In reply to a post by RobertoS:

MHC has Business Broadband Infinity, which does have priority fixing.

As line faults and broadband problems often go hand in hand, what he is saying is that most line issues will get fixed in the course of fixing the broadband ones.

Your citing of broadband connections working when the phone doesn't is spurious. The broadband in such cases is severely downgraded. The cause of this scenario is one wire of the pair becoming disconnected somewhere. His cover level on the Business Infinity would come into play.

Also noted was MHC reply but it was not stated if the fault was with voice or broadband. Neither was the wait period for action stated but turning up in the early hours of Saturday morning is within BTs Prompt Care scheme promise.

I too have BT Infinity. A check with BT revealed that my cover is Critical Care on the exchange line and Prompt Care on the broadband service. My enquiry brought forward an offer of a 2 year fixed price contract for that telephone line of £14.20 per month. Interesting it was a fixed price contract, usually there are price rises even when in contract. I was reminded that the line rental will go up in August by a £1 [taking it to £19] - is this unwelcomed increase to pay for more engineering staff or for propping up BT Sport?

Line faults can indeed degrade the broadband service, so fixing the former has expectations of returning the broadband service back to its earlier operating status, but it doesn't always happens that way. Lots of moans about that have appeared on TBB. Also ,there have been instances quoted on TBB where the voice service has been lost [cut off?] and yet the broadband service continued to work perfectly for a considerable period of time. I therefore reject RobertoS claim that my observations were "spurious".

That aside, I am not sure that every ISP will offer an enhanced care service for either the exchange line and/or broadband service equivalent to BTs Critical and Prompt care schemes. As PlusNet are bedfellows with BT, they appear to offer some kind of similar cover to BT but exactly what that is I don't know. An enquiry to Zen revealed that only Standard Care was available. As broadband services for business becomes more "mission critical", then discovering that enhanced care of some sort is simply not available means greater care is needed in selecting an ISP.

In reply to a post by trolleybus:

An enquiry to Zen revealed that only Standard Care was available. As broadband services for business becomes more "mission critical", then discovering that enhanced care of some sort is simply not available means greater care is needed in selecting an ISP.

[cough]
I really do think you are getting very mixed up between Residential and Business services. Zen Enhanced Care.

If you are using Residential broadband for a business that is highly internet dependent, then it's time you upgraded. Possibly also have a standby service.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

In reply to a post by trolleybus:

An enquiry to Zen revealed that only Standard Care was available. As broadband services for business becomes more "mission critical", then discovering that enhanced care of some sort is simply not available means greater care is needed in selecting an ISP.

[cough]
I really do think you are getting very mixed up between Residential and Business services. Zen Enhanced Care.

If you are using Residential broadband for a business that is highly internet dependent, then it's time you upgraded. Possibly also have a standby service.

Assumptions made in this response. My statements were always relating to business grade services. Because you have found references to Enhanced Care for business users offered by Zen is only indicative of the poor quality response given to me through a phone enquiry on upgrading an existing service with that company some time ago. It could be that this service is now offered, whereas at the time of my enquiry, it wasn't.

A standby service through a second landline service could just be an illusion since it is highly likely that the routing will be the through the same cable[s] providing the primary service. A wireless [4G, if at all possible] or radio connection alternative, would be more advantageous but whatever is used, it can often double your monthly connection costs whereas Critical Care on the primary service would be more cost effective and, IMHO, a better solution.

A business user needs to make a risk assessment of what is most appropriate for them related to what is affordable. For some it could be a lot cheaper to go to an alternative location while the fault persists. And for others, there is merit in using a residential grade service for business purposes and using wireless when ever the broadband service is down. Lots of other permutations to keep the "lights on" exist. Horses for course I would say and certainly one size, or solution, doesn't apply everywhere.

Since I have negatively spoken about Zen and their "Care" programs, I thought it only right to acknowledge their recent new product that has hit the market place:
http://www.zen.co.uk/blog/introducing-new-premium-fi...
Being a long URL, I provide this as an alternative:
http://tiny.cc/zencare

Price wise it appears to be quite a bit more than an equivalent service from BT except that Zen doesn't have a download limit. My comparison is for Line Rental + Broadband Service + Fixed IP + Critical Care + Call Package. The wild card is that Line Rental Saver is available from BT but doesn't seem to be an offering from Zen.

To remove any element of doubt we are talking about business packages. It seems if you want a bullet proof broadband service you need to shell out close on £100 per month. Makes domestic offerings look like an absolute steal.