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[adslmax]

Three ISPs, Plusnet seem to be much better overall service for uptime.

Cerberus (Sogfast 160/30)
Aquiss (Sogea 80/20)
Plusnet (Sogea 80/20)

[dee.jay]

You have 3 connections now?

[adslmax]

You have 3 connections now?

Yep

[Dwight]

Yep

Can you balance load them, or do you have three distinct services?

[kitz]

Your usage doesnt need that.  Unless you have some sort of business or critical service theres no reason for you to have 3 lines. You already had one of the fastest types of connections.
Max why on earth do you do this, you know you can't afford it and youve got yourself in difficulties before with subscription costs.   I can get FTTP but I'm still on FTTC due to budget.  I dont subscribe to the likes of Sky or any streaming aside from the free one that comes with Prime.   I do get PIP but it costs me far more in carer costs that I need personal care help as my mobility has further declined.    I cant even drive or get out on a mobility scooter and no holidays.  So Im totally housebound and it would be wonderful to get a fast connection and able to enjoy streaming content.... but no-one pays my rent and household repair bills.   

If you are in cooling off period best do so now.  I dont know a single who is going to be impressed by what youve done.   You cannot compete with people that need them for their employment. I'm holding back, but Three connections is downright stupidity.. we all know in a few months time you will change your mind because of cost and have to get out of contracts due to mental health caused by financial stress. Dont do this to yourself again.  Its cyclic; so perhaps see your GP now. Sooner rather than later and before you get in too deep.  Please just take a step back and appraise your needs  and finances.

[dee.jay]

And I thought 2 x FTTP was excessive. Note, full time remote worker x2 household and the cost is not something I worry about.

How do you use all 3, max, do you have any way of balancing, are you running 3 x routers and 3 x wifi? That's an incredible amount of work in itself.

[re0]

I struggle to justify a single gigabit FTTP connection as that alone is approaching 60 a month. I could probably make excuses for a spare FTTC or mobile connection as a backup, but the cost of additional hardware that is capable of handling the connection speeds and can detect when there is no route to switch connection will add up. I can just hotspot for the five minutes the connection is down every month or so if I really need.

[tubaman]

As a family of four managing perfectly well on a 40Mbps FTTC connection, that being the best presently available, this sounds like utter madness and a ridiculous waste of money. Of course if you have money to waste that is your choice but it doesn't sound like @adslmax is in that situation.
We do have Wessex Internet installing fibre here at present but I am still not sure if I'll be moving to it as although it'll be a lot faster and no more expensive than my current connection I am slightly concerned about the reliability and support I'll get from a smaller ISP. My current FTTC connection, although not the fastest, has been reliable and rock steady for years and that means a lot.

[dee.jay]

I struggle to justify a single gigabit FTTP connection as that alone is approaching 60 a month. I could probably make excuses for a spare FTTC or mobile connection as a backup, but the cost of additional hardware that is capable of handling the connection speeds and can detect when there is no route to switch connection will add up. I can just hotspot for the five minutes the connection is down every month or so if I really need.

opnsense or pfsense can do this and they are essentially free. Just need some computer to run it.

[adslmax]

2 x Sogea (bonding lines) 160/40 but don't know how to do bonding lines. Sogfast can't be bonded line as Openreach won't allowed it (can put cease on the line at any time as it no contract for it) For Aquiss it got 3 months left remaining in contract. Plusnet is 23 months remaining left (but they told me it free upgrade to FTTP once it become available)

[re0]

opnsense or pfsense can do this and they are essentially free. Just need some computer to run it.

Essentially free... if you have the hardware. Plus there are the physical space requirements and increased power consumption, even if a decently capable system can be picked up for about £100. I used to have a Dell OptiPlex MFF system, but that had only one NIC and I got rid of it as part of a downsize.

[Dwight]

I struggle to justify a single gigabit FTTP connection as that alone is approaching 60 a month. I could probably make excuses for a spare FTTC or mobile connection as a backup, but the cost of additional hardware that is capable of handling the connection speeds and can detect when there is no route to switch connection will add up. I can just hotspot for the five minutes the connection is down every month or so if I really need.

Do you need the 900? As just looking at their web pages the do seem to have some nice offers. If you are out of contract!

[Dwight]

2 x Sogea (bonding lines) 160/40 but don't know how to do bonding lines. Sogfast can't be bonded line as Openreach won't allowed it (can put cease on the line at any time as it no contract for it) For Aquiss it got 3 months left remaining in contract. Plusnet is 23 months remaining left (but they told me it free upgrade to FTTP once it become available)

Didn't Plusnet offer to buy out the Aquiss? 🤔🤔

[re0]

Do you need the 900? As just looking at their web pages the do seem to have some nice offers. If you are out of contract!

I quite like being able to download games in a few minutes, but 200 Mbps would also suffice if I could be a bit more patient.

Recontracting doesn't get the same deals as new customers. 900 has been down to £29/m, but it's £85/m out of contract. Recontracting usually sees about £50-60/m if I'm correct, unless there are providers with competitive pricing in the area.

[dee.jay]

Essentially free... if you have the hardware. Plus there are the physical space requirements and increased power consumption, even if a decently capable system can be picked up for about £100. I used to have a Dell OptiPlex MFF system, but that had only one NIC and I got rid of it as part of a downsize.

Nothing wrong with a single NIC, my M720q has a 10Gbps NIC and I just run it as a router on a stick And now we're getting to the technical stuff and suddenly we need managed switches and £££.

I'm probably cheating though, been a network engineer for 20 years. This is all just bread and butter.