Potential to upgrade to SKY for broadband and Landline but no solution for battery back up

[globalnomadam]

Having been a SKY member (Diamon 25 years) its staggering how the service has been downgraded over the years. It use to be based in Scotland with those lovely cheery people and if you had Diamond status you were moved to the front of the queue. Not any more its been outsourced to India and whilst the people I have been connected to have always been very helpful its just not the same ( I lived and worked in India so I have an affection for the place in case anyone sees this as a racist comment) 

On considering my options to reduce my bills I sort to switch my landline and broadband to SKY and was offered a deal which though not really significant would save me enough to justify the swap. That is until I mentioned BATTERY BACK UP - which BT will give you if like us you live in an area of zero to extremely low mobile coverage . The sky gentleman said there was nothing in place to do this and I would need to seek my own solution - now it is clear why BT were keen to stress their solution and to check if sky were offering the same.

So I am now considering all my options.

Starlink ( satellite) recommended by a BT open reach engineer who informed me that NO WAY will BT /openreach be completing its task of full fibre to all households in 2026 -which means I can dump SKY and move to now TV and other streaming services . Loose the Landline as my mobile will work with WhatsApp and at least in an emergency can connect to the outside world. Higher initial outlay but overall within a year I will be financially better off and my service as far as broadband will be significantly better than the constantly buffering and disappearing broadband connection.?

Stay with BT - ( who interestingly have got rid of their Indian call centre and its only there for email queries ) suck up the higher costs but know they are committed to finding a solution for battery back up.??

& Keep the most basic package of sky knowing that as far as progress and customer satisfaction is at the lowest priority ??

Customer definately IS NOT  King in the SKY world

[Chrisee]

@globalnomadam Sky still operate their call centres in Scorland. I have visited both Livingston and Dunfermaline centres which are huge but they also use off shore call centres so its down to luck which you get.

The issues around the switch off  of the analogue phone service and the need for power for its digital replacement is one of the reasons why  the switch off to be delayed by 2 years see https://www.gov.uk/guidance/uk-transition-from-analogue-to-digital-landlines.

The second and more important issue is the fact there are still medical devices and alarms which cannot work over digital lines despite the fact this switch was announced back in 2017.

BT have an option of paying £85 for a battery back up which gives roughly an hour's power, that cost is waved if the customer is considered vulnerable. Sky and most other ISPs do not offer that option but instead wont install a digital voice service if the customer does not have a viable mobile alternative. Of course your proposed alternative will require power to operate and you would need battery storeage as will the devices you use during powercuts. This article explains the current position and a possible future change https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2024/08/bt-prep-advanced-battery-backup-for-uk-phone-and-broad...

Sky like BT/EE use the Openreach network to deliver services and their current commercial roll out is inlikely to cover rural areas all,over the UK but there is public money available. 

[globalnomadam]

Thanks for your reply - off com seems to think that it is the provider that must supply the battery back up ? Bt have said ours would be free if we stick with them ? 

[TimmyBGood]

@globalnomadam 

I'd suggest reading through this thread:

https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Talk/How-to-register-as-a-vulnerable-customer-for-a-Sky-analogue-phone/... 

[TimmyBGood]

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@globalnomadam wrote:

 a BT open reach engineer who informed me that NO WAY will BT /openreach be completing its task of full fibre to all households in 2026

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Important to remember the December 2026 target is not 'all households': it's the 80% or so considered to be commercially viable.  Openreach is currently carrying out north of 80,000 FTTP activations a week and is technically on target: the worry is that once the households who volunteer to have fibre are provisioned it becomes increasingly difficult to get others to engage with the process and the whole thing slows down.

Also worth noting the actual deadline is the switch-off of PSTN now scheduled for January 2027: full fibre isn't required for that, but universal broadband availability is.