No Broadband in Shetland

[JacksDad]

True, they will probably claim from owners of cable, insurance etc. Compensation is paid at £9.98 per day starting on the 3rd full working day until your broadband is fixed. In this case that starts from today. 

Are they in breach of contract though does anyone know? 

[TimmyBGood]

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@JacksDad wrote:

Are they in breach of contract though does anyone know? 

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Probably not, because connectivity is never actually guaranteed.  I'd suggest it's a powerful point for renegotiation of a minimum contract term though.

[squib6]

So not being able to supply gurenteed speed is breach of contract but not supplying a service at all is not breach of contract?

I am still trawling the internet during breaks at work trying to find where and who i can complain to. I have written to OFCOM and had no reply and used the sky complaints link with no reply as yet. ( I have had no communication from SKY at all)

[JacksDad]

I have had this lot from Sky. No use if your 4G doesn't work either though.

 

 

 

 

 

[Chrisee]

@squib6 legally Sky can argue force majeure - circumstances beyond their control prevents provision of a service. 

It is indeed unfortunate that apparently the same fishing vessel has hit the same cable see https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2025/10/broadband-outages-on-shetland-after-second-subsea-fibr...

Getting alternative link is not as simple as people think as reading that piece there is a shortage of cable capacity to the islands with BT still commissioning a new link so it could simply be there is no spare capacity for Sky to use while waiting for the repair. 

[squib6]

Jacksdad I cannot see what you posted. I think it may be blocked.

Chrisee  you may well be right that its not possible for SKY to reroute. but as yet I have not heard from SKY at all. SKY did manage to restore service in the last outage though prior to the cable repair being made. Also, it would seem more likely that the damage to the cable is caused by weather as alluded to in the article.

[JacksDad]

The last time the cable was damaged (25th July 2025 )Sky rerouted onto another leg of the same cable overnight and services were fully restored on 26th July so they can do it if they want.

Other providers refused to do it and they were off for a while.

[Chrisee]

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@JacksDad wrote:

The last time the cable was damaged (25th July 2025 )Sky rerouted onto another leg of the same cable overnight and services were fully restored on 26th July so they can do it if they want.

Other providers refused to do it and they were off for a while.

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@JacksDad do you actually know that rerouting is possible this time  or are you jumping to a conclusion? Circumstances change and the owner of the cable may not havecthe capacity to do thatthis time or the other providers have priority there are loads of possible reasons. Assuming Sky wont pay the extra is only one of many possible scenarios. 

@squib6 pictures need manual moderation they should be visible now as I went in and approved them.

[JacksDad]

Squib6 it was just the generic texts from Sky saying you may have a problem with your Broadband, engineers are working hard to fix it, engineers are still working hard to fix it and then weather conditions are causing delays.

Funny because the ship tasked with repairs "Cable Vigilance" is still docked in Calais in France as of 2 minutes ago!! 

[TimmyBGood]

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@squib6 wrote:

So not being able to supply gurenteed speed is breach of contract but not supplying a service at all is not breach of contract?

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The 'guarantee' is of a small refund if the quoted speed cannot be delivered.

No ISP guarantees uninterrupted connectivity because that's physically impossible.

[JacksDad]

@Chrisee rerouting is possible as it is the same cable just a different leg of it that goes from Shetland to Faroe then down to Mainland UK. The damaged section goes from Shetland to Orkney then Mainland UK. The capacity of the cable has not changed nor has the amount of users the only difference is the damaged section. But and here is the thing the owners Faroe telecom would require payment to use the other leg of the cable something that Sky (maybe jumping to conclusions)this time is not prepared to do, if they were why have they not done it already like last time? 

[Chrisee]

@squib6 or someone else bought the capacity? Who knows you theory could be correct we simply dont know or are likely to find out.

[Daniel0210]

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@squib6 wrote:

I have written to OFCOM and had no reply and used the sky complaints link with no reply as yet. ( I have had no communication from SKY at all)

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@squib6 

Ofcom won't usually get involved until Sky have issued a deadlock letter for your complaint or 8 weeks have passed without a resolution. 

[JacksDad]

@squib6 I have just received a text from Sky saying "A repair ship is needed to fix the damaged subsea cable causing your outage"" 

At least they have updated the situation, even if we knew that days ago!! 

[squib6]

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@TimmyBGood wrote:

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@squib6 wrote:

So not being able to supply gurenteed speed is breach of contract but not supplying a service at all is not breach of contract?

---

The 'guarantee' is of a small refund if the quoted speed cannot be delivered.

No ISP guarantees uninterrupted connectivity because that's physically impossible.

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My speed is lower than it should be

Sign in to Service Checker to check the broadband speed to your hub. If it’s fallen below your Guaranteed Minimum Download Speed for 3 days in a row in the last 30 days, get in touch to claim money back.

• We’ll credit you 1 month’s broadband subscription (excluding any discounts or offers, Sky Talk and any Add Ons like McAfee, Sky Broadband Boost or Sky WiFi Max).

And if you want to you can:

• Change your broadband package with no upfront fees; or
• Cancel with no early termination charges at any time within your contract (minimum term).

Good to know:

• You can only claim money back once within your contract.
• You must be a fibre broadband customer to claim.
• You can't use a broadband speed checker from another website.

Here's the legal bit

Speed Guarantee:Requires Sky Broadband. If the download speed to your hub drops below your guaranteed minimum download speed for three consecutive days or more, you will have the right to leave your Sky Broadband and Talk contracts without incurring early termination charges. You can also upgrade your broadband product without any upfront fees. This applies anytime within your minimum term. Total loss of service and Major Service Outages do not count towards three-day periods, such as if your broadband stops working completely, or you can’t use the internet on any of your devices and it’s not a WiFi problem. Speed checks must be done using sky.com/servicechecker, the MySky app or by speaking to one of our service advisors. See sky.com for more details, usage policies and to check your speeds.

All I want is out of my contract without penalty (and some communication from SKY). As is being discussed it seems up for conjecture whether SKY are choosing to leave customers cut off when remedies maybe available, whch surely is subject to contract.

Clearly, other ISPs have redundancies the SKY do not. I'm not sure potential customers are aware of this when they sign up. I certainly wasn't.

As yet I have still not had any contact at all from SKY.