looking at moving to Aquiss

HI
currently with Zen, but my contract is up next month, and looking to save a few ££, at the moment Aquiss is doing half price for 6 months and zen are offering £55 per month for the 900mb service, I know what speeds I get and they seem to be full all the time with Zen, but is there anybody on 900mb fttp on Aquiss that can advise me on the peak time speeds they get ?

I'm with Aquiss and I haven't experienced any issues - Speed and latency seem very consistent

See my BQM below

I've just tested at 17:25 on 28th July - 940Mbps down, 111Mbps up (Windows Speedtest.net app)

https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/d/46841674-0608-...

Edited by ferretuk (Fri 28-Jul-23 17:28:49)

Customer service is top notch, can't fault them whatsoever. They usually resolve any issues through their ticketing system within hours, plus you might even end up with the odd call from their MD who is really helpful.

I'm on the 300/50 package and receive the advertised speeds at all times. Latency is less than half of what it was with Virgin.

I moved to them on the 500Mb package towards the end of Feb this year.

They had some issues which seem to have been with one of their peering links that caused latency spikes and dropped packets that was impacting on calls and stability starting on 5 July through to late afteroon/early evening of 6 July that I think were resolved by whichever provider was having the issue. Not sure if Aquiss ever found where the problem was but Martin was very quick to get in touch with me when I logged at and worked with their suppliers to try and find the cause - maybe they found it or it just resolved itself.

Other than that blip the connection has been rock solid plus you get static IPv4 and IPv6 included in the price which was one of the draws for me (not that I really need it but it was nice to get a BQM up and running after being with BT for 3 years unable to use one at all).

Just been looking at some of the smaller, highly-regarded providers such as IDNet, Uno, AAISP and Aquiss for an FTTP service (as a new installation).

Aquiss's prices seem pretty favourable. Intially Uno caught my eye, but then I saw a 'migration fee' of £100 (for the Fibre Direct Pro product) or £80 (for the Fibre Direct product) applied.

(Somewhat oddly, Uno 's availbility checker only offers the ability to enter a phone number and not an address - presumably if you don't have a working landline you'd need to contact them directly.)

Having seen this with Uno, I'm just wondering if I've missed something with Aquiss? The Aquiss website is pretty clear in stating that there's "£0.00 activation / install".

Any idea who Aquiss use for their backhaul?

In reply to a post by PCJM40:

Any idea who Aquiss use for their backhaul?

BT Wholesale via CityFibre (essentially the old EntaNet provision)

Just to add a clarification, Aquiss is a reseller so they don't have need for any back haul as they white label EntaNet's service. So the ISP is EntaNet, which has now been bought by CityFibre, and customers of Aquiss are identified by IP address as an EntaNet/CityFibre customer.

EntaNet use BT Wholesale for backhaul.

I moved my FTTP to Aquiss a couple of weeks ago, and am very happy. In short, I'd take 300M from Aquiss over 1G with a larger consumer provider any day.

The 300M FTTP service is £45/month with no setup fee, but the first six months is half price, the contract is 12 months, and there's no automatic price rise at end of contract term.

(I was on Cerberus before, who were also pretty good, but the same speed is now £51/month with them, and there's a £48 setup fee)

You're right that it's Entanet's backbone; their address blocks show as "Cityfibre Limited" in he.bgp.net (Cityfibre bought Entanet in 2017).

I can't fault Aquiss' customer service. I raised a ticket before the service went live to request an IPv6 allocation, and it was allocated almost immediately, by Martin himself. It's a proper ticket system with a portal - no need to pick up the phone at all.

When the service was live, I requested IPv6 reverse DNS delegation but there was a problem with Entanet's nameservers. They escalated it to Entanet and it was resolved in a few days.

You get static addresses for both IPv4 and IPv6.

Bear in mind that you don't get a free router, but for me that's a plus as I already have my home network set up the way I want it. On switchover day it was just a case of changing the PPPoE username/password and renumbering my IPv6 networks.

I left Aquiss 18 months or so ago due to congestion problems starting immediately I joined, from 1Gig down to pull less than 100 Meg sometimes and packet loss. This was raised with their supplier (being EntaNet which is the actual service provider) several times over as many months but they couldn't or wouldn't fix it.

Martin from Aquiss was great, he did his best, and in the end I was able to leave my contract early, so I can't fault the customer service, but as good as it was my problem wasn't fixed without me leaving.

I moved to AAISP, and on the day just updated my username and password, so everything exactly the same my end, and bang, congestion issues gone, never to return.

I might have just been in the wrong area via an overloaded switch on EntaNet's network somewhere as you don't see many complaints, but I think if you do have some sort of congestion issue that isn't also affecting their entire estate then the priority given by EntaNet into fixing it is very low.

Edited by E300 (Sat 16-Sep-23 09:36:03)

In reply to a post by E300:

problem wasn't fixed without me leaving.

Thats disappointing to read, its a shame EntaNet didn't look into it enough for it to be resolved.

After the 12 month contract is up can you sign up for another 12 months under the same terms as the first 12 months (6 months @ half price)?

I very much doubt it, without at least migrating to another ISP and then back again. (There are some which have 1 month terms)

Potentially you could cease and reprovide, but ceasing carries a £45 charge. See FAQs. And you'd still be gambling as to whether their systems will offer you the new customer discount if they can see you've been a customer recently.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

I very much doubt it

So Aquiss is really only good for one year then after that they are not close to being competitive.

They're still competitive to me, because competition isn't only about price.

What do BT give you for £45 per month? 500M. Static IP addresses - no. 24 month contract - yes. Price hikes twice within the contract - yes. Further price hike after the end of the contract - yes. Support with a clue - no.

It's down to what you want from your provider.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

They're still competitive to me, because competition isn't only about price.

For me they are pricey after 12 months but "each to their own"

In reply to a post by PCJM40:

In reply to a post by candlerb:

They're still competitive to me, because competition isn't only about price.

For me they are pricey after 12 months but "each to their own"

I think it's clear that Aquiss are not chasing the segment of the market dominated by the big mass-market providers offering the cheapest prices - they are more about offering responsive, quality customer service, as seems clear from the many positive comments and testimonials to them here (on TBB) and elsewhere.

However in the market segment they're in, Aquiss do seem to be quite competitve on price with the other smaller providers such as IDNet and Uno.

In reply to a post by binary:

I think it's clear that Aquiss are not chasing the segment of the market dominated by the big mass-market providers

The smaller ISPs in this segment including Aquiss are not able to compete on price that is the truth so need to add value to justify the much higher prices. I have now said several times and will keep saying that I think the extra cost is pricey but for those needing their hands held down the red carpet or wanting a fixed IP it may be more suitable for them.

In reply to a post by PCJM40:

In reply to a post by binary:

I think it's clear that Aquiss are not chasing the segment of the market dominated by the big mass-market providers

The smaller ISPs in this segment including Aquiss are not able to compete on price that is the truth so need to add value to justify the much higher prices. I have now said several times and will keep saying that I think the extra cost is pricey but for those needing their hands held down the red carpet or wanting a fixed IP it may be more suitable for them.

Please stop talking rot. Aquiss may well be able to compete on price if that is the market at which they would like to aim but have decided that they do not want to play that game. As for the guff about hands held down the red carpet, I hope you never have a problem that lies outwith the script that the agents for one of the mass market suppliers have to use. Once you are on your 15th. call to customer support and have already re-booted your router 14 times you may actually realise that knowing the price of something is a completely different concept to knowing the value of something.

In reply to a post by GonePostal:

Please stop talking rot.

Just because you disagree with my comments don't be disrespectful.

In reply to a post by GonePostal:

As for the guff

Like above be more respectful with your responses please.

In reply to a post by GonePostal:

knowing the price of something is a completely different concept to knowing the value of something

I always managed to get issues resolved when I was on a copper broadband service by being factual with details of the issue and providing evidence and now on FTTP I have not had any issues yet although I feel confident I could explain an issue if it occurs. The service I need I can get from a mass provider of broadband so I don't need to pay the much higher prices. There are millions of households spread across many different ISPs, one size doesn't fit all, I am happy to pay the lower prices but if people don't feel confident and want one of these smaller ISP's and pay much higher prices then that is OK as well.

I am not going to change my mind especially when you respond in the way you have.

Edited by PCJM40 (Mon 18-Sep-23 09:21:37)

Branded boxing gloves is maybe a line of products we can look into, if he helps reduce the tension

My money is on the winner

In reply to a post by aquiss:

Branded boxing gloves is maybe a line of products we can look into, if he helps reduce the tension

My money is on the winner

Thanks for the offer but we hopefully won't be needing them today

While I have got you here, can you confirm the great offer of 6 months half price is only available to customers for the first 12 month contract and not for any further 12 month contracts after that (e.g new customers only)?

In reply to a post by PCJM40:

While I have got you here, can you confirm the great offer of 6 months half price is only available to customers for the first 12 month contract and not for any further 12 month contracts after that (e.g new customers only)?

Yes and no. Any offers that we may run, based on our current business practices, are for new customers and those who have have been with us for 3 years or more, as we believe this both encourages new business and rewards loyalty.

In reply to a post by aquiss:

Yes and no. Any offers that we may run, based on our current business practices, are for new customers and those who have have been with us for 3 years or more, as we believe this both encourages new business and rewards loyalty.

Many thanks for confirming.

In reply to a post by PCJM40:

In reply to a post by GonePostal:

Please stop talking rot.

Just because you disagree with my comments don't be disrespectful.

In reply to a post by GonePostal:

I would be very grateful if you could explain why your comment "The smaller ISPs in this segment including Aquiss are not able to compete on price that is the truth" is an absolute truth. If not (and there are arguments such as I advanced that it is a choice and not an absolute), then there is every justification for calling your comment "rot" without any import of disrespect. If you aren't prepared for a robust disagreement with your views a public forum is perhaps not the place for such views to be advanced, I was always told by a previous boss that respect is not an absolute given but is something that has to be earned. By that light there will be many that disrespect me but I am not going to call them out for having robustly expressed opinions different to my own.

In reply to a post by GonePostal:

there is every justification for calling your comment "rot"

Having looked at a fair few of your 900+ post I would put most of those into this category as well but who's counting.

See below, need I say any more.

In reply to a post by GonePostal:

I have used the report button for this post as there is no need for the confrontational language like "this sort of rot"

Lets move on and be respectful.

Edited by PCJM40 (Tue 19-Sep-23 12:42:33)

In reply to a post by PCJM40:

In reply to a post by GonePostal:

there is every justification for calling your comment "rot"

Having looked at a fair few of your 900+ post I would put most of those into this category as well but who's counting.

See below, need I say any more.

In reply to a post by GonePostal:

I have used the report button for this post as there is no need for the confrontational language like "this sort of rot"

Lets move on and be respectful.

Just for the record I have now reported your post for weaponising the "report this post" button.

Sometimes this forum is hilarious.

In reply to a post by Rhynchelma:

Sometimes this forum is hilarious.

Driven by the lack of a sense of humour?

You're quite right. A certain song comes to mind ...

"Send in the clowns, Don't bother they're here"

with acknowledgements to Stephen Sondheim

In reply to a post by GonePostal:

Just for the record I have now reported your post for weaponising the "report this post" button.

Cheers, I'm sure the moderators will have a good laugh at that.

In reply to a post by PCJM40:

]Cheers, I'm sure the moderators will have a good laugh at that.

I would assume everyone will lose the button.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by PCJM40:

Cheers, I'm sure the moderators will have a good laugh at that.

I would assume everyone will lose the button.

I have no button already