Zen internet any good?

cyber69

cyber69

cyber69

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Looking to switch my mum away from BT to some other provider.

Zen internet get a which recommended award and provide a FRITZ!Box 7530 AX WiFi 6 router.
 
Moved away from Zen last year due to their poor customer service. A shame as Zen 5-10 years ago were great.

Would recommend Aquiss. Quite pricey but brilliant so far.
 
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Used Zen for years at multiple locations and always been very very reliable, bit more pricey than some though, especially when compared to the likes of Community Fibre etc.
 
I dont understand why people cheap out on internet service providers anyway.

This is a forum really, for computer hardware enthusiasts, building PC's from high end components, at the cutting edge of the technology, and spending a small fortune doing it. Why on earth would you then go an sign up to talk talk broadband?
 
Came here to add that we used Zen for many years until about 4-5 years ago and they were great.
Shame to read that they've gone downhill since.
 
BUDFORCE said:
I dont understand why people cheap out on internet service providers anyway.

This is a forum really, for computer hardware enthusiasts, building PC's from high end components, at the cutting edge of the technology, and spending a small fortune doing it. Why on earth would you then go an sign up to talk talk broadband?
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I've said the same many times on here. People will pay four figures for a GPU or CPU and not even blink, but baulk at 50 quid for a decent ISP. Even better are those scoffing that nobody 'needs' 1, 2 or 10 gig FTTP. You don't need a 4090 either mate but here we are. :cry:
 
I've been with Zen for years and they've been fine for me. I've not had any problems with my internet connection. When I've had to contact them regarding transferring a connection when moving house, they've been easy to contact.
 
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Sadly, many people think of broadband as a utility that is generic, like gas and electricity, and for the most part wouldn't notice a suboptimal routing problem and just use the 'if it works, it works' approach. As to the 'enthusiast' suggestion, perhaps two decades ago that was more true, but I can't be the only one who's felt less and less enthusiastic about the level of some of the posts on here, not that the questions are basic, that's fine, and we all need to learn, but that quality of some of the advice offered is just of such low quality that you can't believe someone would actually waste the key depressions on typing it.
 
Avalon said:
Sadly, many people think of broadband as a utility that is generic, like gas and electricity, and for the most part wouldn't notice a suboptimal routing problem and just use the 'if it works, it works' approach. As to the 'enthusiast' suggestion, perhaps two decades ago that was more true, but I can't be the only one who's felt less and less enthusiastic about the level of some of the posts on here, not that the questions are basic, that's fine, and we all need to learn, but that quality of some of the advice offered is just of such low quality that you can't believe someone would actually waste the key depressions on typing it.
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Yup, they treat it like petrol - just find the cheapest garage and car goes brrr. As to the latter I'm probably guilty of that, the older I get the more I realise I don't know. :cry:
 
BUDFORCE said:
Why on earth would you then go an sign up to talk talk broadband?
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I'll give a viewpoint from the other side. Why wouldn't you sign up to talk talk?

Bear with me here. You mentioned people building pcs on the cutting edge of technology so why would you knowingly then sign up to an ISP that has dinosaur PPPoE when you don't have to?

I've been with TalkTalk for 7 months now. Never had a problem. It's been so refreshing just being able to connect any router to the ONT and instantly have internet. No PPPoE login details to worry about and making software/hardware flow offloading with OpenWRT a piece of cake. Not to mention makes SQM much easier if you wanted to do that. Capable of routing full Gig with 1-2% CPU load so lower electricity costs.

Also knocked 11ms off my average pings to game servers since it's not just "route everything to London" approach. Now you may say "but that's just 11ms" but hey that's 11ms off every single data packet I'll ever send. I play a lot of Street Fighter which runs at 60 fps online so I get to tighten up nearly a whole frame simply because I chose TalkTalk as my ISP.

I've also ran BQM for many days and it's super comparable to some of the BQM from BT/A&A. No sign of congestion at peak. Now don't get me wrong I know if something does happen that maybe I'm without internet for an extra day or so due to lackluster support but I'll glady take that over having 99.9% of my connection uptime on DHCP.

Anyway just my thoughts on the matter.
 
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GregI said:
I've also ran BQM for many days and it's super comparable to some of the BQM from BT/A&A. No sign of congestion at peak.
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Post one up, I'd be (genuinely) interested to see it. I don't think @BUDFORCE was specifically pointing fingers at TT (though historically they've been woeful). They have picked up their game somewhat in recent times, especially on the business side. I think it was more a case of treating ISPs like a utility or commodity like petrol/vegetable oil and just going with whatever's cheap rather than choosing one based on actual criteria versus cost. He also didn't seem to mention PPPoE. My BQM for fairness. :p



Edit: That's without any form of SQM or AQM.
 
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The TalkTalk service itself is actually extremely good, they have an excellent network. Where they fall down is customer service and support, and they don't offer static IP addresses on residential connections. That's where you pays your money and takes your choice. They all still likely have the same SLA with Openreach should a fault actually occur.

My issue with Zen is twofold. 1 - their customer service is not what it was. They couldn't care less when they made a change without notifying me which doubled (and sometimes tripled) my latency. And 2 - you get no option whether you're routed via Manchester or London. Which if you're not near Manchester, isn't really ideal.
 
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Rainmaker said:
Post one up, I'd be (genuinely) interested to see it. I don't think @BUDFORCE was specifically pointing fingers at TT (though historically they've been woeful). They have picked up their game somewhat in recent times, especially on the business side. I think it was more a case of treating ISPs like a utility or commodity like petrol/vegetable oil and just going with whatever's cheap rather than choosing one based on actual criteria versus cost. He also didn't seem to mention PPPoE. My BQM for fairness. :p



Edit: That's without any form of SQM or AQM.
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I haven't done one in months but started after you asked. Some spikes due to own usage around 6pm but actual peak times like 8pm are pretty good.

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