Best / Most recommended ISP fibre provider?

BraXzy

BraXzy

BraXzy

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Joined
24 Oct 2019
Posts
58
I'm currently looking into changing my Fibre broadband from Talk Talk - contract ended and price has shot up. Been having a lot of connection drops and other issues lately so wanting a change...

It feels impossible to get decent concrete info on which provider to choose. Most "review" sites are just referral / sale sites with general summaries of their services - big help!

Who offers the best customer service? Which comes with the best router as standard? Which has the least connection problems? I can't seem to find anything detailed that isn't years old.

I've seen a lot of recommendations for Zen which I'll look into, but most of the big providers cheaper. Any others?
 
I don't think you'll find a good all rounder; all of them will have their pro's and cons. I have BT and I'm happy with the service I get but others may hate BT due to the service. I have read (from here) that Zen apparently offer the best customer service and I may look to go with them next year but I rarely have to contact support for BT.

What I do like that I've seen from Zen is that they do 12 month contracts, not 18 or 24 like most others plus free static IP address (not many would need this though).
 
BraXzy said:
I'm currently looking into changing my Fibre broadband from Talk Talk - contract ended and price has shot up. Been having a lot of connection drops and other issues lately so wanting a change...
It feels impossible to get decent concrete info on which provider to choose. Most "review" sites are just referral / sale sites with general summaries of their services - big help!
Who offers the best customer service? Which comes with the best router as standard? Which has the least connection problems? I can't seem to find anything detailed that isn't years old.
I've seen a lot of recommendations for Zen which I'll look into, but most of the big providers cheaper. Any others?
Click to expand...

A thread asking more or less the same must have been at the top before you posted yours......
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/broadband-providers-with-uk-customer-support.18867701/

That should get you in the direction of a recommended provider. Router, you don't have a choice from the ISP but Zen use a Fritzbox which is actually half decent, otherwise, provide your own router or modem/router solution to suit your needs. There are so many on the market nobody will say "this is the best" and be absolute with the statement.
 
Steveocee said:
A thread asking more or less the same must have been at the top before you posted yours......
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/broadband-providers-with-uk-customer-support.18867701/

That should get you in the direction of a recommended provider. Router, you don't have a choice from the ISP but Zen use a Fritzbox which is actually half decent, otherwise, provide your own router or modem/router solution to suit your needs. There are so many on the market nobody will say "this is the best" and be absolute with the statement.
Click to expand...

I saw that thread yeah but customer service is probably third on my list of priorities overall - I wanted a more general opinion.

I suppose it's less about absolute best and more ones to avoid - I've seen some people recommend PlusNet for example (and it's one of the cheapest), but see nothing but hate for it in other places/forums. It makes it near impossible to know which are actually worth considering. The only one that seems to be universally disregarded is my current provider :D
 
I switched to Plusnet from Zen, both are good but obviously Plusnet are far cheaper. I've been with them 3 years now I think and no issues.
 
I was doing some research through Ofcom based on their recent reports and, since I've been considering Sky, this was quite reassuring (but again puts me off PlusNet).

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Can be location dependant too as I've been with Plusnet for over 5 years have always had the max 80/20 mbps connection speed and only 2 times the service was disconnected. I've only contacted them once to confirm an area wide fault so hard to rate them too. I'm more concerned that if I switch I will lose the consistent speeds I've been getting.
 
Generally when it works one ISP is much like another due to their dependence on Openreach infrastructure. When it breaks down is when you have a problem and how they react and respond to that. This is where some providers fall down.
 
Like I said I switched from Zen who I actually had pretty bad CS from. I've spoken to Plusnet a few times and no problems, although I never usually call them, I use their forums or webchat. The only difference I've seen is that I'm now ~£300 a year better off.

Actually I've just remembered, my internet went down a few months ago and from speaking to neighbours it was pretty much my whole area, it turned out to be cabinet based so affecting all ISPs. I rang Plusnet and after going through the usual script they logged a call with Openreach and everyone got back online within an hour.
 
The core service tends to be pretty similar like for like, if you are having issues as you state then investigate the cause is probably the first thing to do. The normal plan is to switch between BT/PN/TT/Sky/VM/Zen etc. using Quidco/TCB and offers to get the best overall value deal. For example my BT bill is £79/m, that ignores the cash back, free gadgets, gift card, sim discounts and several hundred pounds they credited me for a multi-month fault. Overall it works out I was paying £4 more than the cheapest deal available for FTTC for Ultrafast 2 (g.fast) before the fault refund, factoring that in, its way cheaper. Would I have been able to leverage another provider in quite the same way? Probably not. So remember to factor everything in and when comparing, the outright cheapest isn’t always the best value. Most providers are now bringing CS and TS back into the UK, BT require you to pay for ‘plus’, PN have been banging the Yorkshire drum for years and Sky has sites across the UK. Equipment tends to be a moot point for some as often people have replaced the supplied kit a long time ago - all the supplied kit tends to be quite mediocre now, exception being Zen who supply something that’s actually reasonable.
 
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