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Davyo
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Foolishly i went from Sky normal BB to Post Office Fibre, they have failed to send out a tech on two occasions so i can leave  if not resolved within 28 days. I have now been trying to get through to PO  for 1.30 hrs with no answer. So is the such a thing as a provider that actually answers the phone.

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Zen internet seem to regularly top the polls for value and they answer the phone with a techie who's first language is English. I made one call early on which answered a query but otherwise I haven't needed to contact them. I changed to them from the PO last year and no regrets.

They don't do any of the sales tricks the big names play over low cost fibre etc with their cunning 18 month contracts. Zen simply charge £29.99/ month including line rental for standard fibre (40Mbit download which is plenty enough for me) and they guarantee to never increase the price. How good is that?

They do apply call charges if you make calls on the landline though but we make calls with mobiles in our house.

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54 minutes ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

hello, i was looking to go with the post office as SSE are not the best on customer service, might forget that now

 

Avoid the Post Office like the plague. Appalling service and terrible connection. Mine dropped out constantly and they said there was nothing they could do about it.
Subsequently went with BT, their internet was excellent, dumped them when the contract ended and their prices went ridiculous. 
Now with EE, good connection but router not as powerful as BT’s and internet seems slower than BT’s, even though speeds are advertised as equivalent.

Edited by moondoggy
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my lad researched internet providers  and       virgin    is the only independent provider         all the rest are subsidiary's of  bt       inc mobile phone providers          o2 is Telefonica not linked to bt       

google bt subsidiaries you are paying a different call centre for the same or less service        have been with orange mobile phones  from the start excellent  for many many years  no dropped calls or lack of signal / service       then went to ee   bt     ****  service or no service could not make a phone call            so   now o2  no dramas can make a call without plugging something into home wifi  at the other end of the country       less drama     get this      I can make a phone call from a mobile phone   👍      virgin internet at home  no dramas 

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5 hours ago, Saltings said:

my lad researched internet providers  and       virgin    is the only independent provider         all the rest are subsidiary's of  bt       inc mobile phone providers          o2 is Telefonica not linked to bt       

google bt subsidiaries you are paying a different call centre for the same or less service        have been with orange mobile phones  from the start excellent  for many many years  no dropped calls or lack of signal / service       then went to ee   bt     ****  service or no service could not make a phone call            so   now o2  no dramas can make a call without plugging something into home wifi  at the other end of the country       less drama     get this      I can make a phone call from a mobile phone   👍      virgin internet at home  no dramas 

No they are not all part of BT. The confusion is probably due to BT owning the infrastructure and other companies then lease it from BT. As for virgin they do have their own infrastructure in certain areas but in others they too need to use BT.

Edited by toontastic
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8 hours ago, moondoggy said:

Avoid the Post Office like the plague. Appalling service and terrible connection. Mine dropped out constantly and they said there was nothing they could do about it.
Subsequently went with BT, their internet was excellent, dumped them when the contract ended and their prices went ridiculous. 
Now with EE, good connection but router not as powerful as BT’s and internet seems slower than BT’s, even though speeds are advertised as equivalent.

hello, i only want the internet connection, no phone, i pay SSE £20 pcm will finish in April, what can anyone recommend?

 

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No issues with sky for phone and broadband. I did have to escalate a complaint once but the fault lay with openreach not sky. However, whenever I ring customers services from my phone I get redirected automatically to their head office call centre somewhere in the uk. 

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We moved from Sky (for some reason it would drop around midnight everynight) to NowTV (which is part of Sky) and although we do connect at faster speeds (possibly due to a new router) we have continuous problems with contention (from the looks of it) in the evenings etc.... I need to find time to look at switching as we have been able to get it that there is no block on the line moving having had a number of complaints open.

 

It gets me when they come back and go "ohhhh you have too many devices connected to the router and they will be splitting the bandwidth between them - that is why your speedtest is showing you are connected at xxxx) - that is like a red rag to a bull for me - seeing as though I have worked in telecoms and IT since leaving school (35 years)!!!

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Moved back to Sky last night after PO failed to answer the phone yet again! Sky picked up after 9 minutes.I was with sky for 7 yrs and had no issues (standard BB) increased to £25 pmth. My young son kept going on about fibre and i saw PO fibre for just under £22.So greed got the better of me and i switched .Anyway way i told the Sky adviser last night this and they have given me Super fast Fibre for £25 with a upfront fee of £20.Free calls to landlines & mobiles but no good to me as i don't have a phone connected to landline so they brought the price down from £30 to £25.

Edited by Davyo
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30 minutes ago, discobob said:

We moved from Sky (for some reason it would drop around midnight everynight) to NowTV (which is part of Sky) and although we do connect at faster speeds (possibly due to a new router) we have continuous problems with contention (from the looks of it) in the evenings etc.... I need to find time to look at switching as we have been able to get it that there is no block on the line moving having had a number of complaints open.

 

It gets me when they come back and go "ohhhh you have too many devices connected to the router and they will be splitting the bandwidth between them - that is why your speedtest is showing you are connected at xxxx) - that is like a red rag to a bull for me - seeing as though I have worked in telecoms and IT since leaving school (35 years)!!!

The reason for my complaint that got escalated was that we lost fibre broadband over night, not at set times but within half an hour each night, and came back in between 6 and 8 the next day. It turned out to be the ‘card’ in the cabinet was failing. They did a ‘lift and switch’ which just means changing the card we were connected to and that solved all problems. But it took over 3 months and up to 2000 connection drop outs per day before it was sorted. But to be fair to sky, they refunded all my monthly subscriptions such as Netflix and amazon, paid me back for data used on my phone. Also paid me for the portable radio I was advised to buy as openreach had suggested it was interference on the line that had caused it. 

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Moved from BT (worst customer service of ANY industry, let alone telecoms) last year to Sky. My costs have dropped dramatically but their routers lack power. You cannot replace theirs with a generic router and getting hold of the Sky boosters is not easy.  In the evenings, there are lots of devices sharing the bandwidth and we occasionally get issues as a result. Overall though, I am satisfied - their staff in Scotland are always pleasant and don't push if you say "no" to their offers.

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3 minutes ago, WestonSalop said:

Moved from BT (worst customer service of ANY industry, let alone telecoms) last year to Sky. My costs have dropped dramatically but their routers lack power. You cannot replace theirs with a generic router and getting hold of the Sky boosters is not easy.  In the evenings, there are lots of devices sharing the bandwidth and we occasionally get issues as a result. Overall though, I am satisfied - their staff in Scotland are always pleasant and don't push if you say "no" to their offers.

I’ve got an Apple time capsule that acts as a router, It’s hard wired directly into the sky router and works perfectly. 

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15 hours ago, biketestace said:

Go with plusnet..

I know they are a subsidiary of bt but the service is top notch 

..even better go with John Lewis Broadband which is provided by Plusnet but has a separate customer service with what you would expect from John Lewis service.

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9 hours ago, Saltings said:

my lad researched internet providers  and       virgin    is the only independent provider         all the rest are subsidiary's of  bt       inc mobile phone providers          o2 is Telefonica not linked to bt       

google bt subsidiaries you are paying a different call centre for the same or less service        have been with orange mobile phones  from the start excellent  for many many years  no dropped calls or lack of signal / service       then went to ee   bt     ****  service or no service could not make a phone call            so   now o2  no dramas can make a call without plugging something into home wifi  at the other end of the country       less drama     get this      I can make a phone call from a mobile phone   👍      virgin internet at home  no dramas 

Been with Virgin for my internet for quite a few years had a couple of minor problems but they have been very quick to give discount without me having to ask...

 

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Not my experience I am afraid. Awful experience a few years ago. 

Not my experience either. Plusnet were good initially, but service fell to pieces when BT took over. I left them 3 or 4 years ago because of this and moved to Zen.

Prices a bit higher, but service good, helpful & knowledgeable staff who are quick to answer the phone etc. Recommended.

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Chaps, all this talk of ‘less powerful’ routers is somewhat misguided.  The ISP is only responsible for providing an internet connection into your house.  The router they give you is best treated as a bonus.  If your Wi-Fi signal is insufficient in your house, then you need to solve that issue yourself, preferably with a proper mesh wifi kit, or ‘powerline’ range extenders.

Think of it this way, you don’t complain to your electricity provider if you have a lack of sockets in your spare bedroom?

For what it’s worth; I’m with Virgin, expensive but then it’s a cable connection, not ADSL.  So, not dependent on Openreach’s (BT’s) infrastructure.  I have no idea about the customer service as I haven’t (touch wood) had to call them.  

But I also don’t expect their router’s Wi-Fi aerial to reach every corner of our brick-built 1930’s semi.  I have a proper, wired connection to all the fixed devices in the house (computers, TVs) and as of this morning a TP-Link mesh wifi kit, Amazon are currently doing them for £89.

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16 minutes ago, udderlyoffroad said:

Chaps, all this talk of ‘less powerful’ routers is somewhat misguided.  The ISP is only responsible for providing an internet connection into your house.  The router they give you is best treated as a bonus.  If your Wi-Fi signal is insufficient in your house, then you need to solve that issue yourself, preferably with a proper mesh wifi kit, or ‘powerline’ range extenders.

Think of it this way, you don’t complain to your electricity provider if you have a lack of sockets in your spare bedroom?

For what it’s worth; I’m with Virgin, expensive but then it’s a cable connection, not ADSL.  So, not dependent on Openreach’s (BT’s) infrastructure.  I have no idea about the customer service as I haven’t (touch wood) had to call them.  

But I also don’t expect their router’s Wi-Fi aerial to reach every corner of our brick-built 1930’s semi.  I have a proper, wired connection to all the fixed devices in the house (computers, TVs) and as of this morning a TP-Link mesh wifi kit, Amazon are currently doing them for £89.

For the likes of Sky, you need (or you used to - MER encapsulation) to use their router - or start doing jiggery pokery with Tomato on certain routers etc..and then grab the password with some more technical jiggery pokery - beyond most users.

For me Homeplugs has been the answer - the kids PC's and Games Consoles are wired into it as well as the Entertainment stuff (TV, Sky, Android), with phones and firesticks being over WiFi (these are closer to the router so not too bad.

Occasionally, the homeplugs can go a bit screwy (usually the one by the router) and needs resetting.

 

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