adsl v. llu supplier and help please

myrtleturtle

hi
i'm with virgin at the moment and very fed up with there speeds at the moment so am going to change supplier when i've got my MAC code.

now can anyone tell me the difference between a adsl and llu supplier
samknows says my exchange is enabled for
adsl
adsl max
llu:
aol
o2
talktalk
sky ( already have tv)
tiscali
orange
as suppliers, my line is with bt
which would be best???

other thing is i rang bt asking about speed available on my line and they said it will support 0.512kbps which is very low
my neighbour is with bt further from exchange and she gets at least double that. any ideas why????
should i be asking bt if my line will support adslmax or adsl2.will it make alot of difference if it does?
thanks in advance

mk-donald

Well the main determinant of the modem synch speed you can achieve over a landline is the length and quality of the landline - the simplest measure of that being the "downstream line attenuation" in dB - eg I'm about 5kms from my exchange and have 55-60dB attenuation which means I get around 3-4.5Mbps down and upto 1Mbps up (depending on the type of ADSL used).

LLU providers have IN THE PAST had a major advantage as they typically installed more advanced kit than BT and hence offered ADSL2+ (technically able to get upto 24Mbps down/1.4mbps up on a short/good line) versus ADSL/max which peaks at 8mbps/448kbps up. However BT are progressively removing that advantage and even leaping ahead by installing fibre to the street cabinet and hence getting up to 'cable' levels of 40-100Mbps potentially.

Sometimes people do also get confused about the MODEM SYNCH (ie the raw data capacity of the line) and actual DATA throughput over that synchronised circuit - hence in your own example you may have (say) a 10Mbps or 20Mbps Virgin cable circuit, but only getting a very variable performance from 1-10Mbps or 1-20Mbps rather than full 10/20Mbps.

If your neighbour is only getting say 1Mbps then that really is LOW, and you might prefer to stick with getting just say 20% of their (say) 20Mbps service than 84% of a landline 1Mbps service consistently!

Out of the providers you have available I would personally recommend o2 Standard and with current £back/freebies is as little as £1.50/month net cost over the 1yr commitment. It has no up front cost and has a 30 day happiness guarantee so if you ARE unhappy with the speed you get then you can just bale out without any cost during that first month. (It is normal to get the full technical limit of c84% of modem synch as usable bandwidth on the o2 LLU packages.)

See my documents here for more info:
http://cid-99aa6cf1226facfe.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/o2%20Broadband%20-v-%20Be%20There%20Broadband
ie make sure you get (current) £50 cashback for signing up via a £back referral site!

If the o2 website (via the £back site) does let you sign up then they reckon your line is under 5.5kms and it should give an ESTIMATE based on the BT database of line length.

Although I personally am on o2 Standard and hence "entitled" to their ADSL2+ Annex A service (ie upto 24Mbps modem synch, though capped at 8Mbps on o2 Standard) that only gave me around 3.8-4.2Mbps synch; whereas using an older/lower ADSL standard on the line is now giving me 4.2-4.8Mbps on the same line !

(The line will "support" any ADSL standard, it's just that SOME standards will be counterproductive as they will be "driving" the line so hard that it will actually be less efficiently used than if it was being driven less hard/efficiently.)

MKD

macman

myrtleturtle wrote: »

hi
i'm with virgin at the moment and very fed up with there speeds at the moment so am going to change supplier when i've got my MAC code.

now can anyone tell me the difference between a adsl and llu supplier
samknows says my exchange is enabled for
adsl
adsl max
llu:
aol
o2
talktalk
sky ( already have tv)
tiscali
orange
as suppliers, my line is with bt
which would be best???

other thing is i rang bt asking about speed available on my line and they said it will support 0.512kbps which is very low
my neighbour is with bt further from exchange and she gets at least double that. any ideas why????
should i be asking bt if my line will support adslmax or adsl2.will it make alot of difference if it does?
thanks in advance

Virgin Media (cable) or Virgin National (ADSL)? If the former, then you need a BT line before you can have any ADSL broadband service.
LLU just means that the line is unbundled at the exchange, it's still delivering youur broadband via ADSL.
Of your options, O2 is by far the best at £12.50, or £7.50 with mobile discount. Quidco cashback also available.
Your line speed issues (if already on ADSL) may have nothing to do with your ISP. Have you done the necessary internal checks-filters, wireless settings, tested from BT test socket?

myrtleturtle

hi macman
thanks for the reply i am adsl with virgin one of there national customers.
we don't get cable or wireless in our area.
thanks for explaining llu thing and recommending 02.
i know how to get to master bt socket , do i just speed check when connected to master socket or should i do something else?
tried getting onto my router settings but as net is so slow i can't get it to load but i keep trying.hopefully get on it soon.how do i check internal filters?what am i looking for when checking these things?
many thanks

macman wrote: »

Virgin Media (cable) or Virgin National (ADSL)? If the former, then you need a BT line before you can have any ADSL broadband service.
LLU just means that the line is unbundled at the exchange, it's still delivering youur broadband via ADSL.
Of your options, O2 is by far the best at £12.50, or £7.50 with mobile discount. Quidco cashback also available.
Your line speed issues (if already on ADSL) may have nothing to do with your ISP. Have you done the necessary internal checks-filters, wireless settings, tested from BT test socket?

macman

Do a speedtest with your existing set up.
https://www.speedtest.net.
Then plug your router into the BT test socket. This is behind the split faceplate on the BT master socket, just remove the 2 screws, pull the lower half forward and you will see it.
Repeat the speedtest (make sure you are connecting by ethernet, not by wireless).
This test will eliminate any problems caused by your internal wiring, wireless set up etc.
Make sure you have ADSL filters on every active extension (including any Sky boxes), these can sometimes go bad so worth swapping each in turn for a known good one.
If the results from the second test are better, you know you have an internal problem and you then need to work through and eliminate each area in turn.

myrtleturtle

ok thanks will do that first and see if theres a difference and post back later.
thank you
just finished the speed test was the same
before : download 0.74mbps
upload 0.37mbps
ping 65ms
bt master: download 0.75 mbps
upload 0.37mbps
ping 64ms

this is the fastest result i've had in ages though usually average download 0.49mbps
what should i be checking next??

macman wrote: »

Do a speedtest with your existing set up.
www.speedtest.net.
Then plug your router into the BT test socket. This is behind the split faceplate on the BT master socket, just remove the 2 screws, pull the lower half forward and you will see it.
Repeat the speedtest (make sure you are connecting by ethernet, not by wireless).
This test will eliminate any problems caused by your internal wiring, wireless set up etc.
Make sure you have ADSL filters on every active extension (including any Sky boxes), these can sometimes go bad so worth swapping each in turn for a known good one.
If the results from the second test are better, you know you have an internal problem and you then need to work through and eliminate each area in turn.