Which ADSL provider?

Someone on here might remember my epic battle with BT Broadband a few years ago when it took 3 months and 14 pages of notes to be presented before BT admitted that my line was not stable enough to handle a connection, and subsequently cancelled my contract.

Well a lot has changed since then. At that address I managed to get a stable 6MB connection from O2 a few months after the BT debacle, but have moved since then and have been enjoying the wonders of a 20MB Virgin Media connection.

However all that has changed now and I am going to be moving once again, but this time from the suburbs of Surrey to the hustle and bustle of Central London.

Heres where it gets interesting....

The is no Virgin Media in my new location (Popular) and the local exchange is full to bursting (apparently) and the only connection I can get is a 2MB one from any number of providers from that exchange even though it is totally unbundled and I am only going to be at a max of 2KM from the exchange. (Even though I can spit on Canary Wharf from where I will be - Surely they dont operate on a 2MB connection!)

A quick call to BT themselves told me that my proposed line will take around 4.5MB after pending work in the exchange has been completed, when this will be though is anyones guess!

Anyway, to the point of this post....

After being a happy Virgin Media customer for so long, what provider should I go with? They are all around the same price (£20 or so for 40GB or unlimited downloads a month with free router etc).

Anyone got any suggestions? Personally I would opt for 02 as I have used them and had no problems, but any suggestions are appreciated.

Regards
Simon

From what I have read on this site there is a issue with the lines from Poplar exchange and people only seem to be able to get low speeds due to the length of the BT local loop.

If you were happy with O2 previously then I'd say stick with them.

Thanks for that Dave.

Hmm, the thought of paying £20 a month for 2MB really does not fill me with joy at all.

Are you sure we are not living in a third world country?

O2 LLU doesn't cost £20 a month. If you can't get LLU than look to a different ISP because the O2 Access product is very heavilt oversubscribed right now and the forum is full of folks who could well be auditioning for Deliverance judging by their posts.

Sorry Kwikbreaks, I was referring to Access not LLU. Although the exchange is unbundled I cant get LLU services due to congestion and over subscription (so it would seem)

In fact O2 access is £22.02 a month

One would assume all ISP's are over subscriubed at the Poplar exchange. Oh the joys

O2's LLU service is available at Poplar so you could well get much better speeds than 2 meg for less than £20 per month.

Ahh too slow with the reply.

Edited by Rockh (Wed 04-Mar-09 16:33:55)

Firstly, large companies in canary wharf won't be running ADSL - but then they will be paying many thousands for their connections - you have the same options if you have the cash.

2nd - no it is not a third world country, it is wonderful that we can worry about broadband only going at 2Mb, 3rd world countries have other things higher on their priority list.

3rd - how much data are you looking to download. There are a number of companies that have lower bandwidth caps for £10 - £15 that may be better value on a 2Mb line.

It sounds like you are moving to an area with particular exchange issues - until those are dealt with you are probably stuck between a rock and a hard place. Broadband presumably wasn't high on your priority list when looking for somewhere to move (or the move was forced on you so you have no choice).

There are many places in the UK with no broadband or much less than 2Mb - and 2Mb is the amount the government seem to have decided is the optimum minimum for broadband services.

I know not much of this helps you but you are not alone and the costs of updating the exchanges and lines to support what you want would significantly increase the costs of broadband (but at the moment you don't have a choice).

Ian

I know that companies wont be running ADSL - it was tongue on cheek mate

And I also know that we are not a third world country - again a tongue in cheek comment

I'm after an unlimited plan, not because I will be downloading all and sundry because I wont, but I'd like the headroom to if I wanted to at some point. Besides there will be two adults and 3 kids using the one connection, sometimes at the same time so limited limits are no good to me.

The more I read the more I see that Poplar exchange really is in a mess and I might actually be hard pressed to get anything from it. I am spoilt with a decent VM connection in the suburbs, was expecting something decent to be offered in the Capital City of our fine country, how wrong can you be? Oh and the move is forced on me I have no choice.

As for cost of BB, Im paying £37 a month for VM 20MB, which although extortionate, I really dont mind paying as it does what it says on the tin, has never failed me and is totally reliable.
£20 + for 2MB on a flakey phone line which is already over subscribed makes me feel sick! LOL. I dont mind paying, just like the idea of having the choice.

Anyway, will look into O2 (unless anyone has any other suggestions?) Was looking at Tiscali and Sky too for some stupid reason (Tiscali is the cheapest by far)

Simon

In reply to a post by Rockh:

O2's LLU service is available at Poplar so you could well get much better speeds than 2 meg for less than £20 per month.

Ahh too slow with the reply.

Not according to the people I spoke to O2 it isnt! LOL

Odd, according to Sam Knows who is usually right, it is and posts on this board also would appear to confirm this.

There is a lack of free tie pair capacity at Poplar so the OP, or anyone, may have long wait to get a connection from any ISP.
Some LLU operators may have free pairs while others dont. IPstream services are also affected.
Maybe a case of keep trying until a pair from a ceased service becomes available.

Are you planning on getting Sky TV at the address? If you are and Sky have spare capacity at the exchange (which going by the O2 problem they may not) then Sky LLU on the mid package will give you a decent amount of download and will allow the line to run at it's max speed. If you can't get Sky LLU then I would steer clear of Sky Connect.

I'm afraid it sounds like you are going to have to pay a high amount for the "unlimited" download even if you do only get a 2Mb line - it is the amount of download that costs the money not the speed at which you can get it. And as you probably know the BT charging structures aren't geered towards large amounts of downloading.

In reply to a post by Simon_G:

In reply to a post by Rockh:

O2's LLU service is available at Poplar so you could well get much better speeds than 2 meg for less than £20 per month.

Ahh too slow with the reply.

Not according to the people I spoke to O2 it isnt! LOL

This may sound daft to you, but try Be as well as O2. They seem to split the connectivity at each exchange so that one sometimes has spare when the other hasn't.

In view of the general problem at the exchange it's unlikely, but worth a try.

Re an IPStream ISP, have a look at AAISP. Very low peak allowances, but big off-peak and also an unmetered night period. I agree with others that at the moment O2 Access is very dodgy. Browse the forum here. The latest suggestion for improvement is 8-12 weeks. A bit ago it was the end of March.

Edited by RobertoS (Thu 05-Mar-09 11:45:02)

In reply to a post by rogan8:

There is a lack of free tie pair capacity at Poplar so the OP, or anyone, may have long wait to get a connection from any ISP.
Some LLU operators may have free pairs while others dont. IPstream services are also affected.
Maybe a case of keep trying until a pair from a ceased service becomes available.

Thanks for the info Rogan, looks like I'm gonna have a long wait

This may sound daft to you, but try Be as well as O2. They seem to split the connectivity at each exchange so that one sometimes has spare when the other hasn't.

In view of the general problem at the exchange it's unlikely, but worth a try.

Tried Bethere, nothing available.

AAISP looked interesting until I saw that Peak times are limited to 1Gb or 2GB which will do me no favours as both me and my partner work from home.

Thans for the info though.

In reply to a post by ian72:

Are you planning on getting Sky TV at the address? If you are and Sky have spare capacity at the exchange (which going by the O2 problem they may not) then Sky LLU on the mid package will give you a decent amount of download and will allow the line to run at it's max speed. If you can't get Sky LLU then I would steer clear of Sky Connect.

I'm afraid it sounds like you are going to have to pay a high amount for the "unlimited" download even if you do only get a 2Mb line - it is the amount of download that costs the money not the speed at which you can get it. And as you probably know the BT charging structures aren't geered towards large amounts of downloading.

Sky cannot offer LLU at the address (although I will be taking up Sky TV at some point), otherwise I would have gone for a bundle deal on MAX or something.

So it looks like:

Sky Connect (which people are telling me to steer clear of)
O2 Access (which people are telling me to steer clear of)
Virgin National (which people are.......hmmm I'm sensing a pattern here)
Tiscali (Not a personal favourite, but by far the cheapest out of the lot)
AOL (Would not touch it with yours!)
AAISP (Not enough peak hour allowance - otherwise might have been good)
BT (Major problem in the past with them at a different address)

any more to be looking at?

Post deleted by RobertoS

O2 are supposed to be addressing the Access problems by adding capacity, and it was thought the end of March. But the latest rumour is 6-8 weeks .

And what's to stop it happening again a couple of months after that is the problem. They are gaining customers at such a rate it has to be very hard to forecast the equipment needs.

Another possibility would be Plusnet Pro, but that's a 12-month contract with no getout.

In reply to a post by Simon_G:

any more to be looking at?

UKOnline

UKOnline

Looked good until I saw the bit where it forced me to buy a Netgear wireless G router for £50

Oh I forgot to say to ensure it's on LLU not their BT product which has similar problems to other BT resellers. If you can get the LLU connection it may be worth trying to negotiate a deal about the modem?

There is no LLU coming out of Poplar until at least 2010 so I have been made aware.

Went with O2 Access in the end only because they are the only ISP giving 30 days money back g'tee so at least I can see what the line can do and how stable it will be.

If you're lucky you will just get through to it coming good, before your 30 days are up. Don't expect a lot till then though!

The latest news from O2 is mid-April to sort things.