Broadband options

mattedgie

Hi,

I am looking at getting broadband in my flat but I currently don't have an active landline. I checked by plugging in a phone and checking for a dial tone which there wasn't.

I also checked on sam knows website as suggested by many people when reading this forum and it gave me the following options.

• BT Wholesale ADSL
• BT Wholesale ADSL Max
• TalkTalk (CPW) LLU

So are my only options for broadband Talk Talk and BT?

Also i need to factor in the cost of getting a landline connected, i've read it can be as much as £130 for a phone line...ouch!!

Ideally i would want unlimited internet and not bothered about the phone package as it won't be used.

Can anyone suggest any options/packages please.

Thanks

Matt

macman

No. Your only LLU options are TT. You have the choice of dozens of other non-LLU provider's who are reselling the BT Wholesale service.
For example Plusnet, Zen, IDnet and many others. £130 is the standard BT Retail price, but there are usually offers on that will reduce this, or you can have the line install done via another provider who will usually undercut BT.
Unlimited broadband and non-LLU is never cheap though.
By far your cheapest option will be one of the TT tariffs, since it's LLU on your exchange-but of course TT do not rate highly for customer service. Your choice.

deklan99

Or get BT to install the line for £30 for 18 month contract and make at least 10 chargeable or inclusive calls per month.
Vivaciti, Xilo/Uno or Aquiss do CPW(TalkTalk) LLU over SMPF, only broadband is LLU.
Or see what their connection charges are and go full LLU with them, shorter contracts far better support, they can also return your line to BTw for about a fiver if you ever want to migrate away, makes things a bit easier in the future.
Call these guys first to make sure the SMPF option is available to you.

mattedgie

Thanks for the responses....apologies but what is SMPF and why is this a better option?

deklan99

SMPF or shared LLU is where only the broadband element is unbundled from BT Wholesales network, future migration simple. MPF, Full LLU, is where both voice and broadband are unbundled, you are then no longer on BT's network and migrating between providers is then problematic. Having said that as I mentioned above some ISPs will now move you back to BT wholesale for a small fee if you ever want to migrate away. Talktalk won't.
With Full LLU you also have to take both voice and broadband from same provider, shared LLU you can mix and match.
In general any LLU broadband product is better than a BT based one.
However if price is the main thing for you then as macman says TT is the best/least worst option.

mattedgie

Brilliant....thanks for the explanation!

So going down the TT route i would then have to pay to move my phone and broadband back to BT or any other provider?

Reason i say unlimited broadband would be so i could play ps3 online so had a look at TT and they have unlimited and having had a look at other providers for my post code, such as Sky, O2 etc they won't do unlimited For some reason when putting my post code in Broadband comparison sites it gives me the option of an unlimited Orange package....??

macman

Sky LLU does unlimited. As does O2 (latter subject to FUP). Most 'unlimited' (except Sky) still have an FUP.
If you line is LLU'd then you can come back to BT free on a 'return to donor', but this requires a 12m line rental contract. What's very difficult to do is to go direct from one LLU service to another.

deklan99

"So going down the TT route i would then have to pay to move my phone and broadband back to BT or any other provider?"

One way or another yes, possibly needing a new line/number also costing maybe £50 or so. Back to BT retail would be free but tied in with them for voice for 12 months. Xilo/Uno and Vivaciti however will convert your line back to normal BT Wholesale line so migrating away is simple.

"Reason i say unlimited broadband would be so i could play ps3 online so had a look at TT and they have unlimited and having had a look at other providers for my post code, such as Sky, O2 etc they won't do unlimited For some reason when putting my post code in Broadband comparison sites it gives me the option of an unlimited Orange package....??"

Unlimited for a cheap/bargain basement ISP is not going to be a happy experience, also all those mentioned above will be resold BT Wholesale products since you only have TalkTalk (CarPhoneWarehouse) as LLU.

If you have an idea of your monthly usage that would help you make an informed decision. I'm on Xilo/Uno resold CPW product (same equipment as TalkTalk) and I'm £27 for 75Gb p/m including line rental, pay for calls, monthly contract. Excellent.

mattedgie

I have seen Talk Talk will connect my phone for free if i take a broadband and phone package!

I don't currently have a monthly usage - don't have broadband or phone line as of yet in my property but i would play ps3 at weekends and use the internet mostly at weekends.

So do you have both phone line rental and broadband with Xilo? Do you get good speeds, any throttling etc?

deklan99

line rental included in the package mentioned above. Throughput generally at 4000 kbps on connection rate of 4500, attenuation 52 DB.
No throttling or anything like that and better still no sales calls, junk mail, boosts etc., and great support.
via HTC wildfire hence oddness