Sky Broadband sorry for PSN problems

By Robert Purchese Published 24 June, 2009

Error being fixed as "matter of urgency".

Sky Broadband is fixing an error that has been blocking UK customers from accessing and using the PlayStation Network between 5pm and midnight.

The system mistakenly classified PSN as a traffic-heavy application, and therefore sought to prevent or block connections to it during peak hours. Fixing this is a matter of priority, Sky says.

"Our network management system mistakenly classified PlayStation 3 traffic in a way which meant some customers using their consoles to access the internet may have had their speeds reduced, in line with our network management policy for Sky Broadband Connect," Sky told Eurogamer in a statement.

"This was a mistake and resulted from a systems error, for which we apologise. Our team is working on fixing this as a matter of urgency. All other Sky Broadband users are unaffected, as there are no traffic management policies in place for our on-network broadband services."

Traffic management, Sky went on to say, only applies to Sky Broadband Connect users using peer-to-peer applications; torrents, in other words.

"There are no restrictions in place for applications such as web browsing, email, video and audio streaming, instant messaging and VOIP during peak times. And we do not put restrictions on our network outside of peak times (5pm to midnight)," adds the statement.

European PlayStation forum users reported the first problems late last week. Some users have spent entire evenings signed out of the PlayStation 3 online service.

The added network activity could have been flagged after the launch of VidZone - the on-demand music video-streaming service for PS3 - earlier this month.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (42) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Blerk #1 3 years ago

    Hmm. They never apologised for their 360 service being treacle-slow for several days last week. Favouritism! I demand.... a shrubbery!

  • Ste105 #2 3 years ago

    Most ISP's do this .... used mainly to reduce bandwith for peer2peer networking. you'd think you just pay for a line, but they decide which traffic is the most important for you

  • collateral89 #3 3 years ago

    the worst internet provider is AOL the amount of times ive had errors from them is unbelievable im switching to O2 to see what there like

  • MightyMouse #4 3 years ago

    UK broadband is a complete mess, this is just another example.

  • Tricker #5 3 years ago

    First reported late last week? its been happening for months, and has been activly discussed on the eu forums for that time!

  • galerian86 #6 3 years ago

    Hmm... Isn't Sky now is collaborating with MS for the SkySports service.

    I smell conspiracy! :p
    Edited by 1 at 24/06/09 @ 16:17

  • lambtron #7 3 years ago

    AOL.

    More like LOL.

  • KayJay #8 3 years ago

    Is this an example of the so called "Thortteling" thing the ISP's all do...

    Also, another random (but related question). I often hear people talking about their download speed being rubbish because they are so many miles away from an "Exchange". What are these exchange's? are they the chest high Green boxes you often see the engineers working on?

  • lambtron #9 3 years ago

    "UK broadband is a complete mess, this is just another example."

    Yeah. I've left the UK and live elsewhere and to be honest the internet here is so, so far ahead of the UK it's embarassing.

    No download limits.
    Much faster.
    Free international phonecalls to the vast majority of the world.
    TV over the web.

    All for quite a bit less than what I was paying in the UK.

  • Widge #10 3 years ago

    "Sky in 'shitty throttling connection broadband' fiasco galore"

    I would never have thought it.

  • mrfight67 #11 3 years ago

    Yes at last, ive had problems with sky for about a month now.

  • robg #12 3 years ago

    From the Sky website

    Enjoy truly unlimited downloads

    Uh huh.
    Edited by 1 at 24/06/09 @ 16:30

  • cyacomini #13 3 years ago

    Dump Sky - go sign-up with Be Unlimited

  • Bitkari #14 3 years ago

    I second signing up with an ISP like Be.

    They do cost a little bit more, but the quality of the connection that you get is absolutely superb and worth every penny.

  • SEVQA #15 3 years ago

    I have been paying for 10 MB BT Broadband for the past two years - Oh wait my line can only handle 4.4 MB at it's peak! I'm seriously considering taking action against BT for not informing me that my line was not even capable of 10 MB and top of all this they limit my traffic when it suits them. Fair usage indeed!

    @kj66246

    The exchange is essentially the main server through which you would be routed or re routed to purposefully slow you down - Further away you are the longer it takes in a nut shell! You are allowed to ask your ISP this information even though they sometimes seem unwilling to give it. I herd some great excuses from ISP's on why they cant give this information out, then I remind them of the freedom of information act ;)
    Edited by 1 at 24/06/09 @ 16:42

  • mr_bez #16 3 years ago

    I thought it was just my connection being rubbush - I noticed it's been betting gradually worse for a while now and was considering switching providers. Will give it a bit longer and see what happens. Today's certainly the first day I've managed to get VidZone working properly and I'm fairly impressed, despite the lack of widescreen or Blu-ray remote support and fairly weak interface.

  • FootieGamer #17 3 years ago

    Yay. If you click the link to the forum that's me :D

    Good job guys in that thread for all the work, ringing Sky etc.

    Can't wait until it's fixed.

  • cyacomini #18 3 years ago

    You can check which exchanges are active for Be Unlimited here

    [link url=http: //www.bethere.co.uk/showRollOutExchange.do
    ]http://ww w.bethere.co.uk/showRollOutExch...[/link]

  • peterfll #19 3 years ago

    "Dump Sky - go sign-up with Be Unlimited"

    Really?

    I dumped Be for throttling Live! and PSN last year. I'm now on O2 and haven't looked back.

    Perhaps Be have stopped doing it.

  • cyacomini #20 3 years ago

    Not sure why that would be the case, Be Unlimited *is* 02

    " Who owns Be?

    In June 2006, Be became a part of the O2 group. O2 comprises mobile network operators in the UK and Ireland, along with integrated fixed/mobile businesses in Germany and the Czech Republic (Cesky Telecom). O2 is a Telefónica company with more than 35 million customers across Europe"

  • Blerk #21 3 years ago

    Correct me if I'm wrong here, but aren't Be and O2 the same company now?

    Edit: and I wasn't wrong. :-)
    Edited by 2 at 24/06/09 @ 16:54

  • FootieGamer #22 3 years ago

    I was going to change to Be because of this Sky thing but we have a package with the TV and phone. So now PSN is fixed I'l just stick with sky.

  • jmg123 #23 3 years ago

    @kj66246

    "What are these exchange's? are they the chest high Green boxes you often see the engineers working on? "
    No the green boxes are just cabinets where they can connect teleophone wires to the wires coming from your house, the exchange will be a small building, with a lot of 7ft high racks in it, and thousands of wires.

  • asphaltcowboy #24 3 years ago

    Had Sky for quite a while now. Apart from those routing issues last week, XBL has always performed really well!

  • cyacomini #25 3 years ago

    Here is how an exchange works

    <a href="http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=AgqEIp2YmtE
    ">http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=AgqEIp2YmtE
    </a>

    Monkey Dust (Modem Girls)

    Edited by 1 at 24/06/09 @ 17:11

  • holloguts #26 3 years ago

    My always on BT 8mb line was constantly off and only giving me 3mb. After weeks complaining it would increase to 6mb, only to go back to 3mb within 7 days. Streaming even low res stuff was pointless. Moved over to BE broadband 6 months ago. Had 10mb without disconections or lowering of speed, got 1.5mb upload speeds (brother gets 2.5 up and 22mb down). No restrictions whatsover and no throttling. £21.50 month £5 cheaper than BT and NO rolling contract, only 3 month notice or pay quick release. Got £100 Amazon voucher and 2 months free for introducing 2 friends and recently got £10 goodwill gesture for a mistake they made (sent me an extra voucher by mistake). Problems, answered on their website within minutes. Wouldn't move anywhere else. BT, Virgin, Sky all throttle bandwidth. BE don't. NO DOWNLOAD LIMITS.

  • myk #27 3 years ago

    Bearing in mind that throttling is only used on the base (free) package and that they specifically don't thottle any other common traffic during pear hours (and no traffic during off-peak hours) I find it difficult to really criticise Sky too much for this (apart from how long it ook them to acknowledge and fix the problem). As it is, Sky is one of the better value providers around -especially with their unlimited package.

    I do wonder whether this has anything to do with problems I had connecting to the PSN network - had to switch to openDNS last month. Will have to experiment later.

  • SlientKnight9 #28 3 years ago

    Doe's anyone have O2 as internet provider if so what's service like? I'm planning to drop AOL like the bad habit it is for another internet provider just want to get people's experiences with other internet providers.

    Before i make a final decision and sign any contracts.
    Edited by 1 at 24/06/09 @ 17:22

  • Bigglesworth #29 3 years ago

    Excellent news! I'm jumping on PSN tonight and downloading every single thing on the store. Twice.

  • just4funUK #30 3 years ago

    Seems strange that Sky have entered a deal with Microsoft and now Sony's online services is having problems via sky broadband.

  • Sylpharion #31 3 years ago

    The funny thing is, I've been getting these same problems and I'm not even with Sky Broadband, I'm with UK Online. But saying that, they were acquired by Sky in 2006, lol.

  • TurboBailey #32 3 years ago

    I had similar problems with Tiscali. Couldnt get online between 5pm and midnight.
    Atleast SKY have acknowledged there is a problem. Tiscali wouldnt even do that.

    They thought my PS3 was a laptop. Dumb Fcuks
    Edited by 1 at 24/06/09 @ 19:01

  • makeamazing #33 3 years ago

    Im on 16MB Sky and get about 9MB, which i am very happy with as BT were only giving me about 5 (on 8mb) for double the cost.

    Interestingly enough I rang Sky about this only a week or so ago, and they told me it was Sony's fault... funny that :D

  • peterfll #34 3 years ago

    I didn't know that Be was owned by O2, but just because they're jointly owned it's naive to assume the products they offer are identical. Since being bought out its possible they've integrated their platforms, but still, they may offer different products and have different applicable policies.

    I also clearly stated this was my experience with Be was last year and, accept, they may have changed. From memory we were on a package with no limits costing £30 - so you'll understand why I found the throttling of the Live! and PSN services to be unacceptable. Since moving to O2 I've had no complaints and they're cheaper.

    Speak as you find and all that :-)
    Edited by 1 at 25/06/09 @ 07:52

  • Law07 #35 3 years ago

    I'm on Sky broadband and this has never happened to me...

  • BadBoyBonner #36 3 years ago

    Sky BB isn't very good for gaming.

    You are forced to have a delay on the line for error correction and they will not normally switch you to fastpath. Anyone who is on sky should try get through to tier 3 technical support and ask for their max delay reduced down to 8 (lowest level of error correction they permit) if they haven't already. This will improve your ping but will still not approach the best your line will be capable of i.e. fastpath.

    The service sucks for gaming but at £5 a month for 8meg it's hard to argue against the overall value.
    Edited by 1 at 25/06/09 @ 01:38

  • Harrihotpants #37 3 years ago

    I was on the full (£10) sky package and have now switched to O2 because of these ongoing issues. Was getting 7mb down and 765k up with sky (when they weren't restricting it) now getting 10mb down and 1.4mb up with O2 for £9.70. I play slot of MP cod4 and it has made a massive difference. Sky was once a good deal, but now they have been caught up and overtaken.

  • Merlinho #38 3 years ago

    I wondered why my PSN kept dropping out, now I know why!

  • carlitoswagon #39 3 years ago

    This thread just reminded me why I picked BT broadband. Good for gaming and got 2100 free live points.

    Not the cheapest but you pay for what you get. Was going to opt for Sky but had my suspicions. Usually low price = shit service.

  • makeamazing #40 3 years ago

    I generally dont get problems with it, so I guess it all depends :)

    I am more than happy with the speed of SKY, and its double what i would normally have got from BT... and is much cheaper..

    So yes there has been this problem, but its being fixed, so would I want to pay BT more just because skys had a problem (BT incidently ripped me off as a long term customer and only offered me a massive discount when i said i was leaving)... so no i wouldnt.. :)

  • thane_jaw #41 3 years ago

    Not wanting to highjack this thread but I recommend http://www.samknow s.com/broadband/ for finding out about broadband in your area.

    It links to your local exchange (and shows on a map of where it is...). It also explains which networks are available at each exchange. Generally BT Wholesale and others depending on the status of the exchange, e.g. whether it is LLU or not. Many ISPs use BT's Wholesale ADSL to provide service to those areas which don't have LLU exchanges. Meaning for those of you in the stix like me, the main difference between ISPs will be price rather then service.).

  • m0thr4 #42 3 years ago

    The system mistakenly classified PSN as a traffic-heavy application...

    Lol... was that supposed to be a dig at PSN compared to XBox Live (which surely is a traffic-heavy application) or did I get the wrong end of the stick?