In reply to a post by baudot:

And if they'd been successful over all the years of trading then why still operating with a handful of people.......

Maybe they prefer to be a niche provider. Not all people aspire to be another Gates or Zuckerberg.

The question is pointless since what matters is whether they provide a good and reliable service at a price sufficient people consider good value.

The latest survey from ISPReview which places them No2 in customer satisfaction and the fact they have been going for some 20 years demonstrates they have a viable business model.

Either you feel what they offer as being of sufficient value to you or you don't, in which case feel free to consider one of the larger providers.

Whatever the technicalities behind what the telco/broadband companies are telling me, the fact remains that I can't get FTTC from anyone. And furthermore, even worse if only a card install, they can't give me timescales for when it will be available.

And my question was meaningful to me even if the point wasn't judged to be so by others. If I wanted a Gates I'd have simply gone to BT. Instead I was intrigued by the reviews for idnet in light of website stating comparisons only available for companies with sufficient reviews. As I have no personal experience with idnet my due diligence included the revelation they were so good with so few. I'm still curious.

In any case I had to make a decision for the damp piece of string I've ended up with and so all this is irrelevant apart from an intellectual argument or maybe could have been of help to someone else like me.

What does the BT Wholesale Checker say? Enter either your phone number of if not recognised the Address checker (NOT the postcode checker) enter your post code and then select your address from the drop down box.
Does the Address line at the top state a cabinet number? If not then you are on an Exchange Only line which would explain why FTTC is not available.
If a cabinet number is shown, is there a section at the top labeled VDSL Range and if yes what does it say in the column headed WBC FTTC Availability Date?

If a cabinet number is shown but there is no section labeled VDSL Range then it is possible/probable that the cabinet has not got an FTTC twin. If this is the case post your exchange name and cabinet number and it is possible that someone may be able to help and let you know when/if it is planned to be updated.

There's only one provider of FTTC who then supply the ISPs - Openreach - so if one ISP (other than Sky possibly) can't supply it, none will be able to. In the vast majority of urban areas, there are 2 main reasons that FTTC can't be supplied. One (capacity at a local cabinet) is fixable by Openreach in fairly short timescale. The other (your line goes straight into the exchange without going through an intermediate cabinet) isn't. You can find out which is likely to apply to you without too much effort, and there's plenty here who will help you.

I'm on the end of a damp piece of string too (3.5Km+ long). I knew this would be an issue when we bought the place. IDnet and A&A were the only 2 ISPs I'd even consider. A&A's business model means they don't have an unlimited offering (although the allowance on their business bonded VDSL product is close enough ) so it was IDnet.

Given that the vast majority of issues will be with the kit owned by Openreach or BT Wholesale, what counts is an ISP who can "drive" those issues. That will invariably be a small one, because decent, motivated techies will be on the frontline. Deffo my experience with IDNet.

Most people would consider the 2TB AAISP Home:1 allowance adequate. There is a 3TB option and SOHO:1 goes up to 5TB. All without bonding, which could of course be added.

Also AAISP gives a cumulative rollover of 50% of unused allowance each month.

All available on ADSL2+ as well as FTTC and FTTP.

Edited by RobertoS (Fri 02-Nov-18 10:34:52)

Dang, missed that. Take it all back. IDNet == A&A.

Been with IDNet for a month now after a period with one of the budget ISPs. I'm paying a bit more but to put it in perspective the extra is less than the price of a pint of beer a week. In the last month, downstream SNR has been reset down from 6dB to 3dB, sync speed has risen from 66999 to 79999, download speedtest results have improved from about 62Mbps to about 70Mbps and no single thread congestion in the busy periods.

Well pleased.

In reply to a post by mpellatt:

There's only one provider of FTTC who then supply the ISPs - Openreach - so if one ISP (other than Sky possibly) can't supply it, none will be able to.

That's slightly disingenuous. While it's true that OR equipment is needed for the cabinet DSLAMs and FTTC needs to be available generally for any to offer it, OR is only responsible for the connection between your house and the Exchange, but Talk Talk, Sky (from their purchase of BE and Bulldog) and several others have their own equipment in the exchange (this is what LLU or MPF means), and their own leased lines (back haul) to the main Intertubes. So you completely bypass BT Wholesale entirely.

On subject both IDnet and AAISP are IMO the 2 best ISPs in the UK. You can't go wrong with either.

Edited by zzing123 (Wed 07-Nov-18 16:01:46)

There is no such thing as LLU for FTTC.

LLU = Local Loop Unbundling/Unbundled. The local loop is the copper lines between the premises and the exchange. An LLU supplier has its own MSANs in the exchange and has full and direct control of the broadband connection via that copper line, which in effect terminates on those MSANs.

FTTC does not go to the exchange on those copper lines. It splits from the PSTN service at the FTTC cabinet having got there via the PCP, hence the name of the product. From there the copper returns to the PCP and onward to the original exchange destination.

The FTTC then goes to an Openreach termination block at either that or a bigger head-end exchange, and from there is connected using GEA link cables to the underlying provider. (BT Wholesale, Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone and somehow to Zen).

In general, when an exchange first gets FTTC availability it will be BT Wholesale using it first as they get the GEA cable links in. Sky tend to be next. TalkTalk can be a bit behind. Vodafone I don't know about in this respect, and Zen's coverage of exchanges is relatively small.

GEA is Openreach's name for their FTTC/FTTP products, which satisfy Ofcom's VULA specification.

These providers have no direct control of the service. They can specify in their order on Openreach a few parameters such as a setting for highest speed, greatest stability, or a "happy medium".

Furthermore, LLU comes in both MPF and SMPF form. There is no technical reason for both ADSL2+ and PSTN services on a line to be from the same supplier. An example being O2, and Sky in earlier days. It is purely a marketing decision by broadband suppliers to force customers to put their line rental also with them.

Edited by RobertoS (Wed 07-Nov-18 20:46:32)

I've also been with IDNET (since April) but unfortunately I'm suffering from single threaded issues. Multithreaded has been fine (about 74Mbps) but single threaded varies between 35-55 during the day and off peak sometimes 65+. They are looking into their back haul connections and hopefully will be sorted soon. If not I'll try AAISP.