O2 - frequent outages on Frome exchange

I was a happy customer of O2 LLU from late 2009 until recently. Speeds are pretty good, but there have been more outages, and much longer ones, than I ever had with BT (via A&A) - a total of 5 outages since August, ranging from 1 to 12 hours long, compared to one outage a year in 2009, 2010 and 2011. There were two outages yesterday, and another one last Friday.

The outage symptoms are always the same, with DSL connectivity maintained (checked with router) but IP connectivity lost to the O2 first hop router. O2 have confirmed the outages each time but don't provide any confidence they are able to fix the underlying issue. O2 say this is "an exchange problem" and imply that it's a BT issue, but are vague as to what's going on.

I noticed that cafes on the same exchange still had WiFi working during the most recent outages, presumably over DSL - one of them was outside the cable area so it was definitely DSL. So it's likely that non-O2 DSL providers aren't affected by this.

Does anyone know if switching to another LLU option in Frome would help, or going back to a BT based service? Having these outages is worse than slow broadband, though I would like to keep similar speeds (about 3.5 to 4 Mbps on a 5km line).

I can't get FTTC yet and many not get it, as I'm in a smallish village a bit outside Frome, though there is an RFS date of Mar 2012. FTTC may perhaps may be less reliable initially so it's not a priority.

Any recommendations on a reliable DSL provider, preferably LLU? Particularly interested to hear from people on this exchange.

Exchange info (SSFRO): http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/SSFRO

Try AOL, they provide LLU www.aolbroadband.co.uk. BE Unlimited are alright too, www.beunlimited.co.uk. Or TalkTalk (LLU), not exactly a great reputation, but the Member's Forums provide excellent Technical Support/Asisstance and many people have speedy connections with them. Have you considered fibre optics? www.bt.com/infinity or www.virginmedia.com.

Good Luck

The OP may have the same problem with Be - same network!

Frome also does not have FTTC, yet.

Does have Sky LLU, which is probably the only other useful option on the exchange.

Matt

AOL belongs to TalkTalk, and as I understand it customers are being transferred. There are also a large number of ISPs providing (largely) fibre optic as well as the two you mention. That's if it's available, which it seems it isn't in this case.

Edited by RobertoS (Thu 24-Nov-11 22:46:54)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

AOL belongs to TalkTalk, and as I understand it customers are being transferred.

Where do you understand that? Not the fact that AOL belongs to TT; we all know that, but AOL operates its BB separate from TT and may very well have its own network; a legacy of AOL USA's sale of it.

My daughters, both on AOL Partial LLU, have not been informed anything, but occasionally have offer to upgrade.

What I think we are seeing is offers by AOL to upgrade its users on its Partial LLU 8 Meg Broadband Only package to its own Full LLU 24 Meg Broadband + Calls + Line Rental package.

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

What I think we are seeing is offers by AOL to upgrade its users on its Partial LLU 8 Meg Broadband Only package to its own Full LLU 24 Meg Broadband + Calls + Line Rental package.

I must admit that upgrade is what I have seen, and assumed it was a transfer to TT, in the same way that Tiscali customers have definitely been transferred.

Then with Tiscali it was no longer on sale to new customers. AOL still sells to new customers and at least 2 out of its 3 BB packages are explicitly SMPF on its website.

It is very likely that AOL USA imposed conditions on the sale of its UK network as to its future independence.
EDIT: You got to ask yourself why TT would bother keeping AOL as a separate brand. It's been ages since they took AOL over. As long as Tiscali?

You can still get free Web Services, mailbox and dial-up from AOL, unlike TT.

Edited by XRaySpeX (Fri 25-Nov-11 07:54:09)

I just called AOL Sales . They confirm that on their BB+Calls+Line Rental 24 Meg package the ownership of the line remains with BTW and they just collect the Line Rental, unlike their parent TT. However their operative was completely ignorant of the terms MPF, SMPF, Full or Partial LLU, and WLR

EDIT: Do you know if TT uses BT OR to fix line problems? That might clinch it. She knew all about OR.

Edited by XRaySpeX (Fri 25-Nov-11 08:23:23)

Openreach is the only people allowed to work on the line between the exchange and master socket

Identical problems with Be, in fact the Be network status page is more informative and logged both the outages on Wed.

Sky may be a good option compared to AOL or Talk Talk. It does seem that the O2 outages here are specific to the backhaul connection they use from the exchange to their core network. Other BT-based DSL providers don't seem to have had this problem.

Still interested in hearing from other people with DSL on Frome, Midsomer Norton or Warminster exchanges, since that was the full scope of the outage on Wed. Anyone out there, please comment!

Is there a different forum I should post on here?