Be says full exchange, advice?

Hi all

I'll get right to it, sorry this might be a long post, but bear with me.

In an ideal world I would get Be broadband, or O2, purely because of past experience, their customer support is decent (compared to the competition) and, as far as I know, their FUP is not as horrible as the rest (see http://www.kitz.co.uk/isp/caps.htm)

When I contacted Be they said the exchange was full, which I suppose means they have no more lines on my exchange, or something. O2 claims they don't cover my area, which I am assuming is the same issue as Be since they are on the same infrastructure?

Virgin media doesn't cover my area either. Not that I wanted them that much, but I was starting to get desperate.

My exchange is LSWAN btw. So that leaves me with the following:

- BT
- Sky

The rest of the ISPs on the exchange, I wouldn't bother with, unless someone here thinks otherwise.

I am not sure which is the better, we don't do P2P, so I don't care about that being throttled that much. I do care about streaming video and audio though. Also, I read that Sky takes ages to set up, so I'm leaning towards BT, but I am not sure this is a good move. I already have a phone line from them. Whichever I end up picking I'll end up getting an "unlimited" package.

Does anyone have any experience with BT or Sky they can share? Or any general advice on how to move forward when the exchange is full, whatever that may mean?


Thank you all in advance.

Also, does a full exchange mean the exchange is full for Be/O2 only or it is full for all LLU providers?

The latter means I'm in trouble now!

(As an aside, kitz is out of date re O2, but correct about Be. O2 now have defined FUP limits on all new packages, plus traffic management on most of them).

Re options at that exchange there are some worthwhile alternatives to the two you pick out. They are very similar to each other re the actual broadband, as they resell the same packages.

You also have a choice between Full LLU or Partial LLU, see this page if you don't already know the difference.

The ISPs (resellers) I am talking about are vivaciti and xilo/uno.

Vivaciti's Broadband Complete is via Opal Wholesale and I believe has an "unlimited" option. See this page. Xilo/uno have a similar package from Opal Wholesale but I think you have to contact them for full details.

Both of those packages are full LLU. The ones below are partial LLU.

On the xilo/uno page I linked to the Pro24 75GB is through Tiscali tails and reportedly very good. (Nothing to do with the old Tiscali broadband). On the vivaciti Price page I linked to second the equivalent is LLU 75GB (Premium). The same comments apply as to xilo Pro75.

The "unlimited" packages, xilo's Pro16 (which isn't in fact capped at 16Mbps connection) and vivaciti's LLU Unlimited are through C & W Wholesale. The resellers have less control over the user's line on that, compared to the Tiscali-tail ones.

Note that the xilo Pro16 Office and Pro24 prices do not include Vat.

Either of those two resellers would be far better than BT in my opinion, but I would leave the phone line with BT. Sky should be OK as long as you take the "Unlimited" top package whatever they call it at the moment, and cheaper.

If you can't get Be* then go for Sky LLU, totally unlimited and they don't throttle. You should get full speed 24 hours a day. I'd have thought it was full only for Be/O2 because Sky will have their own equipment.

Thanks RobertoS, the information you provided was very helpful.

Xilo is out cause they are out of capacity as well. They can only offer me the 75GB capped one, I'd rather get some kind of unlimited.

Vivacity is a real viable option now, so thanks for that one! I just have to read enough reviews to find out about traffic shaping, but first impressions are good

If I can get that one I'd rather do that than Sky.


Cheers again!

I recommend Sky as long as it's LLU

Anyone currently on Vivaciti's LLU Unlimited? Would be useful to read some experiences.

I'm tempted to go with that one.

From what I understand on their website's FAQ, it's a rolling contract, so 30 days I can break it. I might be wrong so I'll double check before I order, but if it is, I can get out of it if it's bad.

I can't get out of Sky for 12 months, I think.

A good place to ask about vivaciti LLU Unlimited, or xilo/uno as well, is the Resellers and Other providers forum.

To be honest I'm surprised you can get that vivaciti package if you can't get the xilo/uno unlimited one. Unless they each have an allocation of ports, which seems unlikely.

In that case I have a feeling Vivaciti's website is not checking something and the order will get cancelled. Fail.

I'll post back what happens, gonna go post in the resellers forum now to get an idea. It is likely I'll order it tonight but I'll update this post when/if I do.

Wandsworth exchange... we've classed it as full in our systems as we had a few orders last week reject due to no capacity.



Matt