Social Tariff problem

[15yearswithsky]

Hi everyone

I have just found out about the social tariff, and went to the sky page and it says 

Sky Broadband Basics costs £20 a month for 24 months. It includes:

• Full Fibre: Sky Full Fibre 75 or 150; or
• Part Fibre: Sky Broadband Superfast 35 or 80; or
• Copper: Sky Broadband Essential Plus, if fibre broadband isn’t available where you live.
• Sky Pay As You Talk. Only pay for the calls that you make.

I am disabled and currently have Superfast and am connected at 79,999 Kpbs on FTTC with a SR203

However when I asked the sky billing operator to have this he informed me that only Superfast 35 was the option !!

Basically reducing our speed to 35Mbps from 75Mbps because it wasn't an option on his computer ??

So we have to take a speed decrease because SKY haven't got the option of superfast 80 on our line I assume ?

[Mark39]

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@15yearswithsky wrote:

So we have to take a speed decrease because SKY haven't got the option of superfast 80 on our line I assume 

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Yes, if you want Sky's social tariff.

[15yearswithsky]

But 80 is an option on the SKY page but he couldn't enter it even though we are already connected at that speed so just saying YES isn't good enough,

[Daniel0210]

@15yearswithsky 

What the agent told you was basically correct. 

This link explains the process if you’re eligible for Sky Broadband Basics.
https://www.sky.com/help/articles/sky-social-tariff

The Sky account holder needs to be claiming Universal Credit, Pension Credit, Income Support, Income based Jobseekers Allowance or Income based Employment Support Allowance. These are the only qualifying benefits and in order for Sky to carry out checks with DWP they will need your NI number. The social tariff is for Sky Broadband Superfast 35 with an average download speed of 36Mb/s and the Sky Talk Pay As You Go tariff (ie: all calls are chargeable). It does not offer a discounted Sky Talk plan.

Broadband Basics is only available to customers who already have Sky Broadband and to add the Sky Mobile offer, you’ll need to be taking Sky Broadband Basics, and:
a) Already have Sky Mobile and a 3GB data plan.
b) Or you can add a new 3GB data plan with Sky Mobile.
The linked Sky mobile deal is only for 12 months.

If you are eligible you’ll need to call Sky to join. There is no equivalent offer for TV. The broadband part of the social tariff now lasts for 24 months and then reverts to the full cost but if you’re still eligible you will then need to re-apply.

[Mark39]

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@15yearswithsky wrote:

But 80 is an option on the SKY page but he couldn't enter it even though we are already connected at that speed so just saying YES isn't good enough,

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It's all we customers can tell you. If you want to know why that's Sky's policy, you would have to ask them (if they're willing to tell you).

[15yearswithsky]

OK well here's the weird bit - he said that I could have FTTH at 75 OR 150 LOL

But digging up and installation problems prevent FTTH at the moment.

So I have to continue  paying £34 a month for superfast at 80Mbps - also new customers can get FTTC/FTTH at £25 

Hmm 25 years with sky, think I will have to find an alternative to Superfast.

Thanks for your replies.

[TimmyBGood]

@15yearswithsky 

Essentially ISPs make no money on Social Tariff subscriptions (and it can even be loss-making) so they are going to offer the cheapest wholesale service they can get.  Where FTTP isn't available in the area, that's going to be 40/10Mbs FTTC rather than 80/20.

[TimmyBGood]

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@15yearswithsky wrote:

But digging up and installation problems prevent FTTH at the moment.

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If it's in the UK, putting the address into the BT Wholesale Availability Checker should indicate which broadband provisioning type is applicable.

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL/AddressHome 

It's the table and the two text lines below it which are most useful.

Remove any personal information (such as the address itself) if you post an image.