Only 2 options for ADSL2+ by LLU - C&W and TalkTalk

I face a bit of a dilemma in choosing who to move my broadband to. I'm connected to the Science Park exchange (EASCI) which has no 21CN or FTTC dates. On a 20CN product I sync at the full 8192 Kbps but am looking to move to an LLU package. Only C&W and (in the last month) TalkTalk.
The options I'm considering are:
Tesco (C&W) - cheapest as they offer free broadband for a year for Tesco mobile customers
TalkTalk - Also fairly cheap and by using the forums for support my not be as bad as I suspect
Small provider such as Uno/Xilo or ADSL24 - more expensive but will have better support in case of speed issues.
I've heard that the C&W service is oversubscribed (this was the only LLU option from 2010-2013) but I don't know how true this is and what the consequences are.

Can anyone offer some advice please?

It depends to some extent on what you use your connection for.

For the vast majority of people TalkTalk is perfectly adequate, and you seem happy about the support issue. (My brother many miles away and my neighbour across the road both have raw TT - the neighbour being on Tiscali when TT took kit over. Both are perfectly happy with the standard telephone support, and both have used it a few times).

If you are going to be using it in a more advanced way then to your list of Xilo/uno and ADSL24 I would add vivaciti and Aquiss. I suggest would be best to contact your favourite or all by phone or email and ask for advice about which of the two is the better for your needs. They all seem to be straight-talkers on that side of things from what I see here, but IIRC there are considerable differences in their actual packages.

There is also the question of whether or not you are happy with your phone line being taken off "BT" onto full LLU (MPF). Again, there are packages that do that and others that avoid it. If there are any reliability issues on your line that is also relevant, because of the differing facilities the two wholesalers offer the ISPs.

I would avoid Tesco. I can't put my finger on it but feel there have been a fair few issues. If you do a Search here for it you should find some informative posts. (Apart from the ones in "The Park" which are basically meat-related).

Edited by RobertoS (Fri 05-Apr-13 00:17:22)

We have a lot of customers on that exchange, we are now seeing issues with capacity in so far as spare ports to connect customers up on CW but no issues with speed, there is plenty of backhaul out of the exchange.
We only have a handful on TTB on that exchange no issues that I can see.
If you can get onto the CW then on that exchange we don't see any issues.
We offer free connection on either CW or TTB but if you asked me I would say go for CW if you can get on it.

In reply to a post by vivaciti:

We offer free connection on either CW or TTB but if you asked me I would say go for CW if you can get on it.

What's the advantage of C&W over TTB?

Thanks for the advice so far. The main thing attracting me to Tesco initially (apart from price) was that if you aren't happy within the first 3 months you can leave without penalty. However, I don't think the customer support will be up to much.

My main usage is general browsing with a fair bit of streaming (including HD). Maybe once per month I will use P2P but I'm not a regular user.

The ability to connect to C&W at my exchange is what I've heard before so I'd be interested in knowing if this is likely to be a major problem (and what would happen if I went with Tesco and there were no free slots available).

Finally regarding 'full' LLU. I understand the issues about full LLU in terms of moving providers in the future but as far as I can see keeping the phone with BT and getting the broadband via LLU costs a lot more per month unless someone can convince me otherwise...

It's the 'if' part of your reply that worries me a bit - is there any way of know whether a request for C&W would be fulfilled?

Hi,
Not until we place the order, if there are no spare ports the order will be rejected, we can then get a status update but if there are just no spare ports you can either select a different product or just cancel the order and get a full (and immediate!) refund.

Or see about one of your TT products instead, as if there are no C & W slots for you I assume there would be none for any ISP.

Correct, if we do not have a port free then no one has through the same tail provider.