off topic a wee bit... the rugby world cup starts in the autumn. Neither Sky nor the BBC have the TV rights. For the first time I can remember, talkSPORT has outbid the BBC for the radio rights meaning that the advert free BBC will have no live coverage at all of a major world sports event.
The implication is that sky with it's myriad of independent providers and affiliated satellite stations and ITV/commercial radio will more and more come to dominate UK sports broadcasting. The good news? ..... hopefully less money spent on overseas jaunts for hundreds of BBC staff and less camera time for the ugly sisters Clare Balding and Hazel Irvine.
I still reckon though that at about £150 a year the BBC is value .. just
threatend to leave sky last year got it cut off for a day then virgin came round to install the fella was a complete clown, no hd leads couldnt get 1 of the boxes to work,
told him to go
phoned sky resigned for a 1 yr deal fvirst 2 months free, 4 months half price 70 quid a month for remaining 6, contract up again in sept will do the same thing again 2 days normal 5 channels save 100's of quid for 2 days inconveniance
I'm with CAFCfan Freesat all the way, does everything sky+ can do for a one off payment. If I want to watch a game and thats basically us you can always watch it on line.
Your sky broadband is dependant on where you live, like all broadband. Virgin tends to be better because it uses fibre optics. The sky salesman was trying to tell me the sky broadband was just as good in my area when I knew for a fact that it wasn't. If you have been with Virgin for nearly a year, you will have more barganing options with them as your contrcat will run out then. If you haven't contacted your provider for years, talk to a rival company - even if you don't change -you can save an incredible amount.
To be strictly accurate the Virgin network is not 'fiber-optic' it is just Hybrid Fiber-Coaxial (HFC) which is just plain old cable, although Virgin have upgraded it to Docsis 3.0 which means they can offer higher speeds.
The problem is though that HFC is still shared bandwidth between end-users unlike genuine Fiber-Optic (Fiber-to-the-Home) on which individual users have their own bandwidth channel.
The only people deploying a true Fiber-Optic network in the UK on a serious level are BT, they are initially doing Fiber-to-the-Cabinet and using the existing copper as the 'last-mile' into the home and then will gradually upgrade to a proper FTTH network.
I think, from memory, that BT are calling this BT Infinity, it will be the best broadband available in the UK market by quite some distance.
Your sky broadband is dependant on where you live, like all broadband. Virgin tends to be better because it uses fibre optics. The sky salesman was trying to tell me the sky broadband was just as good in my area when I knew for a fact that it wasn't. If you have been with Virgin for nearly a year, you will have more barganing options with them as your contrcat will run out then. If you haven't contacted your provider for years, talk to a rival company - even if you don't change -you can save an incredible amount.
To be strictly accurate the Virgin network is not 'fiber-optic' it is just Hybrid Fiber-Coaxial (HFC) which is just plain old cable, although Virgin have upgraded it to Docsis 3.0 which means they can offer higher speeds.
The problem is though that HFC is still shared bandwidth between end-users unlike genuine Fiber-Optic (Fiber-to-the-Home) on which individual users have their own bandwidth channel.
The only people deploying a true Fiber-Optic network in the UK on a serious level are BT, they are initially doing Fiber-to-the-Cabinet and using the existing copper as the 'last-mile' into the home and then will gradually upgrade to a proper FTTH network.
I think, from memory, that BT are calling this BT Infinity, it will be the best broadband available in the UK market by quite some distance.
Will the speeds drop or be true , is Bt infinity available yet , and does anyone on here have it? since we've had a new internal door fitted downstairs i can't pick up the internet upstairs, not sure if i need to have another broadband box upstairs as well as downstairs , to give the signal a boost , means i cant play COD online anymore which is a shame!
Doesn't sound like changing ISP will solve any of your problems, you need a better wireless modem, if the signal can't get through the door it won't matter if you have aol bt or virgin!
Also if your using the old cream xbox the wireless adaptors for those tend to he shite, I used to have to use a 20m LAN cable until I bought the new xbox!
BT are starting to rollout the Infinity service at the moment, the whole country will be covered over the next 3-5 years.
You can check on the BT website to see when your area will be covered although your current problem seems to be because your door is blocking the Wi-Fi signal! You might need to invest in a repeater or run some internal wiring from your main modem to your upstairs area.
Your sky broadband is dependant on where you live, like all broadband. Virgin tends to be better because it uses fibre optics. The sky salesman was trying to tell me the sky broadband was just as good in my area when I knew for a fact that it wasn't. If you have been with Virgin for nearly a year, you will have more barganing options with them as your contrcat will run out then. If you haven't contacted your provider for years, talk to a rival company - even if you don't change -you can save an incredible amount.
To be strictly accurate the Virgin network is not 'fiber-optic' it is just Hybrid Fiber-Coaxial (HFC) which is just plain old cable, although Virgin have upgraded it to Docsis 3.0 which means they can offer higher speeds.
The problem is though that HFC is still shared bandwidth between end-users unlike genuine Fiber-Optic (Fiber-to-the-Home) on which individual users have their own bandwidth channel.
The only people deploying a true Fiber-Optic network in the UK on a serious level are BT, they are initially doing Fiber-to-the-Cabinet and using the existing copper as the 'last-mile' into the home and then will gradually upgrade to a proper FTTH network.
I think, from memory, that BT are calling this BT Infinity, it will be the best broadband available in the UK market by quite some distance.
Spot on Ormy - I couldn't have put it better myself :-). Its amazing how Virgins marketing has been allowed to get away with what is at best a half truth and at worst a falsehood.
The main thing I would add though is that for a big chunk of the UK - Fibre-To-The-Home/BT Infinity is just a fantasy as it will never happen. I live in Norfolk and much of our network exchanges have not even been upgraded to allow LLU services from other operators like Talk-Talk/Opal. So the maximum speed available to the likes of us sync around 6mbps and then only if you live within a few yards of the exchange. Many areas are 1mps or less. I can't see us ever getting fibre optic speed ever.
Click on Internet and then on Mobile Broadband. Cost including wireless router either £13 or £16 a month (plus £1.50 club membership). I've got one and its brilliant.
If you shop at either ASDA or Sainsburys you could save that a month with their club cashback card - it'll pay for itself.
Our contract on our place runs out in under a month any way, at which point I'll be leaving Hull and never living there again, so although no good for me, I have a few friends who have another year to go and will deffinately pass that info over to them! Looks very good!
My kingston communication broadband often allows me to get HTTP download speeds of up to 40kb/ps
So less than 56k, it's a joke, for £30 a month (plus line rental) I'm getting 1990's internet. If only there was other options....
There is - wireless broadband. I googled and Air Net Services site says they will provide customers in the Hull area with fast wireless broadband for £25 per month. You have to have an antenna on your house though.
Doesn't sound like changing ISP will solve any of your problems, you need a better wireless modem, if the signal can't get through the door it won't matter if you have aol bt or virgin!
Also if your using the old cream xbox the wireless adaptors for those tend to he shite, I used to have to use a 20m LAN cable until I bought the new xbox!
Best thing to do for the XBOX is to buy LAN Plugs (sender and receiver). They will turn your home electrical system into a LAN. They are brilliant and work much better than than the wireless adaptors and are cheaper.
I have a sender near my main home phone socket where my modem is situated. I have a receiver in my office room which is on a different floor - which serves my PC, and my son has one receiver in his bedroom for his XBOX. If he wants to play his XBOX on another TV, he just unplug the LAN Plug and moves it around the house.
Have a look on Ebay, or I can send you a link to a company who sells them.
My kingston communication broadband often allows me to get HTTP download speeds of up to 40kb/ps
So less than 56k, it's a joke, for £30 a month (plus line rental) I'm getting 1990's internet. If only there was other options....
There is - wireless broadband. I googled and Air Net Services site says they will provide customers in the Hull area with fast wireless broadband for £25 per month. You have to have an antenna on your house though.
Which is the problem, no student landlord will let you put ANYTHING on their house, when we moved into our place this year we looked into getting Virgin, which now cover certain areas of Hull, we was prepared to pay the £200 installation in order to have decent internet (nobody like getting shot on COD due to lag, right). When we asked the landlord the answer was a straight 'no' despite the fact we was covering all the costs and was infact improving their property.
Your sky broadband is dependant on where you live, like all broadband. Virgin tends to be better because it uses fibre optics. The sky salesman was trying to tell me the sky broadband was just as good in my area when I knew for a fact that it wasn't. If you have been with Virgin for nearly a year, you will have more barganing options with them as your contrcat will run out then. If you haven't contacted your provider for years, talk to a rival company - even if you don't change -you can save an incredible amount.
To be strictly accurate the Virgin network is not 'fiber-optic' it is just Hybrid Fiber-Coaxial (HFC) which is just plain old cable, although Virgin have upgraded it to Docsis 3.0 which means they can offer higher speeds.
The problem is though that HFC is still shared bandwidth between end-users unlike genuine Fiber-Optic (Fiber-to-the-Home) on which individual users have their own bandwidth channel.
The only people deploying a true Fiber-Optic network in the UK on a serious level are BT, they are initially doing Fiber-to-the-Cabinet and using the existing copper as the 'last-mile' into the home and then will gradually upgrade to a proper FTTH network.
I think, from memory, that BT are calling this BT Infinity, it will be the best broadband available in the UK market by quite some distance.
Spot on Ormy - I couldn't have put it better myself :-). Its amazing how Virgins marketing has been allowed to get away with what is at best a half truth and at worst a falsehood.
The main thing I would add though is that for a big chunk of the UK - Fibre-To-The-Home/BT Infinity is just a fantasy as it will never happen. I live in Norfolk and much of our network exchanges have not even been upgraded to allow LLU services from other operators like Talk-Talk/Opal. So the maximum speed available to the likes of us sync around 6mbps and then only if you live within a few yards of the exchange. Many areas are 1mps or less. I can't see us ever getting fibre optic speed ever.
Yes, this is the classic problem with bringing in LLU regulations, the incumbent then refuses to upgrade their remaining exchanges because they don't want to provide more access for the 3rd party players - its a Catch-22.
Here in Australia - of all places - the government is on the way to building a state-owned FTTH network that covers 93% of the total homes in the country with 100Mbps services, due for completion in 2016.
It's costing US$43 billion but is a brilliant investment in the future - the Tories here have, of course, screamed blue murder and tried to have it scrapped but its going ahead anyway.
Not being a geek ;-) I can't understand 10% of this thread but I had a thung through from Sky this week saying that I can get "free broadband plus calls" for the first year by subscribing to their basic package plus line rental for £20 plus line rental, which is cheaper than BT as well.
Sounded like a good deal to me btu have no experience of Sy's broadband, anything I should look out for? (I'm just out of my contract on BT at the mo' and because they were an absolute effing nightmare to deal with to get set up initially I promised myself, and them, I'd move asap).
Hate the way Murdoch manipulates the media, for example recently he has become obsessed with trying to acquire the rights for Formula One and he is trying to spin stories to get it on the cheap. The Murdoch owned Sunday Times recently had an article stating that viewing figures for the BBC were way down on expectations and that the Beeb were planning to axe Formula One from 2014, this totally contrary to independent analysis from FOTA (the Formula One Teams Association) which says that viewing figures are higher than ever, a wider demographic of people are more interested in Formula One than ever before and switching from the current free-to-air format over to pay-tv would seriously damage the future of the sport.
Sky News then had another debate recently where 3 'independent' (but turns out they were really paid by Sky to be there) experts all argued the case that they didn't want their license fee 'wasted' on Formula One (oh the irony!) and that the Beeb should drop it at the earliest opportunity. IMO if F1 switched to Sky it would totally destroy the sport and viewing figures would plummet, I certainly wouldn't fork out £50 a month to watch it.
EGA I can't stand F1 but I really hate News International (Sky, Sun, Times, Screws etc), they all work in tandem to validate their own message/belief/agenda. I can not believe that the govt are allowing NI to buy all of Sky TV.
Not being a geek ;-) I can't understand 10% of this thread but I had a thung through from Sky this week saying that I can get "free broadband plus calls" for the first year by subscribing to their basic package plus line rental for £20 plus line rental, which is cheaper than BT as well.
Sounded like a good deal to me btu have no experience of Sy's broadband, anything I should look out for? (I'm just out of my contract on BT at the mo' and because they were an absolute effing nightmare to deal with to get set up initially I promised myself, and them, I'd move asap).
With sky they like to increase things and they give you nothing --pay more for HD more for Films more for Sports --before you know it your £80 a month -its good but expensive.........i averaged £90 a month
"They prey on customer inertia." - No they don't. They benefit from it, but to claim they actively seek it smacks of a little paranoia.
"second I don't want to pay to watch adverts" - I have Sky+. I haven't sat through a full advert for several years.
"(Freesat) does everything sky+ can do for a one off payment" - No it doesn't. It's not even close. "I have now gone to BT Vision gold" - You get what you pay for.
"Its amazing how Virgins marketing has been allowed to get away with what is at best a half truth and at worst a falsehood." Too true. Virgin's obsession with trying to out-do Sky has seen some very questionable advertising approaches over the last few years, and this is one of the worst.
"Hate the way Murdoch manipulates the media, for example recently he has become obsessed with trying to acquire the rights for Formula One and he is trying to spin stories to get it on the cheap." - Agree with this. And it's a real shame too. There's some fantastic content on Sky, and it's largely brilliantly presented. But hatred of Murdoch (to be fair, quite justifiably) gets in the way. The F1 covered by Sky could have the potential to be, frankly, awesome though.
As for the guy saying he is in a block of flats but can't get a double feed for the dish, I hate to say it, but it's your fault for not doing your homework. You need to check there's enough feeds available, and clearly, you didn't.
If you shout loud enough you'll easily get out of that contract, but if you didn't check the facts and called up a day after, lets face it, a 4 and a half week window, then you can't blame too many other people!!
"They prey on customer inertia." - No they don't. They benefit from it, but to claim they actively seek it smacks of a little paranoia.
My comment was aimed more at banks offering low to non-existent interest rates, while competitors offer better returns and insurance companies raising the cost of household/car insurance annually for renewals. In both cases (and with Sky when it comes to renewing) they rely on inertia while negotiating a little harder or looking around can save you money. My car insurance came in at around £150 cheaper just by spending around 10 minutes on confused.com. The fact is many people do automatically renew car/house insurance without shopping around, and as the above stories demomstrate those who tell Sky why they are not renewing are often offered the package at cheaper rates. So the evidence suggests that too many corporate entities do rely on inertia.
Comments
off topic a wee bit... the rugby world cup starts in the autumn. Neither Sky nor the BBC have the TV rights. For the first time I can remember, talkSPORT has outbid the BBC for the radio rights meaning that the advert free BBC will have no live coverage at all of a major world sports event.
The implication is that sky with it's myriad of independent providers and affiliated satellite stations and ITV/commercial radio will more and more come to dominate UK sports broadcasting. The good news? ..... hopefully less money spent on overseas jaunts for hundreds of BBC staff and less camera time for the ugly sisters Clare Balding and Hazel Irvine.
I still reckon though that at about £150 a year the BBC is value .. just
threatend to leave sky last year got it cut off for a day then virgin came round to install the fella was a complete clown, no hd leads couldnt get 1 of the boxes to work,
told him to go
phoned sky resigned for a 1 yr deal fvirst 2 months free, 4 months half price 70 quid a month for remaining 6, contract up again in sept will do the same thing again 2 days normal 5 channels save 100's of quid for 2 days inconveniance
To be strictly accurate the Virgin network is not 'fiber-optic' it is just Hybrid Fiber-Coaxial (HFC) which is just plain old cable, although Virgin have upgraded it to Docsis 3.0 which means they can offer higher speeds.
The problem is though that HFC is still shared bandwidth between end-users unlike genuine Fiber-Optic (Fiber-to-the-Home) on which individual users have their own bandwidth channel.
The only people deploying a true Fiber-Optic network in the UK on a serious level are BT, they are initially doing Fiber-to-the-Cabinet and using the existing copper as the 'last-mile' into the home and then will gradually upgrade to a proper FTTH network.
I think, from memory, that BT are calling this BT Infinity, it will be the best broadband available in the UK market by quite some distance.
Sorry JohnBoy, only messing.
No offence.
Also if your using the old cream xbox the wireless adaptors for those tend to he shite, I used to have to use a 20m LAN cable until I bought the new xbox!
@ Mendonca in Asdas
BT are starting to rollout the Infinity service at the moment, the whole country will be covered over the next 3-5 years.
You can check on the BT website to see when your area will be covered although your current problem seems to be because your door is blocking the Wi-Fi signal! You might need to invest in a repeater or run some internal wiring from your main modem to your upstairs area.
So less than 56k, it's a joke, for £30 a month (plus line rental) I'm getting 1990's internet. If only there was other options....
There is - wireless broadband. I googled and Air Net Services site says they will provide customers in the Hull area with fast wireless broadband for £25 per month. You have to have an antenna on your house though.
Jerks.
Yes, this is the classic problem with bringing in LLU regulations, the incumbent then refuses to upgrade their remaining exchanges because they don't want to provide more access for the 3rd party players - its a Catch-22.
Here in Australia - of all places - the government is on the way to building a state-owned FTTH network that covers 93% of the total homes in the country with 100Mbps services, due for completion in 2016.
It's costing US$43 billion but is a brilliant investment in the future - the Tories here have, of course, screamed blue murder and tried to have it scrapped but its going ahead anyway.
Even if it were you lot could not afford it now anyway!
Not being a geek ;-) I can't understand 10% of this thread but I had a thung through from Sky this week saying that I can get "free broadband plus calls" for the first year by subscribing to their basic package plus line rental for £20 plus line rental, which is cheaper than BT as well.
Sounded like a good deal to me btu have no experience of Sy's broadband, anything I should look out for? (I'm just out of my contract on BT at the mo' and because they were an absolute effing nightmare to deal with to get set up initially I promised myself, and them, I'd move asap).
Hate the way Murdoch manipulates the media, for example recently he has become obsessed with trying to acquire the rights for Formula One and he is trying to spin stories to get it on the cheap. The Murdoch owned Sunday Times recently had an article stating that viewing figures for the BBC were way down on expectations and that the Beeb were planning to axe Formula One from 2014, this totally contrary to independent analysis from FOTA (the Formula One Teams Association) which says that viewing figures are higher than ever, a wider demographic of people are more interested in Formula One than ever before and switching from the current free-to-air format over to pay-tv would seriously damage the future of the sport.
Sky News then had another debate recently where 3 'independent' (but turns out they were really paid by Sky to be there) experts all argued the case that they didn't want their license fee 'wasted' on Formula One (oh the irony!) and that the Beeb should drop it at the earliest opportunity. IMO if F1 switched to Sky it would totally destroy the sport and viewing figures would plummet, I certainly wouldn't fork out £50 a month to watch it.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/2011/01/rupert_murdoch_-_a_portrait_of.html
"second I don't want to pay to watch adverts" - I have Sky+. I haven't sat through a full advert for several years.
"I have now gone to BT Vision gold" - You get what you pay for.
"Its amazing how Virgins marketing has been allowed to get away with what is at best a half truth and at worst a falsehood." Too true. Virgin's obsession with trying to out-do Sky has seen some very questionable advertising approaches over the last few years, and this is one of the worst.
"Hate the way Murdoch manipulates the media, for example recently he has become obsessed with trying to acquire the rights for Formula One and he is trying to spin stories to get it on the cheap." - Agree with this. And it's a real shame too. There's some fantastic content on Sky, and it's largely brilliantly presented. But hatred of Murdoch (to be fair, quite justifiably) gets in the way. The F1 covered by Sky could have the potential to be, frankly, awesome though.
My comment was aimed more at banks offering low to non-existent interest rates, while competitors offer better returns and insurance companies raising the cost of household/car insurance annually for renewals. In both cases (and with Sky when it comes to renewing) they rely on inertia while negotiating a little harder or looking around can save you money. My car insurance came in at around £150 cheaper just by spending around 10 minutes on confused.com. The fact is many people do automatically renew car/house insurance without shopping around, and as the above stories demomstrate those who tell Sky why they are not renewing are often offered the package at cheaper rates. So the evidence suggests that too many corporate entities do rely on inertia.