[i.h]

My exchange has Sky, TalkTalk and Vodafone as LLU providers.

All Openreach-serviced customers have an Openreach connection to the exchange (be it copper, fibre or copper to the cab and fibre the rest of the way). That's the 'local loop' as I understood it.

In the exchange, the connection hits Sky's equipment if it's a Sky customer (regardless of line type), Vodafone equipment if it's a Vodafone (or Vodafone reseller) customer or TalkTalk equipment if it's a TalkTalk (or TalkTalk reseller) customer. All other customers stay on Openreach lines and equipment until their connection hits their ISP higher up the chain.

It sounds like you're saying the last part is only true if it's a standard copper-to-the-exchange connection?

Edit - yep - bit of reading reveals I'm totally mistaken on that. Thanks for correcting.

Still, going back to the original point - given the similarity of hardware between Plusnet, EE and BT - surely they could just unlock the routers and transfer customers over between providers (like you can already do if you switch from BT to EE or Plusnet).

Yes, there are three parts

- the access network, which for Openreach FTTC/FTTP is entirely owned and operated by Openreach with the speeds/features Openreach wishes to sell, for FTTP that's right through to their ONT / "modem" in your house
- an aggregation network, which is where BT Wholesale is involved for those ISPs who use them as their middleman. The other major ISPs have their own equivalent networks, so in your case this is where Openreach and Vodafone interconnect. This is probably not at *your* exchange unless you live in a town/city centre, but it doesn't matter.
- the core network that actually connects to the internet, which is where I'm suggesting BT/EE/PN still operate separately.

As for the router point, I guess it would need a lot of testing to ensure it works perfectly and customers don't lose service. I understand the BT/EE/PN routers have different default PPP usernames/passwords and this mechanism is how the BT Wholesale network routes you to the correct ISP. There's a lot to go wrong, and I'm not sure the cost savings are really there to justify taking a risk.

"Digital voice" is another sticking point, as Openreach want rid of legacy phone services. BT of course happily moves you over to their service, but EE and PN have no equivalent product. Perhaps that'll be the way to get people onto BT proper - they just get sent a BT router and a date for migration...