Roberto

It is actually simple, OFCOM designate all such sites as Monopoly and mandate PIA products to be available. ( Just as OR have too) . End of issue as it makes it a level playing field across every infrastructure provider it would be very difficult to argue with.

You will probably find some of these lockouts actually claiming to be Open Access networks with wholesale products

Sky is the big name retailer beyond seethelight in the various OFNL locations, DirectSaveTelecom is another. Might even be TalkTalk these days too.

As for people being unaware, a lot depends on the solicitor doing the paperwork i.e. pointing out the various covenant clauses you get in some locations around car parking, caravans, colour of paintwork, height of hedges/fences etc etc

Hi Mate,

I assume you've moved and chosen your provider by now, so I hope you chose well and you are online and live! but I wanted to confirm a few bits of information for you, that has been discussed, incase you never got the actual answer you are looking for.

SeeTheLight - these are the sister company of OFNL Networks, and was the first provider on the network. This was created to have a non-wholesale front for the company.

MTH Networks joined the network around 3 years ago, and we have been slowly accepting new customers as we build and develop our systems around OFNL. Our mission is to change the internet experience; and provide the best customer service. We've just dropped our prices across many packages, too. But I dont want to advertise, I simply want to answer your questions and try and help you make the best informed decision possible.

Every provider is limited to using OFNL Infrastructure, and so we do not have any control over it, and the engineers that are send out are from another OFNL-Sister company, GTC.

All OFNL providers should be able to provide Static IP Addresses, however - OFNL limit these to their business lines only, which they charge the ISP more for on a wholesale level. It is correct in thinking that realistically your home IP should very rarely change, as this is locked at DHCP for 90-days at a time, unless your router goes offline for longer than 2 hours.

"Business ISPs" are those that have not had further Company Checks. To be a Residential provider for OFNL, you have to undergo many checks and assurances with the OFNL team, so they can control and ensure the quality of their Residential ISPs.

If I can be of any more help, of if you have any more Network Questions - please feel free to contact me directly, or pop up on our Live Chat. As I said before; I'm not looking to advertise, you dont even have to buy from us! We're interested in making your internet and experience better, without any catch.

So ISPs are limited by the IPs that OFNL have ? Seems rather differ from say A&A who may use by wholesale and talk talk, but do so with their own IPs, as I understand it by connecting to those networks at PPP layer not IP

I wonder what control the IT does sound a little like the ISPs may just be doing billing, support and ancillary services running over IP like email

Hey!

You are completely right, most OpenAccess Wholesale networks, such as BT, OFNL etc do offer integration at a top level, allowing you to route your own IPs and effectively the end user see's this as "Their Own Network". But the discount you get from this as an ISP (OpenReach: none! OFNL: very small), is much much smaller than the cost of setup or bandwidth, with the astronomical cost of IPv4 addresses, and OFNL Network Kit does not support IPv6 at this moment, so we are unable to offer this across the network. This would mean for an ISP to connect, setup the required routing servers, and allow for interconnects to the "real world" (rest of the internet!), they would have to join the network with 5-10,000+ connections to cover costs. I'm sure you can imagine what 10,000 IPv4 addresses cost alone (if not, google it !), let alone the salary for support, deployment and assistance.

Hope this explains it a little more!

Good to know it’s possible

Yes for a brand new ISP I can see why the white label model might work very well. At least it sounds like you could get more control or even group together with other ISPs and jointly run a different network.

For existing ISPs I guess scale is still an issue, how do you create,market and hookup a product which may only attract a small number of users compared to openreach

mwarby

We like to think we can attract you with our great charm and lovely customer service, vs BT or "The Big Guys". You'll always get one of us on the end of the phone or LiveChat, and you can even (post COVID) come and see our offices in Northamptonshire, UK. We'd be glad to meet our customers and show them where and how we support them. I think that's the only real way we can set ourselves apart from the "Big Boys".

Customers who live in OFNL areas don't get the choice of the Big Boys due to them being locked out.

As the OP of this thread, good to see it active and some responses from OFNL enabled ISPs.

Whilst I was a little concerned, I have to say the experience has so far been very very good. For a start (with a little planning on my part) I had a live 300Mbps symmetric fibre connection within an hour of getting the keys... very unusual for anyone moving into an Openreach or VM supplied property I'm sure. Perhaps a little big brotherly it also came with a phone call to say they'd seen I'd connected the router, and could I reboot it. There was a little hiccup getting the static IP which took about 2 weeks as the supplier I chose had to onboard an additional block. But jt was all sorted very personally.

MTH and my eventual choice of supplier, Air Broadband, both seem on the ball. My selection was purely down to overall costs coupled with specific package offerings that I wanted to take - the 300/300 package and a more consumer targeted activation of just under £60 vs around £150 for the "business" package most OFNL ISPs said I'd have to take to get the static IP. I get the impression Air do their own network management and routing, but I've not directly asked and may be wrong. Certainly my static IP is registered to them and not ONFL.

My BQM if anyone is interested:
My Broadband Ping

Generally on my development people seem happier with ONFL than their previous options before moving - just as you'd hope from a fttp solution.