Sky Broadband

[Tattooed Freak]

Very intresting, I want to see what the FUP is going to be:

Minimum subscription to your chosen Sky Broadband Product is 12 months. You must be a UK active residential Sky TV subscriber throughout your Sky Broadband subscription. Sky Broadband is only available to Sky TV subscribers paying by Direct Debit/continuous credit card mandate. Availability and speeds are subject to your location, a compatible line, equipment and survey.

Monthly subscription: Base - Free; Mid - £5; Max - £10; Connect - £17. Activation fee: Base - £40; Mid - £20; Max – free; Connect – £40. SHS Home Installation: Free if you subscribe to Sky Broadband Max, otherwise £50. Prices subject to change.

Monthly usage limit: Base: 2GB; Mid – 40GB; Max – Unlimited subject to Fair Usage Policy; Connect – 40GB. Maximum download speed: Base – up to 2Mb; Mid – up to 8Mb; Max – up to 16Mb; Connect – up to 8Mb. Maximum upload speed: Base – up to 400Kb; Mid – up to 400Kb; Max – up to 768Kb; Connect – up to 448Kb.

If your PC or laptop is not wireless enabled you can buy the necessary equipment from Sky.

If you are a PC user you will receive 12 months free McAfee Internet Security Suite worth £49.98. If you are a MAC user you will receive 12 months free McAfee Virex worth £29.99.

Eligibility and other terms apply.

Savings apply to Sky TV customers choosing a standalone broadband product and assume that you are not in the minimum term of a broadband contract.

Information correct at July 2006.

[kracken]

www.sky.com/broadband

16Mb would be nice for an extra £10 a month on top of subs (unlimited cap) , but as you say I wonder how "keen" the FUP is ?

[barghest]

I can't see the FUP being too 'keen' not to start off with anyway. I'd say we're looking at a 'land grab' period where the FUP is either pretty resonable or there's no real details about it available. Then, when they think they've got enough customers, they'll start enforcing the FUP.

Of course, that all depends on them being able to accurately measure your usage, which I seem to recal at least one LLU ISP was apparently having problems with in the latter half of last year.

The basic package looks pretty good though, for light users who already have a Sky subscription.

[4me2]

BSkyB joins 'free broadband' war

Sky hopes to plug into a whole new market

The broadband pricing war has heated up with satellite firm BSkyB launching a free service for its subscribers.
Under the offer, existing network customers can get its 2Mb Base package for free. Sky expects 30% of its eight million network users to sign up.
New subscribers to Sky Digital will be able to sign up for its broadband offering for between £5 and £17.
Sky said it would spend about £250m on the move, adding it expected to invest a further £400m over three years.
Shares in the group fell on the news amid analyst fears that the decision may mean expensive initial outlays - partly down to the cost of installing Sky equipment in BT telephone exchanges to access the local loop.
Sky's shares closed down 4.3% following the announcement.
'Transformational' move
"Sky is ideally equipped to enter the large and growing markets of broadband and telephony by pushing the boundaries of the home entertainment market," chief executive James Murdoch said.
"This is a transformational new initiative for Sky."
SKY BROADBAND PACKAGES
Base - 2Mb download speed, £40 connection fee, £50 installation, free subscription, 2GB monthly limit
Mid - 8Mb, £20 connection, £50 installation, £5 monthly subscription, 40GB usage
Max- 16Mb, free installation and connection, £10 monthly subscription, unlimited usage
Connect - 8Mb, £40 connection, £50 installation, £17 a month, 40GB usage



Check BSkyB's shares


Sky's new service aims to compete with market leaders BT, AOL and ***.
Like Sky these firms also offer a different range of packages, depending on things like download speed and, in BT's case, usage caps.
Take into account other elements such as introductory offers, length of contract, installation costs, line rental, off-peak tariffs, and upgrade costs, and it can be tricky to make a direct comparison between different offers.
Meanwhile Sky will also face competition from heavily subsidised broadband services offered by mobile phone operator Orange.
Industry analysts also expect the group to widen its online entertainment portfolio - offering more than its current movie and sports downloads.
Meanwhile, Mr Murdoch also hinted that Sky planned to expand its reach online by admitting the company is among the suitors looking to buy Time Warner's AOL access business in the UK.
"We would look at it from purely an opportunistic basis," he told reporters.
Tariffs
Sky - which is 38% owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation - will begin signing up customers for the three-tier service, offering download speeds from 2Mb to 16Mb, which launches next month.
While customers will not have to pay for the ongoing service they will have to pay installation and connection fees. These range from nothing to £50.
Only 28% of UK households are currently covered by Sky's broadband network but it will be rolled out to 70% by the end of next year.
Customers currently not covered by Sky's network are being offered a fourth Connect broadband service, which carries the highest tariff of those on offer.
Meanwhile, prospective broadband customers will also still need to have a BT line for the service which costs £11.99 a month.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5190710.stm

[furrry]

I would be interested in this especially if i can dump my cable company and set up a BT line for this service, but i was wondering if the service is just using the BT line for uploads and downloads, or will the Downloads be comming from the sky network, as we have a shit bt broadband service here.
wouldnt want to sign up to something worse that what i have got just now


thanks

[Big A]

sorry for being thick but what is "fup"

[gunner]

FUP = Fair Usage Policy - the amount you can download.

[TheFincher]

Got a letter through the post this morning telling me that im one of the first thats getting it rolled out and it seems like a good package but at the risk of echoing what everyone is saying.......... lets see what the fup is like!!

[beerman]

Only 28% of UK households are currently covered by Sky's broadband network but it will be rolled out to 70% by the end of next year.
Customers currently not covered by Sky's network are being offered a fourth Connect broadband service, which carries the highest tariff of those on offer.
Meanwhile, prospective broadband customers will also still need to have a BT line for the service which costs £11.99 a month.

This bit looked interesting as it looks like it's only available to anyone who is near a LLUed exchange, looks like Sky are making good use of their Easynet purchase.

On the FUP, UKonline (owned by Easynet) has a 500gb FUP, lets hope sky match it with their service, especially if people are going to be getting 16mb,

[gandalf72]

Did anyone actually get any details of when there exchange was going to go live? Or has anyone got any info on current exchanges?

I asked for that from the sales rep and could not be told, just wondering if it is going to be in glasgow. I am currently on a llu with bulldog and have just told them I am leaving.

After months of poor service and line drops than I care to remember going to need to find new isp so was curious when this came through my door this morning.

[TFS]

yeah, i got the letter today and have put it aside as I thought it looked a fairly reasonable deal. definitely better than my current deal with Pipex. Lets see how it pans out.

TFS

[barghest]

Did anyone actually get any details of when there exchange was going to go live? Or has anyone got any info on current exchanges?

I don't think there's a list out there, yet, of the intended exchanges for rollout. However, for the current ones just drop your details into the checker here http://www.samknows.com/broadband/checker2.php and it should tell you who's in your exchange.

I would be interested in this especially if i can dump my cable company and set up a BT line for this service, but i was wondering if the service is just using the BT line for uploads and downloads, or will the Downloads be comming from the sky network, as we have a shit bt broadband service here.

They'll be using the physical cable between your house and the BT exchange. Then they'll be hooking at least part of it into their kit for the broadband side of things. This then goes over whatever backhaul connection they put in to their major point of presence and then out to the wider internet.

[philbob]

I got a letter from sky today too - stating it may be upto 6 months until I can get their package in my area - but offered a standard 2mb package (non-LLU) in the meantime - at £17pm. Automatically switching over to their own network when its available.

Will probably just wait to see how it pans out first - & as everyone says - see what their FUP will be.

[Goldberg]

I'll be signing up for the Max service for £10 a month once it's rolled out. Got my letter too.

[SpudtheBinx]

I spoke to one of their reps on the phone last night. He said the FUP as it stands is 'don't dowloand your movies between 6pm and 10pm' other times its unlimited. He also said as I am currently with UKOnline there will be no charge to break my contract with them early to sign up for the sky package. Of course this could be salemans bs, but it sounded good to me.

[mc.dodd]

this is looking good so far..let's just hope it delivers..when it gets to my exchange I'll be going for max package too

[TheFincher]

I spoke to one of their reps on the phone last night. He said the FUP as it stands is 'don't dowloand your movies between 6pm and 10pm' other times its unlimited. He also said as I am currently with UKOnline there will be no charge to break my contract with them early to sign up for the sky package. Of course this could be salemans bs, but it sounded good to me.

Sounds like bullshit to me, i spoke to a geezer on the phone yesterday and he said that NOTHING has been confirmed as of yet and he wanted me to leave my details with him as when he knows more he will let me know after my "interest had been registered". I left them so hopefully ill get a call soon

[jonah292]

Will you recieve 16mbps through your current BT line exchange or what coz i dont understand how they can offer 16mbps on the current exchanges if their max is only 8mbps. Will they be upgraded or something?

[barghest]

What Sky will most likely be doing is putting ADSL2+ kit into the exchanges. This is why they can offer the speeds above the 8mbps theoretical that BT's MaxDSL offerings currently support.

The main problem with ADSL2+ is that you normally need to purchase a new router in order to take full advantage of it. With old hardware either offering a reduced service or most probably not working at all.

You're also not guaranteed to see the full speed at any time of day. As it depends on your line quality, length of line and how many other people are on the service in your area.

Line quality is going to be the important factor, as if you have a shit line that can't get anything faster than 1mbps at the moment you're not going to see much improvement under Max/ADSL2.

Line length isn't as important as it used to be, under BT's traditional IP Stream technology. Though the longer your line is the poorer quality its going to be in general, as there's going to be more natural impurities in the copper and its also more likely to have been patched/damaged in the past.

As for the number of other people in the exchange on the service, the impact of this will vary depending on how they handle the backhaul bandwidth. If they only put in a 100mbps fiber segment between the exchange and their gateway routers, it won't take many customers to max that out and for contention to kick in.

[Tattooed Freak]

I'm prepared to take the chance, I have registered on the site and await further news. Can't be any worse than my experiences with Ace or F2S.