Origin? Who are they?

I am in the hunt for a new FTTC ISP.

I have came across Origin in a post here.

Who are they? Are they a wholesale reseller of BT, Talk Talk etc?

What's the feeling about them.

Are they Plusnet?

Not Plusnet, but are a Plusnet reseller.

In reply to a post by MrDeeJay:

I am in the hunt for a new FTTC ISP.

I have came across Origin in a post here.

Who are they? Are they a wholesale reseller of BT, Talk Talk etc?

What's the feeling about them.

Are they Plusnet?

Someone who needs to remember you can't advertise 78mbps on a phone when that's impossible to achieve even on a full 80/20 sync. 74 is about max (unless my line is under performing)

So in the first 2 slides they have contradicted themselves.

I am amazed they exist - Plusnet tend to take wonderful ISP's and destroy them, remember Metronet?

If these are resellers and PN are already cheap and nasty - then they must be double cheap and nasty? Or are they more expensive than PN? I'm not going to enter my number to find out.

Edited by deleted (Sat 03-Sep-16 11:12:17)

Hi
I have been with them for 18 months and after a nightmare strart with mistakes they been fine, support is 24 hours in yorkshire, they are always keen to help you and not scripted.
They are cheap and despite being a high downloader I have never had a problem. When I started with them I asked them why my IP showed as plusnet, whey said they were BT wholesale but got their IPs from plusnet, I am no tech so I don't really understand but what I do know as a previous Plusnet customer the support is far superior and the connection far better. I am currently at the end of my 18 month contract and cannot find anybody better for the same money so staying put for now.
hope that helps
K

Thanks very much for your reply.

I came across them but cant find much info on them - but they are in the Top 10 ISP list on ISP reviews and thats how I found out about them.

They have said to me via twitter they are not Plusnet - yet others saying they re sell plusnet broadband - Just don't understand why re sell plusnet rather than direct from BT Wholesale although it is kinda the same product.

I am currently with Xilo and they resell a BT Wholsesale product.

I have also came across Cloudscape Connect as well.

It is time to save a few quid a year but don't want to go back to dark days of BT Retail Broadband.

Edited by MrDeeJay (Mon 05-Sep-16 10:07:38)

How about Pulse8broadband?

I've had a look RobertS,

I've tweeted them asking if they do FTTC without line rental as I have a voice WLR with another provider.

Xilo are good reliable it's purely cost saving as I'll be moving out my mothers soon and want to keep and active internet connection.

No point in paying for 2 top pacakages at 2 locations.

In reply to a post by MrDeeJay:

Just don't understand why re sell plusnet rather than direct from BT Wholesale although it is kinda the same product.

Both are true.

BT Wholesale offer a managed resold service which Plusnet manage for them.

Matt

What's the difference Matt?

From BT Wholsale do you as an ISP have more control?

Do you suffer the same issues with BBC iPlayer that is all over the Plusnet forums?

Will that be how John Lewis works then please?

That I don't know.

Plusnet, back in the day, used to do lots of VISPs such as "Charity Days" and one or two others. I suspect that if PN do the support for JL, it'll be that sort of arrangement.

As far as I know, the BT Wholesale managed product is just the service than support too.

Matt

https://www.plus.net/business/partner-with-us/partner/

Found this after a Google.

Looks like a resold business connection.

Origin used to supply services via Digital Region, the old South Yorkshire Fibre Optic network, prior to BT putting their Infinity fibre network into the same locations. DR failed to get the takeup they needed and folded, Origin then became a reseller of the BT Wholesale ADSL2+ service like many others but also took on many customers that had been with other ISP's on the DR network, making them quite a substantial company.

I've no connection with them but had considered switching to them so had looked into what they offered. It was quite reasonable.

JL are a white label VISP as you say, PN do everything including support and billing.

I am with Origin at the moment and for me they use the Vodafone network. Service has been good so far - no issues with migration from my previous supplier BT. I have also had a few questions over the weekend and they have responded within an hour or so on each occasion.

Which means your going off the BT Wholsale network and will give migration charges in the future.

Vodafone is just the old cable and wireless network then?

In reply to a post by MrDeeJay:

Which means your going off the BT Wholsale network and will give migration charges in the future.

Vodafone is just the old cable and wireless network then?

When you say migration charges - do you mean charges once I leave Origin network after my contract has ended? I don't see anything in there terms stating this.

Not sure if Vodafone is the old cable and wireless network.

I wouldn't be so sure.

Vodafone have both on-net and off-net FTTC pricing on their price list.

(Through many changes of ownership, yes. The networks are one and the same.)

Matt

It will be a charge the new ISP may charge when you needed moved if your off the BT Wholsale network as you could kinda be part LLU.

Origin have been around since the early days of FTTC when it wasn't available in most areas.. They used to offer a service mostly in South Yorkshire as we had a government funded "Digital Region", but it was poorly marketed and hardly anyone used the service as a result causing it to fold.

At that point they moved to reselling Openreach FTTC like the majority of ISP's use now, they were based in Sheffield originally, but I believe they moved to Doncaster.. Not sure if they're still located there or not.