Do I migrate?

I have been with Zen for a number of happy years. My connection is 1 MB, with a 100 GB download allowance each month. My internet usage is probably 30 to 40 Gb per month.
Cost is the major driving force behind me considering another ISP.
The ISP that is jumping out at me is O2. I can get a max connection of 8 MB (2.5 MB is probably the best I can hope for), and usage is allegedly unlimited. The monthly cost is substabtially less than Zen. Comparing the ISP's on Thinkbroadband show them pretty much neck and neck. Few questions here:
1. Is O2 really unlimited, or do they have a fair usage policy, if so what is the monthly allowance?
2. Does O2 support newsgroups, and in particular binaries?
3. Does O2 support P2P file sharing?
4. Should I jump ship?

The most important question over the next few weeks, and to some extent long-term, is can you get O2 LLU. To answer that ask sam and post either a link to the result or the exchange code.

Second please can you post your line stats. If you don't know where to find them look here.

How much are you paying at Zen?

I have a feeling O2 don't have their own newsgroup servers, I shall try and check tomorrow. If you post a reply to this I shall see it and so not forget! So far as I know they do not prevent any access to other links/newsgroup sources.

ISPs don't support P2P file sharing, they just allow it to run unthrottled or they throttle it. All ISPs including Zen are legally bound to disclose details of the user associated with a given IP alleged to be downloading, and more importantly uploading, copyrighted material when presented with a Court Order.

They will also when presented with reasonable evidence that a given IP has been doing this inform the user of the allegation and recommend that if the allegation is valid they desist, as this is illegal; against the Terms and Conditions of the service; and if it continued and they were presented with a Court Order as above they would have no option but to disclose your details.

The fair usage policy has never been invoked so far as we know, and not long ago O2 went public in a media interview stating this, and that the initial steps would be letters asking for restraint due to affecting the service available to others. It doesn't get more permissive than that these days.

Should you jump ship? All the above need answering or considering first . Particularly the line stats and your current outlay.

Edited by RobertoS (Sat 14-Feb-09 08:48:42)

If you can get LLU then it's worth a try however if you are only able to get o2 access (ipstream) I'd hang fire to see if things improve, it's worth reading the comments in the various forums on here to see what users think. I'm with zen currently but I'm going to give plusnet a try, if it doesn't work out then I'm not tied into 12 months

1. Sam results http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchan...

2. Roter not listed, it is a Zoom X5 ethernet.

3. Zen = £30 per month inc VAT.

4. On P2P, that was what i meant, allow to run unthrottled.

I'm with Zen and tried O2 for 30days on IPStream (non LLU) which is the only service you'll be able to get according to your exchange summary. O2 suffered from evening slow downs and high pings. This was something I hadn't experienced with Zen, so I returned to them after the 30 days.

I understand that the LLU service O2 provide is very good.

I did find it difficult to get O2 CS team to acknowledge a request to transfer out and at one point they said they would simply disconnect the line without giving me a MAC. I found the tech support team excellent however.

Regarding newsgroups, Zen are scaling back on their binary news service over the next few months. Text news is unaffected.

Rgds
Stuart

As haf says, you can only get O2 Access, and that isn't good news at the moment. I think it may improve towards the end of March but I could be wrong. So don't jump there right now.

You might be able to get your line stats like this:-

Have a look at the Zoom entries here and if that fails try -

Config page - http://10.0.0.2
User- ADMIN
Pass- ZOOMVOIP

It loks a bit as though you are stuck at the moment as that amount of downloading is always a bit pricey except on Entanet resellers or O2, and not a good idea either of those as already covered.

What ever you do , do not sign 12 month contracts for IPstream products and that includes O2 Access .

A harsh reality is you got all the not so good LLU ISP at your exchange that mostly want 18 month contracts and traffic shape with out Mersey .
Im not sure i would go any where at the moment but monitor the forums on here to try and get a feel for how said ISP are performing .