mixture's dislike of BT is well known and no doubt heartfelt and from experience given that he is in the business.
Indeed.
BT have their sticky fingers in way to many pies, their behaviour is as a result somewhat monoplisitic and the regulator has no teeth and refuses to put in any dentures. BT know they've got no real competition and will have no real competition for the foreseeable future......it is nigh on impossible to operate in the internet or telecommunications industry and not end up signing off payments to one part or other of the BT empire.
Sure they may try to put the wool over everyone's eyes by saying "ooh look... we've split into BT Retail, BT Wholesale and BT Openreach". They claim to have Chinese walls between the divisions, but the fact is that seeing as they are all operated under the main corporate umbrella of BT Plc with the same ultimate board of directors, that Chinese wall soon starts looking like a bit of a road hump that can easily be driven over.
Anyway, as MM said, my view are well known, the above is merely the tip of the iceberg. Its all based on solid experience, so I'm not just ranting away for the sake of it. My advice is to avoid any BT Retail product and deal with a provider who'll be dealing with one of BT's other parts, not necessarily because they'll be buying a better product off BT, but rather because your chances of having someone helpful to talk to and someone actually do something about your problems in a reasonable timeframe is quite possibly better outside of BT Retail. Obviously if you can find an LLU broadband provider with a substantial own-network then that's also an attractive option.