I was with them for 5 years I think, I was happy enough with them but they don't do FTTP hence I moved to Zen.
Looking for ISP recommendations
- Thread starter Faded
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Can you provide any proof of this & have you experienced it first hand?
I've heard a lot of this negative talk about Vodafone in the past, but as a customer I've never experienced it myself and I'm a pretty heavy user.
Are you talking about lack of speed/latency or what impact are you referring to on the customer with the so called 'capacity issues'?
I am a FTTP customer rather than a FTTC customer but I'd imagine the issues you mention would exist in their whole network.
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I’ve seen it mentioned on here, links to the Vodafone forum and TBB etc. although it had been a while but I don’t really go looking for the info anymore.
Fair enough I've seen similar mentioned about Vodafone which made me sceptical to switch at first, it's always a risk with switching ISP to see if the performance aligns with your expectations.
In my case I really only had the option of VF if I wanted to use CF's FTTP network, so made the leap and it's been very stable for me the past 2yrs & their pricing is very fair too.
You've always usually got that 14 day period where you can leave the ISP if things aren't as you expect in terms of performance etc.
In my case I really only had the option of VF if I wanted to use CF's FTTP network, so made the leap and it's been very stable for me the past 2yrs & their pricing is very fair too.
You've always usually got that 14 day period where you can leave the ISP if things aren't as you expect in terms of performance etc.
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Associate
Happy zen customer a bit pricey for than the completion but get a static ip that’s handy for work and then they have the price guarantee where they won’t up your bill, I called them as I was out of contract and they lowered my bill if I’d stay another 12 months
Soldato
Zen. More money, yes. But it just works. And then it just works some more. Static IP is good too.
If you want your ISP to get your pipe and slippers when you get home then Andrews and Arnold is about the apogee of customer service. And I’ve had great success with Daisy. For home use, Zen.
If you want your ISP to get your pipe and slippers when you get home then Andrews and Arnold is about the apogee of customer service. And I’ve had great success with Daisy. For home use, Zen.
Soldato
Put it this way, I was having issues with router settings, it was doing wierd things in some online games where my ports were being blocked etc, phoned Zen for help, they sent me a new Fritzbox router, which is a high quality router, for free, then looked at what I was paying, reduced monthly bill to £18 a month for unlimited fibre, guaranteed the price for life, and even refunded the difference of the bill that month.
Been a customer since 2008.
Why would I ever change?
Been a customer since 2008.
Why would I ever change?
Why do you prefer a static IP over a dynamic one, what advantages does it provide you that you cannot just use DDNS, I'm genuinely curious.
It's not like your IP is constantly alternating every day, it only changes when your router restarts or you lose connection, so I really don't see the benefits for a home connection.
Soldato
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Looking at their website, it includes line rental but not a fixed phone service. If you want that you'd need to choose their, or your own, VoIP service.
Zen: £35.99/month and no analogue voice.
Plusnet: £24.49/month with analogue voice.
Both before any cashback offers that might be available at the moment.
+£138/year for better support that you may never need to use. Zen does include a much nicer router if that's of interest.
Soldato
I'm a Zen FTTC customer and my package includes an analogue phone line.
Great customer service. Yes, it's more expensive, but give them a call and within seconds, you're speaking to a friendly Northerner. What other ISP gives you that?
My biggest issue was my internal house phone wiring which they sorted with Openreach, taking my connection from a dodgy 50 down to a rock solid maximum 80 down / 20 up.
The static IP has been useful for WFH whitelisted IP security, but work are now using a snazzy VPN.
Great customer service. Yes, it's more expensive, but give them a call and within seconds, you're speaking to a friendly Northerner. What other ISP gives you that?
My biggest issue was my internal house phone wiring which they sorted with Openreach, taking my connection from a dodgy 50 down to a rock solid maximum 80 down / 20 up.
The static IP has been useful for WFH whitelisted IP security, but work are now using a snazzy VPN.
Firewalls with rules that accept IP only. I connect to many work based cloud systems. I also run a VPN from home which connects into AWS. I absolutely couldn’t do my job without a static IP, well I could, but I’d have to use a jump farm which makes my workflow much harder.
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So whilst I'm waiting to see if I can get the cease removed I've still been looking into what I can get. Think it is most probably going to be between Sky and Zen now.
Sky are offering the following, Superfast - £28p/m for 18 months.
Zen are offering the following, Unlimited Fibre 2 - £35.99p/m for 12 months.
From reading around, Zen seems to be more highly regarded but Sky are offering a cheaper service with a faster guaranteed download speed.
Any opinions on these two would be appreciated.
Sky are offering the following, Superfast - £28p/m for 18 months.
Zen are offering the following, Unlimited Fibre 2 - £35.99p/m for 12 months.
From reading around, Zen seems to be more highly regarded but Sky are offering a cheaper service with a faster guaranteed download speed.
Any opinions on these two would be appreciated.
Sky are good, but Zen are better. One thing to bear in mind is with Zen you can use whatever compatible router you want (if you don't want to use the Draytek they send you). You can also use your own with Sky but they make it more difficult and the router you choose must accept their weird DHCP authentication method, commonly known as MER.
Associate
Soldato
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For FTTC, the speed will be the same. It's the same equipment in use where it really matters (to the cabinet). The speed guarantees aren't worth much either.
Sky's router limitations, and their lack of static IP availability, have always counted them out for me. They aren't particularly cheap either compared to the obvious alternatives such as Plusnet (where you can use any router and have a static IP if you want).
Associate
I use it for work so saves me having to have multiple vpns for connecting to clients servers and other services etc and for hosting bits at home saves me needing to fiddling with a DDNS
Associate
If you're considering sky, have a look at NOW Broadband, which is owned by sky and is basically the same service but cheaper (their routers are interchangeable). They also throw in an Anytime calling package if that's of any interest. With cashback it's an ever better deal, I'm paying £20 a month, 12 month contract, and got £90 from topcashback. The only issue is the supplied router is a generation behind sky's, so the wifi performance is distinctly average, and it only has 2 ethernet ports if that's an problem for you.
You can set it up so your DDNS changes whenever your IP changes. It's very common in most routers, even ISP supplied ones.
And if that's not the case, you can always use something like https://github.com/qdm12/ddns-updater