In reply to a post by mkay:

Not really, except it'll be BT's equipment and any problems should be easier to sort out rather than going thru someone else first. Unless you know any one who is better. I was with BT years ago and problem I had was sorted very quick...

Uh, no!

I agree re the phone line - mine is still with BT as their CS for that is brilliant.

But for broadband BT Retail CS doesn't seem to be top notch, and regarding the equipment then Openreach are responsible for your line to the exchange and how it connects within the exchange.

BT Wholesale own and control the exchange broadband equipment and the backhaul from that to their 20 handover points around the country. At one or more of those points the retail ISP picks up the traffic for them and delivers what they send to you.

From that point on, it is the ISP's backhaul from there to their "in-house" routers and out to the wider web. That handover point capacity and onwards is where the ISPs differ and yours is very poor. BT Retail's is amongst the best, as is Plusnet's on a smaller scale. (Fewer customers so lower capacity needed).

In terms of problem fixing, BT Retail have no more clout with BT Wholesale and BT Openreach than any other ISP. The top ISP for this seems to be AAISP, but unless you fit into a very specific type of user group their prices are very high.