Migrating Over from Sky

[vRS]

Hi all,

I've finally signed up to O2 broadband after a few weeks of deciding whether or not to since this price increase announced by Sky.

My activation date is the 8th and i cant wait, i should be getting my O2 router sent out some time today.
Do they use Royal Mail or a courier to send them out? Just so i have an idea of roughly what time to expect the delivery.

Also what is the best router to use during the DLM period? The O2 supplied one or my Netgear DG834GT or DG934GT?

Currently on Sky im using the Black DG934GT which has given me the best sync speeds and also has worked perfectly with my PS3 unlike the Sagem which never used to let me connect to any online friends or host any games.

Have people also noticed any speed chagnes between Sky and O2? Currently i get around 3.5 Mb and O2 say i can get 6 Mb with them which is one of the reasons for going over, that and the extra upload speed too.
I suppose i will just have to wait till the 8th to see what kind of speeds i get.

Hope its all good

Cheers

Edit: Just some stats so i can compare once migrated.

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 4256 kbps 384 kbps
Line Attenuation 52 db 31 db
Noise Margin 7 db 13 db

Speed Tests





Lol i think this ones broken i wish i was getting that speed.

[Saturday]

The router is delivered by courier.

It shouldn't matter what router you use for the DLM period (provided it is ADSL2+ capable) but for safety, it may be best to use the O2 Box - if there's an issue O2 will only support this in troubleshooting. Personally, I used the O2 Box for DLM (lasted 3 days in my case) then switched to a DG834GT with standard Netgear firmware.

Quite a few people, if not the majority seem to see a small increase in sync when moving to O2 from another LLU ISP such as Sky. This may be down to a slightly better network/equipment helped by a slightly lower default noise margin of 6db.

O2 has forecast a sync speed of 6meg on your line which for your attenuation is about right. However, with Sky you're getting 4.2meg (not sure why you say 3.5?) so it looks like there is some noise on your line. This is unlikely to change because of the move so I'd anticipate you will get between 4 and 5meg unless you improve your line quality. Your upstream speed will be much higher than you are getting with Sky.

HTH

[vRS]

Hi mate, cheers for the reply.

Which courier company is it that delivers the routers?

I used to be with BT Broadband before going to Sky and my sync. speed was around 3000 kbps and my IP profile was 2.5 Mb. I had so many problems with BT Broadband and their tech support were very unhelpful.

So i just assumed that since i was syncing at 4200 kbps on Sky my ip profile was set at 3.5 Mb.
I thought this was the same with all ISPs but i take it LLU doesnt work like that?

Also i do have a lot of noise on my line, but i am connected to master socket with the broadband face place so my extensions are seperated. I think its due to the distance from the exchange and also i think there is a radio transmitter near us which interferes.
On my extension wiring in the bedrooms when you pick up the phone you can hear the radio lol

[Saturday]

Can't remember which courier to be honest - seem to remember it was just a white van man.

No, unlike BTIPstream, LLU doesn't have a separate BRAS profile to the sync. Whatever you sync at, that's your speed, less TCP/IP overheads of ~15-20%. So with your current Sky connection of 4256 you'd expect a throughput of ~3400kbps. If you had a profile of 2500kbps with BT this should have given you a throughput of ~2000kbps.

If you're currently running your router from an ADSL faceplate using a short router cable then you've probably done all you can to reduce local noise. If you can hear the radio on your phone then you can be pretty sure that the line to the exchange is also picking it up

[Undecided adrian]

I got mine by City link but my Dad got his by another courier firm, what with O2 sending out phones as well as routers I suppose they use a whole load of different courier firms so if one mucks them about they can send less work their way.

[vRS]

I'm just asking about the courier as i never got an email saying that my router has been dispatched, just got a text telling me the date and to reply if i wanted to change to another date.
However my cousin who signed up a few days after me got an email today with a tracking number through DPD.
I've just been onto the DPD website and have found my parcel (well i hope it's mines lol) and it shows that its been loaded on the van for delivery today.

Regarding the noise issue, you are right in saying that there's nothing that i can do on my end to reduce the noise.
When i moved in to my house it was a brand new build and i had a normal BT master socket. When i was on BT BB i plugged my router in that socket and my speeds were well below 1 Mb. After putting one of those ADSL face plates on my connection speed increased to 2.5 Mb to 3 Mb as my extensions were causing all the noise. I dont even have my Sky box or any other equipment connected that could be causing noise, its just the external radio signal which is interfering.

According to Samknows website

You are approximately 1.82km from the exchange. Note that this is the straight line distance - the actual cable length will be longer!

I dont think the radio signals are interfering at the exchange probably just my area.

Anyone know any solutions apart from moving house or taking the mast down

[Saturday]

The ADSL filtered faceplate is particularly good at filtering out rf noise in the am radio spectrum - which accounts for a large amount of the induced noise found in home wiring (i.e. extensions - think of them as big aerials). So, you've got that covered. All I can suggest is that you consider removing your ring wire as well. You shouldn't need to with a filtered faceplate but in your circumstances, it might have some effect. Other than that, I guess some faceplates may be better than others so you could try another but frankly I doubt any small improvement you got would be worth the trouble/money.

[jpxdude]

Hi there,

Sorry to hi-jack this thread, but i'm doing something similar to the OP and migrating from Sky. I'm due to switch over today, which is at 'In Progress' status since the first thing this morning on the O2 website. My line at home went down about 12:30ish today, and it is now 14:10, does anyone know the typical time it takes to have the line migrated over? I didn't think downtime would be more than an hour :-/

[Undecided adrian]

It should take from 30 mins to an hour normally, but it is dependant on the BT engineers doing the swap over.

They say that the changeover can happen anytime until 6pm, and you will get a text from o2 when the move has been completed.

Although if they haven't done it by late this afternoon give o2 a call and see if they know of any problems that may have arisen.

[jpxdude]

Thanks for the quick reply No sign of the changeover yet, but I guess I'll give them a call after 6 to see if there are any issues!