On Mon, 13 Feb 2017 21:36:14 +0000, tony sayer wrote:

Dave if its that important rapid backup and fault clearance then why not
get a mobile and a 3 or 4G dangle and mount it up on the chimney

What makes you think I haven't got that as well? The dongle I have
will do 4G but:

O2 and Vodafone don't offer 3G or 4G here.
Three only offer 3G.
EE offer 3G and 4G.

Then you have find a PAYG(*), SIM only deal, from an operator that
uses EE or Three as their network operator, that works on at least 3G
and allows data tethering. When I was setting this up last year Asda
Mobile was pretty much the only one to fit all those requirements but
is only 3G.

(*) Only a backup so any monthly cost is not acceptable.

And they are capable of kicking Openreach's arse when required, and are
much easier to deal with

Very much like A&A who I used for ADSL.

Apart from the offshore call center that sticks rigidly to the
script(s) I don't find Openreach any problem. Total Care tends to
make 'em jump, possibly jump too much. They ended up pulling an
engineer (with local knowledge) off a job 40 miles away when the
first engineer (without local knowledge) couldn't fix the lack of
POTs service, the ADSL was just about working. Despite me telling him
that there is a joint post (and where to find it), in Ali cable, at
the distance his TDR was saying there was a line anomaly, he tried to
fine a spare pair, except there aren't any that work. 2nd engineer
got the same TDR result, found the fractured Ali wire in jelly bean
in the expected joint post and fixed it in 10 mins.

--
Cheers
Dave.