Some customers of UK ISP Sky Broadband, usually including those who have just had a new Full Fibre (FTTP) package installed and are using Sky’s latest Max Hub router, appear to be struggling to get their new IP-based phone (Sky Talk) service activated after installation – a situation that can sometimes persist for several weeks. But a fix is on the way.
First things first. Home phone services can sometimes go wrong due to all sorts of different reasons, and the move to digital services only adds an extra layer of complexity to that. But in this particular case we’re largely talking about new FTTP customers who have also taken the Sky Talk Internet service, which requires handsets to be connected into the back of Sky’s router.
“I’ve just had Sky Broadband FTTP installed last Friday 11th OCT. The installation went ok and the broadband is up and running with no issues. The problem I have is with the VoIP line, which connects direct in to the router. I have a dial tone, but when I dial out it just reverts back to dial tone after a couple of seconds. When I try dialling the landline number, I get a “number not recognised” message,” said Nathan, one of ISPreview’s readers.
The official Sky Talk Forum has quite a few similar complaints, but not all are related to this specific issue, and those that are seem to indicate that it is a known problem with service activation. Most phone services go live normally shortly after the broadband side has been connected, but some others can take days or weeks to reach that point, and related faults appear to have become more common over the last month.
Sky’s support agents have been generally advising those impacted by the problem to try a number of things, such as forced firmware updates and a 10-minute power cycle to get the router to pick up a new IP address. But while this seems to work for some, it doesn’t for others, and they then get put on a list of the unresolved. But the good news is that Sky are now starting to deploy a firmware fix for the bug.
A Sky spokesperson told ISPreview:
“A small number of Broadband customers experienced an issue with activating Sky Talk Internet calls. A fix is rolling out that will resolve the issue for the majority of customers without them needing to do anything.”
Sky adds that a very small proportion of impacted customers may also need to restart their routers, even after the firmware update, to resolve the issue. But at the time of writing, those that first reported the issue to us are still continuing to suffer from it.