BT prices to fall on IPstream products

Just read the news item about BT being forced to reduce wholesale prices for 'up to 8 meg' IPstream services by 12% below inflation over next couple of years. As IDNet have a large proportion of customers on this product this may well come as welcome news.

I have a request, which others may have a view on, that if we are to see a price reduction could we also see a situation where BT are requested to bundle up greater dowload allowances within the package. In my case, 40g is no longer enough but 60g would be. I would be happy to keep paying the current£35/month if the allowances were evened up and use the savings to fund this. After all, the BT measure that Ofcom are forcing on them is supposed to bring Market 1 exchanges into line with unbundled.

I'm sure there are many other permulation around this rather than just reducing prices.

In reply to a post by peewee:

... could we also see a situation where BT are requested to bundle up greater dowload allowances within the package

BT do not design the allowance packages. The ISP does.

BT or Idnet - whoever does it, still same question.

IDnet weren't identified as a user of IPStream Connect which is the only product affected.

Is that still the case ?

Post deleted by miriam_idnet

Hi Peewee,

This reduction only applies to "Market 1" Exchanges, that is, those where only BT Wholesale is present (i.e. no LLU available) which is therefore mostly the smaller rural exchanges that serve a relatively small proportion of the population. We hope that BT will provide significant cost reductions so that we can pass these onto our customers in the form of price reduction or an increase in download allowance.

However, this new rule from Ofcom only covers ADSL Max ("up-to-8Mbps") at those Exchanges. BT Wholesale expect to increase their nationwide coverage of ADSL2+ ("up-to-24Mbps") to 80% of premises by the end of this year - there are much increased bandwidth allowances available on this service. Moreover, this new rule from Ofcom is to reduce the cost by just 12% per annum but as BT have announced their intention to retire ADSL Max by Spring 2014 (at those Exchanges that have been upgraded to support ADSL2+) then Ofcom's new rule may not have a chance to have much, if any, effect.

Kind regards,

Miriam
IDNet Support

In reply to a post by yarwell:

IDnet weren't identified as a user of IPStream Connect which is the only product affected.

Is that still the case ?

We do take IP Stream Connect.

Hi Miriam,

Thanks for the info. I am indeed one of those on a Mkt 1 exchange which appears to have no hope in the foreseable of a 21CN upgrade although one was briefly threatened last year and withdrawn - (Woburn Sands SMWS). There's also no LLU so I believe I'm one of those affected?

If I'm honest, with a largish family of downloaders and streamers the connection I have is good but just lacks the 'unlimited' download capacity I would receive from an LLU'd exchange. I have to keep tabs on what they all do as without I'd end up doubling the cost each month.

I realise that if I do end up being 21CN'd then the new rule doesn;t apply but by then I'd be much happier.

Peewee

In reply to a post by peewee:

I have to keep tabs on what they all do as without I'd end up doubling the cost each month.

You may already be using this, but if you log in to your accounts page, near the bottom of the menu on the left there's "Updates Via RSS".

Click that, and you can subscribe to a "Daily Usage Summary" RSS feed, it might make life easier for you.

In reply to a post by peewee:

Thanks for the info. I am indeed one of those on a Mkt 1 exchange which appears to have no hope in the foreseable of a 21CN upgrade although one was briefly threatened last year and withdrawn - (Woburn Sands SMWS). There's also no LLU so I believe I'm one of those affected?

Same as a friend of mine who is 6 miles from me, and I'm on an exchange with all the big providers, yet he is on a tiny 2,460 line exchange.
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/THHW

(Whats up with Samknows? It says THHW and yours are Market 2 when they're obviously 1 !)

In reply to a post by jchamier:

(Whats up with Samknows? It says THHW and yours are Market 2 when they're obviously 1 !)

It isn't (immediately) automatic for it to change. It quite possibly had Orange LLU which of course is now dead.

The classification is revised by OfCom every now and then, and the last issue I know of, (3 December 2010), shows it as Market 2. So I expect it will get changed in the next issue.

Edited by RobertoS (Thu 21-Jul-11 19:21:38)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

In reply to a post by jchamier:

(Whats up with Samknows? It says THHW and yours are Market 2 when they're obviously 1 !)

It isn't (immediately) automatic for it to change. It quite possibly had Orange LLU which of course is now dead.

The classification is revised by OfCom every now and then, and the last issue I know of, (3 December 2010), shows it as Market 2. So I expect it will get changed in the next issue.

I understand your point, but the THHW exchange has *never* had Orange LLU or any other LLU (its under 2500 lines) and I've kept an eye on this every month of so for the last 3 months. SamKnows data is suspect

Thanks Bill but do this already. Morning goes:
Alarm
Wake
Fire up Ipad
Start paper download - at 7.00am as it's off-peak!
Sync RSS and see what download figure I have to shout at boys about.
Then get on with all the important things in life.
Shout at boys is optional depending on RSS results.

Its OfCom that has it classified as Market 2. Samknows can only reflect that. So samknows is correct.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Its OfCom that has it classified as Market 2. Samknows can only reflect that. So samknows is correct.

Do you have an Ofcom link? I'm very surprised. Wonder why ?

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultati...

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultati...

Thanks - shame! The residents of THHW would love an alternative provider, as there is no cable the place is full of Sky dishes, so sky would be an obvious one. I assume the physical exchange building is too small or the costs too high for too low a potential customer base.

Weird though.

OFCOM's definition is "Market 2: exchanges where two or three POs are present or forecast " (my bold)

You might be on Talk Talk's list or something.

I believe C & W are also still expanding their exchange coverage.

It's interesting to hear the reasoning for the Mkt 2 classification.

My exchange, Woburn Sands, on Samknows, has Virgin Media Cable as a provider but no others listed. This is just plain wrong when it comes to Broadband as the only dwellings/businesses connected to Virgin Media in the Exchange area are connected to the old Milton Keynes Cable TV system which is an old analogue service without any Broadband, phone etc or less still, Fibre. The exchange only just gets into MK with most of the lines being in the old villages of Woburn Sands, Wavendon, and a few hamlets around. MK Cable TV is about as much use as a chocolate teapot even for the only thing it does - TV.

There was also a press release from C&W well over a year ago saying that they were going to LLU the exchange last year but that never happened, nor looks likely. BT had also set a date for 21CN for last March 2010 but that also got withdrawn and now has no date.

I certainly hope that the Mkt2 tag won't affect the Ofcom price ruling.

The only reason I'm still moderatly happy is that IDnet provide a rock solid 7meg service albeit at a high price (which I understand the reasons for).

In reply to a post by yarwell:

OFCOM's definition is "Market 2: exchanges where two or three POs are present or forecast " (my bold)
You might be on Talk Talk's list or something.

That would make a lot of sense - thanks. Hopefully on Sky's list, but TT would do, as I've seen both arrive in very remote Scottish location in the last 3 months that was previously (samknows data) Mkt 1.