Compare the latest LLU broadband packages, deals and offers. LLU Broadband means the broadband provider has installed their own equipment at the BT exchange to offer you broadband and additional services. This often means increases in broadband speeds (as much as 24Mbps) and other services such as VOIP. The downside to LLU is that it’s not available everywhere. To find out if you can receive LLU broadband in your area, type in your postcode below and if you can, we show you all the deals and offers available from leading LLU broadband providers.
LLU Broadband is a relatively tricky subject to explain without confusing issues, because it is not exactly a technology or a type of broadband, but rather a way of recognising and categorising the deregulation of the network of telephone exchanges previously owned and operated by BT. What this essentially means is that it allows third party companies to have access to and offer broadband services over the phone line that connects you the customer to the BT telephone exchange without having to simply resell BT products that they have brought wholesale.
LLU stands for Local Loop Unbundling, and its inception is one of the reasons that there are so many small and medium broadband ISPs out there offering cheap internet connections with a range of different services that you won't find on a standard
BT broadband package. The unbundling is usually only applied to your broadband, which means that most people still pay line rental to BT and receive their phone services through BT whilst retaining the ability to outsource their ADSL broadband internet to another third party provider. ADSL is the term that is applied to home broadband packages that are available over your existing copper wire land line, and makes reference to the fact that the flow of data is biased heavily in one direction, in this case to the download speed.
LLU Broadband Advantages
Because of LLU broadband, third party ISPs can use their own equipment within the exchanges to offer increased speeds over standard
ADSL broadband, with technology like ADSL 2 offering up to 12Mbps or ADSL 2+ offering a potential maximum of up to 24Mbps download speed and much higher upload speeds compared to a standard ADSL connection. Companies like
BE Broadband and Bulldog have exploited this advantage, but their faster ADSL services are only limited to exchanges in urban centres which they have adapted, so it's not something open to everyone.
LLU Broadband and TV
You may have noticed that some of the bigger broadband ISPs like
Tiscali are offering
TV packages in conjunction with their broadband and this is largely thanks to the freedom of LLU, but as with the ADSL 2 speed increases it is limited to the amount of exchanges that have had the new technologies rolled out into by an ISP. TV services received over your broadband connection offer a range of channels that you would expect to find on a broadcast digital TV package but removes the hassle of a satellite dish or aerial on the outside of your house. You can also access loads of on demand video content, and Tiscali offer a set top box that can record programs from your broadband connection, as well as having a built in Freeview tuner so you can watch other programs at the same time.
LLU Disadvantages
There are a couple of set backs to the LLU broadband other than the limited coverage that is currently available. The main one is that once you have signed up to a third party ISP using an LLU package it may prove relatively difficult to reconnect to a BT service, because there is cost involved in the process and this will more than likely be passed on to you, the customer. Thanks to MAC codes though and their now mandatory existence it's not as hard as it was in the past to migrate your broadband service between third party providers or back to BT.
