Zen vs PlusNet

We use Zen heavily at work. I think their tech team and service is absolutely fantastic.

Now I've been on Sky for a few months since they switched me from Be. Never had a problem with Be. On Sky however, every time I upload, my connection dies - no download throughput. No pings.

So enoughs enough.

Got my MAC Code.

Got a choice between Zen and PlusNet. Zen for excellent service, PlusNet for price.

I got the tale of joy from PlusNet, but there's still something about £23 without a phone line that still seems a bit cheap for Unlimited. I recall the days I was on PlusNet ADSL many years back before Be and their "throttling" or "traffic management" solution stopped me from downloading from iTunes until midnight because it thought I was filesharing.

Don't want that again!

So the choices. I really don't want to move the phoneline to Zen, definitely not moving it to PlusNet. Zen look quite reasonable in their phone charges. So....

Going off the top package:

1) Move to Zen - £30 a month + £15~ line rental, 12 month contract, known great service.

2) Move to PlusNet - £23 a month, we keep the BT line which my dad pays, 18 month contract, known to use "traffic management" because they think they know what's important to you. + £50 activation + £5 Static IP once off. -£25 cash back. = £30.

So Zen would cost me £30 (my dad would still pay the line rental) a month.
PlusNet we're looking around £25 a month all in over the 18 months.

So it seems the three issues:

1) Unknown quantity on PlusNet network - will their traffic prioritisation be OK for me?
2) Moving telephone line to Zen - we've never monkeyed around with our phone line for 30 years and we don't want to lose the number, ever, and would want the flexbility of being able to move back to BT and back to my dad's name.
3) 18 month contract of PlusNet vs 12 of Zen.

Zen is looking like the better option, Im just not sure about issue 2 above

Simon

In reply to a post by sjdean:

2) Moving telephone line to Zen - we've never monkeyed around with our phone line for 30 years and we don't want to lose the number, ever, and would want the flexbility of being able to move back to BT and back to my dad's name.

Hi. My line/phone (not BB) had been with BT *for ever* (also around 30 years) and I moved to Zen earlier this year. My BB is with Freeola and didn't want that interrupted so was also a bit worried about moving my phone etc.

Happy to report that it all went smoothly

You don't need to take line rental with Zen. There's an extra charge if you don't though.

I've just gone with Zen Unlimited Fibre 2 without line rental. Total cost is £35.40/month.

In reply to a post by sjdean:

It is possible to take broadband only from Zen if you feel more comfortable keeping the line rental with BT Retail:

http://www.zen.co.uk/home-office/broadband/fibre-opt... - "Can I order Fibre Optic Broadband without line rental?"

The last time that I checked activation would remain free for the Unlimited Fibre 2 broadband only deal, however it's still necessary to buy a router or use your own.

Yeah, but £23 vs £35 is a huge difference, that it makes it more obvious to take the line with Zen. THough their home phone packages appear to have changed. I thought they gave some degree of free minutes. But appears not. Instead they seem to offer cheap rates no call connection fee and unlimited minutes for £6.61 a month which is vs PlusNet offering Evening & Weekend calls for free and anytime unlimited for £5.00 a month. And if phone was taken with PlusNet as well, then it's only £10 a month + line rental.

Eh. Back to the drawing board and thinking of costs.

So now

1) Zen Price and lack of minutes out of the box for a more expensive connection
2) PlusNet Traffic Management concerns
3) PlusNet 18 month contract

Yes, except for the fact is £5 more expensive at £35 (which is now £12 more than the equivalent PlusNet package) so doesn't make a great deal of financial sense. Grrr. I thought the phone package was better too.

I have Zen line rental and it's perfect for my needs as a light landline user (ADSL2+ broadband is with a different provider.) Personally for fibre I would take the Plusnet unlimited 40/20 product on a broadband only "low cost area" deal with a view to upgrading to 80/20 if the line is viable and the service satisfactory, this would probably involve a fresh 18 month contract, although, I believe, not yet confirmed by Plusnet.

Sky unlimited fibre 40/10 - £20/mo
Sky Line rental, retaining original number ~£15/mo
Sky Talk unlimited, free phone calls anytime to most of the world - £5/mo.

If you can get FTTC then it seems like a no brainer to me.

Edited by Stevenage_Neil (Sat 05-Jul-14 15:05:13)

Look at price for Zen home phone (without Fibre/broadband), call package extra but it's a rolling one-month contract with per-second billing and no call connection charge for normal calls so calls actually work out quite a bit cheaper in general, you can then take plusnet 40/20 fibre unlimited (if 40 down is enough for you) at £17.49 per month. For me this was the best option overall (your requirements may differ of course).

[Edit] Plusnet's traffic management on fibre unlimited is pretty unobtrusive these days to be honest.

Edited by Al1264 (Sat 05-Jul-14 22:15:13)

Zen line rental is great - for me it was such a relief to switch from BT Retail which seemed to become a real pain