BT or Sky broadband
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AcidK
New Member
VirginMedia, 50mg connection
Pros:
* Virginmedia will also not pass on your downloading details
* You ping will be the low, even when you're downloading (dependant on use, ofc)
* Customer services that actually answer the phone (had many problems with BT on this one)
* Cabel connection, no phone required
* Ping no longer an issue when playing games
* It's not BT...
Cons:
* Not always possible to get VM in your home
* VM can be glitchy in certain areas (like any other network, some areas can get overly congested with usage)
* If you're in a flat you'd only be able to get 30mg connection
* Quite expensive
Pros:
* Virginmedia will also not pass on your downloading details
* You ping will be the low, even when you're downloading (dependant on use, ofc)
* Customer services that actually answer the phone (had many problems with BT on this one)
* Cabel connection, no phone required
* Ping no longer an issue when playing games
* It's not BT...
Cons:
* Not always possible to get VM in your home
* VM can be glitchy in certain areas (like any other network, some areas can get overly congested with usage)
* If you're in a flat you'd only be able to get 30mg connection
* Quite expensive
Ki!ler-Mk1
Active Member
Cabel is awesome yo.
BT own the infrastructure so I'd expect them to have pretty good latency. I've heard indifferent things about their technical support but given the tech infrastructure is pretty top notch hopefully you'll not need them.
Sky I've heard bad things about at peak hours i.e. 6pm in the evenings. Their network in the past suffered from congestion as all the kids get home. I'd only suggest Sky if you are getting a very good bundled deal.
thatbloke
Junior Administrator
I have experience with both Sky and BT:
Had Sky at my parent's house - aside from the first two weeks after the connection went live, the connection was perfectly stable for the 4 or so years that I was using it. They still have the same line and the same router, and there are no problems with it whatsoever. It might drop the connection, say, once a month, if that...
I've been on BT where I'm living right now for about 15 months - my main gripe is with the slow speed I get, but that's a limit of my line and there's really not much I can do about that... In terms of the connection itself, it's generally stable, though it does seem to disconnect in peak time occasionally - usually either on a sunday afternoon or a Wednesday evening (might just be my local area?) - aside from those, when it's not disconnecting and taking 5 mins to sort itself out, it's generally quite good. It's as fast as my line can manage, and they did upgrade the upload speed not long after it went live too.
Not had to deal with BT tech support yet so can't speak for them myself....
If BT or Sky are the only two options you have, I personally would choose Sky, as I've had absolutely no problems with them whatsoever. BT are (in my experience) not that BAD, but they are slightly worse than my experience with Sky.
Had Sky at my parent's house - aside from the first two weeks after the connection went live, the connection was perfectly stable for the 4 or so years that I was using it. They still have the same line and the same router, and there are no problems with it whatsoever. It might drop the connection, say, once a month, if that...
I've been on BT where I'm living right now for about 15 months - my main gripe is with the slow speed I get, but that's a limit of my line and there's really not much I can do about that... In terms of the connection itself, it's generally stable, though it does seem to disconnect in peak time occasionally - usually either on a sunday afternoon or a Wednesday evening (might just be my local area?) - aside from those, when it's not disconnecting and taking 5 mins to sort itself out, it's generally quite good. It's as fast as my line can manage, and they did upgrade the upload speed not long after it went live too.
Not had to deal with BT tech support yet so can't speak for them myself....
If BT or Sky are the only two options you have, I personally would choose Sky, as I've had absolutely no problems with them whatsoever. BT are (in my experience) not that BAD, but they are slightly worse than my experience with Sky.
Traxata
Junior Administrator
Also depends on what LLU operators you have at your local exchange ...
Where I live there are none.
O2 demanded that I need to go around and convince 100 homes (in a village that has only got 460 in total) to sign up to o2 before they'd install their own equipment in the exchange.
Anyone else I use goes via BT equipment so we cut out the middleman and went with BT.
Having had a random period with noise on the line and my speed dropping from line max to almost minimum Phoned tech support, (and this is where BT become an issue) Tech support are only able to do a limited number of things. When BT was owned by the Post Office they were one single part of a public company... When BT was privatised they were forced to split it up and become "the BT group" tech support cannot fix things because they have to go to BT wholesale who eventually will fix things.
We get our office connections from BT as the exchange has very little enabled, the Local business guy knows less about the area than I do :/ He was coming around going door to door telling everyone about BT infinity being installed and was now available to us. Little did he know that it is not actually installed in the exchange for this half of town and he's been miss-selling their products (a big no-no for anyone
)
Any problems you get from BT aren't the result of problems with departments you can talk to. "BT" as a supplier doesn't supply you the equipment, they still have to get BT Wholesale to set you up and everything else. Sure they're closer than say Sky or Talk Talk but they really aren't that different :/
TL;DR If you get no problems with BT it's fine. If you do get a problem you have to go through so much red tape to get something done it's a pain in the arse.
Where I live there are none.
O2 demanded that I need to go around and convince 100 homes (in a village that has only got 460 in total) to sign up to o2 before they'd install their own equipment in the exchange.
Anyone else I use goes via BT equipment so we cut out the middleman and went with BT.
Having had a random period with noise on the line and my speed dropping from line max to almost minimum Phoned tech support, (and this is where BT become an issue) Tech support are only able to do a limited number of things. When BT was owned by the Post Office they were one single part of a public company... When BT was privatised they were forced to split it up and become "the BT group" tech support cannot fix things because they have to go to BT wholesale who eventually will fix things.
We get our office connections from BT as the exchange has very little enabled, the Local business guy knows less about the area than I do :/ He was coming around going door to door telling everyone about BT infinity being installed and was now available to us. Little did he know that it is not actually installed in the exchange for this half of town and he's been miss-selling their products (a big no-no for anyone
)Any problems you get from BT aren't the result of problems with departments you can talk to. "BT" as a supplier doesn't supply you the equipment, they still have to get BT Wholesale to set you up and everything else. Sure they're closer than say Sky or Talk Talk but they really aren't that different :/
TL;DR If you get no problems with BT it's fine. If you do get a problem you have to go through so much red tape to get something done it's a pain in the arse.
waterproofbob
Junior Administrator
My point would be, do you already have sky tv?
If you do then I'd go with them, I get my phone/tv/broadband from sky and have found all of the above to be pretty damn good. With the exception of one 3 day period where a bt idiot unplugged something at the exchange I have had a completely stable connection that has been lovely and fast. You can normally get a deal with sky as well if it's bundled.
My preference on ADSL services then go BE there and then O2. If you have an O2 mobile contract you again may be able to get a deal.
If you do then I'd go with them, I get my phone/tv/broadband from sky and have found all of the above to be pretty damn good. With the exception of one 3 day period where a bt idiot unplugged something at the exchange I have had a completely stable connection that has been lovely and fast. You can normally get a deal with sky as well if it's bundled.
My preference on ADSL services then go BE there and then O2. If you have an O2 mobile contract you again may be able to get a deal.
PsiSoldier
Well-Known Member
50 milligram cabel?
OT: as a long time BT customer, i was rather disappointed with the quality of both the service and the customer support they provided. after switching to 'Be there' i haven't looked back since.
if it is available to you, i highly recommend it.