Looking to move, need good bradband but ...

We're hoping to move house shortly, leaving our rented accommodation for a new long term home. We're looking primarily in the Tyne Valley, which has many admirable features, but good broadband isn't one of them.

Problem number one is that as soon as you get even a little west of Newcastle-Gateshead, the cable runs out. I'm told (by someone who ought to know) that the whole of Hexham (largest town between Newcastle and Carlisle) has, in fact, had its streets dug up, and cable laid, but nonetheless there is no domestic cable available in Hexham. Why, my source could not say.

So, leave the big city and you lose cable. Hexham itself actually has halfway decent ADSL, but also high house prices so we've been looking elsewhere, and now I'm having real problems working out what sort of broadband you can get where, and at what cost and over what timescale.

I've used the samknows site to give me some general guidance, but there are things which I don't quite follow. For example - BT has withdrawn the implementation date for WBC for one of the local exchanges, having previously given it one. Does this mean that BT might never bother to upgrade the exchange, or just that they want a bit more time? If that depends on which exchange you're talking about, how do you find out which ones have been postponed and which ones axed? Is there any commitment to push all exchanges on to WBC by some date? And if so what date is it? And does WBC mean that you get the faster broadband from ADSL2+?

And then there's LLU. Do ISPs with LLU on the local exchange give you a faster service? Will this change as/when the exchange is upgraded by BT? Do all LLU-providers give you approximately the same speeds (given that the distance from the exchange remains the same regardless of the ISP)?

For instance, there's one house on our "consider" list where I know the current phone number. I put the postcode into samknows, but sam didn't recognise the address (new build), but list various addresses within 100m of the property as having anything from 2.5Mbps to 3.5Mbps. I entered the phone number into one site (BT I think) which gave the speed as 3.5Mbps. I went to the ADSL24 site, where they give the same speed when you check the "Availability". Go to their LLU site, enter the phone number and they claim you should be able to get 5Mbps - but no one else has come up with that figure. And ADSL24 are not listed as having an LLU presence at the local exchange, when you look at the samknows data for the exhange.

I'm really confused.

db

The speeds you get on ADSL are very much determined by the length of your phone line to the exchange. This will not be a as-a-crow-flys distance. Generally speaking the closer you are to the exchange the better. That will be the same for ADSL2+ if and when you can get it from BT. LLU providers are already ADSL2+.

The only accurate way to find ADSL speeds at a particular address is to plug in an ADSL modem. Anything else is an educated guess, although neighbouring speeds should be a very good guide.

ADSL24 are I think reselling Cable & Wireless LLU, so you won't see them as ADSL24. Their LLU checker doesn't give a speed where it isn't available.

Use a number wherever possible, failing that he BT address checker and postcode only as last resort. Use phone number of pub / shop / phone box if nothing else available.

Most LLU will use ADSL2+ which on most lines will give you a bit more and on short lines a lot more.

BT's WBC will get there eventually.

ADSL24 are reselling Be not C & W.

@ Deeplyblue
If Be is available then so is O2 LLU. ADSL24's LLU will provide some included goodies I expect, but otherwise I would go for O2 on that exchange unless I was a really avid gamer. Be can be better for gamers.

See MKD's O2/Be comparison and costs documents. Though the O2 costs at least will probably change at the end of this month. He does keep it up to date.