It's one of those difficult things to do a proper like for like comparison. When an ISP buys IPStream and a central pipe they aren't just being a fibre link that connects point A to point B but in effect a fibre link that connects 5,500 point As (every exchange) to point B (the ISP's datacentre).

To do the same yourself then yes the fibre link from each exchange is going to cost significantly less than a BT Central but you're going to need a lot more of them.

To LLU Sheffield and Rotherham for example an ISP may use another ISP's backbone like Telewest or BT to provide them with a dozen or so links to connect all the local exchanges together in one place and then a cross country link from there to Manchester or London maybe.

"To LLU Sheffield and Rotherham for example an ISP may use another ISP's backbone like Telewest or BT to provide them with a dozen or so links to connect all the local exchanges together in one place and then a cross country link from there to Manchester or London maybe."

Or the ISPs provider may have fibre/kit local to most exchanges and provide a Metro Ethernet/MPLS solution to drop the data off wherever the ISP likes.

TT

"I can categorically say that they are not."

I thought all agents had a performance related bonus scheme? Surely retention related work affects this?

TT

In the past there was a performance based bonus, but that was changed a long time ago.

True, and it probably makes things easier if the ISP themselves has multiple PoPs across the country. So for example if they had a PoP in Manchester they may need say four cross country links to take the traffic from say Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield/Rotherham and York with each of the local exchanges in each of these cities and Manchester as well connected to each other using the MPLS solution. While a PoP in Birmingham could do the same with Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Coventry, etc.

Even so, while you're cross country links are going to be a lot cheaper than BT centrals you're still going to need more of them.

Be* use BT circuits for backhaul.

big fat ones

Hi Dave

Thanks for your post. Apologies, but I have been on holiday for a few days (hence my lack of posts). The speed displayed from the portal link provided shows 6500Kbps. I have just run another speedtest:

[IMG]http://www.speedtest.net/result/125383877.png[/IMG]

It's showing circa 5Mbps, which I'm guessing will allow a faster ADSL2+ speed?

Cheers

Andi.