Zen Internet (Price for Life)

SpellowHouse · 6 May 2022 at 19:38

Azza said:
What did you upgrade to? Were you mid-contract?

I only just got fttp a month ago. It's the basic service 100/20. I find that enough, most of the services I use can't manage to get even close to those speeds, but I decided that it was worth getting a little extra if I got the Lifetime Price thing, so I went for the 300/50. I mean knowing me I am sure I will something to use those new speeds.

SpellowHouse · 7 May 2022 at 08:07

Infidelus said:
Can't upgrade mine at the moment as they've only just started rolling out FTTP where I live, so no realistic timeframe for availability here yet. Add to that, when I had a quick search on t'internet, even low speed FTTP prices (not just with Zen) seem to start on more than my current bill and I'm not prepared to pay more than my current monthly fee as that's pretty expensive as it is. Guess I'll be sitting on FTTC until the prices drop (if they ever do), or I'll end up moving back to VM eventually.

I know what you mean. I was disappointed when I saw the prices of FTTP. I suppose we might of known they would charge more for less. In the end, though, I got a free landline from Sipgate ( although the ATA cost £60 ) which made it all a bit more palatable.

Although we get greater speed I would argue that most households don't actually need more than about 100kbps. Also, the higher you go the more unbalanced the service becomes which in my opinion makes it less useful. The one thing I might need faster than 100/20 for is cloud storage, and then I would prefer 500/500 to the common 900/100. But hey ho.
But be warned that Zen are cancelling their "fixed for life" prices for a reason. BT are apparently already increasing prices and everyone else is expected to follow - and things will get worse over the next three years. Zen are expensive now but that lifetime fixed price may well turn out to be a good deal sooner than we all think.

SpellowHouse · 7 May 2022 at 08:12

VaderDSL said:
I'm looking to cancel my landline but keep the broadband this week. I'll have to ask them if cancelling the landline will affect the broadband side, I suspect not, but I'll try and remember to update this thread with the outcome.

I am pretty sure it is fine. I wanted to have the landline just in case there was an issue with the fttp so I kept the landline for a week then cancelled it. There was no additional charge for cancelling it.

Infidelus · 7 May 2022 at 11:33

SpellowHouse said:
But be warned that Zen are cancelling their "fixed for life" prices for a reason. BT are apparently already increasing prices and everyone else is expected to follow - and things will get worse over the next three years. Zen are expensive now but that lifetime fixed price may well turn out to be a good deal sooner than we all think.

I was thinking that too. I guess it rather depends on how long I stay with Zen, which depends on my financial status, which depends on me getting a job somewhen as I finished my last contract just before Christmas last year and am currently trying to teach myself Python (with more success than the last few attempts I've had at it); that, and I don't want another job where there's no opportunity for remote work.

Sparx · 8 May 2022 at 14:37

SpellowHouse said:
Although we get greater speed I would argue that most households don't actually need more than about 100kbps.

You what? I don't think the world fancies going back to not far off dial-up speeds again :cry:

TangoEchoAlpha · 8 May 2022 at 16:43

Sparx said:
You what? I don't think the world fancies going back to not far off dial-up speeds again

SpellowHouse · 8 May 2022 at 17:10

Sparx said:
You what? I don't think the world fancies going back to not far off dial-up speeds again

I meant 100mbps, lol.

BUDFORCE · 9 May 2022 at 14:38

Just putting an order in now to upgrade to 500 mbps.

They are giving me a bit of a discount, just under 20% off the list price as I have been a customer for so long, thats with the price guarantee.

To be fair, although I pay £18 month at moment which is a cracking deal, the Mrs then pays the line rental which you can obviously bin off, so only a couple of quid more a month overall.

SpellowHouse · 10 May 2022 at 10:03

In passing I was not very impressed with their "upgrade" process.

They sent a good supply of emails tracking the progress, but the emails constantly referred to BT rather than Openreach. Also the emails kept on talking about ADSL rather than fibre. They also said that I didn't have to reset my equipment for a speed change, which actually turned out not to be true. I sat there for at least 24 hours at the wrong speed becuase I paid attention to their email.

Seems to me they have not re-written those emails for years, which is not really the kind of service I would expect from a service that charges a lot more for quality service.

VaderDSL · 10 May 2022 at 10:05

Can't speak to that side of the service, but whenever I've needed something changing or looking into with Zen, I've been able to fire off an e-mail and they tend to action it within a few days. No need for me to call up or speak to anyone, which I find refreshing

Deleted member 77746 · 10 May 2022 at 10:13

I still can't get anything above 80/20 but reports are that FTTP is coming soon in our area.

BUDFORCE · 11 May 2022 at 14:04

Bouton Aide said:
I still can't get anything above 80/20 but reports are that FTTP is coming soon in our area.

It depends what you need.

If I were living alone or maybe just with wife, I reckon 80/20 on FTTC is fine, I'd be happy with that.

I got 2 bloody kids, either one or both of them watching youtube, or the other downloading a game on steam, then the mrs on a zoom call, 5 lots of mobile phones including work ones, all doing background updates etc, then I am trying to play pubg or something at the same time, just doesnt cut it.

See how it goes with 500, it should be overkill, I hope so.

Azza · 11 May 2022 at 20:29

Ordered an upgrade to 900 today.

Caged · 11 May 2022 at 21:53

BUDFORCE said:
It depends what you need.

If I were living alone or maybe just with wife, I reckon 80/20 on FTTC is fine, I'd be happy with that.

I got 2 bloody kids, either one or both of them watching youtube, or the other downloading a game on steam, then the mrs on a zoom call, 5 lots of mobile phones including work ones, all doing background updates etc, then I am trying to play pubg or something at the same time, just doesnt cut it.

See how it goes with 500, it should be overkill, I hope so.

I get 60/18 and the thing that's killing me is the upload. Even if I could get 60/60 I'd probably see that as a big improvement. As it is FTTP is on the way and 550/75 seems like the way to go.

Azza · 12 May 2022 at 09:59

Azza said:
Ordered an upgrade to 900 today.

Rapid.

Turn · 12 May 2022 at 17:16

@Azza Isn't it meant to be ~110Mbps on the upload side?

SpellowHouse · 14 May 2022 at 07:09

0007 said:
@Azza Isn't it meant to be ~110Mbps on the upload side?#

Yes it is so that measured upload is out. Odd ( to me ) considering the download is spot on.

VaderDSL · 21 May 2022 at 14:59

VaderDSL said:
I'm looking to cancel my landline but keep the broadband this week. I'll have to ask them if cancelling the landline will affect the broadband side, I suspect not, but I'll try and remember to update this thread with the outcome.

Not that there was any doubt, but the cancel on the land line went through. I do like being able to do it all via e-mail, makes things so much easier. It hasn't affected the broadband contract, just an FYI.

BUDFORCE · 10 Jun 2022 at 07:53

Zen sorted me an even better deal on my 500 FTTP now, doing it for £42.99 a month including the VoIP telephone service.

And as I signed up to that before end of may that's on the lifetime guarantee.

Well happy with that.

Deleted member 77746 · 10 Jun 2022 at 08:03

When I move to FTTP the landline will be gone. If people have mobiles in the house there’s no need for a landline any more.