[wavejockglw]

British Sky Broadcasting is buying the UK broadband and fixed line businesses of Spain's Telefonica.

It will give Sky half a million customers who use the O2 and BE brands for their home phone or broadband.

It will pay an initial £180m to Telefonica, with up to another £20m being paid once the customers have been switched to Sky.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21627614

[Captain W]

At least the people who wanted Fibre can now get it, when they migrate over

[theARE]

cant be anything but bad for the consumer - one less choice in what's already a very limited choice market.

Wonder if O2 are instead going to be pushing 4G technologies as a wireless home broadband product?

[tghe-retford]

Looks like I escaped at the right time, being one of those people who morally did not want 39.1% of his payment going to News Corporation.

[Captain W]

Originally Posted by theARE

cant be anything but bad for the consumer - one less choice in what's already a very limited choice market.

Wonder if O2 are instead going to be pushing 4G technologies as a wireless home broadband product?

You really think so? There are over 200 ISP's in the UK at present. Fair enough there is now limited choice on a mass market scale but not over-all.

[theARE]

Originally Posted by Captain W

You really think so? There are over 200 ISP's in the UK at present. Fair enough there is now limited choice on a mass market scale but not over-all.

ISP's yes - but how many of them put equipment into cabinets.
Most of the ISP's are merely resellers of the services offered by the main ones.

If you want combined Phone and Broadband including line rental there is very few choices already

[Grouty]

Im on O2s old legacy package (Standard), won't bother me if it stays the same, won't care who owns it.

[derek500]

Originally Posted by tghe-retford

Looks like I escaped at the right time, being one of those people who morally did not want 39.1% of his payment going to News Corporation.

It's 39.1% of the declared dividends, a lot less than 39.1% of revenue!!

[wavejockglw]

Originally Posted by theARE

Wonder if O2 are instead going to be pushing 4G technologies as a wireless home broadband product?

Possibly in rural areas where 800MHz can cover well but they don't have any 2600MHz which is suited to urban areas. They could buy some 2600MHz coverage from BT who won some in the auction or refarm 1800MHz, 900MHz or 2100MHz also.

I think it'll be a long while yet before any wireless operator can compete with fixed line for home broadband provision.

[Call_me_Dave]

I've been on 02 customer on their BB service since 2010 (i.e. on their old 'Premium' package).

What will this takeover mean to me ? - will my package be forcibly changed now that a bigger power is in control ?

And I'm surprised I didn't know anything about this at all

[Rosie147]

Does anyone know what your cancellation rights would be if you are an existing o2 customer?

[stephen122333]

I left sky broadband (a number of years ago now) because we found it unreliable, slow and expensive. At the moment I get o2broadband for only £6.25 and get excellent speed and unlimited downloads. I just hope I don't lose the speed and that I don't start having to pay more.

[Jittlov]

Originally Posted by Rosie147

Does anyone know what your cancellation rights would be if you are an existing o2 customer?

That would depend on whether any changes were made to your contract. If they changed anything that left you in any way worse off than you are now (e.g, price increase or reduced service), then you could cancel.

Of course if you are not in a contract, then you can leave any time you wish.

[Sexbomb]

I'm on unlimited on BE* and I can change my broadband profile speeds, I will not be happy if I have to pay more money what I'm on now and get a lower speed with sky putting me on default profile

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Rosie147

Does anyone know what your cancellation rights would be if you are an existing o2 customer?

A change in ownership won't change your contract. But in time Sky will probably offer you a deal to move to Sky broadband as they did with Easynet customers. At this stage, you can choose to move to Sky or another provider.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by wavejockglw

British Sky Broadcasting is buying the UK broadband and fixed line businesses of Spain's Telefonica.

It will give Sky half a million customers who use the O2 and BE brands for their home phone or broadband.

It will pay an initial £180m to Telefonica, with up to another £20m being paid once the customers have been switched to Sky.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21627614

All the signs were there as O2 has seemed disinterested in developing its broadband arm in the UK recently.
It's a good strategic move for Sky and not something they could probably have done so easily if they had moved into the mobile market themselves.
I suspect TalkTalk's previous record of customer service would have encouraged a sale to Sky in preference to TalkTalk, everything else being equal. And Virgin doesn't seem to be interested in its Virgin National ADSL service, it seems to be parked in the "too difficult" pile.

[Call_me_Dave]

Another question :

Will I be forced to take on Sky's bundles (i.e. BB with Sky TV or telephone line) ? - or is it possible to have what I've got now which is just BB with 02 ?

I've looked on their website and I can't find any BB package just on it's own.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Call_me_Dave

Another question :

Will I be forced to take on Sky's bundles (i.e. BB with Sky TV or telephone line) ? - or is it possible to have what I've got now which is just BB with 02 ?

I've looked on their website and I can't find any BB package just on it's own.

Wait and see, if there's enough people in your situation that Sky think would go elsewhere then they would probably be flexible so as not to lose their new customers. Personally, I don't get why people would want separate phone and broadband contracts. That was relevant when ISPs were separate from telephony companies but is no longer so. Life's complicated enough and with the ability to pay in advance for landline rental there's no real savings now.

[Jittlov]

Originally Posted by Call_me_Dave

Another question :

Will I be forced to take on Sky's bundles (i.e. BB with Sky TV or telephone line) ? - or is it possible to have what I've got now which is just BB with 02 ?

I've looked on their website and I can't find any BB package just on it's own.

I'm not sure they can force you, though no doubt they will start pestering you soon with one or more "amazing" offers.

[freetoview33]

I'm switching back to EE there is a good offer on for existing mobile customers.
EE Broadband and Anytime Calls
Free wireless router (worth £95), unlimited anytime calls + free connection. Exclusive deal for Orange & T-mobile mobile customers. (£5+£14 for 6 months then £10+£14)
And unlimited downloads.

[flagpole]

Originally Posted by Call_me_Dave

Another question :

Will I be forced to take on Sky's bundles (i.e. BB with Sky TV or telephone line) ? - or is it possible to have what I've got now which is just BB with 02 ?

I've looked on their website and I can't find any BB package just on it's own.

statement from sky:

Post completion, O2 and BE customers will be migrated onto Sky’s fully unbundled network, supported by a nationwide all-fibre core, which reaches 84 per cent of all UK homes.

would suggest not. fully unbundled is phone and broadband.

how quickly this will happen is debatable. i am also in the same situation and have no wish to have a sky phone line.

[Grouty]

You would be notified of any changes they are going to do, as im pretty sure they have to give you 30 days notice or something, so you can decide wether to stay or go elsewhere.

[Harlotqueen]

So are there any good Non Cable Non Fibre ISPs?

(Virgin Cable ends next door, they won't extend it - no FTTC either - that tends to be found in streets with VM in )

[neil79]

Nothing will change for at least 6 months. My BB/LL contract with O2 is till June. Can't see me going with Sky even if the price is similar as they are bound to creep the price up over time. I am happy with my solid 11mb and don't want to pay much more if possible.

[beef]

Originally Posted by Sexbomb

I'm on unlimited on BE* and I can change my broadband profile speeds, I will not be happy if I have to pay more money what I'm on now and get a lower speed with sky putting me on default profile

I really hope not. I have the same package with 14 fixed ip. I do pay a lot for it but it does exactly what I want. The fact they use AnnexM and their support is excellent. You speak to a technical person who actually knows what they are talking about!! For example, they can change the upload speed on the fly as you are talking to them. You won't get that from $ky.

In my mind, they are, no, were the only ISP who can provide such a service to the more technically minded consumers.

I can only hope $ky wont mess about with the infrastructure that BE provides.