New ISP - SE London

Hello everyone !

I am moving flat soon and i need to setup my broadband. At my previous address I had Virgin Media fibre broadband (FTTP). It was great.

The apartment building i am moving too only has a FTTC connection (80/20). FTTP will not be coming to my new address anytime soon.

I want to try and get the best FTTC connection i can at my new address. I have therefore started to try and learn more about how the broadband is delivered to help me choose which ISP will be able to provide the best service (this forum has been great).

Please correct me if i am wrong in any of the following.

It is my understanding that all ISP's will use the same equipment to provide FTTC internet from the main exchange to my new address (copper cables from open reach).

Therefore the following will help improve the quality of my FTTC connection.

- Using a supplier that provides a static IP address (or static IP addresses).
- Using a supplier that uses a good quality backhaul.
- Using a supplier that does not throttle your connection.
- Using a quality wireless router.

I already have a good quality wireless router so thats something i do not need to look into.

Some context before the questions. My new address is in South East London (Camberwell / Dulwich) (if this helps). I would prefer a ISP that offers 12 month contracts. The apartment building i am moving into was built in 2008 so should have okay wiring.

So my first question is, with reference to the above points, apart from the wireless router, do any of the other points actually matter ? Should i just go with the cheapest ISP I can find that has some sort of reasonable customer service / usage agreement ?

However, if these points do matter :

- Is there a particular backhaul that is generally worse / better than others ? I have read that TalkTalk has a bad reputation overall (as a ISP and backhaul provider).
- I am assuming cheaper providers are likely to throttle your connection. Is this true ?
- Is there anything i have missed ?

I have looked into cheaper providers such as Now tv & Shell. I have also looked into other providers such as aaisp, cuckoo, aquiss, idnet and zen as potential ISP's.

I am happy to spend more (within reason) for a better connection (unless it's not really required).

Thanks in advance !

Edited by hamlets (Mon 23-May-22 09:47:36)

In reply to a post by hamlets:

Please correct me if i am wrong in any of the following.

It is my understanding that all ISP's will use the same equipment to provide FTTC internet from the main exchange to my new address (copper cables from open reach).

Therefore the following will help improve the quality of my FTTC connection.

- Using a supplier that provides a static IP address (or static IP addresses).
- Using a supplier that uses a good quality backhaul.
- Using a supplier that does not throttle your connection.
- Using a quality wireless router.

I already have a good quality wireless router so thats something i do not need to look into.

Some ISPs will use BT Wholesale's equipment at your exchange, and others such as Sky, TalkTalk and Zen, may have their own equipment at the exchange - this is known as Local Loop Unbundling (LLU). You can check what is available at your exchange using the checker at https://kitz.co.uk/adsl/broadbandchecker.php.

Traffic shaping is carried out by certain ISPs, where latency sensitive traffic is given priority over other traffic - Plusnet is an example of an ISP that does this.

Having a static IP address will not make any difference to the throughput you are able to achieve.

I have a Plusnet fttc connection. It works fine and is not expensive. Broadband is their core business unlike some of the other companies you mention. You can have a fixed IP address for a one time charge of £5. There is a forum website where you can raise issues if you want.

Please ignore tboorman's reply as he is completely wrong.

For starters, you have an understandable misunderstanding here: "It is my understanding that all ISP's will use the same equipment to provide FTTC internet from the main exchange to my new address (copper cables from open reach)".

FTTC (Fibre To The Cabinet) is provided using Openreach (OR) fibre to new cabinets, hence the acronym. Your fibre cabinet is within 50 metres (80-100 cable run) of your local phone cabinet (PCP).

There is a two-way copper link between the PCP and its associated fibre cabinet where the conventional phone service (PSTN) provided over OR copper from the exchange is diverted to a small DSLAM (similar to what provides ADSLx in exchanges) merges the phone and fibre broadband signals. This being the same methodology as is used in exchanges to provide both phone and ADSLx over the existing copper.

The reverse traffic from you is split the same way.

Back at the exchange fibre which more often than not is not the same as your copper phone exchange there is an OR Layer 2 Switch that routes each "wholesale" provider's traffic between you and their backhaul from the exchange.

LLU as described by tboorman is not involved in FTTC as all the (normally several miles) of copper between you and the exchange (the Local Loop) is bypassed for broadband except the last few hundred metres between you and your PCP.

LLU is where the likes of Sky and TalkTalk have their own DSLAMS/MSANS in each exchange where they provide ADSL2+ and they have complete control of the traffic over the whole Local Loop. With FTTC they have no significant control of the broadband signal between the exchange and you. Openreach provide a link in the exchange between the PSTN system and the provider's MSAN and maintain the copper local loop but that's all.

On FTTC Openreach have complete control of the broadband traffic between the exchange and you. Providers can specify to Openreach preferred stability profiles, and also it's up to them how much throughput capacity they purchase from OR for the GEA link (Generic Ethernet Access cable) between the OR Layer 2 switch and their backhaul from the exchange to their inhouse equipment.

This Openreach document gives a pictorial view of the above. (Though looks to have a mistake ROFL! It doesn't show the two-way link between the two cabinets where the E-side copper is routed from the PCP to the DSLAM and back to the D-side from the PCP).

Edited by pluralist (Mon 23-May-22 22:26:18)

In reply to a post by pluralist:

Please ignore tboorman's reply as he is completely wrong.

I am indeed. That is what happens when you reply without reading what the OP said properly!

Oops. Though maybe I could have been a bit less rude about it. Sorry.

At the time I just wanted to make the point beyond doubt to the OP.

In reply to a post by pluralist:

Oops. Though maybe I could have been a bit less rude about it. Sorry.

No worries, it is all good .