Sky broadband down since 20th

[mirela2]

Hi, I live in Battersea area and have not had connection since 4 days now, is anyone experiencing same? I was told thet fix is probably going to be done bu 28th, this means no work from home or anything like that for days...looked online for Openreach outages but no information is provided, for such long lasting outage I would expect updates on progress to fix it. I am wondering is this happening often with Sky?I am cancelling my subscription in January anyway.

[Daniel0210]

@mirela2 

Openreach have a target fix period of 2 working days. Obviously over the holiday period the next working day is Wednesday 27th. Working from home does not afford any special benefits as Sky Broadband is a domestic subscription. To have a subscription coming with much faster repair times would mean having a business connection coming at a much higher price. 

The below link explains the Ofcom agreed auto compensation scheme which Sky operates for when there is a TOTAL loss of Sky Broadband or Sky Talk.
https://www.sky.com/help/articles/auto-compensation

If you have a total loss of service and it isn’t fixed after two full WORKING days from when you first report the fault to Sky, you will become eligible for it. It’s applied 30 days after the fault has been repaired and will come in the form of a credit appearing on your Sky account.

[TimmyBGood]

@mirela2 

Unfortunately, as @Daniel0210 indicates, the seasonal calendar dictates that an outage reported in the 20th effectively has only two Openreach working days before the 28th.

[mirela2]

Yes, in 2023 one week without internet connection sounds surreal 😊anyway I canceled my subscription, will ask for reimbursement, will look better for support coverage in my next subscription and warn everyone I know about this limitation in support with Sky and any other provider. not much else to do!Bye Sky!

[Daniel0210]

@mirela2 

I'm afraid that by cancelling (and giving a 14 day notice period) I'm not sure you'll be eligible for the auto compensation as the problem is still likely to be there when you move to a different isp. If it's another one using the Openreach infrastructure the problem will just move with you. 

[mirela2]

At this point I don't really even care, it is always more expensive to loose existing customers then gain new ones! I am just very disappointed but I did learn about important lesson, check support and support options before signing contract.

[TimmyBGood]

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@mirela2 wrote:

check support and support options before signing contract.

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You'll find actual hands-on support for all domestic broadband from ISPs on the national Openreach network is exactly the same, because the ISPs have identical contracts with Openreach themselves.  ISPs can choose to have their own personnel in addition to this for support within customer property, but that's of somewhat limited practical use in broadband fault resolution when they cannot touch Openreach cabling in ducts, on poles or at the cabinet.

[mirela2]

I just did a simple google search - Virgin Media doesn't use Open Reach.

[TimmyBGood]

@mirela2 

That's correct, because they are primarily a cable company with their own private coaxial network: that's also why they don't have anything like nationwide coverage.

There are also an increasing number of altnet full-fibre companies laying private optical networks in limited geographical distributions.

Virgin and altnet ISPs can set their own support targets, although these are typically also restricted by having to make the pricing competitive with Openreach ISPs.