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> in my brief experience the quality of their actual service is no better than anyone else's. It'll be better simply because they're better at finding issues a

> in my brief experience the quality of their actual service is no better than anyone else's. It'll be better simply because they're better at finding issues and following up on them, but like most ISPs in the UK, they do not have their own infrastructure. There are three networks in the UK: British Telecom (BT, copper), TalkTalk (TT, copper) and Virgin Media (cable). Virgin Media, in my experience, is the most reliable network but unlike BT it is not available everywhere. AAISP use both the BT and TT networks, and will offer you what is available, or let you choose. But if there are issues with BT/TT, you're outta luck. You can get, if you like, two lines and have a failover or whatever, AAISP will in my experience support you way, way more than any other ISP.

MrAlex94 9y ago
> There are three networks in the UK: It’s getting better though. Various smaller towns have access to Gigabit internet at home now, but it’s still a tiny percentage of the population (around 1.67%). https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2017/09/ultrafast-fibre-optic-fttp-broadband-networks-cover-1-1-million-uk-premises.html https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2017/09/ultrafast-fibr...
edmundcraske 9y ago
There are way more than three networks in the UK, but BT, TalkTalk and Virgin Media are by some measures the most popular and broad in reach... Vodafone and Sky are two other common ISPs that have unbundled the local loop in the same way as TalkTalk (i.e. they have equipment in BT exchanges so that no BT backhaul is needed). See https://availability.samknows.com/broadband/ https://availability.samknows.com/broadband/ for what is available in your area (may not include other mobile, satellite, fibre providers)
falsedan 9y ago
BT & TalkTalk both use OpenReach's infrastructure for last-mile; they have separate backhaul networks but the limiting factor is always the copper from the cabinet or exchange. I would say, the UK has 2 major infrastructure networks (OpenReach, split off from BT, formed from the GPO; Telewest:NTL, now absorbed into Virgin Media) + some minor, growing networks (CityFibre).

MrAlex94 9y ago

> There are three networks in the UK: It’s getting better though. Various smaller towns have access to Gigabit internet at home now, but it’s still a tiny percentage of the population (around 1.67%). https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2017/09/ultrafast-fibre-optic-fttp-broadband-networks-cover-1-1-million-uk-premises.html https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2017/09/ultrafast-fibr...

edmundcraske 9y ago

There are way more than three networks in the UK, but BT, TalkTalk and Virgin Media are by some measures the most popular and broad in reach... Vodafone and Sky are two other common ISPs that have unbundled the local loop in the same way as TalkTalk (i.e. they have equipment in BT exchanges so that no BT backhaul is needed). See https://availability.samknows.com/broadband/ https://availability.samknows.com/broadband/ for what is available in your area (may not include other mobile, satellite, fibre providers)

falsedan 9y ago

BT & TalkTalk both use OpenReach's infrastructure for last-mile; they have separate backhaul networks but the limiting factor is always the copper from the cabinet or exchange. I would say, the UK has 2 major infrastructure networks (OpenReach, split off from BT, formed from the GPO; Telewest:NTL, now absorbed into Virgin Media) + some minor, growing networks (CityFibre).