty pointless offering them a deal because they are just going to be disappointed and on the phone to cancel.

 

I wouldn't go anywhere near Virgin!

Atrocious service and they are known to heavily cap and throttle.

 

lol do you work for sky or BT ??

The customer service is rubbish ill give you that but thier acutal broadband service is very very good. They do cap on certain packages but it wont effect 90% of all users. Read above for details and i would hardly say its heavy.

This only applies to Virgin FTTC though as if your not in a cable area then virgin broadband on a BT is horrible which i think you may be on about. not sure how much they shape and throttle on that though. My friend had 1mb download on VB over BT and pings were always above 100ms

both me, my parents and some friends are all on virgin and they give you the speed you pay for unlike most ISPs 24/7. To provide this they throttle abusers of the service. They chop 75% off your speed down and up for 5hrs.

Please dont just spout negative comments without backing it up or saying which service is rubbish

 

Im with BE and i get a 20mb sync speed from them for £17.50 a month, We were on sky before and 02 before that. 02 we got around 4mb sync. Sky we were between 1 and 12 sync. Be is alot more stable service and is hard not to recommend them

 

BE ive heard lots of good things about them.

O2 - i used to have 8mb package LLU and always got my 8mb. less than 70ms

Virgin - im on 10mb FTTC package and i get 10mb always. less than 50ms

sky - had rubbish times with them with speeds all over the place and always slower at peak times. pings are so-so usually around 70-100ms depending on time of day.

 

No - I'll be on Virgin Fibre, not the ADSL if I go for it.

What I need to know is wether or not my Alarm will work if I take phone service from them as well, to get the better price on either the 10Mb or 20Mb connection.

 

Neither

I'm just going on personal experience and the experience of people I know. I also have a friend that used to work in the Virgin call centre and have heard all sorts of stories about them.

 

they are all brilliant when things work the way you want them to.

they are all as bad as each other when things go wrong, it just depends who you get on the end of the phoneline, when you need to contact them. some are more helpful/capable than others.

 

I had a dial-out alarm whilst on Virgin cable (with phone as well) and it worked fine. I then switched to ADSL with BE and had problems with the alarm due to the mistakes made by the BT engineer (for some reason BT had to visit when I went back to BT for phone service to get BE ADSL).

I ended up paying the alarm company to install a filter on the alarm panel (about £18) to resolve the problem as BT were not interested - the said the phone was working fine so that's all they were interested in - tossers.

 

Well I'm on Virgin 50mb and I have no intention of leaving and have had no hassles from them. Also my area in January is going 100mb which is even better.

The best service I ever had was from BT but the connection was absolute crap. I phoned sky and they told me I couldn't get higher than 1mb lol what a joke and I could get up to 4mb with BT.

 

I would suggest Virgin or BE.