Is there congestion in data leaving the Sky network?

[nOw2]

Hi,

I was on a BT ADSL line for a couple of years and suffered terribly with exchange-based congestion problems (Bangor, Gwynedd - the PlusNet checker shows virtual paths as 'red' for literally years - perfect sync but often limited to sub-0.5Mbit/s in the evening with the near full sync speed only around 3am).

I moved to Sky (and so LLU) to get away from this issue, and indeed for a month from joining in mid-December to mid-January everything was rosy.

However now I have a similar problem on Sky. For the last few weeks, peak time access speeds have been dropping off - not as bad as with BT, but still bouncing under 500Kbits/s. I can't reliably play iPlayer or Youtube or anything that requires a consistent minimal bandwidth.

In the middle of the night speeds are still perfect!

The twist is that I don't think the issues are the local exchange (they are certainly not local to my network). SOME Speedtest.net servers can still max-out my ADSL!

Speeds vary widely between different Speedtest.net servers, from 1Mbit/s to flat out while iPlayer and YouTube are stuck under half a megabit. I'm able to do simultaneous checks from another ADSL line on the BT network (which is a computer ~100 miles away) and the same tests max out a 15Mbit/s line so the issue is not with the servers.

I'm nervous of contacting Sky's help directly; I banged my head against the wall of BT's support network for two years and never want to do the same again.

Anyone have ANY insight in what's going on? Something to keep me sane for a little while longer?

[Isitme]

There were reports on here of speed being restricted at peak times on LLU connections around the time that Anytime+ was first introduced. Sky upgraded the exchanges which were effected and the problem passed. It looks like your exchange may be suffering in the same way. You should report this to Sky, they may be unaware of any problem until it is reported.

It may not be easy to get the message across to Sky help and they will probably want you to jump through hoops changing filters etc. You and I know that this is a waste of time. Politely as you can insist that you are passed up the line to the higher support who are more likely to understand the problem.. It would do no harm to also report it using the Contact Form on the Sky Help page.

[nOw2]

Well, I've emailed support. I'm being asked to talk to an engineer about my sync speed, the one thing that I stated was perfectly okay.

Hopefully someone will pick up the ticket and find the root cause. Speeds are all over the shop tonight, but thankfully it's iPlayer's turn to max out the connection!

I'm surprised nobody else is reporting seeing the same issue, but perhaps it is limited to the exchange. I'll have to ask the neighbours.

[Scubbie]

The issues that Tom has mentioned occurred this time last year. They were specific to certain areas across the country as it was the backhaul which was affected.

From memory some of the affected areas were:

• North Wales
• Some parts of North West England
• South East London
• Parts of Kent
• North West London
• West Hertfordshire

[Henhead]

have been getting 12-15 meg download since I moved to sky about 6 months ago.

Recently i have been having problems also, like now my download is 1meg.

I tried to watch Tron Legacy off anytime+ on Sunday evening (4.2gig) after 2 hours it was on 20%. last weekend I tried to watch an episode of Reno 911 (300meg) was not allowed to watch while downloading, and it took 40 mins to download, longer than the episode was!!

I am getting really ****** off now. what is going on Sky

I live in Holyhead , Anglesey. About 30 miles from original poster

[nOw2]

I live in Holyhead , Anglesey. About 30 miles from original poster

That does indeed sound the same as my problem here - I would guess that Holyhead would feed off the exchange in Bangor, but I have no real idea of Sky or BT's network design.

The tests would be:
1. Does your speed return to normal at off peak times? (I know mine is absolutely perfect at 7.30am)
2. Can you still max out your connection to *some* servers?
- e.g. on speedtest.net try Bournemouth and London-Namesco. Those two often give me flat-out full speed.

[nOw2]

Well, I knew this would happen. I can't get past first line support. They are fixating on the sync speed of my router without addressing the issue. This is worse than BT; at least they accepted there was congestion at the exchange, they just wouldn't fix it.

I give up.

[Scubbie]

This was part of the problem last year. You will need to get past the first level of support.

Try again and politely as to speak to a supervisor as it is not your connection speed. If they play at being difficult, ask if they remember anything about the backhaul problems last year. If they go all blank, ask them if you can then be passed to someone who can help.

If it helps, I have been trying to get hold of someone who can answer some simple questions relating to the new Sky Fibre product and I'm being fed lots of bull because so many people hate admitting that they don't know anything.

[jayhab]

I really feel for the members that this is happening to, I was one of those affected in north wales last year and can remember how difficult it was trying to get someone at sky to acknowledge that there was a problem. Trying to explain to someone the difference between sync speed and throughput is 'trying' to say the least when all they do is keep quoting from a script.
All I can say is to keep calling until you get someone who will listen and to open a thread (or find the one from last year) on Sky's own support website!

Good luck!

[nOw2]

Thanks for the encouragement, I have pressed on.

I admit that I've had absolutely no success at all and am still unable to get the discussion beyond the router's connection, and get a different support person every time - resetting the conversation each time.

I've had enough for tonight, so back to step one again tomorrow evening I guess :-(