Do TalkTalk really do line upgrades now?

slbhill

Just had a guy at the door from TalkTalk, "checking I got the pack through my door recently about the line upgrades they're doing in the area". I hadn't seen any such pack & thought BT did all that kind of stuff anyway. He said BT weren't allowed to own all the lines these days & the one in this area is TalkTalk's. The upgrade will apparently be completed in 17 days.

It didn't sound quite right to me - but maybe I'm overly cynical about door to door salesman (is that possible??)

I wonder if it was a sneaky way of trying to get people to switch to TalkTalk? Wasted on me as I'm already with them & thinking of leaving :rotfl: but I'm curious... would be grateful if anyone can enlighten me!

Mark_In_Hampshire

They're not talking about a line upgrade. What they mean is that Talk Talk is installing its own LLU equipment at the exchange, so if you went with them, the other end of your phone line gets plugged into that.

So if you have BT or any other ISP on the BT Wholesale platform, AND your exchange only has "up to 8Mbps" services, then you *may* see a speed improvement as Talk Talk's LLU platform is the "up to 24Mbps" one.

I say *may* - generally, if the current ADSL speed is below 5Mbps on the up to 8Mbps service, it won't be any faster (in terms of line sync) with Talk Talk. The upgrade only benefits those with very short good quality lines which are already capable of achieving at or close to the maximum sync anyway.

That's just from the perspective of "sync speed", the actual speed - in terms of throughput, the real speed you see (which is always at or below the sync speed) can be impacted by other factors like contention (too many people, not enough bandwidth) and while TT's customer service is near universally slated as being pants, their LLU (which is what this called) broadband service seems to be quite well thought of.

All that said, if you don't have broadband, all it means is that you may be able to reduce your line rental and call costs. *May* be able to - others on here are more expert on the tariff side of things.

brewerdave

If you are all ready with TalkTalk just for B/Band and/or phone calls but still with BT for rental then they will want to switch you to their LLU equipment totally (inc rental); problem with this is that its the Devil's own job to leave after and many people lose their phone number on transferring to another operator!!
If you already take the whole package from Talk Talk then they will switch you to the new equipment -you will have no choice in the matter.

**always assuming that the doorstep seller was telling the truth -see https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3536579

Mark_In_Hampshire

Rocker wrote: »

Not true, I was with BT's upto 8mbps service getting 1.3 meg, Went to Sky/Easynet LLU and got 23mbps

That would indicate that one of three things is true:

1. You were getting 1.3Mbps throughput on a full 8Mbps sync on the up to 8Mbps service. The issue wasn't the line or the sync speed, but that the throughput (actual speed) you got with BT was just a fraction of what the line could actually do and you discovered that when you swapped;

2. There was a fault (e.g. a line card fault) that got "fixed" when that line card was bypassed (you swapped to LLU);

3. As you moved ISP, the exchange moved nearer to you :-) (You need a line not much longer than 250m to get your new speeds)

TalkTalk

HI Slbhill,


It is not the case that Talktalk own the line itself. This still remains the property of BT Open Reach. However if TT have installed our equipment in the exchange. If you're a TalkTalk customer the line from the property connects to TT equipment at the exchange. This is known as LLU and means the line is connected directly to TalkTalk's network, as opposed to supplying service via BT Wholesale services.

It sounds as if this wasnt explained particularly well by the sales agent.

Regards

Mark
TalkTalk Online Community Department