What does LLU actually mean??

[niceguy235uk]

As title really!

And also what benefits does it provide over standard ISP connections?

Cheers!

 

[Singh400]

Local Loop Unbundling - in short it allows other companies to install thier equipment at your local exchange.

 

[niceguy235uk]

Local Loop Unbundling - in short it allows other companies to install thier equipment at your local exchange.

Cheers!

So if i decide to change ISP would it be better to opt for an ISP that operates this way?

The only reason i ask is that i am fed up with painfully slow speeds, even with a supposedly 8mb connection.

I am only just getting 1mb d/l speeds at peak times even though my line is apprently able to support 3meg.

 

[triplea4uk]

Cheers!

So if i decide to change ISP would it be better to opt for an ISP that operates this way?

The only reason i ask is that i am fed up with painfully slow speeds, even with a supposedly 8mb connection.

I am only just getting 1mb d/l speeds at peak times even though my line is apprently able to support 3meg.

You must be far from the exchange then so LLU will be no good for you to get better speeds.

 

[niceguy235uk]

Ok.

I am then assuming it would be beter for me to try and find a supplier that offers low contention ratios. The reason i say this is that my connection at off peak times is in fact very good, however, during the evening it is awful.

Does anyone have any suggestions?
Eclipse seem to offer a good package at around £25.00 a month which is what im paying now.

Cost isnt too much of an issue (within reason) if i can get better service!

Cheers again!

 

[malcolmk]

It could be a problem within your telephone exchange, try the checker at http://usertools.plus.net/exchanges/

If things are shown as OK (green) you may get better service simply by finding a better ISP. If the exchange is congested (red) and a fix is not forecast soon then LLU may be the answer. On a short line I used to get speeds between 1.5 and 7 megs depending on the time of day and day of the week. (Netservices). Now I get 12meg minimum with LLU. (Bethere).

But you cannot assume that LLU = good, BT IPstream is poor. If only it was that easy.

 

[niceguy235uk]

Thanks for that info.

I have just checked my exchange and, yes, its showing red.

In fact its shown green only 1 out of 5 dates over the last month.

My line is actually quite a distance from the exchange so that could also play a large part.

However, on the checker it does say that i may experience difficulties at peak times.

So it could be that i need to find an LLU supplier?

 

[malcolmk]

Looks like something to consider. www.samknows.com for info on LLU providers at your exchange.

 

[Rygar]

But you cannot assume that LLU = good, BT IPstream is poor. If only it was that easy.

Totally agree.

To the OP. As as already been said LLU gives you the option of moving away from the BT Wholesale network. This can sometimes offer a price or performance advantage, but not always.

There can be any number of reasons for poor performance during peak times. ISP quoted contention rations mean very little TBH, and the old style BT Wholesale ones (50:1 & 20:1) no longer apply.

Who are you with now?
Can you provide your line stats from your router (SNR & Attenuation)?
Also check to see exactly what services are available to you at Sam Knows, are any LLU services available, are any cable services available?
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/checker2.php

Re the red exchange, while this can cause problems it is not as black & white as it may seem. The majority of exchanges in the UK are probably red. I know mine is but it does not affect my speeds as my ISP has plenty of capacity at the moment.

 

[niceguy235uk]

I am with Virgin at the moment.

I had just moved from Tiscali because i thought their service was poor, but it looks like it could just be my line.

When i had problems originally, i eventually had an engineer call and he said i was only just in reach of the exchange for a 2mb connection. I think i have wrongly assumed that 'up to 8meg' meant that mine line could take it.

However, when looking on various broadband checkers they all seem to come back that i should be able to reach 3.5megs minimum. Then when i looked at Sam Knows, there is only Bulldog LLU available and even then, it said that i could only take there Bulldog Lite at 2meg, and im not even sure if that is on their LLU.

Im away from home at the moment so i cant post any stats, but i do know that my router is connecting at around 4meg.

The connection i am using at the mo is Tiscali 1meg and its lightning fast, even at peak times!

Even if i could just squeeze a little more out of my service i would be happy. At best my d/l speeds have been about 50kbps (is that right?) so to say im paying £25 a month for awful speeds is pretty poor!

 

[Rygar]

Well if that's 50 kilo bits per second, then yes that's very poor. Not much better than 56k dial up which typically had throughput speeds of 48 kilo bits per second.

Also the ISP's you have chosen dont exactly have good track records. Virgin are heavily congested & Tiscali will throttle you at the drop of a hat, if you d/l a service pack etc (let alone use p2p).

Check out their ratings here for example> http://www.dslzoneuk.net/isp_ratings.php

However bad ISP or not, really need to see those line stats to see what's going on.

 

[niceguy235uk]

Well if that's 50 kilo bits per second, then yes that's very poor. Not much better than 56k dial up which typically had throughput speeds of 48 kilo bits per second.

Also the ISP's you have chosen dont exactly have good track records. Virgin are heavily congested & Tiscali will throttle you at the drop of a hat, if you d/l a service pack etc (let alone use p2p).

Check out their ratings here for example> http://www.dslzoneuk.net/isp_ratings.php

However bad ISP or not, really need to see those line stats to see what's going on.

Ok.

I will post them as soon as i return.

Thanks for the info and Merry Christmas!!!

 

[fizl]

Out of curiosity, what are good/bad values for SNR and attenuation? I'm on a red exchange and my ISP is virgin (and getting awful up and downloading speeds) and I currently have a downstream attenuation of 18db and a noise margin of 13db

Thanks

Shaz

 

[Rygar]

Out of curiosity, what are good/bad values for SNR and attenuation? I'm on a red exchange and my ISP is virgin (and getting awful up and downloading speeds) and I currently have a downstream attenuation of 18db and a noise margin of 13db

Thanks

Shaz

You want SNR (noise margin) to be as high as possible.
You want attenuation to be as low as possible.

As your sync speed increases, your SNR will drop (attenuation is a constant which remains static regardless). Once upgraded to ADSL max, SNR will usually drop to between 6 & 10.

Whether your figures are good or not depends on what speed you are currently sync'd at. For example if you are synced at 512kbps then it is not a great line. If you are sync'd at 8192kbps then it is a brilliant line!

Use this calculator to estimate the best speed you can potentially get on ADSL max:
http://www2.farina1.com/calc.htm

If the reality is substantialy different than the calculators guess, it probably points to a problem.

 

[fizl]

I have (according to virgin) an 8 meg line. According to my router it is connected downstream at 8128 - but in reality on a good day i get download speeds of about 600k - on a bad day 1/10th that! Something is bad - and am guessing its my ISP...

Shaz

 

[Rygar]

guessing its my ISP

Looks that way!