[i.h]

They could always use the ITV Digital way of rebranding equipment. send out EE stickers to cover up any old BT logos. That way, you will be upgrading your devices to the latest technology 

media.onhistory.co.uk 

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networking equipment would be constantly refreshed to keep up to date date with new features and security. As part of that cycle, if probably wont not be too difficult to integrate with other networks. Thanks to open standards, vendor interoperability should not be a showstopper. It would mostly require layer 3 routing changes.

Three for example recently migrated its Nokia cloud core network, and whilst this is a mobile operator, it's still IP based.

Yes, I remember getting those stickers. I think I did use them too...

It isn't so much the physical network but the logistics that would make it a major undertaking (esp. if there are complications like customers with static IP addresses) which is probably why they haven't done it yet even though there are benefits, as the BT broadband network clearly has been the focus of investment and with bells and whistles such as IPv6 which EE and Plusnet never had.

Given the emergency alert debacle, I don't think anyone's going to take network engineering lessons from Three any time soon

[AaronLancs]

Yes, the company has one joint product called VOLT, however they haven't merged the billing, so part is paid to Virgin and the mobile to O2.

On the other hand, I was one of the former Virgin customers moved to O2 for mobile last week, which was seamless.  I'm still using a VM SIM which is now fully on O2's system.

Thanks for the clarification.

[cable]

Yes, I remember getting those stickers. I think I did use them too...

It isn't so much the physical network but the logistics that would make it a major undertaking (esp. if there are complications like customers with static IP addresses) which is probably why they haven't done it yet even though there are benefits, as the BT broadband network clearly has been the focus of investment and with bells and whistles such as IPv6 which EE and Plusnet never had.

Given the emergency alert debacle, I don't think anyone's going to take network engineering lessons from Three any time soon

end user DHCP and Static IPs would be relatively straight forward if the routing was in place. It would require changes at layer 2 and probably require uplifting whatever is acting as the router/gateway (possibly an SVI if CISCO hardware) and ensuring VLANs are added into the the new hardwares VLAN databases and trunked back to the core network.

Threes 5G network is actually very good. That emergency alert was a test after all, it turned out to be some software bug that prevented reception.

You are right though, it is a big undertaking but perhaps more common than you'd think. Integration of IT systems happens all the time.

[alfiejmulcahy]

I think they're doing this entirely the wrong way round. BT is definitely the more well known brand and has a huge history. I can see this move just causing confusion.

I'm hoping that in the last year this plan has been quietly dropped, I saw an advert the other day with the BT and EE brands next to each other with the tagline 'better together', much like the Virgin Media/O2 situation.

[thomalex]

I think they're doing this entirely the wrong way round. BT is definitely the more well known brand and has a huge history. I can see this move just causing confusion.

I'm hoping that in the last year this plan has been quietly dropped, I saw an advert the other day with the BT and EE brands next to each other with the tagline 'better together', much like the Virgin Media/O2 situation.

I think you’re right with it being quietly dropped. You have everything to gain and nothing really to lose by having both brands which is why Virgin have kept both brands with their merger with O2. 

Fortunately it does seem like it’s been quietly dropped.

[London Lite]

If they've decided to quietly drop the loss of the BT consumer brand, it may well be down to them seeing how the VM/O2 brands have been maintained and working for their rival. (O2 is still the market leading mobile phone network).

It seems the only brands being dropped for EE are BT Mobile and Plusnet Mobile which are being integrated into EE, which is the same strategy VMO2 have used for Virgin Mobile.

[gottago]

I think they're doing this entirely the wrong way round. BT is definitely the more well known brand and has a huge history. 

I can't imagine BT being the more well known brand among younger people, especially once the BT Sport brand is dead.

[WillPS]

It's going to be very messy considering that EE was (and for now still is) a home broadband provider in its own right, and they use different equipment (and I think still a different network infrastructure, inherited from when BT was contracted to supply the service to an independent Wanadoo/Orange/EE).

It's one thing to close down BT or Plusnet Mobile and move people onto equivalent EE plans, at best needing to send them a new SIM card, but the home services will be "fun" for employees and customers. Especially when the business side is keeping the BT name (but not for business mobile, of course)

I can only assume the whole thing is being driven by a survey that suggests EE is x% more respected as a brand than BT is. At least when NTL&Telewest did it, they brought in a completely new brand...

EE closed down the Wanadoo/Orange LLU setup years ago; way before the BT takeover. Since then they've just been selling BT Wholesale service, like Plusnet. 

Since the merger EE quickly moved to using the same in-home hardware as BT and Plusnet too. I believe they even share quite a lot of support functions nowadays - the only real separation is the billing.

The TV side of things is the complicating factor as that exists solely with BT. The EE TV service is now long dead and for years they pushed bundled Apple TV. To be honest I wouldn't be surprised if the service was just wound up; other than sport all BT seem to do nowadays is resell Netflix, Discovery+, Now etc. I know their integrations are a little deeper (particularly with Now) but really what value does that offer to either customers or BT?

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I think you’re right with it being quietly dropped. You have everything to gain and nothing really to lose by having both brands which is why Virgin have kept both brands with their merger with O2. 

Fortunately it does seem like it’s been quietly dropped.

A lot of assumption going on here that VMO2 intend to keep up the Virgin license longer term. They could well be 5 years away from a point where they can stop paying Virgin, in which case might as well make use of it...

[i.h]

EE closed down the Wanadoo/Orange LLU setup years ago; way before the BT takeover. Since then they've just been selling BT Wholesale service, like Plusnet. 

Since the merger EE quickly moved to using the same in-home hardware as BT and Plusnet too. I believe they even share quite a lot of support functions nowadays - the only real separation is the billing.

That’s a different part of the network though. LLU as a concept effectively died when FTTC/FTTP came along, but it appears the core networks are still separate from each other. Without inside knowledge of how it actually is set up, the fact that IPv6 is not available on EE and Plusnet (while BT itself has had it enabled for years) would suggest it to be the case, as IPv6 enablement is a big task and it’s not worth doing if the medium/long term plan is to shut it down anyway.

If I had to guess, I’d expect that the task of replacing EE’s Huawei *mobile* core network with Ericsson is of far greater importance since it was a promise to the government.

Having worked in the world of broadband equipment, I can say with certainty that just because the EE or Plusnet router appears to be the same (EE went so far as to use a different case for theirs, even if it’s the same inside) then that doesn’t mean there have not been tweaks and differences to cope with different requirements, and that needs to be considered as part of any migration.

[WillPS]

That’s a different part of the network though. LLU as a concept effectively died when FTTC/FTTP came along, but it appears the core networks are still separate from each other. Without inside knowledge of how it actually is set up, the fact that IPv6 is not available on EE and Plusnet (while BT itself has had it enabled for years) would suggest it to be the case, as IPv6 enablement is a big task and it’s not worth doing if the medium/long term plan is to shut it down anyway.

I don't think that's true. LLU (local loop unbundling) means sending the user's line to a backhaul other than BT's at the exchange level. FTTC and FTTP lines still terminate at the exchange. I have FTTP with a Vodafone reseller, and my Openreach line connects to Vodafone's infrastructure at the exchange down the way. (wrong, corrected in the thread)

EE, Plusnet and other BT Wholesale customers connect to the same infrastructure as BT (retail) customers.