I agree with most of the points here, I am currently with Bulldog. I moved to Bulldog as I was told many years ago that LLU would open up the comms market to more competition. I was fed up with BT and had some bad experiences with their customer service (as they had no competition at the time they could do what they like).

Now, the only way to leave Bulldog is for me to return to BT for at least 12 months. If that is competition then there is something wrong.

BT must be loving this, as must Bulldog and some of the other LLU providers who can use this as a way of forcing customers who don't want to use BT to stay.

I had a long conversation with a guy from Ofcom about this very issue and he said he would note my complaint but that there was nothing they could do! What a load of baloney.

LLU has been around for a number of years now, and the broadband market is well established so I don't think the 'teething' excuse can be used.

If you guys are frustrated please let Ofcom know and perhaps they may eventually do something about this sorry state of affairs.

Hello Judge,

I see your point however broadband is fast being seen and sold as a household utility however the infrastructure is far from it. Where gas and electricity infrastructures are specifically designed to do the job they do, Broadband is an expansion of what is a very old network which has been expanded and upgraded to provide this type of service.

The reason we are behind in the UK is due the fact that there has only been one landline provider, LLU migration problems are just teething issues which won't always be the case as we move into a better market which more open and fair to the consumer.

Kind Regards,

Michael.

Thanks to you both. Michael, do I take it from your reply that the same problem would occur if I moved directly to another fully unbundled LLU provider e.g. Tiscali?

If so, sounds like it's wise to keep away from fully unbundled LLU as you're stuck. Consumers are inert enough when it comes to utility competition never mind having to suffer without a service for four weeks. This stifles competition! I really can't believe Ofcom. Can you imagine having no gas or electricity when you change between npower and British Gas?!

Hello judge,

Moving from Bulldog to O2 is impossible to do seamlessly, the line must move back to BT first, (this part is seamless and maintains your phone connection) once back to BT the line must the be provisioned which may take upto a few weeks depending on the supplier and in O2's case (who are underpinned by Be*) it should take the full 2-3 weeks.

Possible downtime approx: 4 weeks.

Be*/O2 are a Local Loop Provider so from the process above you should be to see that it doesn't matter who you are moving to but where you are moving from.

As for OFCOM I think shiverkitten cleared that one up.

Kind Regards,

Michael.

It's possible but not very likely. But I suspect you already suspected that. In theory it should be only expensive to switch there should not be any significant interruption. But if things go wrong, you know the rest...

Actually, my first sentence is incorrect. It is likely that it will be seamless. It's just that if it goes wrong...

And no, that is not what Ofcom is there for. Ofcom is there to support the suppliers and provide them with the means to compete with each other. Ofcom's remit may imply it is there for the householder but in practice it mostly acts to support the market and the industry.

Is it possible to migrate seamlessly from an LLU provider to a broadband provider that requires a BT line?

I am currently fully unbundled with Bulldog (Line rental, calls and broadband) and would like to move to 02. However, they require a BT line. Presumably that means I would be moving to a BT line for line rental and calls, and 02 for broadband. What should I do to migrate? Can it be seamless? I don't want to end up with no broadband for a month, or worse still no phone at all.

If this is not possible seamlessly, is it possible to migrate to another fullly unbundled LLU provider seamlessly?

I find this all very confusing and haven't been able to find a straight answer by searching online. Can't Ofcom make it simpler? Isn't that what they're there for??

Thanks.