Local Loop Unbundling - basically the ISP installs their own equipment in the local telephone exchange to service their customers. This lets them charge what they want and not have to fraternise with BT Wholesale. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_in_the_United_Kingdom#Unbundled_local_loop
I wish someone other than orange (ewww) would unbundle my local exchange so I could tell virgin media where to get off. I was with Be before I moved and they said the population in the area is too low to make it feasible. That's what you get for living in a suburb between 2 towns.
Try living in a small village in Kent. BT seem to have done something weird to our internet, it's down from a massive 400kbps to 65kbps. Now try downloading a 15gb game with steam. Your problems are nothing my friends Even my problems are nothing compared to the South Africans tho, it's all perspective I suppose.
Is there any way you can figure out if you live in an LLU area? I have O2 broadband, but I don't know if I'm likely to be affected by this or not.
If you're on O2 Home Access Broadband then you'll be affected. If you're on any of their other packages (i.e. standard, premium or pro) then you're on LLU and will be fine.
Also, on the O2 website, if you type in your postcode it'll tell you what package you can get. If it only says the 'Access' package then you haven't got LLU, you're really going through BT.
Putting your postcode or telephone number in to a search on SamKnows will also tell you which operators have LLU'd your local exchange - pretty useful site.
could someone look at this results page and tell me who the best uncapped/unthrottled/fastest service will be provided by
People generally have good things to say about Sky, I'm sure some people on here would be able to offer their experience.
Definitely the Sky Max package if you have Sky TV already. It's only £15 a month (£10 a month if you have Sky Talk) and is truly unlimited and up to 20MB. I was with Sky for 3 years and never had a problem with it.
