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[Weaver]

Totally disagree. AA provides more features and these are very important to me; line IP bonding, fixed global IPv4 address blocks, IPv6, constant quality monitoring graphs, alerts when your lines go down and many many more - can’t think of them all. The IPv6 and fixed IPv4 were requirements for me, that’s why I didn’t stay with Zen, although Zen has changed since then; it was a long time ago. AA policy also guarantees a contention free network. So it’s not all about customer service. Many people are not interested in these things and just, understandably, regard internet access services as a commodity. Hence the race to the bottom on price.

At the same time, your line is what it is and won’t get better by a change of ISP unless it needs mending. The core network does also matter though.

[BobC]

Totally disagree. AA provides more features and these are very important to me; line IP bonding, fixed global IPv4 address blocks, IPv6, constant quality monitoring graphs, alerts when your lines go down and many many more - can’t think of them all. The IPv6 and fixed IPv4 were requirements for me, that’s why I didn’t stay with Zen, although Zen has changed since then; it was a long time ago. AA policy also guarantees a contention free network. So it’s not all about customer service. Many people are not interested in these things and just, understandably, regard internet access services as a commodity. Hence the race to the bottom on price.

At the same time, your line is what it is and won’t get better by a change of ISP unless it needs mending. The core network does also matter though.

I was considering A&A as I previously mentioned earlier in the discussion but £55 per month for a line that will still have problems is not worth it. i'm fine without all the fancy little extras too. Low latencies, no peak time slow downs, stability / reliability is about all I need. Speed would be another one but if my line will just continue to play up I'm probably better off settling for a cheaper alternative. The only reason I have stayed with BT for so long despite the gradual drop in speed is because of the low latencies, no peak time congestion whatsoever in almost 5 years and barely any downtime. If I can get these things from other ISP's on the network who are offering higher estimates I may as well choose one of these.

Who to go with though? I still haven't the foggiest. Zen (£35) and IDnet (£46) seem to be the best options based on reviews if you take out A&A at £55. I'll see what all of you think before I commit to any.

What do you mean about the core network Weaver?

[Weaver]

I mean the part of the network that the ISP owns, also opposed to the BT or Openreach network and the wider internet between ISPs.

Zen and IDNet are both good choices. I used to use Zen. TalkTalk Business might be worth looking at too.

[jaydub]

Zen and IDNet are both good choices.

I'd add in Pulse8 (if you don't mind being on TTB SMPF); Uno and Aquiss as other credible suppliers.

[Weaver]

"offering higher estimates" is just nonsense from ISPs, if you see any such thing. After all, it’s the same line.

[tubaman]

"offering higher estimates" is just nonsense from ISPs, if you see any such thing. After all, it’s the same line.

I was going to say the same thing. Whichever FTTC ISP you choose you'll get the same sync speed as they can't change the properties of the wire between you and the fibre cabinet. I would request a DLM reset from BT and see how it goes from there.

[Weaver]

A DLM reset will make your line go faster, but only if your SNR margin is currently too high ( > 6dB) after faults. You would need access to your modem statistics to check this.

[tubaman]

A DLM reset will make your line go faster, but only if your SNR margin is currently too high ( > 6dB) after faults. You would need access to your modem statistics to check this.

My bold above - the line appears banded and stuck with DS SNR of ~10dB. As the error rates look very low a DLM reset will hopefully fix this.

[BobC]

Seems my dsl uptime restarted at around about 2am. dsl uptime 8 hours 41 minutes, modem uptime 8 days 13 hours 26 minutes. The router logs seem to be a bit pointless as they don't seem to show anything. The stats show hundreds of CRC errors, 11 ES, 11 SES, UAS 75, LOS 1, LOF 8. I thought that was the cause for the drop but it seems that's normal when a resync occurs on broadcom modems. So I have no idea what caused the reset. The noise margin is now 11.1db instead of the 10.4-10.8db. This is beginning to irritate me now. Sync speed and line rate are now 43.999 and 44.000. Fast.com speeds indicate 41Mbps. In the last sync which was 43.997 I wasn't getting anything higher than 39Mbps in fast.com which in itself is weird. Max attainable is now at 62.8 to 63Mbps.

Thanks for some of the ISP recommendations above. I will check them out soon. Before I rush into that though I'm probably best doing what Tubaman says and get a dlm reset but I might request an engineer visit as well. There's clearly an issue somewhere. Fourth time lucky?

[g3uiss]

At this stage the DLM reset is the way forward. I would avoid an engineer at this stage, let’s see what happens, and if the line errors on a lower SNRM. it will never be the same each resync the nature of the technology.

For whatever reason the line is banded. Nothing will change that except a reset. It’s what happens after that matters.

[Weaver]

A DLM reset will certainly give a big improvement.

[Chrysalis]

Totally disagree. AA provides more features and these are very important to me; line IP bonding, fixed global IPv4 address blocks, IPv6, constant quality monitoring graphs, alerts when your lines go down and many many more - can’t think of them all. The IPv6 and fixed IPv4 were requirements for me, that’s why I didn’t stay with Zen, although Zen has changed since then; it was a long time ago. AA policy also guarantees a contention free network. So it’s not all about customer service. Many people are not interested in these things and just, understandably, regard internet access services as a commodity. Hence the race to the bottom on price.

At the same time, your line is what it is and won’t get better by a change of ISP unless it needs mending. The core network does also matter though.

I do wish they started properly supporting FTTP though, they going to fall behind if they dont implement it.  I am still on aaisp now and will probably stay as long as I have FTTC, but cityfibre are currently rolling out in my city, and I wont think twice about leaving when its available, probably to zen as they resell it.

zen checker confirms my street is part of the residential rollout, so just matter of time.

[BobC]

At this stage the DLM reset is the way forward. I would avoid an engineer at this stage, let’s see what happens, and if the line errors on a lower SNRM. it will never be the same each resync the nature of the technology.

For whatever reason the line is banded. Nothing will change that except a reset. It’s what happens after that matters.

Had no choice in the end. I asked for a DLM reset and their response was only an engineer can do that. I then pasted the isppreview article "Openreach Give UK ISPs More Control of Broadband DLM Profiles" but I doubt the live chat staff via BT's website even bothered to read it. They were far too busy spamming me with walls of pastes. They have scheduled a engineer visit next week but I told them to make note of the DLM reset.   

[Weaver]

@Chrys Couldn’t agree more. Madness.

[g3uiss]

At the other end of the scale Plusnet are not offering it either. Suppliers like Zen are going to benefit greatly. I’m just about to change my Plusnet circuit to Zen for this reason.