4 ms·

As someone living in rural America- it is amazing there are so many providers! I literally have a single broadband provider available to me.

maccard 3y ago
The line is usually owned by either Openreach, Virgin, CityFibre, or a smaller local provider. The "ISP" is a reseller that gives you a modem, router, etc. it's not really that competitive in reality
- darreninthenet 3y ago
  I'm not sure I agree, the ISP rents the bandwidth off the "main" provider on equal terms so the competition stems from the quality of the support and service that comes with that... there's a reason why AA have such an outstanding reputation and also why they aren't the cheapest.
- xbmcuser 3y ago
  That is how it should be infrastructure is government funded people compete to provide services on it. Just like most roads/highways are. Asking 4-5 different isp to do the infrastructure independently would increase costs by 4-5 times then they would be competing for customers so payback period for infrastructure investment is up in the air. This is the main reason USA has problems with monopolistic isp as who the fuck invest in infrastructure when another isp is already there. So they all build in there own areas and cost of infrastructure become the most that keeps other out.
- jjbinx007 3y ago
  We had fibre laid a couple of years back but for some reason I can choose City Fibre based ISPs OR Virginmedia on the same line. I don't think I've ever seen that before, they usually don't share their infrastructure like this. I can't get Openreach-based FTTC ISPs though.
traceroute66 3y ago
> As someone living in rural America- it is amazing there are so many providers! Sort of. Certainly when it comes to home internet connections, there is a little bit of smoke and mirrors because BT have their horrid sticky fingers in many pies. So the reality for many home internet connections in the UK its more a case of finding an ISP who's on your side and that is willing to pick a fight with BT when needed. This also remains the fact with the alt-net home fibre providers, because they will typically just aggregate your building onto a BT connection back to their PoP. Well, that's slightly unfair, because ISPs clearly also vary on their own commercial decisions such as how "hot" they run their network, whether or not you can get static IPs and whether or not they run CGNAT. And there are some very noticeable quality differences on this level. The absolute independent choice is only there for businesses in (some parts of) major cities where you have genuinely independent operators running their own fibre end-to-end, never touching the BT network.
- ta1243 3y ago
  I have circuits which run long distance over the BT network as wavelength services. You could argue that's a "BT network", but it's just a piece of glass and some filters/multiplexers. Other providers are available - network rail I believe offer the service for example. Wavelength services are very different to a "network" though.
crazygringo 3y ago
As someone living in New York City it's amazing there are so many providers. Having lived in ~5 apartments over the past ten years, I've only ever had a single broadband provider available as well. Different providers cover different parts of the city, and even if you're lucky enough to be in a neighborhood that gets two, your landlord will only have wired the building for one of them.

maccard 3y ago

The line is usually owned by either Openreach, Virgin, CityFibre, or a smaller local provider. The "ISP" is a reseller that gives you a modem, router, etc. it's not really that competitive in reality

darreninthenet 3y ago
I'm not sure I agree, the ISP rents the bandwidth off the "main" provider on equal terms so the competition stems from the quality of the support and service that comes with that... there's a reason why AA have such an outstanding reputation and also why they aren't the cheapest.
xbmcuser 3y ago
That is how it should be infrastructure is government funded people compete to provide services on it. Just like most roads/highways are. Asking 4-5 different isp to do the infrastructure independently would increase costs by 4-5 times then they would be competing for customers so payback period for infrastructure investment is up in the air. This is the main reason USA has problems with monopolistic isp as who the fuck invest in infrastructure when another isp is already there. So they all build in there own areas and cost of infrastructure become the most that keeps other out.
jjbinx007 3y ago
We had fibre laid a couple of years back but for some reason I can choose City Fibre based ISPs OR Virginmedia on the same line. I don't think I've ever seen that before, they usually don't share their infrastructure like this. I can't get Openreach-based FTTC ISPs though.

traceroute66 3y ago

> As someone living in rural America- it is amazing there are so many providers! Sort of. Certainly when it comes to home internet connections, there is a little bit of smoke and mirrors because BT have their horrid sticky fingers in many pies. So the reality for many home internet connections in the UK its more a case of finding an ISP who's on your side and that is willing to pick a fight with BT when needed. This also remains the fact with the alt-net home fibre providers, because they will typically just aggregate your building onto a BT connection back to their PoP. Well, that's slightly unfair, because ISPs clearly also vary on their own commercial decisions such as how "hot" they run their network, whether or not you can get static IPs and whether or not they run CGNAT. And there are some very noticeable quality differences on this level. The absolute independent choice is only there for businesses in (some parts of) major cities where you have genuinely independent operators running their own fibre end-to-end, never touching the BT network.

ta1243 3y ago
I have circuits which run long distance over the BT network as wavelength services. You could argue that's a "BT network", but it's just a piece of glass and some filters/multiplexers. Other providers are available - network rail I believe offer the service for example. Wavelength services are very different to a "network" though.

crazygringo 3y ago

As someone living in New York City it's amazing there are so many providers. Having lived in ~5 apartments over the past ten years, I've only ever had a single broadband provider available as well. Different providers cover different parts of the city, and even if you're lucky enough to be in a neighborhood that gets two, your landlord will only have wired the building for one of them.