Sky Broadband users speak out about support woes

Sky has been having a hard time fulfilling orders and providing technical support for its free ASDL-broadband service.

Internet discussion groups are alive with complaints from customers awaiting connection and exchanging horror stories of hours spent talking to technical support in a variety of countries.

The problems are not general to all customers, and many users are very happy with the service, but those affected are certainly suffering with connections reportedly taking months and unhelpful support only causing greater frustration.

Customers wishing to change provider are also reporting problems getting hold of the codes necessary to take their connection elsewhere.

The fact that Sky's service is free seems to cut little ice with most customers. One suggestion was that users should threaten to cancel their other Sky subscriptions, hitting the company where it hurts: but while vocal in their complaints, respondents pointed out that this would be an empty threat as they couldn't possibly live without their other Sky services.

The service has certainly been sucessful since launching in July, and reports from inside Sky say customers have been switching to Sky TV just to get the free broadband, which is a thought to warm the cockles of many a quad player in today's market.

Customers may just have to accept that the quality of service is a reflection of the amount paid for that service, and if you go for the lowest price you may not get the best customer service.

As one forum poster put it: "Just remember you are getting FREE basic broadband or very cheap 16meg access so I am prepared for a few problems to begin with if I am saving money in the long run." ®