Rural living, Changing broadband provider?

Knackered_girl

Hi

I live in a rural area in Northern Ireland and manage to get broadband (just) as I am the furthest house from the exchange and am always told I’m lucky to have the service! Speed is under 2 mg and I’m with bt so it’s costing a fortune!

Can anyone tell me if I would be able to switch provider who will give me the same service but cheaper. I know if I ring one of them they’ll say yes and I’m worried it may not work, as I’ve done that for mobile contracts too.

Thanks

Knackered girl

Mister_G

Yes, the service will come down the same copper cables, so should be about the same speed, no matter which ISP you chose.

You may find that some ISPs will not serve you if the line speed is too low (Sky for instance).

Put your phone number into their websites to see if they will provide your location.

Knackered_girl

Thanks. Yes I understand it comes down same cables, just worrying that they’ll say yes to me and then not able to support the broadband.

It’s so annoying that some rural areas get super fast broadband for a lot cheaper than I’m paying but doesn’t seem to be coming towards the area I live in.

The other question I’ve got is as my internet sometimes fails and I have to get an engineer out, I understand they’re not bt engineers anymore. When using a different provider, do people have any problems getting engineers out to sort it out.

AndyPK

Open reach are the people who work on the cables and boxes.

Regardless if its BT, EE, Sky, TalkTalk.

However these different providers have a different service level agreement with OR.

So if you are with TalkTalk it may take 5 days for an engineer to come and have a look.
If you are with EE it would take 3 days.

So be aware of the really cheap providers.

How long does it take for BT to turn up?

You also need to convince your provider to request OR to come out.

giraffe69

There is a website https://www.samknows.com which will give detail of which companies can supply to your house. In my village if you get rid of BT there are only about 3 others possible and, of course, no cable now or probably ever!

AndyPK

EE and plusnet are owned by BT so you would like the think they use the same equipment maybe?

I would recommend EE or sky

Knackered_girl

Thanks everyone. I’ve just checked sky and they won’t provide broadband. I’ll check EE now.

Normally get engineer from open reach 3-4 days after phone call.

I’ll certainly check the website (thanks giraffe69).

I know bt will get an engineer out, as we have had so many problems but I’m paying over double what the cheaper providers are offering!! There’s no deals for existing customers with bt!! Some people are getting fibre for half the price of me which I don’t think is fair. I’m really want a cheaper price but I can manage with bt service here! I just want to make the right decision.

Knackered_girl

Just been on the website you suggested and it states I can get
BT Wholesale ADSL
BT Wholesale ADSL Max

Unfortunately I have no idea what this means! Then clicked on if I’m confused (yes definitely) and says bt, virgin, talktalk and sky plus a few others I’ve never heard of should be available! I can’t understand sky being on there as I checked earlier on their website and they won’t supply the address.

onomatopoeia99

Knackered_girl wrote: »

Just been on the website you suggested and it states I can get
BT Wholesale ADSL
BT Wholesale ADSL Max

Is that all it says on the summary page? Mine says:

• BT Wholesale ADSL
• BT Wholesale ADSL Max
• BT Wholesale WBC (21CN)
• BT FTTC
• TalkTalk (CPW) LLU
• Sky Broadband
• Virgin Media (Cable)

If you click on any of the tabs on the left ("BT ADSL" "BT SDSL" "BT FTTC" and so on) they should all say "You are connected to the (somewhere) exchange" with the somewhere being a link. Post what that link is - it will tell us what town you live in / near because it tells us which exhcange, but it also gives information about which networks are present at the exchange and consequently which services are likely to be available. The link below is where I live for an example:


https://availability.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/SSTHO

J_B

We have John Lewis broadband in our rural location - it's part of plusnet but was cheaper for us!

Knackered_girl

Here’s the link

https://availability.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/NIFCT