Unbundled Exchanges

I have taken up Sky package who advised that when my 'Exchange' becomes 'unbundled' the price I pay will drop considerably. Could someone direct me to where I can secure potential changes to my local exchange?

Further I use extensively my VPN but since using Sky found the link very slow, despite making approaches to Sky who in turn reply with standard silly talk on basic checks wonder how I could demonstrate Sky service is the problem. My previous ISP was very good but more expensive [I have a feeling my comments have been expressed before] As a new subscriber to this site please bear with me

Martyn H

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/search.php

Thankyou

MartynH

you've gone onto a cheap retail consumer service so if there's a problem with VPN I doubt they'll be interested.

The VPN will be constrained by the upstream speed have you checked what this actually is?
It may also be the route the VPN takes is longer latency wise which makes it seem more laggy and thus slower.

Do all other software apps run at the correct speeds, i.e. speedtests are what you would expect for the speed your modem is connecting at.

The Sky Connect which is on IPStream generally has a lower reputation than their LLU service. As for unbundling - I'd be worried it was a sales trick and it might be a year or more away.

Unfortunately I think you've found out the hard way that generally you get what you pay for. Sky will often put you on the Sky Connect service but charge you �5 for it, instead of the usual �17, if your exchange is due to be unbundled within 6 months. If you're paying �17 it suggests it could be quite a while before your exchange is unbundled. If the VPN problems have only come about since switching to Sky it isn't a huge leap of faith to say that Sky is the problem but getting them to accept that might prove difficult. I would say your best option would be to move elsewhere but the 12 month contract will be an issue as Sky will expect that to be paid up in full. You might get out of it by threatening to cancel your TV sub if they won't let you out of the broadband contract, but is it not the case that when you sign the broadband contract you commit to keeping the TV sub active for the duration of the broadband contract?
Alas if the VPN is critical for you you may have no option but to pay the exit penalty, put it down to experience and be wary of 12 month contracts in the future. Sky LLU is available on my exchange and in theory I could get faster speeds for less than I'm paying my current ISP but that 12 month contract is the single biggest barrier to me signing up.

Regards,
Steve

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Further I use extensively my VPN but since using Sky found the link very slow, despite making approaches to Sky who in turn reply with standard silly talk on basic checks wonder how I could demonstrate Sky service is the problem.

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Thus proving yet again that even where the Internet is concerned you get what you pay for.

As regards getting your exchange upgraded - that's a commercial decision that Sky will make according to their own internal rules and processes. It is based on the cost of provisioning the exchange (which is largely outside of Sky's control) and the expected subscriber numbers.

The procedure to get any operator to LLU an exchange is the same as it would be (in effect) to get a national retail chain to open a store. There is no legal or moral obligation involved - it's a purely an accountancy matter.

Edited by Andrue (Fri 28-Mar-08 11:46:45)

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it's a purely an accountancy matter.

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the end result looks like http://www.samknows.com/broadband/mapping/custommap.php?q=all_llu

I wonder if it's a population distribution of accountants

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Thus proving yet again that even where the Internet is concerned you get what you pay for.

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Not necessarily. In the past I've used BT, Pipex and Zen for my domestic ADSL, and Sky LLU has out-performed them all.

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Not necessarily. In the past I've used BT, Pipex and Zen for my domestic ADSL, and Sky LLU has out-performed them all.

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It's only a fair comparison if your measuring a like-for-like service i.e. up to 8 Mb as if your on Sky Max (which is up to 16 Mb) then there's an advantage here

I'm so far from the exchange that it's not going to make much of a difference for me. However, the freedom of not having "Line Profiles" is like having handcuffs removed !

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like having handcuffs removed

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The voice of experience?

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I'm so far from the exchange that it's not going to make much of a difference for me.

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I concur.

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However, the freedom of not having "Line Profiles" is like having handcuffs removed !

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I have heard a lot about this 'advantage' but I've not tried out LLU yet as there aren't any LLU operators on my exchange that I would consider going with but BE have an RFS date of 30th June so I will just have to wait and see

Interesting map - but my exchange - Droitwich which is hardly a metropolis - has, according to samknows:

BT Wholesale ADSL
BT Wholesale ADSL Max
BT Wholesale SDSL
AOL LLU
O2 / Be LLU
Bulldog LLU
TalkTalk (CPW) LLU
Sky Broadband / Easynet LLU

I'm moving from IDNet to Sky Mid to save �20 per month.

Size isn't everything

It's a combination of cost and potential.

A small town can be on a main cross-country cable route with ready access to backhaul. As a result of rapid growth in the last couple of decades it could have a modern exchange with plenty of room for kit. The addition of housing estates may mean an orderly cable layout that serves everyone really well.

A large town or even parts of a city could be a long way from a decent cable and therefore starved of backhaul capacity. They might have an ancient crumbling exchange with no room for expansion. The cable runs might be turtuous and incomprehensible with a large percentage of customers out in the cold.

Edited by Andrue (Sat 29-Mar-08 09:34:27)