Why are Sky cancelling Sky buddy?

[Camilo+Diaz]

I recently changed my broadband to Fibre and to save a few quid, took off boost from my package as advised.  I did have Sky buddy previously but since the switch Sky buddy has been deactivated and haven't been able to log in to the app. I called up to get help with this today and an advisor stated that I cannot get it back as they are phasing out the service and soon it will no longer be available even to current customers.  
I have pleaded with them as I'm a foster carer and a dad of three and it really does help with monitoring and bargaining with the kids but unfortunately they flat out declined my requests. I feel frustrated and a bit stuck with what my options are.  Sky buddy is one of the main reasons I'm in contract with Sky as it was the best resource I'd found to help me monitor the internet for my children. 

Any advice would be great. 

Thanks

[jamesn123]

Hi @Camilo+Diaz 

Broadband Boost is the addon that is required for Broadband Buddy so when you took that off it would have deactivated buddy. 

Broadband Buddy is now being phased out by Sky, they have yet to announce any sort of replacement so I am not sure what their plan is.

In terms of your options, I would say your best option would be to look at getting a 3rd party router that has child controls built into it. Alternatively you could look at getting Disney circle. 

[Mikeyboy176]

I have the same issue, moved from BT to sky to save a few quid but nobody told me sky buddy wasn't being continued! Really frustrated that I don't have control of the kids wifi access

[Chrisee]

@Mikeyboy176 you can but third party parental protection for your kid's devices as reviewed here https://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-parental-control-apps,review-2258.html

However I completly agree Sky dropping Broadband Buddy before they had an alternative was a bad move.

[Kays+guinea+pig+m]

A sky advisor has just told me it wasn't used enough so they have removed the whole Buddy system so we are now looking for another way to protect the children! What have u managed to find that has helped? Lots of other frustration from other parents on here so far. 

[rehanshaik]

It's so frustrating to not have had any warning or replacement strategy in place. Do sky realise how dependant many parents are on this capability.

Before buddy I was using circle from Disney... Koala is also worth a look but don't know if stil about.

#frustrated

[TimmyBGood]

---

@rehanshaik wrote:

 Do sky realise how dependant many parents are on this capability.

---

Presumably, yes they are fully aware.  Such a system would absolutely be capable of centrally logging and reporting on exactly where and when it is in use by every participant household, and precisely how many times it has been in effect to limit internet access time or intercept something nasty, and in fact I'd fully expect a provider to record such information (although anonymised to delink from any particular subscriber).

Unfortunately, as is typically the case, Sky chooses to be almost wilfully poor at customer communication when explaining such changes.

[Outertrial]

I am also sad that buddy has gone. I was a foster carer too, and found it invaluable when we were fostering.

I don't really know of anything else like it where you can run a VPN through to your home ISP and control all the devices in one place.

Unfortunately, a lot of the blame probably has to lie with the people who were not realistic about what it could do, wouldn't spend any time figuring it out, and endlessly slagged it off on the app store.

It wasn't perfect but it was a lot better than the 1.5  star rating it had and now it's gone.

[Joeboy]

I had Sky Buddy this morning and now it's gone. I don't remember getting any notice about the cancellation. Used the app every day, not impressed Sky. 😖

[TimmyBGood]

---

@Joeboy wrote:

I had Sky Buddy this morning and now it's gone.😖

---

That would be rather ahead of schedule.

https://www.sky.com/help/articles/sky-broadband-buddy-start 

[Chrisee]

@Joeboy Sky will have sent an email to the address in your account but the message may have gone to your spam folder. .

[Sez0104]

Would love to know why Sky have cancelled sky buddy, I was with sky for 5/6 years up untill June 2022 and broadband kept lagging so I decided to leave, 1 week ago I had a sky customer service handler call me and ask me if I'd like to rejoin sky, to which I replied yes I would as the internet we have doesn't have any form of parental control and Sky buddy would be the reason I'm returning as a customer, they sent my hub and upon connecting it lastnight I contacted sky to tell them my buddy app wasn't working, the lady I spoke with told me to have that I'd need broadband boost and added it to my package, I then came off the phone to set up sky buddy and was faced with a message stating sky buddy had been cancelled !! Would honestly love to know why Sky have cancelled such an important feature to so many parents when it honesty was one of the best things about their service, I also asked why rather than cancel it all together could they not keep it for the customers who want it for an additional charge each month and was told no, I honestly wouldn't have minded paying extra each month for the service off sky buddy as it gave me peace of mind when my children were on the internet, I cancelled with sky within 1 hour of going live as the only reason I went back with them was for buddy, being honest the WiFi I'd been on since leaving sky was so much faster but I'd of gone back to sky just for ease of mind knowing my children weren't seeing content they shouldn't see. This honesty is a bad move sky and one which I should of been made aware of when you signed me back up knowing sky buddy was the reason I was returning as a customer, a few bad reviews don't make it useless to people who really need it & know how to use it, infact sky buddy is something that parents of children with additional needs like mine truly need. Honestly a bad choice you've made Sky but you obviously don't listen to your customers. I honestly was led into a contract with yourselves purely for sky buddy when the person signing me back up knew it was being cancelled. If you decide to keep it I'll be back as a customer as I'd put up with a slower WiFi ( as you don't do fibre in my area) for sky buddy peace of mind. 

[Chrisee]

@Sez0104 you are not the only one asking the question but Sky have not given an answer so its speculation.  It could simply be that the third party vendor Internet Matters who operated the system wanted to much money or Sky were making changes to their network and the DNS intercept the system required would no longer work. 

Sky still offer the basic Broadband Shield system which is like BTs parental control. Users can of course buy third party apps see https://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-parental-control-apps,review-2258.html

[TimmyBGood]

@Sez0104 

Buddy hasn't been available to new subscribers for something like a year, so you've certainly got a case for cancellation of the contract without penalty if you choose to do so: just be careful that this doesn't result in abrupt broadband disconnection.

[Chrisee]

@rehanshaik currently Amazon have Circle as unavailable in their UK store. This page lists what is around https://uk.pcmag.com/parental-control-monitoring/67305/the-best-parental-control-software