Broadband - Location Matters

Youve probably not given much thought to who owns what in your local telephone exchange but unknown to many of us; broadband providers have added their own equipment into your local BT exchange. This direct access enables them to give their customers many different services and reduce cost.

So, what does this mean to the average consumer?

Well a few years ago, when signing up to broadband deals, you would be effectively running solely on BTs wholesale network branded as another supplier. BT sells these services via their wholesale arm and internet service providers (ISPs) go on to brand and manage the services on their own.

Times have now changed and regulator Ofcom has set in place something known within the industry as Local Loop Unbundling or LLU. This means that broadband providers can bypass the BT network and install their own equipment in your local exchange.

You may think of this as good news, potentially reducing the cost of your broadband connection but unfortunately this isnt always the case and has led to different prices for broadband in different areas and also huge differences in quality of service.

The majority of complaints about pricing and poor service come from people living in rural areas because providers have rolled out their LLU networks in urban areas where they can cover the widest number of people in the UK and also control cost, (i.e. its more cost effective to have LLU in urban areas as they can maximise the number of potential customers and maximise revenue).

The likes of AOL and Talk Talk (Both owned by Carphone Warehouse), Tiscali and UK Online are charging over the odds to customers outside of their LLU network and this is usually in rural parts of the country.

Other providers such as Orange and Pipex have chosen to take a different route and are winning customers by choosing not to pass this charge onto their customers.

With the difference of around 10 per month, its not wonder customers are up in arms and worth checking to see if youre affected before choosing your new provider.

Always check the latest broadband deals because deciding which of the many broadband providers you are going to sign up to.

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