AAISP Trial 3dB ADSL Broadband on UK TalkTalk Wholesale Lines

Internet provider Andrews and Arnold (AAISP) has announced that they’re going to trial a 3dB SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) profile on their TalkTalk Wholesale connected ADSL2+ lines, which could deliver increased speeds but only if your copper line is very short / stable enough to handle it.

The SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) of a standard ADSL based broadband line, like the one that most consumers still have at home, reflects the balance (measured in decibels) between the useful information coming down a line (good signal) and unwanted interference (bad signal / noise).

How the SNR behaves depends on the quality and length of your copper line from the telephone exchange. Put another way, a very short and stable copper line could deliver better speeds with a 3dB SNR, but the opposite may be true on longer / less stable lines.

Broadband ADSL2+ lines delivered using BT’s 21CN platform can already support a 3dB SNR profile and we believe that Sky Broadband’s unbundled (LLU) network may also be able to do this, but until recently TalkTalk’s Wholesale lines have preferred to stick with 6dB (note: don’t confuse TT’s wholesale lines with their separate retail ISP, the two can deliver very different service quality).

AAISPs Trial Update

We are running a trial, open to everyone on a TalkTalk connected ADSL line (non-annex M at the moment), which will allow us to set the line profile to 3dB. Typically this will give a speed improvement on short lines. Email in to trials@aa.net.uk if you’re interested. It’s easy for us to move the line back if it is unstable, there is no cost difference.

We spoke to AAISP’s Managing Director, Adrian Kennard, about the trial and were told that they had specifically requested it from TalkTalk Wholesale (i.e. at this stage it doesn’t appear to be part of plans for a more general roll-out across TT’s network). Kennard sees it as a useful change for delivering closer parity of performance between their BT and TT based services.

Naturally it goes without saying that this sort of adjustment is best for those who can already get good speeds using the increasingly dated ADSL based services. It may also help if you have a more modern router that can cope better with line instability.