Sky to buy 02 and Be Internet

wod

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2005
Messages
4,213
Reaction score
238
Points
63
My Satellite Setup
1m channel master, jaeger smr1224, Inverto black ultra twin, technomate tm-1500ci, broken receiver vantage x221ci, New additions Skybox F5s and technomate tm-5402 HD arriving soon.
My Location
yorkshire
I've just seen on bbc that sky is to buy O2 and Be Internet providers in 200 million deal.

Looks like the monopoly is going to get bigger.

Think I fancy a change of provider now.

Any recommendations for adsl2 providers or fttc that's not BT ?

I fancy a switch to fibre optic but cable is not an option here.
 

timo_w2s

Retired Mod
Joined
Sep 28, 2005
Messages
4,359
Reaction score
2,883
Points
113
Website
www.timo.me.uk
My Satellite Setup
See Signature
My Location
Maidenhead, UK & Helsinki, Finland
Yep, I need to look elsewhere too now. My BE line was rock solid for 4 years but I'm either going back to Virgin or fibre if someone offers it at our exchange within the next few months (apparently it's coming this year but I'm not holding my breath).
 

PaulR

Dazed and Confused Admin
Staff member
Joined
Jun 28, 2003
Messages
18,023
Reaction score
4,046
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
-----------See sig-----------
My Location
Wirral, NW UK and Vaucluse, France.
Right! That's it, I'm off too!!

I was hanging on with O2 in the hope that when my local exchange get fibre (also sometime in 2013) that they'd have sorted themselves out so that could offer it when BT wholesales it out. Now it becomes clear why they were so sluggardly in getting into the fibre market.

I suspect that both $ly and EE (and of course BT) will be offering fibre when it comes to my area. Virgin never around to our area so that's not an option. Unless $ly come up with something seriously good (and I DON'T mean a special subcription rate for their dubious satellite delights) I can't see myself staying. Which is a shame as O2 have been mostly very good to me. They appear to be the only ones offering inclusive minutes per month for overseas calls as part of one of their standard packages.

So, probably EE then.
 

2cvbloke

Regular Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2006
Messages
9,768
Reaction score
1,808
Points
113
Age
38
My Satellite Setup
No satellite stuff for the moment (aside from a 43cm minidish that was on the house already), Samsung SyncMaster T27B550 Smart TV & Monitor, and a few computers...
My Location
Near Pontop Pike, Co. Durham
We're with Primus, they aren't big, they're not fast, but, they're not $ky!!! :lol:

I would like fibreoptic broadband, but not that attempt BT are claiming is fibreoptic, cos I want a fibre line from exchange to modem, with 0% copper inbetween, not fibre up to a green street cabinet and then mouldy old copper the rest of the way to the house so they can combine it with the phoneline, I'd rather have copper solely for the phone and the fibre for high speed broadband that only men in sheds can supply:

bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21455795
 

PaulR

Dazed and Confused Admin
Staff member
Joined
Jun 28, 2003
Messages
18,023
Reaction score
4,046
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
-----------See sig-----------
My Location
Wirral, NW UK and Vaucluse, France.
Here's what O2 have to say about the deal. Not a lot, it seems...
 

Attachments

  • O2 & $ly.png
    O2 & $ly.png
    489.3 KB · Views: 105

Lazarus

Retired Moderator
Joined
May 29, 2009
Messages
27,078
Reaction score
8,664
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
80cm Motorised.
Several small Dishes.
Much else.
My Location
North York Moors
Well if anyone here transfers to PlusNet, let me "refer" you as they knock a bit off my bill for every introduction.
 

A nonymous

Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2006
Messages
3,586
Reaction score
913
Points
113
I was going to recommend plusnet too. i don't use it myself, but i know a lot of people that do and i have only ever heard good things about them. They also do Fibre services aswell with a really good upload speed.

If they had BT/Plusnet fibre where i live i would seriously consider swapping to them. I use VM at the moment but the line goes down at least once a month without fail for at least a few hours at a time. Its getting rather annoying now if i'm totally honest.

I should imagine there is going to be a mass exodus from Be and O<sup>2</sup> in the very near future.

Nano
 

rolfw

Believe it when I see it Admin.
Staff member
Joined
May 1, 1999
Messages
38,292
Reaction score
1,615
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
Technomate 5402 HD M2 Ci, DM7000s, Transparent 80cm Dish, Moteck SG2100 DiseqC motor, lots of legacy gear. Meters: Satlook Digital NIT, Promax HD Ranger+ spectrum analyser.
My Location
Berkshire
I've got a couple of customers who have left plusnet, stating abysmal customer service as the reason, but I guess that customer service is pretty much universally bad across telecoms and internet companies, having said that, I've found Virgin to be quite good.
 

timo_w2s

Retired Mod
Joined
Sep 28, 2005
Messages
4,359
Reaction score
2,883
Points
113
Website
www.timo.me.uk
My Satellite Setup
See Signature
My Location
Maidenhead, UK & Helsinki, Finland
I've always had good service from Virgin/NTL back when I used them. I'm lucky that our area is not really interested in cable so you tend to have a lot of bandwidth to yourself and in the 8 years I had them I think there was just one day it was down. Mind you, I don't know what it's like now but my neighbour doesn't have any problems.

I only moved to Be Internet as they where offering a slightly faster connection for slightly less back in 2008. Of course now Virgin are offering much faster speeds but are a little more pricey for stand alone internet but I had been thinking of changing but was waiting to see if fibre came along. This may be the push I needed to go back to Virgin.
 

aceb

Specialist Contributor
Joined
Oct 2, 2007
Messages
1,537
Reaction score
841
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
Prof Tuner 7301 /
1.25m Gibertini + Inverto B.Ultra/C1W, Moteck H180, 68.5E-67W Ku/C-Band /
1.8m Precision PF + ESX241/Inverto Black Pro, 66E-63W Ku/C-band /
2.4m Fortec Star+Titanium C1W/Pride plate, 49E-58W
My Location
Sussex
Friend of mine has been with O2 for years and currently has ll/mob/adsl with them. He lives about 200m from our exchange and until recently was sync'd quite stably at 22.4meg! A few weeks ago they offered him an upgrade to a business package across his products for the same price so he took it thinking it would be seamless and he'd end up with the same performance but less contention in the evenings. Since they switched him over he's had loads of drop outs and it doesn't sync above 17.5meg, he's got no where with tech support as they can't get their head round he used to sync above the max rate ( it did, I saw it on his router). He knows I only just about tolerate Sky due to price and lack of alternatives here so this news will please him no end I'm sure LOL

I was with Plusnet years ago but was one of the chosen few to have our accounts terminated when they deemed we'd abuse their fair use policy by downloading music on good old dial up.
 

Topper

Amo Amas Amant Admin
Staff member
Joined
Nov 18, 2004
Messages
23,991
Reaction score
4,014
Points
113
Age
69
My Satellite Setup
Has gone to a good home elsewhere
My Location
Blackburn, Lancashire
I cannot say much as we have never paid for broadband so am generally happy with what we are give free from BT. My daughter in Sheffield is with Plusnet and finds it fast 20Mb/s+ and reliable.
 

smoggy07

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2008
Messages
945
Reaction score
384
Points
63
Age
40
My Satellite Setup
Sky minidish and Sky + HD 250gig Anytime+ box with full ish appart from sports and movies, Dreambox DM500s clone (Pli Jade3 max var F/W), Motorised 1.1Meter Dish
My Location
middlesbrough, teesside, northeast coast, uk
nano said:
I use VM at the moment but the line goes down at least once a month without fail for at least a few hours at a time. Its getting rather annoying now if i'm totally honest.
You could be on an over used UBR

Visit tools.virginmedia.com and check your Client Host Name, if you have a super hub, visit the web interface 192.168.0.1, put it into modem mode and plug a computer/laptop into the ethernet socket closest to the cable feed, this should give you a new IP and can change your UBR (go back to that VM page and check)

Either way, if it changes your UBR at this point or not, leave it set up like this for an hour or so, preferably at a busy time on the network when people would be switching their computers on, say sometime between 3pm and 6pm, then after you have left it for an hour, visit 192.168.100.1 and leave modem mode, not forgetting to swap the ethernet cables back that we changed when entering modem mode

After the hub has rebooted, go back to the VM site once more and check to see if your UBR has changed, if not try again, you need to wait until someone else on the network takes your old IP

My UBR looks like this: cpc27-midd16-2-0-cust***

the first bit is the cpc, after that it says midd, because I`m on a Middlesbrough UBR and then the 16 is the UBR it`s self, it`s the segment of the network I`m connected to
Without quoting too much from back in the cable hacking days or hijacking this thread anymore lol VM`s network is like an orange, when you peel an orange you have the segments, in VM`s case, these are UBRs (Universal Broadband Routers, think of a little Dlink or Netgear on steroids lol), each area can have a number of UBRs and by forcibly changing your IP using the above method, you can change UBR to hopefully a quieter/less congested one

PS if you phone VM and ask them to change your UBR they`ll claim it can`t be done or play dumb lol
 

Channel Hopper

Suffering fools, so you don't have to.
Staff member
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
Messages
35,533
Reaction score
8,554
Points
113
Age
59
Website
www.sat-elite.uk
My Satellite Setup
A little less analogue, and a lot more crap.
My Location
UK
PaulR said:
Right! That's it, I'm off too!!

I was hanging on with O2 in the hope that when my local exchange get fibre (also sometime in 2013) that they'd have sorted themselves out so that could offer it when BT wholesales it out. Now it becomes clear why they were so sluggardly in getting into the fibre market.


So, probably EE then.
Ha ha! I moved away from T-mobile when they couldn't be bothered to send out a SIM card to replace the intermittent/faulty one. I made some two hours of calls to their UK number - strangely served by nobody but Philipinos - and in the end gave up, and leaving them with a four month unpaid bill for their trouble.

A pity about O2 being swallowed up, in the past year or so they have been fantastic.
 

PaulR

Dazed and Confused Admin
Staff member
Joined
Jun 28, 2003
Messages
18,023
Reaction score
4,046
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
-----------See sig-----------
My Location
Wirral, NW UK and Vaucluse, France.
I have been happy with O2's phone and broadband as well, especially as I've been with them from the beginning and have genuinely unlimited (not traffic shaped) downloads. As an O2 mobile customer I also get a £5 a month reduction. Both those will probably go under $ly. Doubt if I'll get the overseas call allowance either.

I also have an Orange mobile phone so maybe that'll do me some good at EE.
 

A nonymous

Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2006
Messages
3,586
Reaction score
913
Points
113
Smoggy my Superhub has never been used in anything other than modem mode :-lmao

The Superhub i find is useless for port forwarding and the wireless range on it is crap. VM are in the middle of upgrading the network in the local area which is probably why it goes off as often as it does.

I did suspect an oversubscribed UBR but from what i have been told by friends who work for VM its because of the upgrades that have been going on for ages in our area. Its jsut taking the preverbial on how long they are taking to complete it.
 

timo_w2s

Retired Mod
Joined
Sep 28, 2005
Messages
4,359
Reaction score
2,883
Points
113
Website
www.timo.me.uk
My Satellite Setup
See Signature
My Location
Maidenhead, UK & Helsinki, Finland
nano said:
Smoggy my Superhub has never been used in anything other than modem mode :-lmao

The Superhub i find is useless for port forwarding and the wireless range on it is crap. VM are in the middle of upgrading the network in the local area which is probably why it goes off as often as it does.
Port forwarding is essential for me, so can the superhub be used in bridged mode or something now? Are you using your own router? I read they'd disabled that feature a while ago which was concerning me.
 

A nonymous

Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2006
Messages
3,586
Reaction score
913
Points
113
My superhub is just used as a modem. I did try to use it, but as i said previously the port forwarding was hit and miss and the wireless was crap.

All of my PCs and everything else are hardwired. Only my Wii, my daughters laptop and the wireless bridge connected to my HP 2500ln laser printer are connected to it wirelessly. Everything else is hard wired. If i get one more item then i will have to buy a new 8 way network switch as i am already using the available 7 ports i have from the router and the 4 way switch.

If they have disabled the modem only feature, its news to me. You will just have to ask them before you sign up. If they say its still available and then you find out it isn't you are more than within your rights to cancel within the first 14 days anyway.

Sorry about the crappy quality of the pic, its dark under the stairs where everything is and my phone doesn't have a flash :D

Nano
 

Attachments

  • Photo0127.jpg
    Photo0127.jpg
    26.8 KB · Views: 84

timo_w2s

Retired Mod
Joined
Sep 28, 2005
Messages
4,359
Reaction score
2,883
Points
113
Website
www.timo.me.uk
My Satellite Setup
See Signature
My Location
Maidenhead, UK & Helsinki, Finland
Thanks Nano. I'll check it out as I really want to use my own router as I have a video server and Slingbox that need to be visible on the net. I'll miss the static IP Be gave me too.
 

rolfw

Believe it when I see it Admin.
Staff member
Joined
May 1, 1999
Messages
38,292
Reaction score
1,615
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
Technomate 5402 HD M2 Ci, DM7000s, Transparent 80cm Dish, Moteck SG2100 DiseqC motor, lots of legacy gear. Meters: Satlook Digital NIT, Promax HD Ranger+ spectrum analyser.
My Location
Berkshire
Using mine in modem only mode, got a Netgear SRXN3205 VPN router attached and a four port switch, as also found that the superhub was no good for port forwarding any more than 1 device, also didn't allow for DYNDNS. This combination works really well and everything runs through my dyndns.org address.
 

smoggy07

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2008
Messages
945
Reaction score
384
Points
63
Age
40
My Satellite Setup
Sky minidish and Sky + HD 250gig Anytime+ box with full ish appart from sports and movies, Dreambox DM500s clone (Pli Jade3 max var F/W), Motorised 1.1Meter Dish
My Location
middlesbrough, teesside, northeast coast, uk
nano said:
Smoggy my Superhub has never been used in anything other than modem mode :-lmao

The Superhub i find is useless for port forwarding and the wireless range on it is crap. VM are in the middle of upgrading the network in the local area which is probably why it goes off as often as it does.

I did suspect an oversubscribed UBR but from what i have been told by friends who work for VM its because of the upgrades that have been going on for ages in our area. Its jsut taking the preverbial on how long they are taking to complete it.
The VM service techs are sometimes the last to know things and the people on the phone can be just as bad but I can confirm that I did have a bit of chew over the last few major upgrades here on Teesside but I`d put my money on it being an over subbed UBR

Try changing the routers MAC address a few times using the MAC clone feature if it is available, this will force a fresh IP and hopefully change the UBR

timo_w2s said:
Port forwarding is essential for me, so can the superhub be used in bridged mode or something now? Are you using your own router? I read they'd disabled that feature a while ago which was concerning me.
Port forwarding does sort of work on the super hub when it wants but as Nano and rolfw pointed out, it`s pants, and the wireless can be better than useless but you need to do a site survey and change the channel to anything other than the 6 or 11 that all the other super hubs in the area are set to

At the minute I have mine set in modem mode feeding a Dlink DIR 615 with DD-WRT installed and it works a treat with port forwarding for SIP devices and sat boxes lol
 
Top