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BSkyB to offer broadband service

Daniel Fleshbourne on 07 April 2006 - 19:36 · 15 comments & 6960 views

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BSkyB is preparing to enter the broadband connection marketplace. Aiming to take on market leaders BT, AOL, Wanadoo and NTL, the broadcaster said it would be launching the service in the second half of this year. Responding to press speculation that it will be offering cut-price deals, BSkyB said it was not giving out any pricing details at this stage. It is not yet known whether BSkyB will be making any of its TV content available via its broadband service.

"Sky does fully intend to be one of a new breed of broadband providers...to challenge the incumbent providers," said a BSkyB spokesman. "We fully expect there to be speculation regarding our pricing structure, but we are not giving out any details until nearer the time."

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#1 Swiftie on 07 Apr 2006 - 20:47

Well they did buy out Easynet last year so this was expected. Let's just see how the price structuring will go.

#2 Brodel on 07 Apr 2006 - 20:55

cool, more competition can only be a good thing for us consumers.

(2 replies) #3 The Teej on 07 Apr 2006 - 22:06

I find it really ironic there's advertisements for NTL Broadband on the right handside XD

But seriously, this is awesome news

Hopefully Sky will offer all of their channels through their BB service. Because I live so high up (maisonette), Sky refuse to install a dish for my house.

#3.1 fairlie on 08 Apr 2006 - 00:08

You can get external installation mate

#3.2 The Teej on 08 Apr 2006 - 19:24

What do you mean by external installation?

(1 reply) #4 netizen on 07 Apr 2006 - 23:34

As much as I dislike the company, if they can provide a service without ridiculous caps or service problems then I'd have no problem using it. I used to have an Easynet connection via Freedom2Surf, was fine for a month but nothing but trouble after that. Hopefully Sky's money will ensure they have plenty of capacity.

Not much comes close to 10Mb cable at the moment though!

#4.1 Waylander on 08 Apr 2006 - 11:13

im with ukonline at the minute (after months of freedom2surf's awful llu service) and i have to say 22meg adsl2+ is better, i get about 2000-2100KBps from places like giganews

although the router you have to buy can be a bit dodgy.

#5 James B on 08 Apr 2006 - 07:25

When they ran an ISP back in the 90s it was pretty good, from memory.

And yeah - you can either get Special Heights team in, go to a local installer and get just the dish done, then get Sky round to do your box if you want one of their special deals.

(3 replies) #6 DodgeViper on 08 Apr 2006 - 12:22

How is the broaband going to be delivered to houses, will it be through their satelite dishes or phone lines?

If they use satelites then it means they will be doing what the cable companies do and bring TV and BB through one line, satelite seems to have enough bandwidth to bring probably 10Mb to each house.

#6.1 stezo2k on 08 Apr 2006 - 16:27

i was thinking the same, would be interesting if it was satellite

i personally think it will be ADSL

#6.2 James B on 08 Apr 2006 - 17:08

I think it'll be ADSL, since that's what Easynet was all about.

Two-way satellite for residential homes would be quite expensive, I think. You'd be getting the data nice and fast from the satellite, but sending the requests would need to be done over a phone line or through a two-way system, which would probably cost more to provide than just a normal ADSL connection.

I think...

#6.3 Kushan on 08 Apr 2006 - 18:21

I remember reading about one company that does Broadband via a Sky satellite dish, so it is technically possible. The only problem is that it's download only, upload can't be done via a dish so it has to be done via a 56k modem or ISDN line.

#7 Chrysalis on 09 Apr 2006 - 00:01

Sky brought easynet who have a big LLU presence in the uk, so they have the capability to offer a good service.

Looking at that wording I expect sky to price high and offer a lot more, their tv costs more then cable but is significantly better. It wouldnt surprise me if they offer free movie downloads and sky tv streaming, point out how much bandwidth it uses and publish it will be above other isp's cap levels.

The problem with uk broadband currently its all been about price and been sold at below dialup prices and to balance the books almost every isp is now capped.

Cable isnt a godlike service I am on ntl 10meg and I see full 10meg maybe 4-6 hours a day and in the evening it drops to below 0.5meg at times.

#8 joeydoo on 09 Apr 2006 - 02:42

If sky could some how work it so all the DSL bandwidth was changed upload speed and they used satellite for the download then........ this would really good news.

#9 DodgeViper on 09 Apr 2006 - 09:02

I don't get why satelites aren't capable of uploading.

I have read that you can get satelite BB.

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