Gigaclear thoughts?

Hello,

I am currently on FTTC service from Zen (BT line) getting around 50/8Mbit down/up connection. It's generally suitable for my needs.

Our line is rather noisy and seems to go wrong every so often, ranging from loss of speed to total loss of service. Zen have been excellent and had no issues getting OR engineers out to resolve issues.

We have recently had FTTP laid by Gigaclear offering silly speeds. I am wondering whether to go for it or not, given the sketchy overall reviews of the company - especially from support perspective when things go wrong. Has anyone had any experience with them?

Truespeed are also gauging interest in our area but it may be a while before they start digging.

Thoughts?

In reply to a post by CaptainJack:

Our line is rather noisy and seems to go wrong every so often, ranging from loss of speed to total loss of service.

...

Thoughts?

If the service is utterly terrible, (which I can't honestly imagine it could be worse than what you have experienced) then go back to the copper.

Just think through how you want to manage any landline number(s). Its all relatively straightforward with VOIP but worth considering in terms of ceasing services and porting numbers etc. should you wish to have landline number continuity.

I'm waiting for Gigaclear FTTP to be built in my area (it was originally due to be available by the end of 2018). I am a little concerned about resilience, as they seem to have very little in the way of redundancy in their backhaul (i.e. only one feed into a very large area)
However, with no other superfast fixed line option on the horizon I will probably take it when it is eventually available. I will however keep 4G as a back-up just in case.
Note that their current offer prices end on 17th May, so it may be worth getting in quick - or waiting for the next offer.

Total loss of service is quite rare and the internet never completely stopped working... The service is generally good!

I certainly need to think about a backup...

Edited by deleted (Tue 11-May-21 18:02:15)

Why not keep the copper as a secondary service / backup, even if it means changing to a cheaper package / provider. Run both services into a decent router and job done. Alternatively lots of folks use 4G for failover.

I have had a Gigaclear connection for the past 6 years.

This is the last Speed Test I ran. The speed is about 500 times faster that my previous Openreach based ADSL service. I have their G10 product which I don't think is available as a new service. My BT phone line was killed when I ported my phone number to VOIP. I had already stopped the Plusnet ADSL service.

The router was put into bridge mode last September. I have never had a problem with my connection to the local cabinet. There have been one or two network failures over the years. I never bother to contact their support as they know about these issues and they get fixed.

In my day I had to pay £100 for the connection equipment. Mine was a DIY install.

Thanks Michael, that's good feedback. Which VOIP service are you using?

Also what router did they provide you with? Do you have any control over it, such opening ports etc? I believe they supply you with a Linksys router these days but sure what restrictions they have on there.

My main VOIP account is with Voipfone. I also have Sipgate and A&A accounts

The Gigaclear router that I have was made by Genexis. It would be quite an old model now. I could configure it to use a 10.x.x.x which is not something you can do with a BT or Plusnet router. I could also configure the Wifi, port forwarding, DHCP server and many other settings.

I had it changed by Gigaclear to bridge mode last September so it could now be thought of as an ONT. I now can't access it at all other than connecting my Pfsense router to it using DHCP.

Thanks Michael. That helps. Sticking a router in bridged mode is a good idea, though still nice to have proper control over it yourself.

I have quite a few customers in the area with Gigaclear (not us sadly as they stopped just outside our village).

Service is generally very good - speeds & latency as you would expect. Customer service can be a bit patchy, but they will talk to you and don't seem to follow a script too closely.

The kit supplied is a Genexis modem/router which they now configure in bridge mode and use Linksys Velop kit as a router/mesh WiFi system

Given the choice, I would certainly take their service, but I wouldn't use the Linksys kit.