Broadband cancellations

[UNICRONICUS]

I'm currently with Sky broadband and to be honest it is shockingly crap during the peak time between 5pm-12am which is when I like to do most of my gaming online. I am constantly getting bad pings, slow downloads etc... with their ridiculous traffic shaping bollox they have enforced on everyone! I think I started my contract back in June for 12 months but I really want to move to a different ISP who favour the gaming community, but I don't know the best way to go around this without getting charged through the roof for cancelling early. I am looking at going with Andrew and Arnold as they don't do traffic shaping and throttling, also their fair usage policy and download limits seems more than fair to me (unless anyone else knows of somewhere equally as good for around £17 - £20 a month?).

Can I request a MAC code from Sky and give this to my new ISP without or will I have to phone Sky up and cancel it and face a hefty price for leaving them early? Has anyone else done this before?

[car.crash]

im with sky's middle package and im having internet problems. i ran a speed test and im getting 0.19 download speed! i cant play xbox as its too laggy.

[Adam L]

I was with Sky and the internet connection was shocking, I don't think we stayed with them more than a month, it was that bad. The connection we had would actually cut out for 20 minute periods, and when it came back it was beyond slow.

The tv is good but anything else is dog **** quality.

[Penfold aka The Dealer]

Best people to speak to are sky themselve's....

Tell them that there not supplying you with good broadband and that its fit for purpose etc... say you are going to call trading standards to find out your legal rights.... chance's are they will let you walk away with 4 week's notice...but seriously do moan, stand up for yourself... they will try and offer you 20-60% off current broadband & cheaper tele etc... but if you want a different broadband supplier dont accept any deals...

[dangerous dave]

i find if your dsl sucks balls just give up and get virgin.. my friends changed from sky to bt to bla bla bla, all slowwwwww and through the standard w&nk phonelines from before the war..

our virgin media/ntl is flat out and always has been since getting it 7 years ago or so..

tell sky there not delivering you with the connection and speeds you expected and therefore they are breaking the deal... then tell them to cut you off before you call for legal advice

edit, like penfold said really should post quicker and not wonder off

[Matt Cole]

i find if your dsl sucks balls just give up and get virgin.. my friends changed from sky to bt to bla bla bla, all slowwwwww and through the standard w&nk phonelines from before the war..

our virgin media/ntl is flat out and always has been since getting it 7 years ago or so..

tell sky there not delivering you with the connection and speeds you expected and therefore they are breaking the deal... then tell them to cut you off before you call for legal advice

edit, like penfold said really should post quicker and not wonder off

Virgin are pathetic due to the lilmited area/coverage they offer.......next.

[raj]

i find if your dsl sucks balls just give up and get virgin.. my friends changed from sky to bt to bla bla bla, all slowwwwww and through the standard w&nk phonelines from before the war..

our virgin media/ntl is flat out and always has been since getting it 7 years ago or so..

tell sky there not delivering you with the connection and speeds you expected and therefore they are breaking the deal... then tell them to cut you off before you call for legal advice

edit, like penfold said really should post quicker and not wonder off

thats all vice versa with me.

i was with ntl but i found them really sllllooooowwwww
switched to skys max broadband and its always been nice and quick.

[dangerous dave]

Virgin are pathetic due to the lilmited area/coverage they offer.......next.

there sh1t hot over in Reading, perhaps relocations the answer

[tiff_lee]

If they don't play ball you probably have grounds for complaint under the 'supply of goods and services act'. i.e you are paying for a service which they are failing to supply.

http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/aft..._services_new/

[Jessop]

Working for a retentions based department for a telecoms company i'd say if you wish to go down the route of complaining due to peak hours and wish to withdraw from your contract you'll have a tough job as there are lots of policies, points within the terms & conditions etc which the agent you speak to will know all about to prevent you cancelling your contract.

I do it day in day out im afraid - hell, call me a c*nt i get paid lots of commision for it lol

Process is usually to call in report the issue - speak to technical support, get referred to their reccomended 'speed test' website - do speed tests over the next 7 days and come back to them with results - advise them you have spoken to OFCOM [not citizens advice as theyll just chuckle and hold you to contract] regarding the issue and youve been advised to speak to sky and follow the complaints proceedure - do not follow the 'written in' proceedure as its a dead end. Youll do well to upgrade to the next above package sky offer in attempt to resolve the issue - although it wont. Ensure they dont renew a contract or extend it by doing so. Request to speak to a manager once youve done the above and still getting nowhere with a retentions agent, explain the situation and advise you are looking to cancel due to the service not being useable for what use it for. If that doesnt work and they still read off T&C's - actually speak to OFCOM but its a pretty lengthly process and youd be lucky to actually receive any money back.


However, regarding my personal reccomendation for a provider if your into 'gaming' and not necceserily fussed about price or outright download speed you could consider Zen - they are a fantastic ISP. 'BE' (bethere) are also very good but providing you live next to an ADSL2+/LLU enabled exchange.

If you can get Virgin 50mb get it though tbh.. you have a 30 day money back guarentee so if its no good - cancel and get your money refunded. If it works - its worth the money as it genuinley is better for downloading/gaming compared to most other providers. Customer service isnt the best with some of it being based offshore but speak to retentions and they will bend over backwards to resolve your issue genuinley as they dont want you to cancel. Dont ask for a retention deal for it though as there isnt any.


Hope that helps =]


ps > Sky is ****e, as are talktalk, tiscali and BT - stay away.

[raj]

ps > Sky is ****e, as are talktalk, tiscali and BT - stay away.

i dont understand my sky braodband is fast as fook. so in my opinion, sky is the shizzle

[dave-sbs]

i have been offline for a week thanks to sky , we were swapping over to another firm ( bt ) who are a lot quicker in my area ,

Sky did nothing but mess me about , refused to release the mac ( ? ) code so we could hand over to BT . In the end there was a 9 day wait as BT had to start a fresh rather than an easy change over.

Not a happy bunny about the way sky dealt with the cancellation, but on the good side it means i have to go to the local to watch the footy

[UNICRONICUS]

Cheers for all of the replies and handy tips, the reason my Sky broadband isn't as fast as others as well is because I'm on their bog standard, BT re-saled package. The past few nights have been ok for gaming though but I'm not liking the unreliability of it all, although it never disconnects randomly like some of you are saying, it's purely a speed issue at the moment.

So Zen do a good deal for gamers, what's everyone's opinion on Andrews and Arnold? They do a good deal...

[Sy5GTT]

i have been offline for a week thanks to sky , we were swapping over to another firm ( bt ) who are a lot quicker in my area ,

Sky did nothing but mess me about , refused to release the mac ( ? ) code so we could hand over to BT . In the end there was a 9 day wait as BT had to start a fresh rather than an easy change over.

I was on the phone to Sky yesterday. The guy told me there is a new code of practice on this subject. The provider you are leaving HAS to give you the code within 5 days BY LAW. Sky's words.