o2 broadband sold out to sky

[rans6andrew]

seeing the thread re: yahoo and bt broadband reminded me that our o2 broadband is going over to sky in the near future. We keep getting snippets of info but nothing concrete about how our service will be affected.

Last week we were sent a tempter, a new contract for new customers coming from o2. The deal for the ISP side of it looks OK but the phone contract is not very good. Evening and weekend calls bundled in, no mention of upgrade to the 24/7 calls we currently enjoy. No suggestion of what happens if we don't snap it up in the next week.

Has anyone else been dragged to sky from another ISP?

Do the offers get better if you don't jump at the first?

Do they treat customers like NTL did, ie offer reductions if you take more services from them and then hike the price through the roof (without telling you) three months down the line?

Any recommendations for a good ISP and a good 24/7 phone service?
In this case good means competitively priced, stable prices, helpdesk in UK, 8 or 10Mb download, no data limits etc. We don't need to pay for TV channels we already get from freeview.

Ta,

Rans6.....

[Milo Minderbinder]

Its not saying a lot, but Sky do actually have one of the better support arrangements with most of their call centre staff in Northern Ireland.
Can't comment on the quality of service or costs.

Problem is, quality of service, competitive pricing, and UK support are in the main mutually exclusive. For instance you could have quality of service and excellent support with Zen, but you'll pay over the odds.
As in anything, quality has its price

[mixture]

Can't comment on the quality of service or costs.

The Sky network came from the Easynet acquisition.

So the quality of service should be good.

But I've never been a Sky customer, only an Easynet customer, and am still an Easynet customer.... the service has not got worse in any shape or form.

[Halcyon Days]

I was a Sky customer until about a month or so ago-until they migrated their e mail service to Yahoo and made an absolute total **** up of it.
I lost all my e mails for a period of about ten days and they took a further two weeks to get me back on line with an e mail service of any sort and never got any of the e mails sent to me during the 2 week period.
It was chaotic as nobody knew what was going on and I finished up being compensated £200 after I complained and basically made a big fuss etc.
I promptly changed isp immediately after and personally wouldn't go near anything with the name Sky anywhere near it ever again.

I went over to Plus net and so far have been very pleased with the set up service speeds etc.

[rans6andrew]

ta for the replies so far. We shouldn't have any issues with the email stuff, we have our mailboxes hosted (for free!) on a friend's business server. I just need to point our outgoing through the same place, sometime before the o2 switch off.

Didn't plusnet get swallowed up by BT? That might be a good option, we get a good 24/7 phone deal with BT without the relentless sales calls you can't stop from some telcos we have used in the past.

Rans6...

[mixture]

Didn't plusnet get swallowed up by BT?

Yes, and my prior comment on the matter in a different post remains unchanged :

Some people might say Plusnet, but Plusnet were acquired by BT Retail. The reason BT bought plusnet was for the IP associated with the CRM (customer relationship management) system plusnet developed that was a fundamental part of their Teleworker Business Broadband offering. So I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole as the long term strategy is probably uncertain (i.e. their customers will probably eventually at some point be swallowed up into BT and the Plusnet brand left to perish).

[crewmeal]

Offcom recently rated Plusnet as the fastest for speeds out of the major UK companies. I've just signed up with them and the whole process was faultless. The only hassle was o2 didn't want to give me a MAC code and filled me with flannel about Sky.

[B Fraser]

The reason BT bought plusnet was for the IP associated with the CRM (customer relationship management) system plusnet developed

I think not. CRM systems are 10 a penny. Plusnet are a second channel to market for BT and a very good one at that.

Almost all ISPs with the exception of Virgin buy their broadband from BT and then badge it as their own. Virgin do this too where they can sign up customers who are not on the network that was originally installed by Telewest or NTL.

[mixture]

I think not. CRM systems are 10 a penny.

Oh, you think not do you ?

Statement from Plusnet financial report in 2005 :

PlusNet is BT Retail's preferred partner for projects demanding automated customer relationship management, which is fundamental to BT Teleworker. The Teleworker product, which was launched by BT in August 2003, has been adopted by over 30 of BT's blue-chip corporate customers. BT intends to accelerate growth in the number of Teleworker end-users in 2005.

May I also point you to BT's published "Background to and reasons for the Offer" at the time they announced the acquisition...

PlusNet benefits from an industry leading internet based service platform (Workplace). BT intends to continue to leverage and develop PlusNet's Workplace platform....



Workspace being the name of the CRM platform. BT had the interests of their bluechip client base at heart with the Plusnet acquisition. They wanted to stop others getting their sticky hands on the Plusnet CRM platform and charging BT through the nose for licensing.

[B Fraser]

Google is your friend.

Social Relationship Management | Sociotoco - The Big List of CRM Systems (http://sociotoco.com/the-big-list-of-crm-systems.aspx)

and

http://www.knoa.com/main/docs/siebel/knoa%20britishtelecom_casestudy.pdf

[mixture]

You seem to be pretty stubborn despite the weight of evidence to the opposite, so let's just agree to disagree and leave it at that.