Sky Broadband vs Tiscali Broadband

[robfjonesuk]

I am on the cusp of signing up to a new broadband provider and despite all the information I have read on the matter I do not feel in the position to make a decision yet.

I see my two options as:

Tiscali 8MB unlimited with free weekend calls for £17.99 a month.
OR
Sky Max with Skytalk for £15 a month.

Obviously Sky offers better value but have not heard good things so far. I have seen lots of complaints on here and on sky user but realise most people who don't have a problem don't post.

So,

1. Which would you choose?
2. How long does it take to get Sky BB set up (Sky+ installed tomorrow)
3. Does Sky BB disconnect all the time.

Cheers

[robfjonesuk]

anybody?

[Jaycee Dove]

We are having a similar dilemma.

Dont have broadband at all, just an internet access deal (8 am to 6 pm daily) with Tiscali (£7.99 pm). Our calls after 6 pm and at weekends are with BT.

The total for our combined phone /internet bill comes to around £90 per quarter.

Wanting to move to broadband I applied to Sky when launched and keep getting e mails (about 4 so far) every few weeks. They all say the same. Our free broadband is not available for you, no suggestion when it will be, but we can let you have it for a price, etc etc..we will let you know when we are not so busy.

TBH Sky have now said this so often I have just about decided not to bother as to have to wait months to get an expensive PAY service (as so far) with no idea if they will ever offer the free one to us is not what I expected -not as a full deal multi room HD Sky customer and a customer of theirs since before they even charged a sub.

I was tryingto work out if the Sky PAY deal will be cheaper than £90 per quarter when including the BT rental and any extra call costs to match the equivalent of our current BT call deal.

Now Tiscali are advertising broadband at £12.99 pm and I am trying to work out if the combined charges here will equal/better our current BT + Tiscali (£90 per quarter) - which it almost certainly will. And how Tiscali /Sky compare like for like. I might also expect Tiscali to act faster than the months already been left treading water by Sky.

Moreover, I assume we would have to change our e mail address to something like @Skyare the greatest.com whereas with Tiscali as an existing customer might be able to keep the one we have used for years.

Then I have also read the 'teething' troubles with Sky Broadband and experienced first hand those with Sky HD. And I have had nothing but good dealings with Tiscali.

So I think you can see which way I am likely to go.

[robfjonesuk]

cheers man, I think I might opt with you. just a bit annoying as I have been waiting a few weeks to order sky and could have had tiscali by now.

[Jaycee Dove]

cheers man, I think I might opt with you. just a bit annoying as I have been waiting a few weeks to order sky and could have had tiscali by now.

By a nice sense of irony Sky e mailed me today to say I am now first in the queue and must order Broadband within 3 weeks to keep that. But no free Sky for at least the next year!

I worked out the cost and with the Sky Talk charge and having to pay BT still for line rental the full cost is greater than Tiscali.

So Sky Broadband is not for me.

Its not man, by the way. :)

[robfjonesuk]

sorry, you'll have to forgive my frequent use of youthful colloquiems (sp pls?) but I'm a teacher and hanging round with kids all days means that all of the crappy talk rubs off on me!

[Jaycee Dove]

sorry, you'll have to forgive my frequent use of youthful colloquiems (sp pls?) but I'm a teacher and hanging round with kids all days means that all of the crappy talk rubs off on me!

No problem at all. Will let you know how I get on with Tiscali.

[shoestring25]

am thinking of tiscalli to as sky "mot availble in your area

will go for probly lowest speed brod band

olnly problem is tescalli contract is 12 months will sky broadband be available within a year to me free!

[triplea4uk]

I would go with neither if you look around much better deals around

[robfjonesuk]

Who would you reccomend?

[dn852004]

Avoid Tiscali like the plague.

I eventually cancelled my service with them 3 months a go after being with them for 2 and half years, I had countless times where there would be no Internet/very slow download speeds, numbers that we didn't dial appearing on our phone bills etc, but what pushed me in to cancelling the contract was a month of no broadband/ 8 calls to their useless 'tehcnical support' team, costing me around £20, who were no help whatsoever. I had no internet connection at all, yet they insisted I should go to their speedtest website and to a spyware site to check for spyware. Also, English was clearly 'Dave's' second language.

When I rang to cancel, I was told that I wouldn't be charged for the last months internet service- and rightly so, I also phoned up to cancel the phone package with them....

3 months later I receive a letter from Tiscali informing me that I owe them money? Hang on, I cancelled my acocunt with you 3 months a go. According to Tiscali customer service I owe them for the month's broadband (the month where my internet didn't work) and 3 months worth of phone calls, even though I had phoned up to cancel my accounts and was told that I wouldn't be charged. :mad:



Reasonable prices from Tiscali, but appauling customer service. If your internet stops working, you may as well speak to a brick wall than phone Tiscali's expensive 0870 customer care number.

[the id]

By a nice sense of irony Sky e mailed me today to say I am now first in the queue and must order Broadband within 3 weeks to keep that. But no free Sky for at least the next year!

I worked out the cost and with the Sky Talk charge and having to pay BT still for line rental the full cost is greater than Tiscali.

So Sky Broadband is not for me.

Its not man, by the way. :)

I recieved exactly the same e-mail, their marketing department is really pushing this service, are they trying to build up a monopoly. Already have satellite tv in UK, now aiming for broadband!!-watch their share 5 years down line.:devil:

[triplea4uk]

Who would you reccomend?

How much you want to spend tops a month?

Do you need a particular download limit min a month?

[robfjonesuk]

The £18 a month for tiscali is defo the most I will spend.

With reference to the earlier message regarding bad customer service, I am yet to come across a company who doesn't offer this abysmal brand of service in foreign call centres.

With regards to cancelling, always send in a letter to cancel recorded delivery and then they don't have a leg to stand on. NTL got as far as the courts when I cancelled my mum's for her as they said she owed them shedloads. We turned up with a copy of the letter and the recorded delivery note, ntl got laughed out of court and my mum got a hatful of compensation after we filed a counter claim.

[martimu]

Avoid Tiscali like the plague.

I eventually cancelled my service with them 3 months a go after being with them for 2 and half years, I had countless times where there would be no Internet/very slow download speeds, numbers that we didn't dial appearing on our phone bills etc, but what pushed me in to cancelling the contract was a month of no broadband/ 8 calls to their useless 'tehcnical support' team, costing me around £20, who were no help whatsoever. I had no internet connection at all, yet they insisted I should go to their speedtest website and to a spyware site to check for spyware. Also, English was clearly 'Dave's' second language.

When I rang to cancel, I was told that I wouldn't be charged for the last months internet service- and rightly so, I also phoned up to cancel the phone package with them....

3 months later I receive a letter from Tiscali informing me that I owe them money? Hang on, I cancelled my acocunt with you 3 months a go. According to Tiscali customer service I owe them for the month's broadband (the month where my internet didn't work) and 3 months worth of phone calls, even though I had phoned up to cancel my accounts and was told that I wouldn't be charged. :mad:



Reasonable prices from Tiscali, but appauling customer service. If your internet stops working, you may as well speak to a brick wall than phone Tiscali's expensive 0870 customer care number.


TISCALI are a nightmare they still owe me £300 for all the c*ck ups they made - do a search and there are hundreds of unhappy customers

[Jaycee Dove]

TISCALI are a nightmare they still owe me £300 for all the c*ck ups they made - do a search and there are hundreds of unhappy customers

All I can say is that I have been with Tiscali (internet but not broadband) for 4 years and never had any issues or problems whatsoever.

I also find it hard to believe that any company has worse customer services than Sky with their endless premium rate holds of up to an hour just to refuse to even take your details or just tell you to ring someone else. And when you do get an answer in my experience it is often either inaccurate or merely a sop to fob you off as you end up having to call again when they dont do what they promise.

Experience of customer disservices is one reason I would really hesitate over Sky broadband, whereas Tiscali have treated me well. Not that I have had to call them more than twice in 4 years (I long since lost count of how often I have had to phone Sky).

However, if Sky and Tiscali are both to be disregarded WHO are you recommending?

[martimu]

All I can say is that I have been with Tiscali (internet but not broadband) for 4 years and never had any issues or problems whatsoever.

I also find it hard to believe that any company has worse customer services than Sky with their endless premium rate holds of up to an hour just to refuse to even take your details or just tell you to ring someone else. And when you do get an answer in my experience it is often either inaccurate or merely a sop to fob you off as you end up having to call again when they dont do what they promise.

Experience of customer disservices is one reason I would really hesitate over Sky broadband, whereas Tiscali have treated me well. Not that I have had to call them more than twice in 4 years (I long since lost count of how often I have had to phone Sky).

However, if Sky and Tiscali are both to be disregarded WHO are you recommending?

Have you ever moved house or in anyway tried to change a setting with Tiscali? They were fine until I moved house then beyond useless (I could write pages of the mistakes they made including sending modems to my old house, confirming a service that wasn't working, blaming BT when they'd not processed order, claiming they did not have my customer number when it was in the email they sent etc etc etc.)
They have been pulled up by watchdog on numerous occasions and there are websites dedicated to people complaining about them.

http://www.blagger.com/db4/company_id/529/companyname/Tiscali.html
http://www.the-scream.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=18033
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/cgi-bin/news/viewnews.cgi?id=EEklyZVyykIeSUQPVU

I do not know if sky are are better, but with a quick search on google there are plenty of other companies that come up as being better with customer service.
I went for a business line as I didn't want to go through that rubbish again - cost me £40 a month but is far more reliable and I get responded to imediately if I have an issue

Have a look here for some advice on true costs and which service may suit you: http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.shtml

[jet_andy]

I had Tiscalli for a few months and the service was awful, I did manage to get out of it though.

I'd highly recommend Freedom to Surf, at www.f2s.com. Never had a moments hassle, and excellent customer service.

Otherwise take a look at www.adslguide.org

[bumper31]

I don't want to give advice....you make up your own mind....but I want to defend Tiscali.....

I too have been with Tiscali for a number of years.....and so have a number of my family......

Basically they are cheap and unlimited....an excellent deal....

I have never had a need to spend too much time on the phone with them so can't really comment in depth....but like other posters have stated there are plenty of other rubbish call centres.

Over the years I have moved 3 times, and changed my package a number of times as their prices went down:thumbsup: All successfully.....

Yes there have been about 3 or 4 occasions where the broadband was slow or email was unavailable and yet when you looked at their website...they would state all was fine:mad:

But generally tell me any ISP that hasn't service outages...and 3 or 4 in 4 years is very good.

I'm not saying there aren't better ISPs out there, but if you want a cheap unlimited service then Tiscali should be a consideration.....

[Rygar]

Tiscali are unlimited as per the definition acceptable to the advertising standards authority.

They are NOT unlimited as per the english dictionery definition of the word.

Unlimited to most would mean you could leave your connection running at full speed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

This is financially impossible at the rates Tiscali sell their braodband services.

It is unlimited subject to their fair use policy. They also traffic shape.

[bumper31]

OK so if your into constant downloading then maybe its not the right ISP....

But are there any ISPs out there that don't have a fair use policy?

The major difference is that you are not charged for going over a certain limit.....

Lets not split hairs here:grin:

[beerhunter]

Tiscali are unlimited as per the definition acceptable to the advertising standards authority.

They are NOT unlimited as per the english dictionery definition of the word.

Unlimited to most would mean you could leave your connection running at full speed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

This is financially impossible at the rates Tiscali sell their braodband services.

It is unlimited subject to their fair use policy. They also traffic shape.

I leave my connection on for 24/365 without incurring charges but I suspect that is not what you actually mean.

[Rygar]

I leave my connection on for 24/365 without incurring charges but I suspect that is not what you actually mean.

No it isn't. That is unlimited time. Practically any broadband ISP will allow you that. Unlimited transfer of data is what I mean, and is actually what Tiscali mean as well (subject to their FUP).

I'm not a huge downloader either, but I want to be able to download at the full speed of my connection at any time, regardless of protocol being used.

This is not possible with Tiscali as they throttle certain protocols during peak times.

But as I've said before, different people require different things from their ISP. If Tiscali provide a service you guys like then great :thumbsup:

I just have a bit of a bee in my bonnet about ISP's who use the word "unlimited" when the service they provide is clearly limited.

[Rygar]

But are there any ISPs out there that don't have a fair use policy?

Hopefully not. Any ISP who does not have an FUP is being foolhardy at best. However there are ISP's out there who define what service they are giving their customers more clearly, and some would say more honestly. Tiscali are not the only offenders who use "unlimited" however. I wish Ofcom would sort the lot of them out!

[mkjones]

My advice, go with Sky.

Better the :devil: you know. Right?

I am with Bulldog currently and they provide a great service but have terrible support.

Since getting Sky yesterday I eventually plan on getting their broadband deal. I have told Bulldog this and they cut me off in 3 weeks so I sure hope Sky get their act together.

[robfjonesuk]

Oh my God, now I have a real dilemma. Having ordered Tiscali (although I am still in the cooling off period) I have received my BAND number from Sky so now I can join them. I don't know what to do! Does anyone have a lead time with Sky from ordering the equipment to actually having broadband?

[grimoor]

Oh my God, now I have a real dilemma. Having ordered Tiscali (although I am still in the cooling off period) I have received my BAND number from Sky so now I can join them. I don't know what to do! Does anyone have a lead time with Sky from ordering the equipment to actually having broadband?

I went from one ISP to SKY. They sent the router 5 days after I called. Switch over was supposed to be about 4 days later, but got delayed another week. Then I had a 3 days of problems with my PC not connecting (which I first thought was their fault), but managed to sort it out myself.

So for me it was about 2 1/2 weeks from when I phone up with my band number. If I everything went smoothly it could of been about 9 days.

[Toasty]

I'm in a slightly different boat, I should be able to get the sky deal in the next 6 months, however, I've been with Tiscali for the last 3-4years. Now I've no doubt some people have had problems with Tiscali, but I haven't, infact I've been so impressed by the service they've given me over the years I'm doubting I'll take the sky offer next year, but we'll see. To quote mkjones better the :devil: you know ;)

[beerhunter]

No it isn't. That is unlimited time. Practically any broadband ISP will allow you that. Unlimited transfer of data is what I mean, and is actually what Tiscali mean as well (subject to their FUP).

I'm not a huge downloader either, but I want to be able to download at the full speed of my connection at any time, regardless of protocol being used.

This is not possible with Tiscali as they throttle certain protocols during peak times.

But as I've said before, different people require different things from their ISP. If Tiscali provide a service you guys like then great :thumbsup:

I just have a bit of a bee in my bonnet about ISP's who use the word "unlimited" when the service they provide is clearly limited.
Actually ALL ISPs allow 24/365 connection, that's one of the things that broadband is about.

What "protocols" do they "throttle"? I've never heard of that one. Are you sure it's not just contention kicking in as it will with any ISP who has a lot of subscribers local to you?

No ISP guarantees the speed of connection in their "unlimited" definition because "unlimited" (within their fair uss policies) refers to the amount of data not the speed. So it's a bit unfair to single out Tiscali.

[bumper31]

Tiscali, and I am sure a fair few other ISPs too, deliberately deprioritise P2P protocols, there is something about it in their T&Cs, if you fancy a read.

But as I don't use P2P it has never bothered me.:grin:

[Rygar]

What "protocols" do they "throttle"? I've never heard of that one. Are you sure it's not just contention kicking in as it will with any ISP who has a lot of subscribers local to you?

No ISP guarantees the speed of connection in their "unlimited" definition because "unlimited" (within their fair uss policies) refers to the amount of data not the speed. So it's a bit unfair to single out Tiscali.

Well speed and data allowance are two entirely different issues.

Lots of user experiences and indeed Tiscali's own FUP tells me they throttle/shape p2p protocols. In fact looking at their FUP it seems they put you onto a "bad boy pipe" (virtual circut shared with other users they have fuzzily defined as being heavy users) regardless of protocol being used if they deem your use to be excessive...but what is excessive? We don't know because their FUP does not state that crucial cut off point.

With my ISP for example. I get 45GB per month of data transfer at peak times & 300GB at off peak times = 345GB/month. If I use all 345GB per month nothing happens. My speeds do not slow down, there are no penalties. If I want to download a 3GB Knoppix live DVD using Bittorent during peak hours, I can at the max speed my connection will allow at that time of day.

Could someone on Tiscali download 300GB/month with no noticble slow down or punishment? 200GB? Could they download a torrent or a large file from a newsgroup at peak times at the fastest or near to the fastest their connection allows? They say they are unlimited so the answer should be yes. I fear that is not the answer though. Yet my limited service allows this??

How about Sky by broadband movies or iTunes on Tiscali at 8PM? We are not talking ISP or exchange contention...you are talking about dial up trickle type speeds.

What about something less "controversial" How are speeds downloading from FTP at peak times?

Some reading... (and if you do google searches for Tiscali + throttle traffic shape etc you will find lots more)

http://www.tiscali.co.uk/products/broadband/build/tcs/tfu.html

http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/caps.htm

http://www.tiscali.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=106921&highlight=traffic+shaping

[beerhunter]

I have read Tiscali's fair use policy and it seem very fair to me.

I am sure that there are ISPs who will supply the kind of bandwidth required by those heavy users and will charge them appropriately.

I am an IT professional and until I read that you use 345GB pcm I though that I was a heavy user. My partner's mother on the other hand uses nothing like the amount of bandwidth that I do and is very happy with her Tiscali account.

In summary I believe that Tiscali are a perfectly good ISP whose service is at least adequate, and probably more than adequate, for the vast majority of users. Therefore I do not believe that they should be cristicised on the basis of the requirements of a very few people who's nedds are, currently, completely out of the norm.

[Rygar]

Lol, well I do not use 345GB/month. Much as I'd like to my efforts at real life v1.0 tend to get in the way for that. My point was I could do that without penalty on my limited service whereas you could do nowhere near that on Tiscali's "unlimited" service.

You would say wanting to download a tune or two from iTunes in the evening and expecting it to take a few minutes is completely out of the norm?

Just to clarify I am not having a go at Tiscali just for the sake of it. But I do believe they are a valid target for criticism for advertising their services as unlimited. They do so because they know it attracts customers and because the current regulations allow them to get away with it.

[robfjonesuk]

Well I think broadband have just answered the question for me anyway. Rang up to cancel days ago, just received an email to say my line is now broadband enabled and that the modem has been sent out to me! Now when I ring they know nothing of my cancellation and say I have to remain with them for 12 months!