BSkyB joins 'free broadband' war

sreedy · Jul 19, 2006

As an existing customer I'm quite interested in this, the Free version isn't great (but better than my current dial-up situation) but I think the other ones work out quite cheap:

BBC: Free Broadband From Sky

SKY BROADBAND PACKAGES (Installtion is optional and you get a wireless modem/router)

Base - 2Mb download speed, £40 connection fee, £50 installation, free subscription, 2GB monthly limit

Mid - 8Mb, £20 connection, £50 installation, £5 monthly subscription, 40GB usage

Max- 16Mb, free installation and connection, £10 monthly subscription, unlimited usage

Connect - 8Mb, £40 connection, £50 installation, £17 a month, 40GB usage

Queso · Jul 19, 2006

I took my Sky box and dish to Spain. Don't suppose the broadband'll work from there though

zim · Jul 19, 2006

Here in the US I pay about $39.88/month plus $3.00 rental for the modem for a "up to" 4Mbps download with a "up to" 384Kbps upload with Adelphia. Oh, and the $39.88 is the reduced amount because I am getting cable too, normally it would be $42.95. PLUS, I don't have any options, only the one provider who is currently 4Mbs slower then the next town over, which has Comcast.

I hope that whatever is going on over there will catch wind over here but due to the way the broadband companies are working I highly doubt I will ever see a change. I recall when broadband first arrived and they talked about it becoming cheaper then 56k yet every year the prices rise.

skoker · Jul 19, 2006

zim said:
Here in the US I pay about $39.88/month plus $3.00 rental for the modem for a "up to" 4Mbps download with a "up to" 384Kbps upload with Adelphia. Oh, and the $39.88 is the reduced amount because I am getting cable too, normally it would be $42.95. PLUS, I don't have any options, only the one provider who is currently 4Mbs slower then the next town over, which has Comcast.

I hope that whatever is going on over there will catch wind over here but due to the way the broadband companies are working I highly doubt I will ever see a change. I recall when broadband first arrived and they talked about it becoming cheaper then 56k yet every year the prices rise.

I pay $14.95/month for 1.5 up/ 768 down with Verizon. You can't get that anymore, it's now only 768/384 for $17.95 but I was grandfathered in from an older plan.

Queso · Jul 19, 2006

skoker said:
I pay $14.95/month for 1.5 up/ 768 down with Verizon. You can't get that anymore, it's now only 768/384 for $17.95 but I was grandfathered in from an older plan.

So is this right? As the broadband in the rest of the world gets faster, the US one is actually getting slower??!? Kiss goodbye to your economy, that's a serious problem.

We can get up to 24MBps download here now,and we still consider that slow when compared to the 100MBps the Swedes get. 768Kbps is useless these days. You can't even stream video clips down it without them being choppy as hell.

FleurDuMal · Jul 19, 2006

dynamicv said:
We can get up to 24MBps download here now,and we still consider that slow when compared to the 100MBps the Swedes get.

Compared to my 1MBps (real speed: 1KBps

) I get from Tiscali, I still consider 24MBps fast

Queso · Jul 19, 2006

FleurDuMal said:
Compared to my 1MBps (real speed: 1KBps ) I get from Tiscali, I still consider 24MBps fast

Tiscali? Cheapskate

Kardashian · Jul 19, 2006

I would sacrifice babies for 2MB, 4MB or 8MB... instead of my paltry 768K.

Our line supports 6.5MB, yet for some reason - BT say we can only get 768K.

Applespider · Jul 19, 2006

I thought about it but I'm unbundled and not entirely sure if I'll keep SKY so no little point.

Besides, my BE line comes in at 18MB or so without any limitations

bigandy · Jul 19, 2006

My new flat is getting it's broadband on monday. yay! and it's 8mbps from Demon, £19.99 a month for unlimited use. no "fair usage" carp.

Orange offered me free broadband because of my contract phone usage, but i heard the usage limit (they claim 2Gb is loads) and i couldn't stop laughing at the guy. i use more than 2Gb a day quite often!

Oh, you think that's fast? What about this product - US$215/month for symmetric GIGABIT DSL?!?!?!
link1
link2
linky3

i would pay £116 a month for that kind of speed, no questions.

Felldownthewell · Jul 19, 2006

We pay about $80 a month for HD cable and broadband from comcast. I'm not sure what the speed is supposed to be, but when when DLing from apple my top speed is usually in the 600-700kbps range. In Azureus I have never gotten more than 180kbps (and I almost had a heart attack when I saw those numbers...sadly I have never seen them again). Same when downloading from steam; I would top out at about 600kbps.

Sad. I'm off to research cable companies now.

Edit: Here is the comcast small print for my area:

comcast said:
Speed comparisons for downloads only and compare Comcast 6.0 Mbps download speed (maximum upload speed of 768 Kbps) to 56 Kbps, dial-up and 1.5. Mbps DSL. Many factors affect speed. Actual speeds will vary and are not guaranteed.

Ah well...

ITASOR · Jul 19, 2006

skoker said:
I pay $14.95/month for 1.5 up/ 768 down with Verizon. You can't get that anymore, it's now only 768/384 for $17.95 but I was grandfathered in from an older plan.

We had the 3.0 up/768 down or whatever it is from Verizon for about a year and it was terrible. Constant disconnects, etc. and Verizon would NOT send a tech to look at the problem. I had to deal with their phone support (turn the modem on and off, do it again, do it again how about now, do it one more time) every other day.

Switched to Time Warner Cable's Road Runner (6mb...or is it 7?) for $48.99/month and have been happy with it.

skoker · Jul 19, 2006

dynamicv said:
So is this right? As the broadband in the rest of the world gets faster, the US one is actually getting slower??!? Kiss goodbye to your economy, that's a serious problem.

We can get up to 24MBps download here now,and we still consider that slow when compared to the 100MBps the Swedes get. 768Kbps is useless these days. You can't even stream video clips down it without them being choppy as hell.

They want you to get FiOS-fiber optics- which is only like $30 for a ridiculous amount of speed.

However, seeing as I live out in the boonies, I expect to have to wait a while for that.

amacgenius · Jul 20, 2006

skoker said:
They want you to get FiOS-fiber optics- which is only like $30 for a ridiculous amount of speed.

However, seeing as I live out in the boonies, I expect to have to wait a while for that.

You don't live out in the boonies, you live right near Rt 400

. Anyways, yeah we have to wait for FiOS.

eMac4ever · Jul 22, 2006

I have Verizon FiOS Fiber Optics. I've been pretty happy with it so far. I pay 29.99 for 5.0MB's Down/2.0MB's Up. My actual speeds are 5.1MB's Down/1.6MB's Up. The only thing is that ever since they installed a new router I can't share files with both computers. My "client" computer sees and shares files but my "hardwired" sees "client" but can't access it.

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BSkyB joins 'free broadband' war

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