Cancelled Ultra Fibre Optic Broadband

[darthanian42]

I've had the same.  4 weeks notice for termination is shocking, especially when so many of us rely on broadband for working from home right now. 

I couldn't believe they didn't offer an alternative, especially as the Advisor I spoke to immediately tried to sell me their 'superfast' broadband package, which is the same price for half the speed.

I'm hoping someone who is aware of this situation picks up my complaint, but I'm not optimistic. Otherwise my only option seems to be to switch to TalkTalk for broadband, who seem to offer comparable speeds - but their package options are confusing and I'm sure they could offer something on the same York UFO Fibre to The Property setup if I could speak to someone in the know,

I emailed the York Digital email address too at the weekend, but have not yet had a reply....

[GD1]

@darthanian42  Complaint connot be made via a public forum you need to use the correct complaint channels https://www.sky.com/help/articles/sky-customer-complaints-code-of-practice/#make-a-complaint-contact...

4 weeks is ample time when you conmsider it only take 2 weeks for a provider going live.  If Sky are no longer part of the trial, and it IS a trial then what can you complaint about?  When you signed up you would have been fully aware it was a trial.

PS working form home on a domestic service is irrelevant and grants no special rights or priority.

[darthanian42]

I have already raised a complaint directly with them, I was merely observing that I'm not optimistic it will be picked up by anyone with knowledge of what Sky Head Office are doing, given over the last 5 years I've had this service no Sky adviser has had any idea what this product is...

And yes you could say it's a "trial" - though it has been such for 5 years - but there's a difference between 'sufficient' notice ( I disagree it's ample) and doing the right thing by your customers by way of a clear explanation of what choices they have and giving them due time to investigate pricing/lead times etc.

For example, it would not be beyond their capability to:
a) offer a helpline
b) explain that Sky FTTC could be available (and dare I say offer some kind of discount)

c) signpost to comparable providers, or even

d) Have some kind of handover/referral to TalkTalk UFO lined up

and yes, you'll tell me they're not *obliged* to do any of those and you're probably right, but it would show a decent level of consideration for pulling the plug on a longstanding service taken up by (presumably) loyal customers.

[darthanian42]

Can I ask what pricing they've offered you for the Fibre, and then the UFO?  And what term contract?

thanks 🙂

[ukpab]

@GD1 , @darthanian42 

I have made a complaint last Friday - and had zero response from Sky.

The issue for me is not that Sky can pull out of a trial, it is that we cannot switch to another provider without losing service for a period of time. As I and many others affected need a reliable broadband to work from home, this is the issue. 

Our only option is to start a contract with another provider and then cancel as soon as Sky release us - so we can go back to the same cable on our property with TalkTalk or any other provider who might offer the service. This for me is where Sky should have worked in collaboration with TalkTalk so the customers were not adversely impacted.

On the upside - as a Sky customer of 16 years, it prompted me to also review my overall package - and a few calls later had left me nearly £30 a month better off on my TV package - with more services and an upgrade to Sky Q... 

So perhaps every cloud does indeed have a silver lining.

[rscott]

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@ukpab wrote:

@GD1 , @darthanian42 

I have made a complaint last Friday - and had zero response from Sky.

The issue for me is not that Sky can pull out of a trial, it is that we cannot switch to another provider without losing service for a period of time. As I and many others affected need a reliable broadband to work from home, this is the issue. 

Our only option is to start a contract with another provider and then cancel as soon as Sky release us - so we can go back to the same cable on our property with TalkTalk or any other provider who might offer the service. This for me is where Sky should have worked in collaboration with TalkTalk so the customers were not adversely impacted.

On the upside - as a Sky customer of 16 years, it prompted me to also review my overall package - and a few calls later had left me nearly £30 a month better off on my TV package - with more services and an upgrade to Sky Q... 

So perhaps every cloud does indeed have a silver lining.

---

The only other provider who can use that fibre network is TalkTalk - it's not a shared infrastructure like Openreach's services.

You don't need to have any downtime, just switch to FTTC or G.Fast using any of the providers who use Openreach.

The service you currently have is a residential one, which is why they haven't considered any impact on business use...

[leas]

Update to my earlier post.  Talk talk have now backtracked and said they cannot supply us with fibre and there is no guarantee they can provide UFO service even after sky have disconnected and cleared the line.

Oh well, we enjoyed the speeds whilst we could.  I'm going to check out other providers now. 

[darthanian42]

@leas @ukpab  according to the  Talk Talk 'Full Fibre' advisor today, they are unable to "take over" the FTTP CityFibre line because of some (unclear) issue with it being allocated to Sky 5 years ago.  She was equally unable to confirm if this would be possible at any point in the future, or when or if TT would be offering its other Full Fibre services in my area.  She hinted that Sky and TalkTalk were talking about the ~600 customers apparently affected by this issue and looking to move. 

TT have offered me their (up to) 150mbps "Fibre 150" FTTC service, which seems comparable to what I was paying Sky for at a similar (slightly higher) price.   I'm going to take it. It's a 24mth contract, which is a bit of a worry, but I'm not sure I have any alternative.  Sky's best option was half the speed for the same cost - and the advisor hasn't called me back as promised (surprise).

[leas]

@darthanian42 

that's good, they couldn't offer us anything due to no space in the cabinet, whereabouts in York are you if you don't mind me asking?

[darthanian42]

@leas Rawcliffe

[Davidinyork]

So many of these replies seem to treat us customers as the awkward one and Sky having no responsibility, I was NEVER told it was a Trial. The cables are in the ground, what is the problem in using them?? Going to FTTC will be hopeless and probably return me to ultraslow speeds as the copper cable is old as I am surrounded by HMO's with multiple users. The fact that Talktalk may not be using the UFO cable is the final nail. Is the next cable operator going to rip up the streets again. Have the @Yorkpress got a handle on this

[rscott]

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@Davidinyork wrote:

So many of these replies seem to treat us customers as the awkward one and Sky having no responsibility, I was NEVER told it was a Trial. The cables are in the ground, what is the problem in using them?? Going to FTTC will be hopeless and probably return me to ultraslow speeds as the copper cable is old as I am surrounded by HMO's with multiple users. The fact that Talktalk may not be using the UFO cable is the final nail. Is the next cable operator going to rip up the streets again. Have the @Yorkpress got a handle on this

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The cables in the ground belong to Cityfibre and they don't have wholesale agreements to let other providers use them.

it's no different to the situation with Virgin, County Broadband, Gigaclear, Hyperoptic, etc. They're all private networks which have limited availability too.

[darthanian42]

@rscott unless I've misunderstood it, I think the weird bit is that TalkTalk already have agreements with CityFibre to provide FTTP in York (I think they used to own it?!) and Sky are willingly exiting theirs.

So it seems odd that TT don't seem able

to leverage their existing agreement to take over the provision of service to my property (for example) when Sky releases it.

also - side point - when I signed up 5 years ago, they asked me "do you want to be with Sky or talk talk?" - implying it's an arbitrary/bureaucratic point, not a technical one...

[rscott]

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@darthanian42 wrote:

@rscott unless I've misunderstood it, I think the weird bit is that TalkTalk already have agreements with CityFibre to provide FTTP in York (I think they used to own it?!) and Sky are willingly exiting theirs.

So it seems odd that TT don't seem able

to leverage their existing agreement to take over the provision of service to my property (for example) when Sky releases it.

also - side point - when I signed up 5 years ago, they asked me "do you want to be with Sky or talk talk?" - implying it's an arbitrary/bureaucratic point, not a technical one...

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Sky have exited the arrangement and are focusing on Openreach's FTTP services instead.  

I think there simply isn't any process defined for transferring a customer between Sky and Talktalk. 

It was an billing/admin difference back then, but it's changed now Sky aren't part of the agreement..

[leas]

@rscott talk talk told me this afternoon that they would have to replace the cable on my driveway with their own cables.  She then sighed at me when I questioned it.  I hope we can go with another provider at some point other than talk talk .

my options, without getting into a contract (in case we can go with  another provider for UFO) is Cuckoo or Now broadband.  Off to do some research!