Sky Throttling "Connect" connection @ Peak Times to 0.20 KBPS

RickT

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Quick question, --

My MAC address has been flagged as a high Sky Connect User (top 2%), and will be throttled to next to nothing in peak time to allow "other customers" improve their connection speeds and to stops me going over the 40GB cap.

Does Skys Traffic monitoring software restrict the MAC address of the router or is it the Customer user id (which is made up of the MAC address) which is restricted?

If its the latter... I guess I cant do anything... - however if its the MAC address of the router, am I able to build a couple of router ups with my account details and use them?? As the MAC address is different would it work??

Yes -- Im guess this will be breaking SKYS T&C's, however 2 wrongs don't make a right I know.... but they are throttling me daily as per the members of staff in the "abuse" team which is not outlined in their T&C's as such.

Cheers
 
I would imagine it would be the user/line that is throttled rather than a MAC address.

I don't understand what you are saying is not outlined in their T&C though?
 
I don't understand what you are saying is not outlined in their T&C though?

That they only allow you as a connect customer 1.3GB per day down load limit, if you go over it, you get restricted bandwidth for the following day, if you go over 10GB for the week, you get limited for the following week.

This is as per the abuse team, it does not state in the T&C's that this is how they will do it on a day to day basis.. it only mentions the 40GB cap per month.
 
That they only allow you as a connect customer 1.3GB per day down load limit, if you go over it, you get restricted bandwidth for the following day, if you go over 10GB for the week, you get limited for the following week.

This is as per the abuse team, it does not state in the T&C's that this is how they will do it on a day to day basis.. it only mentions the 40GB cap per month.

Have they provided you with a link or such that states these allowances? :confused:

I just had a look and agree with you I can't see this mentioned anywhere in their T&C for the policy, I see the 40GB cap but it does not state anything more from what I've seen.
 
Have they provided you with a link or such that states these allowances? :confused:

I just had a look and agree with you I can't see this mentioned anywhere in their T&C for the policy, I see the 40GB cap but it does not state anything more from what I've seen.


This is the information i have been given from their Tier 3 support team who were investigating my issues.

The only option I have is to "write" them a letter or email.

Still waiting a reply from the later I sent a week ago.

Rick
 
If you struggle to get anywhere with your complaint / query you might want to contact: Office of the Telecommunications Ombudsman - Home

I've googled to try find where they state these figures but all I find are people in the same boat as you being told after they hit these figures that they are the limits.

How can you have a 1.3GB limit per day then say 10GB per week, the figures don't even add up, you can't possibly get 10GB per week if you can't go over 1.3GB per day...
 
If you struggle to get anywhere with your complaint / query you might want to contact: Office of the Telecommunications Ombudsman - Home

I've googled to try find where they state these figures but all I find are people in the same boat as you being told after they hit these figures that they are the limits.

How can you have a 1.3GB limit per day then say 10GB per week, the figures don't even add up, you can't possibly get 10GB per week if you can't go over 1.3GB per day...

I know - It should be 9.1GB per week -- or if based on 12 months, 52 weeks - 9.23GB -- But this is not stated in the T&C's

I guess 1.3GB X 30 days (typical) in a month, is 39GB


Do you have the best email address to send the complaint to ?
 
Also..

Take a lot at the T&C's
We will monitor your Sky Broadband usage during peak times from 5pm to Midnight each day. This is when the majority of customers use the network and when speeds could be affected by the excessive usage of a minority. If we consider that your usage is excessive during peak times we may slow down your connection for the rest of the day so that it has less affect on others. Only a very small number of customers will be affected by this (less than 2%). If you are affected, we will only slow down the speed you can get during peak times for applications which use a lot of bandwidth (for example, streaming, peer-to-peer and newsgroups) and which have a negative effect on other customers. You will still be able to use Sky Broadband to do other things normally such as browsing, email, instant messaging and VOIP. There are no restrictions in place outside of peak times.

Traffic management of our Network

To ensure we provide a sustainable quality broadband service to our customers, we continuously monitor and efficiently manage the Sky Network as a whole. To do this, during peak times (from 5pm to Midnight each day), we may slow down the speed that all Sky Broadband Connect customers can get on certain applications which we consider use up a lot of bandwidth (for example peer-to-peer and newsgroups) and which have a negative affect on other customers There are no restrictions in place for applications such as browsing, email, streaming, instant messaging and VOIP during peak times. We do not put restrictions on our network outside of peak times.


There is no way there software can filter out web page browsing to live steaming..

For example... I cant log onto SKY NEWS website.... it take 5 minutes to load...

I class that as basic website browsing.... do you ??


Cheers

Rick
 
Do you have the best email address to send the complaint to ?

I'd call or email Sky and ask to speak to with someone senior - probably best to do this by phone or ask when you phone them who you lodge a complaint with, they might give you an address or a name, but I would ask to speak to someone senior.
See the ombudsman site in my last post about lodging a complaint.

Also..

Take a lot at the T&C's

There is no way there software can filter out web page browsing to live steaming..

For example... I cant log onto SKY NEWS website.... it take 5 minutes to load...

I class that as basic website browsing.... do you ??


Cheers

Rick

Sounds like basic browsing to me and sounds like an unacceptable amount of time to load such a site.
 
I'd call or email Sky and ask to speak to with someone senior - probably best to do this by phone or ask when you phone them who you lodge a complaint with, they might give you an address or a name, but I would ask to speak to someone senior.
See the ombudsman site in my last post about lodging a complaint.



Sounds like basic browsing to me and sounds like an unacceptable amount of time to load such a site.


I gave them a call last night, demanded to speak to a manager, spoke to a "team leader" who was no help at all, She just stated write to the following address etc....

So i have emailed my letter again and going to put a copy in the post today and see the outcome.... which I expect will be nothing.......


Cheers

Rick
 
Just had a phone call from SKY --

Member of staff advised that the service i am getting / got was below their standards.

I have been offered a credit to my account for the last 6 months, and advised that i can cancel my broadband within the 12 term.

So.. all in all.... A result for me!!

The next question is....... where can i get a decent broadband supplier from for £10.00 a month with a decent download limit and speed.

Cheers

Rick
 
You might want to look at BE / O2 if you can get them. There should be a few threads in the ISP board on "Which ISP" that will be of help in your choice :thumbsup:

Glad to hear you've got a result.
 
Sorry to dig up an old thread, but we're experiencing this exact issue with Sky Broadband, & we've been live less than a month!

I was told by tier 2 support that they throttle your connection if you use over 1.3Gb per day, even though their T&C's state that your allowance is 40Gb for the month - There is no mention of this being broken down further to a daily allowance. Besides, most single movie & game downloads are at least that these days, if not more. We used 10Gb last week, so they decided that it was time to throttle us, with speeds being 122Kbps-189Kbps on an 8Mb line! Browsing the web is almost impossible, & streaming video is completely out of the question - Great, as my job evolves around the production & streaming of video!

We've been given a Mac code to migrate to another supplier, so I'll probably return to O2. A refund was also given for the last month's broadband, & we were also offered all Sports & Movie channels for free for the next 2 months.

However, I took TV, Broadband & Calls as one package with a discount. Now that we're cancelling broadband Sky have informed me that the discount offered on the TV package (HD subscription) no longer applies. I've spent hours on the phone tonight, & a manager has promised to call me back on Monday with a resolution after the original sales call has been analysed.

All I want is the TV package with the £10 discount off the HD pack as was originally agreed over the phone. If this can't be honoured then I'll (reluctantly) aim to cancel the lot - We're literally 5 days out of the cooling off period, but as this issue was reported within the cooling off period I believe we have a right to cancel.

Sky broadband...NEVER AGAIN!
 
I am afraid that the Sky Agent was talking round things. I suspect that he/she was making it up as he/she went along. The speed problems with Sky connect are entirely down to a lack of capacity and nothing to do with throttling.

BTW don't tar all of Sky Broadband with the same brush. Their LLU services are very good indeed.
 
I am afraid that the Sky Agent was talking round things. I suspect that he/she was making it up as he/she went along. The speed problems with Sky connect are entirely down to a lack of capacity and nothing to do with throttling.

BTW don't tar all of Sky Broadband with the same brush. Their LLU services are very good indeed.

OK let me be more specific - Sky Connect = NEVER AGAIN ... That more sutiable for you?!!?

The capacity around the area where I live is OK - Although it's a non-LLU area it's not over congested with traffic. This is probably due to living in a small village where half the residents are OAP's.

After testing my connection at 07:30hrs this morning I was receiving a download speed of ~6.5Mbps. I doubt that traffic alone slowed the connection down to less than 0.2Mbps over the last few days. It's more realistic that they're throttling my connection, as it's not always been so slow.

How long does throttling usually last with Sky? There's no way that I'll come anywhere close to the 40Gb allowance with speeds like 0.2Mbps in the evenings :facepalm:
 
I'll reiterate, you are almost certainly not being throttled.

The low speeds at peak time have nothing to do with where you you live, it is due to a lack of capacity between Sky's network and BT's (called Centrals). It is (in the trade) a well known problem with Sky Connect.

BTW, a lot off people would find your first comment rather offensive.
 
I'll reiterate, you are almost certainly not being throttled.

The low speeds at peak time have nothing to do with where you you live, it is due to a lack of capacity between Sky's network and BT's (called Centrals). It is (in the trade) a well known problem with Sky Connect.

BTW, a lot off people would find your first comment rather offensive.

Fair enough - I wasn't aware of this, but funny how my speed differs drastically to others using Sky in my area. I'm not saying that I don't believe you, but I believe that it may be a combination of both a busy network & throttling.

And would you like to be more specific & state what comment you're referring to, as nothing I've said was intended to be offensive to anyone bar Sky as a company. And if you're referring to the OAP comment (which for the record wasn't my first comment), then it's a known fact that the area I live in contains a high percentage of senior citizens. Although more & more senior citizens are accessing the internet, the percentage of users to non-users is still very low in comparison to other age groups.
 
sky connect slow you down after about 4pm till about 12am it same with like virgin non llu adsl and o2 access
 
sky connect slow you down after about 4pm till about 12am it same with like virgin non llu adsl and o2 access

So you agree that they throttle? I'm simply going by what second line technical support informed me.

I moved from O2 access & never experienced issues like I've had within the last month @ Sky. fair enough, I expect a lower speed during peak periods, but not an average of 150Kbps! Only reason I moved was to place all of my eggs into one basket (one monthly payment) - Schoolboy error :facepalm:
 
sky connect slow you down after about 4pm till about 12am it same with like virgin non llu adsl and o2 access
Grrrrrr. No! It is because of lack of of capacity.

I'll try to explain it. All of those companies use a BT Wholesale product called IPStream for their non-LLU services. They use BT DSLAMs in the exchange for tht downstream connection to their customers. The data is then carried upstream over BT's Network to where is connects via 'fat pipes' to the ISP's own Network. The fat pipes are rented from BTW. All of those companies have bad reputation (some worse than others) for not buying enough capacity through those pipes from BT and thus those pipes which are not 'fat' enough, create a bottle neck at peak times which cause slow Throughput.

Having said that, many other ISPs are able to provide perfectly good service based on IPStream because they have enough capacity between the Networks.
 
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Grrrrrr. No! It is because of lack of of capacity.

I'll try to explain it. All of those companies use a BT Wholesale product called IPStream for their non-LLU services. They use BT DSLAMs in the exchange for tht downstream connection to their customers. The data is then carried upstream over BT's Network to where is connects via 'fat pipes' to the ISP's own Network. The fat pipes are rented from BTW. All of those companies have bad reputation (some worse than others) for not buying enough capacity through those pipes from BT and thus those pipes which are not 'fat' enough, create a bottle neck at peak times which cause slow Throughput.

Having said that, many other ISPs are able to provide perfectly good service based on IPStream because they have enough capacity between the Networks.

If what you say is true then BT should have the most reliable non-LLU service, but judging by the thousands of reviews available on the net this isn't the case. O2 have been the most reliable for me so far - BT price themselves out of the competition, & it's these inflated prices along with the many bad reviews that's put me off joining them.
 
Well i know this thread is slightly old now - however beerhunters comments a couple of posts above are incorrect. Yes there are elements to his bandwidth allocation acknowledgement that are true but i have tested, as others have , the throttling situation. Now i have been on sky broadband connect for 12 months and have enjoyed the speeds it provides for the most part.

That is only because i use the internet infrequently. One evening i decided to buy a game of a digital download service and at 12GB was truly a behemoth of a download. Everything downloaded at reasonable speeds.

The next evening i thought id catch up on news and emails. I could only connect to a web page after many insults launched at the computer, then it only connected partially with errors on the page. Nothing worked - i checked all settings , routers , etc so i assumed it was a fault somewhere , but i checked braodband speed on a webpage i partially connected to

32-74 kbps average - Holy @@@@ this was back to dialup speeds

All worked after a week and my speeds went back to normal but not happy with the internet cutting out on me with out knowing the exact reasons why - i decided i will try it again! -

downloaded another game and sure enough the following evening for a week my speeds went down to unusable levels!

So there you have it - the connection is assuredly throtted -

But by who? sky connect or BT - ---- well i have been told by SKY that BT throttle Sky users to a 1MB line if we go over 10GB a week AND the reason why speeds go down to the likes of 70kbps is becasue of the congestion on the line during the peak hours!

That made sense to me! :)
 
1. If what you say is true then BT should have the most reliable non-LLU service,

2. but judging by the thousands of reviews available on the net this isn't the case.
1. In terms of peak time speeds they (and others) are. I have BT Broadband at home and the difference in speed between peak times and off-peak is so low as to be unnoticeable.

2. Thousands? Surely you mean hundreds? Based on the fact that only people with problems complain, statistically it is almost meaningless based on the BT's millions of subscribers.
 
But by who? sky connect or BT - ---- well i have been told by SKY that BT throttle Sky users to a 1MB line if we go over 10GB a week AND the reason why speeds go down to the likes of 70kbps is becasue of the congestion on the line during the peak hours!

That made sense to me! :)
It may have made sense that doesn't make it true. If I was BT I would be calling the lawyers.

Any speed problems that you have are down to Sky. The proof being that other users of BT IPStream based services do not have this peak time speed problem.

BTW since this thread was answered a year ago, there is no doubt that Sky (not BT) do NOW traffic manage at peak times BUT they do so in order to deal with the inherent problem described above.
 

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