The things stopping me switching to Sky BB

1) Can't use my own router ... would want to use a Speedtouch 585 with modified SNR margin.
2) Upload speed is only 600~700k compared to ~1Mbps on O2 ... still the case?
3) It's fully unbundled and therefore a massive hassle to move to another provider in the future.

Hopefully someone can confirm that things have changed and the snags above have been resolved.

I'm never going to get FTTC as I live in the city centre in a conservation area so a new 12 month contract isn't a problem.

In reply to a post by 5km:

1) Can't use my own router ... would want to use a Speedtouch 585 with modified SNR margin.
2) Upload speed is only 600~700k compared to ~1Mbps on O2 ... still the case?
3) It's fully unbundled and therefore a massive hassle to move to another provider in the future.

Hopefully someone can confirm that things have changed and the snags above have been resolved.

I'm never going to get FTTC as I live in the city centre in a conservation area so a new 12 month contract isn't a problem.

1. No point being able to change the SNR with Sky BB because the speed is capped based on the results of DLM so changing the SNR to increase the speed doesn't work. A lot of exchanges have switched from PPPoA to MER so I guess the Speedtouch wouldn't work anyway.

2. I was getting just over 1 Mbps upload when I had Sky's ADSL service.

3. It is fully unbudled but it is a lot easier to switch between LLU providesr now.

In reply to a post by simon194:

1. No point being able to change the SNR with Sky BB because the speed is capped based on the results of DLM so changing the SNR to increase the speed doesn't work. A lot of exchanges have switched from PPPoA to MER so I guess the Speedtouch wouldn't work anyway.

Some people have requested static profiles which disables DLM and then been able to adjust SNRM at user end, but I'm not 100% sure on this. Most people on ADSL service report they've switched back to PPPoA from MER recently. MER seems to be used by FTTC customers now.

MER isn't really anything special, its similar to the way BE and O2 handle ADSL and could be more efficient as it doesn't use the PPP overhead. In Sky's implementation your client device needs an adjusted DHCP that sends the userid/password as DHCP option 61. Most routers don't do this. Some Billion and Draytek kit has beta firmware that can.

2. I was getting just over 1 Mbps upload when I had Sky's ADSL service.

Some people report that DLM can get you 1.3 Mbps upload, but if you're on a static profile the max is 1 Mbps.

3. It is fully unbudled but it is a lot easier to switch between LLU providesr now.

I believe this is the case; Ofcom have improved things.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

Some people report that DLM can get you 1.3 Mbps upload, but if you're on a static profile the max is 1 Mbps.

I'm on DLM but even with these stats I'm limited to 1Meg up, mind you get 22 down....

Broadband Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 22010 kbps 1150 kbps
Line Attenuation 7.5 dB 6.2 dB
Noise Margin 6.1 dB 8.4 dB

In reply to a post by 5km:

1) Can't use my own router ... would want to use a Speedtouch 585 with modified SNR margin.
2) Upload speed is only 600~700k compared to ~1Mbps on O2 ... still the case?
3) It's fully unbundled and therefore a massive hassle to move to another provider in the future.

1. Most people on Sky ADSL seem to be back on PPPoA making using your own router much easier. No guarantee it will stay this way, of course. NM tweaking can be ineffective due to synch caps as mentioned.

2. Manual profiles are often set at 768 kbps max upstream. DLM can go higher, but it's a bit of a lottery.

3. Most people tend to take broadband and landline from the same provider these days due to the cost savings to be had. This generally reduces the hassle when switching. Also, the biggest players in broadband these days own their own phone networks (BT, Sky, Talktalk) which means staying with BT WLR limits your options.

Given the recent announcement that planning rules could change in spring 2013 I think I'll wait to see what happens then and if BT will enable FTTC.