Rural Options - Any point trying to avoid BT?

I know there are many questions on this theme but wondered if anyone could provide some clarity on the following please?

We are on the Michaelchurch Escley exchange and were with BT Business through my wife's work. We had a reasonably steadyish 3MB. Moved to the post office due to costs and have had virtually no broadband for 3 months. It has ranged from 0.08 - 1.6MB and is usually less than 0.5MB. It isn't just a problem at peak times either. All lines of investigation have now been followed by the PO so they have agreed we can leave with no charges as they cannot explain the massive drop in speed.

1. Do BT Wholesale really provide the same service to other ISPs as they provide to BT Retail? Is it really a level-playing field when you are on an unbundled exchange?

2. Could the drop in speed have been caused by TalkTalk's network being that much more congested than BTs? If so, might it be worth tryiing providers like Enta etc who claim to have less congestion? Even if this could help, I can't seem to find any concrete information on the quality and capacity of ISP networks apart from hearsay.

Basically, I would like to try and get more than the 3MB we had with BT but having had an absolute nightmare for the last 3 months, I am worried about risking going with someone else in a scenario where it seems BT hold all the cards. Having said that, we were with BT Business before so if we go back as residential we could have a slower speed than before anyway. Really not sure what to do.

Doesn't look like I can get wireless broadband here and the reviews on satellite seem very inconsistent (plus the expense of course).

So, in short, could an ISP with a good network be worth trying considering our line is about 3km from the exchange and ADSL Max is the best on offer? If so, any recommendations?

Any advice much appreciated!

Thanks
Matt

Yes same srrvice but some elements vary based on what the provider pays

Post office in exchanges where talktalk din't have their own network is to be avoided

As for maximum speeds what line attenuation is reported by the modem

Your "Point 2" is the problem. Pure and simple.

Post Office broadband is completely run by TalkTalk. In most cases of course, it will be on their LLU which isn't too bad, though how good the supply to the Post Office is another question.

Because your exchange doesn't have TalkTalk LLU then you are on the BT Wholesale network. However, ISPs using that network have to rent handover capacity. That is to say, a maximum Mbps they wish to pay for, shared out between the customers they have on it.

TalkTalk non-LLU has always had a dreadful reputation for woeful under-provision, as it costs a lot more than their LLU. (Which is why LLU providers can undercut all the BT Wholesale ISPs). The non-LLU Sky Connect was as bad.

You should be fine with most non-LLU ISPs. One very attractive one will be Plusnet, but watch out!

It's an 18-month contract but 12-months free. As it is not in their low-cost area the basic price after the twelve months will be £17.49pm, not the advertised £9.99pm. Line rental and Anytime calls are both going up in September. I'll leave you to do the arithmetic to see what your 18-month charges will be and average it out. Their Customer Support isn't having a good time at the moment.

You should also take a look at this post.

I feel very much the same as you being in a rural area.
Have been with TalkTalk and Plusnet and both were a nightmare, customer service was abysmal and speeds at peak times meant no BBC iplayer and the like. Currently trying to change to Zen but having major problems with the switch.
I see no light at the end of the tunnel until we get Fibre which I hope will happen next year at our exchange.
Plenty of people on here have more expertise than me on the subject and will baffle you with all sorts of techno babble but the truth is until the BT monopoly is broken up were all in trouble in rural areas. My solution in the short term is to stick to an ISP with a 1 month contract and then at least I can get out if the service not up to a standard I can live with.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Yes same srrvice but some elements vary based on what the provider pays

Post office in exchanges where talktalk din't have their own network is to be avoided

As for maximum speeds what line attenuation is reported by the modem

Thanks for the reply. The router is stating 42.0dB. It's also reporting approx. 46,000 errors on the "near-end FEC error interleaved". Interesting to hear that providers get what they pay for. Is one of those things the "handover bandwidth" that RobertoS is referring to? That leaves me wondering how I can find out which providers to try and which to avoid in this respect?

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

You should be fine with most non-LLU ISPs. One very attractive one will be Plusnet, but watch out!

Thanks for that. So probably best to avoid ISPs with their own LLU network when on a non-LLU exchange?

In reply to a post by postorifice:

"Is one of those things the "handover bandwidth" that RobertoS is referring to?

"Handover capacity" sorry

Yes, contract termination fees are a pain if you have quality of service issues. I had also paid advance line rental upfront. They were quite reluctant to give me that back. So short or no contract options seem like a good idea if the surcharge isn't too much. I will take a look. Thanks.

I was with the PO for sometime and had very little problems. A rural exchange at a distance of about 2-3km and speeds of between 6-7Mbps. Then in the last few months something happened - probably the deal with Talk Talk - because my peak time speeds dropped to below 1Mbps at times.

The exchange is ADSL Max only and the BB service is through BTW. No LLU

I had many discussions with PO customer service who eventually admitted that, that's what it was and there was nothing they could do since they had no ££££ to improve it. If I wanted to leave then there would be no penalty - there wouldn't anyway. I did [censored] about being misled and got £10 compensation - whoopeee!

I've just switched back to BT - a little more expensive but my line speeds are now at the top end of the 6-7Mbps range 24hrs a day.

Shame really since the PO phone deal is great and if they made it clear up front that peak time BB was throttled back you could make a yes/no decision because their BB costs are pretty good.

BTW: The PO supplied a Zyxel router which was hopeless and kept dropping out. My Technicolor router is very good.

Also BTW: Previous to the PO I was with Plusnet and had no problems with the service from them. I only switched because of the seemingly better deal with the PO

Take a look at aa.net.uk, the best of the best. They will sort out your speed problems for you. You won't regret it.