The next ones are listed from 10pm and the previous ones started at the beginning of a similar time window according to my logs.
Martin has posted a status update on the WhatsApp channel to clarify that the upgrades are not for Aquiss directly, but from upstream. I don't want to copy the whole thing here as it's not for me to do, but he has already fed back that the start time would ideally be later to avoid potential disruption for customers. He also clarified that the upgrades and outages are infrequent bordering on seldom across all services (I'm paraphrasing here), and that Aquiss prefer to publish them where most ISPs don't bother, as he believes in transparency with customers. Sounds absolutely fair enough to me, and I'd rather know than guess! Another +1 for Aquiss tbh. 
My records of their web site status page and my system logs show six planned maintenance outages over the last six month period. Not terrible, but most started in the evening and without a secondary WAN would have been a pain.
In comparison I've had one planned VM outage and a couple of unplanned but only between 2 and 4am and very short in nature. I like the Aquiss service but its planned maintenance, whether upstream from them or not has not set any records for me. Additionally, although I've not been with them 12 months yet in addition to planned maintenance there has also includes several days of serious service issues. Martin is on the ball when things happen, but I suspect they just lack (or hopefully lacked) the infrastructure to avoid so much disruption for system upgrades and when hardware issues occur.
It's a home broadband service, and being told about maintenance is one step ahead of how the majority of the industry behaves. If you need a guarantee that you'll be able to go online at any time of the day then you need a second service running over different physical infrastructure.
Even ethernet leased lines have maintenance windows and planned outages, and the response to pushing back on these will be the providers telling you that it's your fault for not giving them more money to have diverse links.
Even ethernet leased lines have maintenance windows and planned outages, and the response to pushing back on these will be the providers telling you that it's your fault for not giving them more money to have diverse links.
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That's why I have three WANs
.My point was that over the last 12 months Aquiss or their suppliers haven't been as good as VM in terms of maintenance, packet loss/total drops etc which is not what I expected (maybe I am lucky with VM in my area). Only latency has been better but that's down to the underlying technology rather than service.
VM get a lot of stick due CS/outsourcing/routing/email gate etc etc, however if you are in a decent area and have no requirement to speak to them, they're a solid ISP. I was happy with Aquiss and I only got VM as their TV package with broadband worked out cheaper than what Sky wanted for TV alone. I ran VM and Aquiss side by side for a few months, and after VM finally fixed the upload issue I was experiencing it's been perfectly fine. In fact, apart from looking at numbers on a terminal, I've noticed no difference at all. That's why I eventually cancelled Aquiss. I should mention again that I am on RFoG rather than HFC and I think most reported issues come from ageing coax.
When it comes to the renewal dance in December I'd happily sign up again for 18 months as I am a sports junkie provided they give me a decent offer.
Do they use what used to be Entanet (https://www.peeringdb.com/net/155) for backhaul across the UK and at what point do they handover from Openreach?
The prices/reviews look decent, but I do have some concerns about Entanet and their network resiliency
The prices/reviews look decent, but I do have some concerns about Entanet and their network resiliency
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You'd be best placed dropping them a mail and asking; but yes it's Enta/CityFibre backhaul, and afaik (which isn't much) it hands off from Openreach at the exchange. As I said though, only they can actually answer you.
Rather the opposite. You can't order from the outset, but once you're live you can go into your account (eBilling) and select it as an 'upgrade' for £5 a month. IPv6 is a free upgrade option.
Ah, good to know, thanks! Do you know if you can upgrade/downgrade it whenever you want or is it fixed for the rest of your contract once you upgrade it?
I have the option to remove the /29 and get a refund for unused time, so I imagine you can. I've only just activated it though, so I can't say how permanent. Again, Aquiss are the ones who can answer this definitively but that's what I know.
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Thanks again, I'll send them a message in the morning just to check that's applicable to everyone but based on what you said it sounds good. Need to put an order in tomorrow before I go away so at least I know I don't need to sort the IPv4 situation before orderingI have the option to remove the /29 and get a refund for unused time, so I imagine you can. I've only just activated it though, so I can't say how permanent. Again, Aquiss are the ones who can answer this definitively but that's what I know.
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When I had a connection with them I added the /29 part way through my contract, then removed it a few months after without issue. You’ll get an entirely new range to use, and if you go back you just end up back on the original IP address (well, did).
The only slow down I had with Aquiss was when the World Cup was on and Iplayer was messing about.
The only slow down I had with Aquiss was when the World Cup was on and Iplayer was messing about.
When you add a /29 block does the WAN IP you are allocated just change to being one within that block? Some ISPs (BT Business, Gamma) will give you a single WAN IP and then route the block towards you, which I prefer, but trying to get sales teams to understand the question can be like pulling teeth.
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No, my /32 was on 78.something and my /29 block was on 80.something
There's no notification as such, you have to check in the Aquiss billing portal to see the new allocation.
Mine were sent over this morning, though it's been a busy one so I haven't had time to do anything about it (yet) except reboot the ONT. I didn't get a /29 routed over a /32. I got a straight /29, losing the 1st to gateway and the last to broadcast. My static WAN IP by default is the 2nd IP in the range, leaving the rest for static assignment.
@Rainmaker
Can i ask how you've setup your config ?
openwrt site says config like this?
config dsl 'dsl'
option annex 'b'
option tone 'a'
config interface 'wan'
option ifname 'dsl0.101'
# option ifname 'ptm0.101' # for LEDE 17.01
option proto 'pppoe'
option ipv6 '1' # Aquiss has IPv6 but it needs to be enabled on your line first. Replace '0' to disable IPv6
option mtu '1458'
option username '[email protected]'
option password 'XXXXXXX' # Provided by email or avaiable in Aquiss ebilling area (Circuit information
Zia
Can i ask how you've setup your config ?
openwrt site says config like this?
config dsl 'dsl'
option annex 'b'
option tone 'a'
config interface 'wan'
option ifname 'dsl0.101'
# option ifname 'ptm0.101' # for LEDE 17.01
option proto 'pppoe'
option ipv6 '1' # Aquiss has IPv6 but it needs to be enabled on your line first. Replace '0' to disable IPv6
option mtu '1458'
option username '[email protected]'
option password 'XXXXXXX' # Provided by email or avaiable in Aquiss ebilling area (Circuit information
Zia
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The config you've posted is for DSL, for Aquiss/FTTP you want it like this:
/etc/config/network
Code:
config interface 'loopback'
option device 'lo'
option proto 'static'
option ipaddr '127.0.0.1'
option netmask '255.0.0.0'
config globals 'globals'
option packet_steering '1'
config device
option name 'br-lan'
option type 'bridge'
list ports 'eth1'
config interface 'lan'
option device 'br-lan'
option proto 'static'
option ipaddr '10.100.0.1'
option netmask '255.255.255.0'
option ip6assign '64' # I assigned a /64 to LAN because it's massive already and is a 'normal' size IPv6 network
option force_link '0'
config interface 'wan'
option proto 'pppoe'
option device 'eth0'
option username '[email protected]'
option password '123password'
option ipv6 'auto'
option peerdns '0' # I disabled Aquiss' DNS in favour of a a private one (for the router itself, not LAN)
list dns '76.76.2.41'
list dns '76.76.10.41'
option delegate '0'
config interface 'wan_29' # My static IPv4 /29 subnet minus the network and broadcast addresses, and the 1st address which is allocated to PPPoE
option proto 'static'
option device '@wan'
list ipaddr '78.xxx.xxx.98/29'
list ipaddr '78.xxx.xxx.99/29'
list ipaddr '78.xxx.xxx.100/29'
list ipaddr '78.xxx.xxx.101/29'
list ipaddr '78.xxx.xxx.102/29'/etc/config/dhcp
Code:
config dnsmasq
option localise_queries '1'
option rebind_protection '1'
option local '/lan/'
option domain 'lan'
option expandhosts '1'
option cachesize '10000'
option authoritative '1'
option readethers '1'
option leasefile '/tmp/dhcp.leases'
option resolvfile '/tmp/resolv.conf.d/resolv.conf.auto'
option localservice '1'
option ednspacket_max '1232'
list interface 'lan'
option dnsforwardmax '10000'
option rebind_localhost '1'
list rebind_domain 'plex.tv'
list rebind_domain 'my.domain'
config dhcp 'lan'
option interface 'lan'
option start '10.100.0.200'
option limit '50'
option leasetime '12h'
option dhcpv4 'server'
list dhcp_option '6,10.100.0.50'
option ra 'server'
option ra_default '1'
list dns '1004:1aa6:cd0f:6142:ad31:12cd:fe00:a123' # This is redacted/made up, real IPv6 LAN DNS server goes here
list ra_flags 'other-config'
config odhcpd 'odhcpd'
option maindhcp '0'
option leasefile '/tmp/hosts/odhcpd'
option leasetrigger '/usr/sbin/odhcpd-update'
option loglevel '4'
config host
option name 'core-switch'
option dns '1'
option mac '11:AA:23:BB:45:CD'
option ip '10.100.0.2'
config host
option name 'etc etc'It's a lot faster to set up from the GUI, though!... Just set WAN to PPPoE, and IPv6 to automatic. That will generate a wan_6 alias interface (which doesn't show up in
/etc/network) and then you can delegate the prefix and announce it accordingly on the LAN interface.Noticed this on their status page, but my connection is fine so far and checked monitoring logs for today and nothing there either so it's not everyone as noted on their status page.