Another What ISP - but CS & reliability priority!

My boss a long time AOL user has asked me to recommend an ISP!

His key requirements are:

1) Reliability - he needs to be able to connect to a VPN from home without lost packets and dropped connections.

2) Consistent reliable speed - he needs to connect 24 x 7 without a massive slow down because people are torrenting off-peak etc.

3) Customer service - he needs to be able to phone someone in a UK call centre who has the technical expertise to solve a problem and the customer facing skills to talk a numpty through how to solve it.

Any recommendations?

His exchange lists:

BT Wholesale ADSL
BT Wholesale ADSL Max
AOL LLU
Bulldog LLU
TalkTalk (CPW) LLU
Sky Broadband / Easynet LLU

He is an existing Sky TV customer. I know this is an obvious choice for an ISP for big downloaders, but what about reliability and customer service.

What about other recommendations particularly from a CS point of view. Ideally he's looking for a big name ISP that will be consistent for years to come, rather than a smaller name that's fashionable now.

Thanks - Rufus

Big name ISPs tend to be mediocre so at least they're consistent in that respect. You haven't said what sort of budget or data allowances you're after but if consistent speeds, reliability and customer service are what he's after then Zen and IDNet should be on the shortlist. Neither are the cheapest out there but they are among the best and both have been around for a good while. Both of them have UK based support and 1 month contracts.

Regards,
Steve

Thanks for the response.

Budget is reasonably imaterial, he'd be willing to pay a premium for excellent service, though more than �50 a month would be hard to justify.

Data allowances aren't that important, he probably uses a small handful of GB per month, no big downloads, no streaming just emails and the odd VPN connection.

What is more important for him is that if at 3AM in the morning or 9PM on a Sunday evening he has to log on to work via the VPN his ISP isn't going to let him down. And if something goes wrong it can be fixed quickly and painlessly without him being on hold for an hour on an 0870 number to Bangalore!

Rufus

I will recommend IDNET. They will fit your needs completely. Highly regarded and have been supplying Business for over 12 years and residential for a long time. All CS and Support is UK based, in Letchworth, and free also your speak to someone who knows the product inside out. very quick phone response and email rsponse.

www.idnet.co.uk

IDNet Studio, The Spirella Building, Letchworth, Herts SG6 4ET. UK
T: 08000 267 237 | E: [email protected]

Hi Rufus,

Has your boss considered PlusNet at all?

We offer a range of residential and business services starting at �9.99 per month.

We offer UK Based Support and we've recently been awarded Best Consumer ISP by ISPa as well as receiving a number of awards from uSwitch. We're also available 24/7/365.25

Let me know if you have any queries with the services that we offer and I'll be more than happy to help out wherever I can.

In reply to:

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365.25

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i thought i was the only one that counted the quarter!

Shouldn't it be 365.24, unless Plusnet expect to be around in the year 3000AD?

Your boss appears to be looking for a sensible business quality service provider and he would not go too far wrong to take a look at Zen - www.zen.co.uk

I believe we provide everything your looking for.

Regards
Gary