Moving from BT, go to Plusnet or Zen? Love some opinions

Hi everyone

I hope I've got the right forum.

I'm currently with BT fibre option 2 with anytime calls, there hasn't been any issues at all with them but I would like to move somewhere with better customer service just in case there are any issues, I've been looking around and it seems like a choice between these:

Plusnet (I'm aware they are still part of BT)
Zen

Both companies offer completely unlimited unthrottled fibre which is what I'm after and both offer anytime calls which I'm also interested in. The difference in price is huge though and I'm wondering if it's worth it.

I should note that my fibre speed is slow (around 22mbps) due to exchange distance so I'm looking at the 38mbps with both providers.

Currently I pay £50.89 a month to BT

Zen for a 12 month contract comes out at £52.90 a month.

Plusnet is only £28.30 a month (all my workings out are below)...are Zen that much better, or should I just snap up that Plusnet offer now?

I should note that I do work from home so downtime or problems with migration would be a real problem for me!

Thanks very much for any opinions given, I've given my workings out below (hopefully they're correct!):


BT - out of contract
Rental - £15.99
Caller Display - £1.75
Fibre inc - £27.67
Calling Plan Unlimited Evening and Weekend Plan
Broadband BT Infinity Option 2
Anytime calls add-on £5.48
= £50.89 a month currently

Zen 12 month contract
Rental - £15.99 per month - (191.88 over 12 months)
£30 activation
£27 fibre (324)
Any time calls £6.51 (78.12)
Caller display £.90 (10.80)
= £634.80 / 12 = £52.90


Plus Net 18 month contract
Rental - £15.99 per month - free for first six months (191.88)
£14.99 fibre (269.82)
Any time calls £5.00 (90)
Caller display £.99 (17.82)
=569.52 - 50 cashback = 519.52
*additinal* £10.10 topcashback = 509.42 / 18 = £28.30 a month for 18 months on average.

Not sure where you got the information from, but a quick look HERE shows Zen line rental can be had for £11.22 (inc. VAT).

I'm with Zen for BB, and would recommend them for that (BT for phone).

Sky Line Rental £16.40
Sky fibre 40/10 £20
Sky Unlimited Talk, (UK and virtually worldwide) £5

Unfortunately that price seems only to be available for Phone-only, or Phone + ADSLx.

The Phone-FTTC bundles are shown on this page.

In reply to a post by PhotoFiend:

I should note that my fibre speed is slow (around 22mbps) due to exchange distance so I'm looking at the 38mbps with both providers.

Cabinet distance, not exchange distance, in case you were not aware. I am happy to recommend Plusnet, very few issues in the years I have been with them and good support when occasionally needed.

I can't comment on PN, I have had experience of BT and VM (cable) and to be honest leaving Zen was the worst thing I ever did, I couldn't watch iPlayer/stream anything between 4pm and midnight on either - Zen totally different story, I have the Roku streaming and I downloaded a Win 10 ISO last night without issue, did a speedtest too:

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results.html...

Also, my ping graph:

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ping/share/2ee121e5180...

Honestly can't fault Zen, I can torrent / download / stream at full speed whenever I want.

I moved from Sky ADSL to Plusnet fibre a week ago today. Used over 1.2TB in that week and haven't had any issues loading any sites or playing any games. Youtube and everything loads instantly. Hope this helps.

You're absolutely right, I stand corrected

I would go with sky

they have fairly good customer service IMO

zen are always pretty good i would stay away from budget providers if you want good service

i've had pretty bad experiences from plusnet.

BT where bad also but cost nearly the same as sky.

I moved to Plusnet about 10 months ago, migration was fine, service has been fine since. customer support still sounds a bit iffy at times in terms of phone waits/tickets responses etc. (though better than it was). But I've never had to contact them so no direct experience. (I think I've only ever once had to contact an ISP's support in the 9 1/2 years we've been in this house anyway)