Sky Broadband - any good?

[fiendishlyclever]

Also they will send you a Netgear router which is locked to them and as such you can't make changes, which can be frustrating.

 

That's if you are one of the lucky ones. Mine is a Sagem, although I can't say I've had any problems with it (better still since I managed to make it upgrade its own firmware).

 

The email on sky is provided by Google, although the sky sign on and front end seems to slow it to an almost unusable speed - I just forward it to my regular email account (although I am yet to receive any "Official emails" from Sky).

 

I'm about 5 miles from the exchange and I get around 4Mb downstream which is what I had before I moved from Virgin (before the upgrades). The ping times aren't as good as Virgin's and I tend to use OpenDNS (on my machine, router is locked down) because I had problems with browsing etc.

[PeterW]

Also they will send you a Netgear router which is locked to them and as such you can't make changes, which can be frustrating.

 

I'm pretty sure all but one of the routers they use can be flashed to standard firmware available from the manufacturer or even a third party one which is even better. That reminds me I still need to flash mine with the DGTeam firmware.

 

I have the Sky mid package and its been fine, I live miles away from the exchange so don't get anything above 6Mb.

Edited February 3, 2009 by PeterW

[acer-man]

I'm pretty sure all but one of the routers thye use can be flashed to standard firmware]

 

Yes I think you are correct, sorry for my mistake. I am relaying what my on-site technician said to me.

[6Foot2]

... and I tend to use OpenDNS (on my machine, router is locked down) because I had problems with browsing etc.

 

Having seen your post I decided to give OpenDNS a go as I am with TalkTalk and the connection drops frequently. Also the connection to school via the LEA VPN does not last any longer than 5 mins before dropping [often a lot sooner]

 

I have also posted thanks below your post: BTW: Is there any diffrence between posting a 'Thank You' and adding to a members' reuptation? [aside from the thanks you have given showing below you avatar]

 

Unfortunately I can't check the VPN connection tonight as Vista has suddenly decided that part of the registry is corrupt/missing so I am now working on the Ubuntu side of the dual boot [Good old Linux]

[Griffo]

Service is good, not at all impressed with the speed though!!

 

8Mb service, usual speed is 1.1Mb

 

BT was much faster

[elsiegee40]

BTW: Is there any diffrence between posting a 'Thank You' and adding to a members' reuptation? [aside from the thanks you have given showing below you avatar]

 

 

This thread from ZeroHour best explains Thanks and Rep!

 

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/general-edugeek-news-announcements/14757-new-forum-feature-thanks-button.html

[ZeroHour]

No real complaints...cant beat cable though!!

Numbers on paper yeh but I know lots with virgin cable and they slate it. Its one thing to have 50mb but when your throttled to 2mb it wont be of any good.

Virgin throttle, sky dont, thus I get much better transfer rates then my mates and I dont get cut off to 512kb when I watch too much iplayer.

One couldnt get near my speeds while downloading at the same time on his 20mb connection LOL.

[PeterW]

Here is the link for the third party Netgear firmwares, use at your own risk but people seem to be having good results I will be doing mine soon. DGTeam - The Custom DG834XX Series Router Firmware Web Site