|
Hello,
I found this thread a few weeks ago while searching the internet for information about possibly using Hey Broadband and my own router.
While much of what I type has already been said, I figured I'd add this one more post to the list to confirm how its panned out so far (rather than start another thread).
Location: Surrey, Feb 2023.
I'm using my own router (a 7w x86 OpenWRT box) and host a family email server, so it has meagre usage but was a deal breaker in terms of it has to be routeable from the outside world.
Occasionally I have cause to VPN in from outside also.
Previous 2 years with TalkTalk fibre 80Mbps/20Mbps. OpenWRT router connected to Nokia G-010G-Q GPON ONT via ethernet. WAN IP via DHCP.
I pay £8 a year for DDNS, no fixed IP.
BT customer for 12 years, TalkTalk for last 2 years. Reasons for swapping supplier are mostly financial.
Both companies previously competed / discounted when pressured each time contracts came up for renewal. But not this year. TalkTalk were 33% higher than HeyB and BT 50% higher.
I rang HeyB to ask questions and confirm what was on their website (as it differed to info found on some internet posts). Got through to them in less than 90 seconds, they were very helpful.
There were definite gaps in their prepared responses and understanding of their own setup (no doubt this is largely due to they are keeping costs down by focusing on the 80% vanilla installs).
There also seemed a separation between departments and their CRM system. As I received calls / emails about things already resolved. However that's a VAST improvement on not getting called back at all (BT).
Overall, helpful and positive experience, I hope they do well.
As a general moan, it seems a waste that companies cannot "take over" the unused fibre line into the house. As a new provider, they needed to drill another line into the house.
This is not a criticism of HeyB, but the industry setup as a whole. Every 2 years we're to have new cables and holes in the wall just to change supplier? Apparently so.
I admit I didn't research what I can / could not do in terms of removing the old cable beyond it was not my kit. Not to mention the 2 week overlap with service start/end meant I had a fallback plan in case things did not go well.
HeyB provided either:
1. Adtran 814-v6 WiFi Router capable of taking VOIP phone (RJ11 socket). Another of their websites refers to a TP Link Archer XR500v, unsure if this is just out of date info, or location specific.
or
2. "Configure our router to act as a bridge" . They actually provided an Adtran SDX 611 GPON ONT. This meant no VOIP (unless your own kit can), but did mean a much smaller box (than switching a whole router to bridge mode) that uses barely 2w and basically mirrored the TalkTalk setup.
Option 2 is exactly what I was after.
I asked if they operated CGNAT or if my public IP would be routable. The answer was, it was CGNAT, but this could be removed and I could get the engineer to ring through the change on the day, it was a "2 second job".
Given I was using my own kit, it seemed sensible to start off as vanilla as possible, confirm CGNAT was operating and ring through after the connection was working, rather than try and set it up before the install and have potentially adding another variable to the mix.
Install day and the engineer rang in advance, completed the installation efficiently.
The PPPoE connection worked first time and sure enough the routers WAN port IP was 100.64.n.n. So rang in that "2 second" request (5min to get through this time) and it wasn't quite so straightforward. It took a little re-explaining to get across the issue and then took 4 days to fix.
However during that time they called me to update they were still working on it and ultimately they did resolve it fairly promptly overall. Plus the resolution came on a Sunday which is some indication as to their efforts.
It's only been 10 days, but so far so very good. I pay for 400Mbps/200Mbps and with SQM turned off I get between 402/214 and 442/233, with 4-5ms pings. Which is great! And for the same price as 80/20 with TT, fixed for 2 years.
Customer service may not have been a well oiled / polished affair, but they were helpful, rang back and resolved something quickly.
The 2 elephants in the room are quality of service over time (how bullet proof / reliable will the connection be).
And what will the company do re: pricing going forward. Their advert clearly said "No price increase during the length of your contract".
The T's and C's pricing guide says "No price increase during minimum commitment period", mine being 24 months.
However, section 25 of their T's and C's says "At any time, we may change our services, our charges, our equipment, our apparatus or the terms of Our Agreement"
"This may happen" followed by bunch of cost pressure related reasons and finally "for any other reason that we can’t predict now".
Great.
TalkTalk tried this; advertising / selling a "fixed price" deal and then 6 months into it, putting up the price 10%. Ultimately they relented eventually, but it left a bad taste and of course I told anyone I'd ever met about it.
They say there is no such thing as bad publicity, nonsense, try putting prices up mid contract!
So is HeyB too good to be true. Are they just hooking people at lower price points to then increase prices during the contract term. Obviously I hope not!
I'm hoping they are people of their word and are able to provide the service they claim at the price they claim for as long as the contract.
If they do that, and are competitive again in two years, I would of course stay (all things being equal). Not to mention, if I hop again, the house will start to resemble swiss cheese.
Apologies for the waffle. Really was supposed to just cover the setup + kit + process.
Hope its of use to someone else.
|
Pages in this thread: 
Print Thread
