[Chris Peacock]

Hi all,

We are moving house in the new year to an area which doesn't have Virgin Media which I am gutted about as their broadband is 99% reliable and very fast. Working from home its imperative I have a decent connection.

The area doesn't have BT Infinity either so my question would be is the Sky broadband stable, and if you do have problems how quick are the to resolve?

Are there any alternate providers I should be considering?

My understanding is that it will come via my BT phone line so guessing the days of 100mb broadband are going to be a long and distant memory?

Your knowledge as always is appreciated.

[JustChris]

It might be better now but I left in total over broadband. After years of stability with BT I did have some problems with Sky.

That was years ago however, see what current customers say now.

Been on Plusnet fibre for las 2 years and very fast and very good. Ping time to bcc down to 20-25ms some days, better than at work!

[ajfoggy]

Originally Posted by Chris Peacock

Hi all,

We are moving house in the new year to an area which doesn't have Virgin Media which I am gutted about as their broadband is 99% reliable and very fast. Working from home its imperative I have a decent connection.

The area doesn't have BT Infinity either so my question would be is the Sky broadband stable, and if you do have problems how quick are the to resolve?

Are there any alternate providers I should be considering?

My understanding is that it will come via my BT phone line so guessing the days of 100mb broadband are going to be a long and distant memory?

Your knowledge as always is appreciated.

Think you are screwed.... I have only just got infinity (for what it's worth). Can see any broadband being any better than any other, although I guess more popular providers could have higher contention issues, so pick a less popular one in theory?

Or find another house in VM area. Wish I could. Is VM nowhere near the house or are there other roads cabled near by?

[SkyJawa]

Before Infinity came to our village I was with Sky BB for years and on the whole it was spot on. It hardly ever dropped at all, and got a solid 13-16mb dl and 1mb upload.

That was after the exchange was sky enabled, before that it was the crappy Sky Connect offering which again was rock solid but much worse speeds (on that for about 2 years 8 years ago).

I won't even go there about the shower of shit Infinity was when it arrived and I moved to BT!

[x-m4n]

Originally Posted by Chris Peacock

The area doesn't have BT Infinity either so my question would be is the Sky broadband stable

Their website is accurate enough but call BT to double check coverage in the new address - Sky a good alternative.

[dangerous_al]

I have been with Sky for several years and never have a problem. DL speed in excess of 13mb. Can't beat it for the price with unlimited download for £7.50pm.

[xPETEZx]

Go with Plus.net.

Its still coming over BT Openreach cables etc, but at least you get good customer service.
Been with them a few years, and have been fantastic.

[FSE23]

I think it all depends where you live. I didn't have any problem with BT to the certain point. Apart from BT line being third world internet with max speed about 6Mbs and upload up to 0.6Mbs it was reliable and stable. Got a new Hyperoptic 100Mbs and it is great. My friends in London have Sky fiber and it drops speed all the time, disconnects from time to time and they have to reset router at least every third day.

[Steve_M_Sport]

I live in a smallish village & have BT Infinity 2 and get 35mb download and 18 mb upload on wifi so can recommend it.

Sky runs over the BT network but is not as fast as BT

[Chris Peacock]

Thanks guys.

It's a little village so no fibre and highly doubtful it will ever get it.

Outlook looks bleak for standard BT broadband

[Archer-s]

What's the 4G coverage like?
Have heard some horrendous stories about village broadband, worth checking what the neighbours get speed wise before taking the plunge.

It's the last mile that really affects the speed, ie from exchange to your house, for all the adsl providers it will be much of a muchness, I would recommend going with one that has great customer service as you may need their help to troubleshoot any speed issues.

[Sussex_G20]

Plus One for Plus Net. I think (probably wrong mind) they are actually a BT affiliate without all the branding. Funny thing was BT wanted to charge set up for a fibre modem I already had installed where as PlusNet didn't

Was with Sky for a while as it seemed a good idea to have the one package for everything. Problem is their hardware sucks and also uses a bespoke encryption which really precludes you using your own equipment. If you work alot from home VPN and VOIP are must haves and the SkyHub is next to useless for any customisation.
When the SkyFibre was installed it was BT who came to do it so I suspect if there is no fibre infrastructure put in place by BT no one will be able to offer you more than ADSL.

One thought if you can get a good mobile signal there are some routers that permit you to have a backup 3/4G dongle installed to drive the network, I know my Draytek does. Unless a really good inclusive package not ideal for streaming video but good for documents and email.

[jusdorange]

75MB on BT here

[Steve_M_Sport]

I've just checked my wired ethernet broadband speed and download is 68mb and upload is still 18mb with BT Infinity 2 - happy with that.

[Tronneh]

It might be worth checking if the area you are moving to has any form of microwave link?
I work from home so a good link is crucial and we still have not got Infinity or VM.
So i went with a company that provided a microwave link which has fibre at their end and i get upto 75mb down and 35mb up. Although the latency at peak times is a little disruptive for gaming on odd nights, its perfect for work during the day however. Cost was £27/pm

[Nick Malaka]

Plusnet use BT hardware.

Been with them a year.

Not too bad.

[Watsey]

Sky Broadband has been panned in the past. Subsequently it's been advertised as available for free for the first year. Cheap rubbish ?

If Virgin doesn't have cable in your area I'd look carefully at which services are available across the BT/Openreach network, and the rollout plans. Distance from the exchange is one factor that effects speeds, but so is the hardware in the exchanges. With more cabinets carrying Fibre To The Cabinet, things are improving outside of the cities.

[Tom Tallon]

Chris

Broadband is not dependant on smallness of village/town. In mighty Newcastle I can't get fast broadband yet on my exchange.

I believe there is a website SamKnows where you can get the status of current and future BT broadband capacity if you know the exchange name in the UK.

[Tengocity]

I have Sky and have had a few issues, which they've actually been pretty decent at sorting out. The biggest issues come when it's an open reach issue and they have to pass it over- I don't the SLA they've agreed is tight enough for the ultimate customer with an issue.
As both my wife and I work from home the broadband is critical for us so we are actually contemplating having two providers if possible in the new house!

[SkyJawa]

Originally Posted by Tengocity

I have Sky and have had a few issues, which they've actually been pretty decent at sorting out. The biggest issues come when it's an open reach issue and they have to pass it over- I don't the SLA they've agreed is tight enough for the ultimate customer with an issue!

They were also the weak link in sorting out my Infinity issues so doesn't really matter if you are BT or non-BT if it gets referred to Openreach!

If you buy a new router (I've got an ASUS) and you get decent 3G where you are, you can stick a 3G sim in the router as well so if your BB dies you can handoff to the 3G network to keep you going.

I don't tend to bother as I can still work from home from VF 4G on my iPhone linked to my Mac, don't really need everything else to keep working.

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by SkyJawa

They were also the weak link in sorting out my Infinity issues so doesn't really matter if you are BT or non-BT if it gets referred to Openreach!

If you buy a new router (I've got an ASUS) and you get decent 3G where you are, you can stick a 3G sim in the router as well so if your BB dies you can handoff to the 3G network to keep you going.

I don't tend to bother as I can still work from home from VF 4G on my iPhone linked to my Mac, don't really need everything else to keep working.

Well that can be an issue because the Vodafone signal at my house is so variable (can move between no signal to Edge to 3G to 4G) that we use a signal booster... So when the broadband goes down then so does the reliable enough phone signal with which to connect to VPNs etc

[Mike200]

Have a look at BT Wholesale web site here https://www.btwholesale.com/includes/adsl/main.html

Use the post code checker if you do not have a relevant phone number.

I can't get BT Infinity, but can ge Fibre to the property (FTTP) at 300Mbps.