Soldato
I guess from the latest survey that Zen are considering charging for a Static IP Address? Does anyone know anything about that?
Zen Static IP Address
- Thread starter SpellowHouse
- Start date
Doesn't surprise me, they've been adopting a model similar to TalkTalk and the rest for a while because it generates more revenue.
Soldato
That's a shame if it's true. You already pay more for Zen. I was looking at toob the other day as they've just rolled out full fibre where I live, but they charge £8 a month IIRC for a static IP which I thought was a complete ripoff when I read it. I'd never heard of them until the flyer dropped through the letterbox but they seem to get reasonable reviews, not that I'm planning on switching at this point in time.
They are slowly eroding what makes them special.
What I find very frustrating about these surveys, is they ask our opinion on what they would like to change, I would prefer them to ask us what we would like to change.
Re the fixed IP, I wouldn't mind if we got a price reduction, but I would bet money that's not what's going to happen. It will be a monthly extra for people who want to keep it.
I must start a thread looking for an alternative to Zen.
Oh, I just found this...
www.ispreview.co.uk
Interesting that they agree about Zen and their service and supoport..
"Despite a drop in service and support quality, Zen still remains a highly rated broadband ISP, and they’re often seen hoovering up awards on other sites, which is impressive given that they’re also one of the market’s oldest providers. The provider is also a certified B Corp (i.e. they act in ways that benefit society as a whole)."
That site seems to think that an alternative to Zen is iDNET
What I find very frustrating about these surveys, is they ask our opinion on what they would like to change, I would prefer them to ask us what we would like to change.
Re the fixed IP, I wouldn't mind if we got a price reduction, but I would bet money that's not what's going to happen. It will be a monthly extra for people who want to keep it.
I must start a thread looking for an alternative to Zen.
Oh, I just found this...
2024 Editors Pick of the UK Best Home Broadband ISPs
Finding a new ISP can be like walking through a minefield. Consumers in the UK often face a bewildering choice of different broadband providers and networks, wh
www.ispreview.co.uk
Interesting that they agree about Zen and their service and supoport..
"Despite a drop in service and support quality, Zen still remains a highly rated broadband ISP, and they’re often seen hoovering up awards on other sites, which is impressive given that they’re also one of the market’s oldest providers. The provider is also a certified B Corp (i.e. they act in ways that benefit society as a whole)."
That site seems to think that an alternative to Zen is iDNET
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Aquiss.
Soldato
I see a lot of slagging off of Zen, personally being a customer of over 15 years I think the sun shines out of their backsides.
I get 500 FTTP on a pretty good lifetime guarantee deal I negotiated with them as been a customer for so long, and it works perfectly.
Maybe their service is slipping, admittedly Ive not had to get in contact with them since we upgraded from FTTC to FTTP about 18 months ago, bit are they really bad enough to want to go to some awful mainstream supplier?
Maybe be things have changed, but in the past I had experience with BT and Talk Talk, both of which would have to pay me to use their services.
I get 500 FTTP on a pretty good lifetime guarantee deal I negotiated with them as been a customer for so long, and it works perfectly.
Maybe their service is slipping, admittedly Ive not had to get in contact with them since we upgraded from FTTC to FTTP about 18 months ago, bit are they really bad enough to want to go to some awful mainstream supplier?
Maybe be things have changed, but in the past I had experience with BT and Talk Talk, both of which would have to pay me to use their services.
For me, I suppose there is a certain bitterness there!!
When they went fttp, I knew that BT was ending traditional exchanges soon, so I thought I might as well try it and try VOIP an go fttp.
Really, it's been a bit of a disaster. I don't need the additional speed, VOIP is worse than a traditional land-line, and to make matters worse, it all costs me a lot more than it used to. It's a bit like buying an expensive new TV aerial and finding out you bought the wrong one. The picture has improved, but you lost three channels.
Also, Zen have stopped supporting all routers the way they used to and now support only Fritzbox, which are no interest to me.
The worst thing, though, is latency. My latency increases as I load the connection. It increases by a factor of 30 by the time I am approaching the speed limit of the connection. My only option is to set a permanent limit that is below the normal operating speed of the line. Various tools have shown this to be the Zen network, but Zen are uninterested in even talking about it.
Add to that, they have never done anything for me in the way of good deals. On the contrary, they left me paying over-the-odds on a package for years until I found out for myself that for new customers they had reduced prices. In fact, they did that again with my current package. They have reduced prices by some 10% but left me paying a higher price without even telling me.
I guess not much of this is really Zen's fault, but they have made zero PR effort here.
The only thing that keeps me with them right now is I have a price-for-life arrangement. Even though I am paying over the odds, I am tempted to stick with it because there is little sign of inflation coming down by much.
No, I would not want to go mainstream, but certainly I am considering options like iDNET.
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They migrated me to their own network without telling me. Latency tripled, speed went down and their support couldn't care less. They even told me 70ms to London hosts is perfectly fine on fibre. 'Everything is fine, what do you want, go away customer' was their attitude. Then there's the whole Manchester gateway issue which they persist with.
I've since moved to Aquiss and it's been perfectly fine. No price increases, static IPv4, /56 IPv6, option for a /29 IPv4 block, BTW backhaul, amazing support, great speed & latency etc.
That's what I get from them as well. They aren't prepared to do anything for me, not even make noises like they care.
Now, I admit, mainstream suppliers, they don't even understand the question. Zen understand, but they just display a "computer says no" face.
Yep, I am considering trying out IDNET.
There is no perfect answer for me, but IDNET seems to be going more in the direction I like to see, than Zen are, these days. Aquiss? Yes, but sheesh are they expensive!!
There is no perfect answer for me, but IDNET seems to be going more in the direction I like to see, than Zen are, these days. Aquiss? Yes, but sheesh are they expensive!!
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IDNet list ex-VAT prices on their site, if I look at Openreach 900 Mbps IDNet is £47.50+VAT a month on an 12 month contract which is more expensive than Aquiss and doesn't take into account that you would get 6 months half price with Aquiss.
You might be looking at City Fibre prices which will be cheaper than Openreach, and Aquiss don't do City Fibre at present.
Also, IIRC IDNet use Zen as backhaul, and Zen have had some pretty epic issues in some areas post Plexus migration.
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Well, after what you have said about them, I've re-visited Aquiss and am continuing to look. I'm not exactly sure about their introductory offer, since I am thinking way ahead, not just the first year, however, that is a good saving. My main gripe with Aquiss is their lower speed packages are disproportionately expensive. I'm not really interested in speed, but I would like the latency to be low so the fact that IDNET have anything to do with Zen concerns me.
Soldato
Depending where you are in the UK, you can get FTTP using IDNET that dosn't have anything to do with Zen.
My ISP is IDNET but my connection is through Fibre Heroes network. I pay £36 a month for a 500/500 which comes with static IPV4 and IPV6 addresses.
A full list of Fibre Heroes areas that are covered can be found here: https://fibreheroes.co.uk/coverage/
I have Virgin Media and Openreach fibre networks here.
I'm still leaning towards IDNET, although I haven't given up on Aquiss yet.
My main gripe with Aquiss at the moment is they have no email at all, so I am looking at how best to source that away from my ISP. What do other people use?
I thought I might try IDNET for 1 month and see what they and it are like, since they do 1-month contracts.
Soldato
Why on earth do you want ISP email?
Just do it like everyone else via Google, Microsoft, or iCloud.
I use iCloud+ with my own domain.
Why on earth would I not?
My main problem with most free services is the lack of email addresses. I prefer to use different ones for different things, rather than using aliases. Also, it's a question of privacy. I just don't trust Google and Microsoft. It's not so much that I care if they read my emails, but I do care when they use the address to track my online activity.
eBay and Amazon do that, I might add. They initially tie the two accounts together using email addresses.
Also, using dedicated emails for banking and important stuff means there is little chance of anyone ever hacking the account because no one even knows the email address exists .. apart from the bank.
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Use ProtonMail or Tutanota if you want real privacy.
Soldato
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- 24 Sep 2015
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Because you generally lose that email account when you switch ISP. ISP's often don't run their email services amazingly well, it's not their speciality. Virgin Media had a huge outage on their email platform earlier this year and there's still people grumbling about lost email.
I've avoided ISP email for about 20 years. My own domain name ftw.
Good points.
I'm not sure about running my own email. I suppose running it myself would be cheaper, but it seems like a little troublesome.
I might try Proton Free.Then that gives me the option to expand the service I get from them in the future.
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