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Introduction

My friend has been using Sky Broadband for sometime and I’m now getting transferred to Sky Broadband at the time of writing. What makes Sky Broadband special is it’s truly unlimited without a fair usage policy, which is ideal if you intend to download masses of information without worrying. Other Internet Service Providers currently advertise their service as “unlimited”, yet if you download too much you can be formally warned and continued over use could mean sanctions which can include speed capping or even disconnection.

The Cost of Sky Broadband

Sky Broadband can be ordered with or without the phone service named Sky Talk which is slightly cheaper than BT talk plans in itself. You must be or become a Sky TV customer which costs a minimum of £16.50 a month depending on what channels you want to watch.

Monthly Cost Without Sky Talk:

Up to 2Mb/S: £5
Up to 8Mb/S: £10
Up to 20Mb/S: £15

Monthly Cost With Sky Talk:

Up to 2Mb/S: £FREE
Up to 8Mb/S: £5
Up to 20Mb/S: £10

The prices are extremely competitive. The broadband service comes with a free wireless router although the router is locked to Sky Broadband only and remains the property of Sky who could ask for it back when leaving Sky if they wished. The free router doesn’t use the very latest wireless technology which is wireless ‘N’, although it’s still not a bad wireless ‘G’ router. Wireless ‘N’ can in some situations provide a better wireless signal for further.

Is Sky Broadband as good as it’s advertised?

Well, we will certainly be finding out over the coming months as I personally test Sky Broadband’s fastest package at up to 20Mb/S on ADSL2+ at only £15 a month on top of my Sky TV package. I will be writing an ongoing review. Unfortunately I’m unable to test Sky Talk at this time as I’m still bound to a BT contract. When my contract if over, Sky tell me that I can save an additional £5 a month by taking Sky TV, Sky Broadband and Sky Talk together.

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My Friend’s Experience of Sky Broadband So Far

My friend had a trouble free switch over to Sky a few months ago at the time of writing and so far his speeds have been consistently excellent even during busy times. He has been downloading masses of data using a completely legal game download service named Metaboli where you pay to download many of today’s best commercial games at a fixed monthly rate. Most games are absolutely huge at anything up to 8Gb+ and so far Sky has been great and the downloads are extremely fast. When he first moved to Sky, his speed was only 7Mb/S after the usual line test. My friend and I are only 1Km from the BT Exchange and should be getting much faster speeds than 7Mb/S, but just one phone to Sky technical support corrected the speed as they immediately changed his speed to 14Mb/s and he’s been getting very fast reliable speeds ever since. Unlike many other Internet Service Providers, no services are capped or bandwidth throttled. BT and many other ISPs cap peer to peer downloading (E.g Torrents) during peak times, Sky DON’T at the time of writing!

It’s also good that Sky’s technical support is based in the UK, unlike BT India where it’s obvious that English is the 2nd language of most of the operators and there’s often a communication breakdown. The only bad thing about Sky technical support my friend has experienced so far is that if your NOT using Sky Talk, the 0844 number isn’t completely free.

Why is the service only offered up to 20Mb/S and not up to 24Mb/S on ADSL2+?

Sky Broadband offers customers speeds up to 20Mb/S using ADSL2+ depending mainly on how close you’re located to your BT Exchange as well as the quality of your line. Many broadband providers offering ADSL2+ offer speeds of up to 24Mb/S, but in reality hardly anyone actually gets speeds of above 20Mb/S even if you live very close to your local the BT Exchange, so offering up to 20Mb/S instead of 24Mb/S if much more honest and genuine. In other words, you will be getting the fastest speed your line can support using ADSL2+ on the 20Mb/S package.

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Can anyone get Sky Broadband?

Unfortunately the answer is NO! The immediate disadvantage of Sky Broadband is it’s poor availability as you have to have a BT land line initially to be able to order it. Also Sky Broadband isn’t available in every area in the UK as yet even if BT Broadband and others are available in your area. If you’re unlucky enough to be on an LTU broadband line (local loop unbundling) like Tiscali and you want to transfer to Sky Broadband, it can be complicated as your line has to be changed over to a BT line first. You also can’t get Sky Broadband unless you’re a Sky TV customer which also rules out a lot of the population.

Sky Broadband are however improving their support to allow people to transfer to them without phone lines or with LLU lines. They can now arrange an engineer to visit to install your BT line or to convert it back from an LLU line. If you’re ordering Sky Broadband with your Sky TV or within a few weeks, the service is usually free so it’s important you consider this carefully. By buying Sky TV and Sky Broadband together, you can save a £125 charge for a brand new phone line that is often charged by BT.

Be careful when moving to Sky Broadband if you’re still on contract with another Internet Service Provider. Even though they have to give you a MAC code to move on your request whether you’re still on a contract or not, you could be charged breach of contract charges for finishing a contract early, always check with your existing ISP first before moving. This can also be the case with existing talk plans, but Sky Talk is optional although it works out cheaper with it, fortunately this can be added easily later if it’s only service that can’t be transferred because of an existing contract.

My On Going Review & Test:

30th August 2009: (Sky ADSL2+ up to 20Mb/S broadband ordered.)

I’ve just ordered Sky Broadband on the 30th August 2009 and my wireless router is due later in the week. I’ve decided to move from BT Broadband after receiving a dreadful service from them to say the least. With a MAC code I’m told I’ll only have to do without broadband for around 30 minutes to 2 hours maximum on the activation date. I’m due to be activated on the 9th September 2009. It’s costing me £15 a month for a 20Mb/S truly unlimited service instead of £10 a month as an existing BT talk contract has stopped me transferring to Sky Talk at this time. I will continue to update this review regularly as I test Sky Broadband over the coming months.

3rd September 2009: (Waiting for delivery of router.)

Sky confirm I’m going to be up and running by the end of the 9th September 2009 which is next Wednesday at the time of writing. I’m hoping my wireless router comes before or I won’t have any Internet as Sky insist you use that router to connect, it’s supposed to be dispatched so I’m crossing my fingers.

5th September 2009: (Router arrived in plenty of time.)

My Netgear Wireless G Sky router has arrived in plenty of time for the activation date on the 9th September. It’s locked to Sky broadband with my unique settings and broadband password pre-setup for my convenience.

9th September 2009: (NOW USING SKY BROADBAND – A smooth Transfer!)

My transfer has gone smoothly today and I was only down for around 30 minutes after getting disconnected from BT. The Sky Netgear router was completely set-up for me every respect before shipping, I only had to plug in and go which is ideal for novices. My download speed has started at only 4Mb/S, but this a normal starting place as the system tests different speeds to find out what my line is capable of achieving over the next 10 days or so before setting it. My friend and neighbour is set to 14Mb/S on ADSL2, so I’m expecting very similar which will be much better than I was getting from BT at 6.5Mb/S. I’ve tested a torrent download and it’s very nice to see they’re not throttled (slowed down / capped) during peak times like BT too. So far I’m very happy.

10th September 2009: (Waiting for faster speeds.)

I’ve been happily using Sky Broadband now for over a day, but so far I’m still stuck at just 4Mb/S and there’s still no sign of my line test starting although I’ve read it can take 2-3 days to start and up to a week after that for the line test to finally set the speed my line can support without errors. I’ve got a very good line with an IP profile estimate of 19Mb/S on ADSL2. Your actual download speed is always a bit lower than your IP profile.

UK ADSL Line Speed Calculator:
Am I really getting the speed my line is capable of?

Incidentally if you want an estimate of what any broadband line should support, see http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/max_speed_calc.php and enter your line’s ‘Downstream Attenuation’ which you can usually find in your router settings, please read your router’s manual for full instructions as they vary, but with Sky’s Netgear router you need to put 192.168.0.1 in the address bar in your Internet browser, login using username ‘admin’ and password ’sky’ (default login credentials) and on the router set-up screen click ’show statistics’ to bring up various data including your downstream attenuation. If your downstream connection speed (also found in the router settings) isn’t close to the estimated value and you’re paying for service up to a faster speed than your getting, contact your ISP to complain as your IP Profile is almost certainly set too low. With some ISPs including BT, you will have to be very persistent as they will attempt to blame anything but the real reason that your IP profile isn’t set high enough and you’re likely to be told to use your phone test socket which is wasting your time in this situation.

11th September 2009: (My line test has started.)

WOW, My speed has just jumped from 4Mb/S to 16Mb/S, the line test tried higher, but for about 1 minute I couldn’t connect. The test is continuing, I will update when my stable speed is set. The speeds appear consistent on Sky even at peak times which is a lot better than BT where it was much slower at certain times, but I will continue to test over a longer period. I’m very happy so far.

13th September 2009: (SUPER FAST at ALL times!)

My download speed is approx 14Mb/s and upload speed is approx 0.8Mb/S. My actual downstream on my router has been set to 16Mb/s while the upstream has been set to 1Mb/S, but it’s perfectly normal for the actual speed to be a bit less than this on any ISP. I assume my line test is over already. It’s now Sunday at 3.30pm at the time of writing and I’ve just run a number ofs speed test. I’m getting the same consistent super-fast speed now at peak time as at any other time. I’ve run speed tests at 4am in the morning, 10am, 2pm, 6pm, 9pm, Etc. Etc., the speed remains excellent AT ALL TIMES.

So far I’m very impressed by Sky Broadband as with all other broadband providers I’ve experienced including BT, UK-Online and Tiscali, I noticed a slow down during peak times which I grew to accept as normal, this is NOT the case with Sky Broadband so far. I can also confirm that nothing including peer to peer networks, E.g. torrents, are throttled in the slightest as promised, unlike many other ISPs too. It’s also very impressive that it’s truly unlimited too with no fair usage policy. I will continue to update and test.

20th September 2009: (The outstanding fast service continues!)

My downstream has stabilised at 17Mb/S and my upstream is at 1Mb/S, in reality I get 14.5Mb/S when actually downloading which is very good indeed when I was getting only 6Mb/S at very best with BT Total Broadband with awful speeds of sometimes less then 1Mb/S during peak times when they were clearly overloaded, plus my torrents used to be throttled severely with BT and their service wasn’t even truly unlimited as my friend found out when he was once throttled to 0.5Mb/S for downloading too much. My super fast speed is extremely stable on Sky Broadband and continues to be excellent at ALL times, even on torrents that are NOT throttled in any way what-so-ever. I’ve run speed tests throughout and it doesn’t matter what I’ve downloaded or at what time, the speed test is always consistently super fast. My friend and neighbour is also experiencing an identical super fast service. It’s almost like we’ve got a dedicated line each it’s so good. I’m absolutely delighted so far and I’d recommend Sky Broadband to anyone where it’s available. Remember however that I live rather close to my local telephone exchange (just over 1KM away) and your speed won’t be as good if you happen to live further from your nearest exchange, but if you buy the top Sky Broadband package available, you can rest assured that you will get the fastest speed your phone line is capable of which is the best any ISP can possibly achieve unless you consider using cable broadband instead.

I will continue to test and update over the coming months, I hope Sky keep this amazing service up in the future because when one gets a service as good as this for such a good price, one wanders if it can really last for the foreseeable future.

30th September 2009: (Superb consistent speeds continue 24/7!)

I’m still extremely impressed by Sky Broadband as no matter what time I test it, my speed remains at the same super fast speed. It’s almost like having a dedicated line and I’ve downloaded loads without any problems.

15th November 2009: (The Speed continues to be excellent!)

I’ve been using Sky Broadband now for quite a few months and I’ve been running a speed test nearly every day at different times. The speed hasn’t slowed down once, I’m constantly getting my maximum speed at 14.5Mb/S permanently. My friend moved home with Sky a month ago however, they made various mistakes and he experienced very bad customer service, so they’re not perfect, but I’m very impressed by the excellent consistent speed without any sign of traffic shaping, not even for peer to peer / torrent downloading.

I noticed that Sky have introduced a service called “connect” for people who aren’t in Sky broadband’s network area. This service is only an 8Mb/S maximum ADSL service at the time of writing because it uses another ISP and not Sky broadband itself, although you pay Sky and deal with Sky customer services. “Connect” isn’t truly unlimited and has a maximum monthly download limit of 40Gb, plus you are prone to possible traffic shaping. On the Sky website it’s now a bit confusing as some people misunderstand as it sounds like Sky isn’t truly unlimited any more. SKY BROADBAND IS STILL TRULY UNLIMITED, it’s only not truly unlimited if your not able to connect to Sky Broadband itself, E.g. if your unlucky enough to be outside their network area, but you will told at the time of sale. If you’re not in Sky Broadband’s network area, I’d be inclined to look area elsewhere for an ISP, especially if someone else if offering faster ADSL2+ speeds. If you are in the network area, then I thoroughly recommend Sky Broadband truly unlimited, my only complaint so far is the customer service isn’t always good, but you’d find it hard to find better from any ISP as most have dire customer service. For instance, with BT broadband technical support you often can’t even understand them properly as English is usually their second language as their technical support is based in India and is absolutely terrible from my experience. When comparing with BT, Sky broadband technical support is much better in my opinion although still needs improvement.

25th December 2009 – Christmas Day 2009:
(Always an excellent speed as ALWAYS 24/7!)

I’m using Sky Broadband and at the time of writing it’s Christmas Day afternoon, surely this would be one of the highest times for Internet demand on a home ISP, yet my speed is still maximum at 14.5Mb/S (the maximum my line will support on ADSL2+), I continue to be extremely impressed by the constant excellent service and I’ve never seen my speed drop below the maximum day or night, 7 days a week, the same can be said for my friend who is also delighted with his Sky Broadband speed. This could be compared with BT that used to drop in speed terrible during peak times, it wasn’t truly unlimited and torrent download speeds used to be throttled too, I’m so glad I’m no longer using them. My friend has also had personal experience with Talk Talk broadband and various other providers, none managed to provide a constant maximum speed at peak times, with Sky Broadband it’s virtually like having a dedicated line which would cost many times as much!

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