Sky—No visible means of support

I thought that Orange (voted Worst Internet Service Provider by BBC Watchdog) were pretty bad until I donated an old computer to a friend and tried to set it up with her new Sky Broadband account.

Firstly, there are HUGE issues with the Sky-supplied wireless router which has it's own firmware, apparently to stop free access to various Sky services

I buggered about for ages trying to get the wireless connection going and the helpful advice of the help-desk was "talk to your PC manufacturer".

In the end, I just relocated the PC and used a network cable.

There also seems to be a major issue with Sky email which appears to send but not receive for many users—this also seems to be the case with the webmail service which can be accessed from any computer using an internet browser.

The problem cannot therefore be attributed to incorrect email settings or any other software issue with the individual PC—however I tried to access the Sky account over 3 days, there was simply no email coming into the inbox.

Another call to the help-desk started down the ‘try this and try that’ route when I mentioned that an internet search had revealed dozens of users with the same issue.

Although this resulted in an immediate admission that there was a ‘known’ problem, no time-estimate could be given for any resolution so I simply paid-out a modest sum for an external POP-3 mail service which works just fine with the Sky connection.   

So how do Sky compare with Orange?

1. In both cases, the ISP have tried to suggest that their broadband service is 'FREE' or very cheap and are clearly having difficulty in coping with the response
    
2. In both cases, there are huge numbers of users suffering identical problems though the support staff seem to treat each issue as if it were unique and probably the user's fault
    
3. In both cases, the help given is not particularly helpful
    
4. In both cases, the same issues seem to remain unresolved for months

Compare this with a problem that I recently sorted-out for a new Plusnet user—I was unable to upload to the user's free web space so I contacted Plusnet technical support through the on-line help system and received a response, within two minutes, advising that they had identified the fault and taken corrective action.

Plusnet are not perfect but do actually admit to problems and address them—they were recently voted ‘Best Overall Provider’ in a Uswitch survey.

Given the huge amount of information available on the internet, it is astonishing that Internet Service Providers offering piss-poor service continue to attract new customers.

A few Google searches (on 'Orange problems', 'Sky Problems', 'email problems', etc) before signing-up with an ISP would save a huge amount of grief.

For independent information on ‘all things Sky’, I can thoroughly recommend www.skyuser.co.uk

A great source of information on broadband suppliers, their offerings and performance can be found at www.thinkbroadband.com

Comments

[Father Brian]

I can vouch for PlusNet, having switched to them a couple of years ago in desperation at the service I was receiving from Pipex.

PlusNet are disarmingly honest when there is a problem with their service availability and post regular updates to keep their customers informed.

Few seem to have heard of PlusNet and this is a first-class example of the law of inverse effectiveness.

Everyone's heard of Orange, Talk-Talk and Sky from their constant television advertising.

People not unexpectedly assume that a big-name provider will deliver good service.

Unfortunately the bigger they come, the worse they get!

Regrettably, most people new to the internet don't take advice and just sign up with a well-known name.

People assume (always a dangerous thing to do) that heavily advertised means reputable but it's usually the reverse.

That's why Sky, Talk-Talk etc. spend so much on advertising and so little on customer service.