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[Weaver]

See chat room AA IRC over www:
    http://aa.net.uk/kb-irc.html
Customers, staff, RevK himself often, all hang out there.

[les-70]

  I have had the same response from AAISP over the phone and by email and I believe that they tell the truth. It is the move from full LLU not the FTTC that is the issue. They admit the risk of loosing FTTC if there is no port available after the 10 days of no service. 

 I view AAISP as already getting too expensive so things like extra lines don't have any appeal, in fact a second line might be difficult as there were no spare pairs available here when a neighbor had a fault.  I can see more merit in using AAISP with adsl as then they can give you max control of things.  As far as I know, with FTTC, Openreach simply don't allow any control to ISP's beyond setting the DLM profile on installation. I can see that AAISP would give better support but the product would be much as with others.

[Weaver]

Les-70: you can also talk to other AA customers on IRC if course to find out what attracted them to AA, I must admit I have no experience of FTTC so I can't speak about what parameters can be changed and what can't.

One nice thing is that parameters that are ISP-alterable are also  alterable / changeable values by the user where this makes sense. It's rather nice that AA really trusts the user to have a brain ( whether or not this is the case is another matter ) and lets them go mad with the clueless controls at 04:00 on Sat am.

 

[aesmith]

A&A said they could port our number into their SIP platform if they take over our phone line.

[Chrysalis]

I wouldnt join plusnet right now, although their action (eventually) to deal with the congestion is a work in progress, I would wait until things are confirmed to be improved over a period of time.

Also personally I think plusnet are more closed up then sky tech support, and sky is a bigger isp.  On the pro section of the sky forums they have been quite open in some requests e.g. detailing capacity of individual exchanges, utilisation levels (rather than a vague colour code) and fix dates, as well as on backhaul and transit routes.  Would never get that kind of info from plusnet now.

They also refer to openreach as openreach not "our supplier".

I would recommend either sky or pulse8. Both will avoid BT wholesale assuming in a LLU area and have good feedback from existing customers.
Zen seem to be suffering lately, which could be down to BTw or themselves.

[jelv]

Some other points about Plusnet:

• How long have they been promising a new billing system?
• How long is it taking them to provide IPv6?
• How long have they been promising secure email?

(A clue: all three can be answered in units of years)

[Chrysalis]

yes they also have a reputation for not fixing problems that have existed long term.

e.g. also migration orders getting stuck and need the customer to prompt staff to get it moving again is another one.

The mail one is the real shocker, enabling tls is something that can be done in a matter of minutes on modern email server software.

[les-70]

  It is not becoming an easy choice.  Just how bad was/is Plusnet congestion?

 If my current TTB just slowed from 60 down to even fully steady 20 I am sure I would not really notice however the actual evening response when TTB FTTC users apparently join TT home is such that iplayer is too irritating to watch, even if the average speed is only down a bit it is full of near zero speeds which just make everything a real pain. Last time it happened the congestion was fixed in few weeks but this time it has been going on longer. 

[jelv]

Other than people with specific issues on their line or congested exchanges which would affect all ISPs, there are few complaints on the forums about speeds at the moment.

[HPsauce]

Just how bad was/is Plusnet congestion?

I agree with @Jelv, apart from the occasional specific problem there isn't any and hasn't been for a while, they seem to be on top of it these days. 

[speedyrite]

Very interesting to read all this. Currently on Sky Fibre Pro, which is on a par with BT Infinity 2 price-wise for an "up to 76mbps" d/l service at £30 pm + LR, but considering options at forthcoming end of contract. Ditched Sky TV last month, so (anecdotally) a discount in exchange for a further contractual commitment is unlikely to be offered. Was pondering a move to PlusNet, but was already a bit wary after reading about the recent move to dedicated WBMC. May sit tight for a while!

[Chrysalis]

If I was you stay put, sky "just works", no congestion, no peering issues.

If cash is an issue drop down to the 38mbit service, sky's 38mbit service will offer better speed reliability than competitors of higher speeds and sky have good deals on that even without tv commitment.
I was offered free migration, half price 6 months and something else (I forgot) when I migrated, sky also paid off my plusnet remaining LRS.

[tommy45]

Also if you migrated just FTTC they would hit you with a £50  activation fee, and you would see a 2-3mbps drop in throughput if you get a 80mbps sync  due to their secondary IP profile  even when they set it to 78mbps it still gives a lower max throughput of around 2mbps , you being on sky llu no BTW ip profile restricting the throughput, should be seeing  around 76mbps  maybe a tad over in perfect conditions

[speedyrite]

Thanks (Chrysalis & tommy45) I think I will stick with Sky for now. I'll see what they say when I give them a call to discuss the end of contract situation. Had also been considering a drop back to the 40/10 service actually, which wouldn't be the end of the world for us really!

[les-70]

  It is interesting that Pulse8 and AAISP use TTB  FTTC.  Maybe they do better than direct TTB customers, if not they would not be good choice for me and I would need reassurance to stay on the TTB platform with another ISP. I may try a chat with AAISP on this issue.

  Until the middle of last summer I had 2 years of perfect performance from TTB, no congestion and good routing, the only gripe was their stable FTTC profile. Costs bit less than BT and with many included extra's that I use like free mobile calls and cheap international. I was told some while ago that TTB traffic was always prioritised over TT home but now they say not so in the evenings, it maybe this is the change that is upsetting me or a general network issue that any TTB reseller would also have.

  Sky is an interesting option, I need to get over my anti Murdoch feeling for that and also investigate Sky customer service a bit.  Plusnet and ZEN remain in my thoughts coupled with view that if nothing goes wrong Plusnet is the best value.