BT Broadband vs Zen..other ISP?

Soldato
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I'm looking to make the move to Zen in the not too distant future. It's quite widely advertised about the multiple static IP addresses, but how do you go about using them? Do they supply a router where you can assign an external IP for a particular device?

I use a sonicwall with mine. The router they sent (I tried to refuse it to save the postage but no go) has never been out the box so don't know.
 
Soldato
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Lot of my BT connections are having routing problems this morning. The ones on Zen are fine (unless you want to connect to a server on one of the BT connections!)
 

Deleted member 138126

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Deleted member 138126

That's not true, they effectively use their own backbone so will have a different contention ratio and other such things as they purchase dedicate bandwidth.

But yes, the main connection points are still owned by BT.
I've been with both BT and now with Zen, and performance in my non-scientific opinion is identical between the two (i.e. it is/was very easy to max them both out).

However, Zen do provide lots of extra features, and as a small company they are well worth supporting in my opinion.
 

Deleted member 138126

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Deleted member 138126

and the better ISP's (including Zen) know how to work the system and will try harder
I do believe this to be true, although have yet to need to see it in action (because I've had zero problems so far).
 

Deleted member 138126

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Deleted member 138126

There's nothing between the two of them as far as the connection goes. If you need a static IPv4 then Zen can do that for you, BT would require you to take a business connection.

BT supply a better router as standard than Zen, probably not an issue if you're going to leave it in the box though.

Paying for a 'premium' ISP in case you have a problem, when all FTTC connections are identical at the physical layer, seems like a way to waste money. If your phone line breaks then it will take the same amount of time to fix it regardless of your ISP, unless you pay more again to have a different service level on the copper pair. If there's a massive routing issue then it's not the sort of thing a huge provider is going to sit on either.

The differentiation that was possible with LLU ADSL isn't really there any more in my experience. I'm not saying Zen is a bad choice, but choose them because of the features they can offer you, not because of some idea that it will be more reliable.
I agree with most of this. I was with BT for several years, and switched to Zen six months ago. From the practical usage perspective, I have yet to notice any difference in performance, BT was always stellar, and so is Zen.

However, Zen gives me:

- Static IP
- IPv6
- UK techs that are easy to get hold of
- This last one is just a suspicion, but I reckon they would have better access to OpenReach than BT have, if only because BT has so many layers that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

I pay EXACTLY the same to Zen that I used to pay to BT, so there are no savings, but also no cost increase. So why not support a small company that prides itself in the service it provides?
 
Soldato
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Why apply for a block of IPs if you don't have a use for them?

When I looked at the Zen forums a while back it was full of posts from people who had applied for their block of IPs and had no idea how to use them and/or had no real use for them.

Most home users don't need static IPs at all. The vast majority of the people who actually know what a static IP address is don't need more than one.
 

Deleted member 138126

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Deleted member 138126

I find it interesting that people only have (or at least are stating that they have) a (single) static IP.

Why have you all not asked for your (at no extra cost) block of 5 (/29)
Don't have a use for them.
 
Associate
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The only bad thing about Plusnet is that the router they send you is poor. I switched from BT so had the Home Hub 5 which is very good. You can use it with Plusnet ;)
 
Caporegime
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I agree with most of this. I was with BT for several years, and switched to Zen six months ago. From the practical usage perspective, I have yet to notice any difference in performance, BT was always stellar, and so is Zen.

However, Zen gives me:

- Static IP
- IPv6
- UK techs that are easy to get hold of
- This last one is just a suspicion, but I reckon they would have better access to OpenReach than BT have, if only because BT has so many layers that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

I pay EXACTLY the same to Zen that I used to pay to BT, so there are no savings, but also no cost increase. So why not support a small company that prides itself in the service it provides?

If it's the same price then knock yourself out to be honest. I am not really up to date with the pricing of the various options.
 
Soldato
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No issues here on Zen despite BT's issues today. Quite surprised the likes of Barclaycard don't have diverse connections.

Most leased line providers still use BT infrastructure and core network it seems. We have a Gamma line which was tripping over somewhere down London, odd considering we were tracing the route to our other leased line and we're based in Newcastle! The only options we've really seen that aren't BT based are Virgin Media based, and you obviously have to be in the area!
 
Soldato
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SX, unfortunately
All but two of our connections use the BT backbone (1x Virgin Media and 1x C&W - now owned by VM). None went down. The one I was most surprised about was our phone system (Horizon which uses Gamma) as that stayed up as well and each office has a dedicated ADSL for those.
 
Caporegime
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To be fair, none of our BT lines went down over the last 48 hours (2x 100Mb leased lines, terminating at different POPs), neither did our BT Business DSL line.

Neither did my Zen connection at home.

The problem was that most routing for most ISPs (even those that aren't on BT's infrastructure) will still have had to route through LINX to break onto most of the rest of the WWW. Didn't really matter who your ISP was for the last few days, you would have likely ran into problems getting to some places on the net.
 
Man of Honour
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Been with Zen since February or so, I'll be going to someone else at the end of the contract, most likely Sky.

Zen seemed disinterested in pushing through a DLM reset for me, had to get my Openreach mate to do it in the end. When I'd previously asked Sky, they did it no problem at all.
 
Caporegime
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Most leased line providers still use BT infrastructure and core network it seems. We have a Gamma line which was tripping over somewhere down London, odd considering we were tracing the route to our other leased line and we're based in Newcastle! The only options we've really seen that aren't BT based are Virgin Media based, and you obviously have to be in the area!

Sort of. The physical connection of a leased line into your business tends to be Openreach because of their fibre footprint (and crucially an in-house team that can do civils works for a regulated set price) - though Virgin Media, Colt etc. are also options that you see quite a lot. Once that fibre is back to the exchange then it might use BT infrastructure to get to a point where it can be handed off to your ISPs network, but it could equally use Zayo, SSE etc. infrastructure providing they have a presence in that exchange.

You shouldn't be able to see routing issues appear until the link hits your ISPs network as it's all L2 until that point.
 
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Soldato
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What is the current status of BT VS ZEN? I am on sky and looking to move away for a change, sick of the crappy router they force you to use.
 
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