Lost speed with move to SVBN

[psychobudgie]

This just gets more and more frustrating every day. Spoke the Sky again this morning and they wanted me to go through all the same checks I have done on the past 4 occasions I contacted them. They ignored the fact that the engineer found no issues with the equipment in the home and again implied the fault lay at my end and not theres. I eventually got to speak to a supervisor and explained again that the drop occurred when they switched the line to the SVBN and it has been established that there is no fault at the property. She has said she is going to look into it and call me back.

You really couldn't make this up. They moved the line, the speed dropped, it's obviously their equipment that is at fault whether due to congestion or cheap equipment. Getting them to admit as much is going to take some doing though.

[grnoval]

Its been interesting reading this thread.

Last friday (good friday) we noticed that our sync rate dropped to 1020kbps. We've been with Sky for the best part of 3 years, and the sync has been constant at 2072-2074 in that time.

The difference? three months ago we changed over to Sky for the line as well....

So, bit more digging (thanks to previous correspondents on this thread) and found that DLM had been set in motion on the 25th March. I then logged into mysky, and saw that the speed had been capped at 1024kbps.

So, I left it for the weekend (no point in calling when they're more harrassed than usual), and on tuesday evening, I called....

"I'd like to know why my sync speed has been halved please"
"well sir, your line is capable of up to 2.6Mbit, but we have.."
"yes I know you have run the DLM, and I ask again, why on a line that has been running consistently at 2072-2074kbps all the time that I have been a Sky broadband customer, is it now syncing at 1020kbps. The only difference is that we have changed over to the SVBN. Whilst waiting for you to pick up this call, your advertising told me that 'sky broadband will give you the fastest connection possible on your line'"
"well, your line is capable of running at up to 2.6, but in testing it has been found to only run at..."
"no, please stop insulting my intelligence. I ask again clearly and concisely - why has my sync speed dropped from 2072-2074kbps which is what it has been running at since I became I Sky broadband customer, to 1020kbps?"
"well your line.."
"I asked you to stop insulting me. I am looking at MySky right now, and it says that the line has been capped at 1024kbps. So I ask again, clearly and concisely, why has a line that has been running at 2072-2074kbps for the best part of three years with Sky, been dropped to 1020kbps. I have not moved house, the physical line is the same, the only difference is that I have now been moved onto the SVBN. If you are telling me that the Sky equipment cannot run at the previous line speed, then I would like you to tell me how I can terminate my agreement with Sky, as to be encouraged to move onto 'a better network' and receive a worse service is not on"
"When we tested your line it was found that 1024 was the best speed it could run at, we could put you back onto the other speed, but it will be poor quality"
"Poor quality? that's interesting, because in the 5 years that I have been at this house, we have never had line quality issues. By the way, I think it is probably a good idea to point out that I have comms experience. So, I ask again, clearly and concisely, why has my sync speed been halved?"
"I could put you through to 'higher support' and let them try and help you'
"Please do"

five minutes wait on hold

"can I help you?"
"yes please, been with Sky for the best part of three years. Since the line went live with Sky, we have had a sync rate of 2072-2074kbps. Last friday we noticed a drop to 1020kbps. When I looked into it I saw that DLM was running, and therefore let it run without questioning it. Having now gone a further 4 days with no return to previous levels, I look at MySky, and see that the line has been capped at 1024kbps. Your first line support tells me the line is capable of up to 2.6Mbps, and as I know from experience of the last 5 years, and the last three with Sky that 2072-2074kbps can be achieved consistently, I ask clearly and concisely - why has by sync speed been halved?"

tappity tap

"Let me reset your sync speed to what the line is capable of sir"

the router reset at that point

blow me, 2276kbps - "thankyou, its now running at 2.2"

Only took me one phonecall, but I had to get all parrot with the question.

Know your figures before you go in to the call - see how you do

[PaulSky]

Trouble is that the tier 1 can see the sync speed and the estimated speed. As long as they are close then that is it. The estimated speed is not always the maximum your line can take and only CST will be able to deal with that.

[chrcol]

guys here is your opt-out

I have a monitored security system, monitored social alarm or Telecare system which uses my phone line. Will this work on Sky’s Voice and Broadband Network?

If you have a remotely monitored security system, social alarm service or Telecare service (for example a panic button which summons help from a central call centre) which uses your phone line, you should contact us on 08442 410 046 at least two days before your transfer date. We expect that most alarm and Telecare systems will work normally on our network, but if you have one of these services and you let us know, we will cancel your transfer as a precaution.

Assuming they dont come and phsycially check you have an alarm just tell them you have one.

On a more serious note I have always told people to never take on full LLU, which typically means line rental. The cost savings are minimal and there is many disadvantages such as.

(a) less flexibility to move providers
(b) more risk of phone line problems
(c) longer cable length in exchange
(d) in sky's case their new isams are inferior to the old easynet dslams, the advantage for sky is they save money plain and simple.

The lack of fast path is a weird one also, other companies use isam's and can configure fast path, I suspect the more likely issue is that sky have removed the facility to enable it away from their tech's.

For long lines sky have missed a killer, the killer is that adsl2 (without the +) is generally better for long lines, eg my line on an easynet dslam syncs like this.

adsl1 - 6.4mbit
adsl2 - 7.9mbit
adsl2+ - 4.9mbit

so whilst g.dmt is better as the tech's here say, plain adsl2 is the best out of the 3, but isp's overlook it as they just see adsl2+ for headline speeds, and g.dmt for people who adsl2+ doesnt work out for. The reason adsl2+ syncs lower is it spreads the output power across a bigger frequency range, so less power for each tone. Adsl2 spreads the power the same as adsl1 but has a few advantages such as single bitloading, improved error correction and seamless rate adaptation (the last one been a brilliant feature), sky again dont take advantage of SRA, yet easynet DO support it as ukonline customers get it.

[User05]

Sky and UKOL both use the same config tool to change lines. All that can be changed is:

Configured downstream rate
Min bit rate (downstream)
Configured upstream rate
Min bit rate (upstream)

Line code - adsl2plus/g.dmt
Interleave or fastpath (only on the lucent stingers, not the svbn ISAMs where interleaving can't be touched)
Impulse noise protection
Target SNRs
Min SNRs
Max delays

ISAMs have set profiles to choose from, so it lacks the freedom you have with the 'non-svbn' DSLAMs - sky can set a line to fastpath, and quite a few agents I've seen do it, but it's against sky's procedures.

[BLOODUK]

1 More day then till it's ruined

[BLOODUK]

Not sure if i've been put over to the new network but some stats have changed..



Line Attentuation : 51.5DB -> 50.5db , Upstream 29.1DB -> 27.8DB
Noise Margin : 6.2 DB -> 7.8DB , Upstream 11.0DB -> 15.3DB

How would i know?

[IWasNotTheEnemy]

Call 1571 on your phone - if you get Sky Voicemail you're on the SVBN

[Isitme]

It looks like your connection resynced in the early hours of the morning, so there is a good chance you have been moved.

[BLOODUK]

Call 1571 on your phone - if you get Sky Voicemail you're on the SVBN

It says..

" You have no new messages "

So this is the sky voicemail?