That's a good result, but interestingly the VM service in my area has been pretty good for the last couple of years (12 to 20ish ms and only very rare dropouts/some packet loss). Prior to that it was similar to yours and improved sometime around DOCSIS 3.1 channels being added for me. I've used QoS for many years and it used to make a huge difference when I was on the sub 1.1Gbps VM services, but not so much now but still worth using. This is the issue with VM that its so variable.
It will be interesting to know if you get any short drops / times of some packet loss on your Aquiss service because mine did this for about 8 months at various times of the day although mostly at night and at least once a week. In other respects its very consistent and for the last month no issues at all so perhaps the improvements Aquiss have listed on their service status pages have helped.
It will be interesting to know if you get any short drops / times of some packet loss on your Aquiss service because mine did this for about 8 months at various times of the day although mostly at night and at least once a week. In other respects its very consistent and for the last month no issues at all so perhaps the improvements Aquiss have listed on their service status pages have helped.
Associate
Here is my ye ole VM graph, please feel free to laugh as hard as you like 
I'm assuming a ~200Mbps package? No bloat there, latency is nicely controlled. As good as VM gets.Here is my ye ole VM graph, please feel free to laugh as hard as you like
The initial spike is typical of VM, and appears to be an initial over-provision to make speed tests look better (it raises average speed...). Nothing you can do about that, but otherwise the graph is spot on.
Associate
Yeah 250/25 I had to resign myself to another 18 month contract just before crimbo. I'm taking about 10% percent for QOS.
Edit: Added Graph
Here is the uncontrolled mess!
Edit: Added Graph
Here is the uncontrolled mess!
FQ_Codel
CAKE
PCQ
I used a better server from my end though for those.
CAKE
PCQ
I used a better server from my end though for those.
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Jeez, that 'before' graph is horrific.
God bless cake and the people who made it, is all I can say! I don't want to derail the Aquiss thread too far into bufferbloat territory (not a dig, I started it!) but man, that's something else.Edit: Try Dave Taht's server, it's a bit faster and more reliable (at least last time I tested the 'official' server). The address is
london.starlink.taht.net.
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We should actually have a dedicated thread for Bufferbloat etc talk. It's a pretty interesting subject. Surprised with how bad pre full fbre is in UK that we don't already have one. My line is +500ms on upload if I don't have SQM. I'm getting tired of PPPoE making hardware selection and offloading that bit harder, particularly for SQM. "Oh you want 150 Mbps CAKE? Sure this £30 OpenWRT router will do it... but if you have PPPoE expect much less". Just annoying.
I'm in quite an interesting point in choosing a provider. Have the option (for awhile now) to go from FTTC to FTTP and BT are offering me a recontract for 500 Mbps at £29.99 which seems great but tbh the speed isn't much of a thing for me. 150 Mbps would be fine so considering Aquiss. I'm trying to stay off for as long as possible for YouFibre but it's hard (150 Mbps for £19.99 is perfect). No guarantee they actually service the street so may aswell switch.
From what I read up Aquiss have entanet as the backhaul and posts like this worry me: https://forums.thinkbroadband.com/otherisp/4701048-idnet-to-aquiss.html
"The word Entanet should be enough to scare anybody of. Twice bitten and never again!"
The traffic management is... interesting: https://ebilling.aquiss.net/knowledgebase.php?id=46-broadband-traffic-management
Basically reads like "pay us business rates if you want decent ping".
Not to start anything here but it's the little things that annoy me with Aquiss. Just now I look at the main site and the footer still has 2023. That means they didn't bother to look or maintain the main site in any reasonable time. Also call me paranoid but anytime people talk about support tickets it seems to be Martin answering them. Why is the managing director answering support queries? It feels like a 1 man operation. If something happened to him I have a sneaking suspicion that your might not have internet for long. Their accounting don't seem to suggest much support staff based on numbers.
I'm in quite an interesting point in choosing a provider. Have the option (for awhile now) to go from FTTC to FTTP and BT are offering me a recontract for 500 Mbps at £29.99 which seems great but tbh the speed isn't much of a thing for me. 150 Mbps would be fine so considering Aquiss. I'm trying to stay off for as long as possible for YouFibre but it's hard (150 Mbps for £19.99 is perfect). No guarantee they actually service the street so may aswell switch.
From what I read up Aquiss have entanet as the backhaul and posts like this worry me: https://forums.thinkbroadband.com/otherisp/4701048-idnet-to-aquiss.html
"The word Entanet should be enough to scare anybody of. Twice bitten and never again!"
The traffic management is... interesting: https://ebilling.aquiss.net/knowledgebase.php?id=46-broadband-traffic-management
Basically reads like "pay us business rates if you want decent ping".
Not to start anything here but it's the little things that annoy me with Aquiss. Just now I look at the main site and the footer still has 2023. That means they didn't bother to look or maintain the main site in any reasonable time. Also call me paranoid but anytime people talk about support tickets it seems to be Martin answering them. Why is the managing director answering support queries? It feels like a 1 man operation. If something happened to him I have a sneaking suspicion that your might not have internet for long. Their accounting don't seem to suggest much support staff based on numbers.
That has to be out of date. Martin said there is no prioritisation, and they operate neutrally. He also said I can expect the same rates 24/7 with no nonsense, and that's exactly what I've experienced so far. They've been going a long while now, back to ADSL, and I imagine (but stand to be corrected) that the page is a remnant from those types of services. There's certainly no priority to business service, I specifically asked this because if so I'd have bought a business package (as I have in the past). I was assured that nope, all traffic is treated the same - and he backs that up in your first link. Aquiss is only a 12 month contract, and their average customer retention is 7 years, so that says something.
e: Even in the posted policy (which again, I strongly suspect is outdated), it isn't bad. There's no mention of throttling BT or NNTP et al., just priority for VOIP and video calls. That's SQM 101, and I implement that on my own network. Those types of services are extremely latency sensitive, yet use minuscule bandwidth. Priority to VOIP isn't going to impact anyone's connection in any noticeable way, but it *would* severely impact the experience of someone making a call were packets delayed or dropped. Meh.
Edit to address:
That's your prerogative, but honestly why *shouldn't* the MD be replying to tickets? It's one of the attractions for me - it's a small family business with a few employees, and the MD isn't hands off he's in the thick of it actually running the business and getting involved. When I had a small issue last week, I didn't press option 1, wait an hour and then speak to someone who asked me to turn it on and off again. I spoke to Martin, who knew exactly what was the issue, and who had it sorted there and then because he's been doing this for years and doesn't mess about. I fail to see how that's a negative tbh. As you said, you're not trying to start anything and you're entitled to your opinion etc, so no bother from me. But that said, as a customer I can say I know where my bread's buttered and I can't knock it at all - I certainly don't care that the date on the website is a few months out, I care that my broadband's decent and that the support is good!
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It was Martin I was talking too as well.
"We always apply the same offers, if running, for both new and current customers equally. So yes, any customers who have been with us for 3 years or more have been getting the 6 months too if they have been changing packages."
But when I asked for more information on that I haven't had a reply since"
I really want faster than my 75Mb but i do not want to go to a package that has yearly increases. Ofcom need to sort it out.
That other forum linked above mentions Aquiss resell City Fiber though, yet CityFiber isn't available here but Aquiss is so do they use multiple services, pretty sure only Openreach is available here.
"We always apply the same offers, if running, for both new and current customers equally. So yes, any customers who have been with us for 3 years or more have been getting the 6 months too if they have been changing packages."
But when I asked for more information on that I haven't had a reply since"
I really want faster than my 75Mb but i do not want to go to a package that has yearly increases. Ofcom need to sort it out.
That other forum linked above mentions Aquiss resell City Fiber though, yet CityFiber isn't available here but Aquiss is so do they use multiple services, pretty sure only Openreach is available here.
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I thought mine was Openreach only, but since upgrading to Ubiquiti kit, I see my Aquiss line is actually through CityFibre.
They sell Openreach FTTP, and the backhaul is Entanet (which is now part of Cityfibre).
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Well that's not great, they are aimed at low budget aren't they.
How did you see that on your router? I presume my BT line is 100% openreach.
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yeah my UX shows cityfibre aswell, even though openreach van came to do the install, i didnt think too much of it i just assumed it was how the router picks it up.
cityfibre isnt even available on my road yet.
Openreach install all Openreach based FTTP. The line is Openreach to the exchange, handed off to the ISP and then onto whatever backhaul they use.
Yup, as per my previous post.
Soldato
I did post this above but in their listing on Companies House, Aquiss only have one employee. That’s why the MD is answering the queries, he is the ONLY employee. He also makes the coffee for the whole office. Because he is the whole office.
It’s not a bad thing to be a growing business but if he gets sick response times could drop off a cliff. I am looking really hard at Aquiss because I manage a few connections for co-workers and currently they are mainly Zen, who appear to be going downhill at a canter. So Aquiss are a possibility, as are A&A.
Soldato
He's doing a bang-up job. Will be employee of the month soon!!