Ok - thank you!

And maybe a dumb question, presumably a filter is still required on the extension? The current extension is hardwired (by BT) out the back of the master.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Zen fibre over 12 months £324 plus £204 line rental

So which product were you looking at?

It was the same one I think (Unlimited Fibre 1 @ £27), but I had calculated it over 18 months for a fair comparison, and added the activation and phone (£16.99 + 90p caller display) to match the others.

In reply to a post by rich_jtg:

It was the same one I think (Unlimited Fibre 1 @ £27), but I had calculated it over 18 months for a fair comparison, and added the activation and phone (£16.99 + 90p caller display) to match the others.

Indeed, this works out at £838.02 over 18 months - that's £30 activation, plus monthly charges of:

• £27.00 - Unlimited Fibre 1
• £16.99 - line rental
• £0.90 - Caller Display

It might help if you break down the other calculations you have made in a similar way to see if anyone can spot any errors. Simply quoting an overall 18 month figure makes it difficult to check.

That depends on a few things. You only need a filter for telephones and the like. The modem doesn't work on a filtered connection. It should be possible to designate the current extension socket as the master and have a new master socket fitted there, assuming the current extension cable has 2 pairs.

When you hard wired out of the back of the master it should be wired from the removeable faceplate, rather than on the hardwired A/B terminals of the incoming line i.e. like at http://www.thinkbroadband.com/images/faq/faceplates/...

If there is a wire on PIN 3 then you can improve your noise performance by removing it, i.e. lifting it out like in http://www.thinkbroadband.com/images/faq/faceplates/... this is known as removing the ring wire.

In reply to a post by David_W:

In reply to a post by rich_jtg:

It was the same one I think (Unlimited Fibre 1 @ £27), but I had calculated it over 18 months for a fair comparison, and added the activation and phone (£16.99 + 90p caller display) to match the others.

Indeed, this works out at £838.02 over 18 months - that's £30 activation, plus monthly charges of:

• £27.00 - Unlimited Fibre 1
• £16.99 - line rental
• £0.90 - Caller Display

It might help if you break down the other calculations you have made in a similar way to see if anyone can spot any errors. Simply quoting an overall 18 month figure makes it difficult to check.

No problem - I had under estimated the costs for Sky! In case it helps anyone in the same boat, these are my sums for each ISP over 18 months:

Sky Unlimited (inc. phone):
£26.40 for 6 months
£36.40 for 12 months
£6.95 - Router postage
Total - £602.15

Plusnet Unlimited
£0.00 for 6 months
£22.49 for 12 months
£15.95 - Line rental
99p - Caller display
Total - £574.80

BT Infinity 1
£18.00 for 12 months
£23.00 for 6 months
£16.99 - Line rental
£30.00 - activation
£6.95 - Router postage
Total - £702.71

EE
£9.95 for 6 months
£19.95 for 12 months
£15.75 - Line rental
£6.00 - Router postage
Total - £588.60

Zen Unlimited Fibre 1
£27.00 per month
£16.99 - Line rental
£0.90 - Caller display
£30.00 - Activation
Total - £838.02

Edited by deleted (Sun 26-Apr-15 21:20:32)

@BatBoy - thanks, I wasn't sure how the filtering worked, and that now makes sense.

@MrSaffron - I just checked and the extension is wired to the removeable faceplate. BT replaced/wired the socket a couple of years ago, and it only has pins 2, 3 & 5. Pin 3 is wired up so might try taking it out.

In reply to a post by rich_jtg:

In reply to a post by David_W:

In reply to a post by rich_jtg:

It was the same one I think (Unlimited Fibre 1 @ £27), but I had calculated it over 18 months for a fair comparison, and added the activation and phone (£16.99 + 90p caller display) to match the others.

Indeed, this works out at £838.02 over 18 months - that's £30 activation, plus monthly charges of:

• £27.00 - Unlimited Fibre 1
• £16.99 - line rental
• £0.90 - Caller Display

It might help if you break down the other calculations you have made in a similar way to see if anyone can spot any errors. Simply quoting an overall 18 month figure makes it difficult to check.

No problem - I had under estimated the costs for Sky! In case it helps anyone in the same boat, these are my sums:

Sky Unlimited (inc. phone):
£26.40 for 6 months
£36.40 for 12 months
£6.95 - Router postage
Total - £602.15

Plusnet Unlimited
£0.00 for 6 months
£22.49 for 12 months
£15.95 - Line rental
99p - Caller display
Total - £574.80

BT Infinity 1
£18.00 for 18 months
£16.99 - Line rental
£30.00 - activation
£6.95 - Router postage
Total - £666.77

EE
£9.95 for 6 months
£19.95 for 12 months
£15.75 - Line rental
£6.00 - Router postage
Total - £588.60

I have teleworkers into the office on all those ISPs and give remote support and upgrade help when switching from ADSL to FTTC. There are many reasons for the end user to stick with their existing ISP when upgrading to FTTC and I respect their choice but I would prefer them to upgrade them to the business option if available or feasible as it is less stress dealing with their help desk when the time comes.

In your yearly comparison of costs between SKY/PlusNet/BT/EE you rather skew the figures by showing the prices for year one only; you really need to think about the cost for subsequent years and the contractual tie in as well. It is also likely that you will opt for a call package and at least Caller Display, what are the respective costs for those services? As you are currently a ZEN user, displaying their pricing seems a useful exercise to do. You are most likely to go for a retail package but you may wish to enquire from each about their business packages.

Forget any idea about upgrading while in contract since activation fees may be related to the package chosen and also the upgrade will just start of another contract period.

IMHO you would be better served by staying with ZEN and less likely to experience a loss of service of any noticeable duration in the upgrade process.

In reply to a post by trolleybus:

I have teleworkers into the office on all those ISPs and give remote support and upgrade help when switching from ADSL to FTTC. There are many reasons for the end user to stick with their existing ISP when upgrading to FTTC and I respect their choice but I would prefer them to upgrade them to the business option if available or feasible as it is less stress dealing with their help desk when the time comes.

In your yearly comparison of costs between SKY/PlusNet/BT/EE you rather skew the figures by showing the prices for year one only; you really need to think about the cost for subsequent years and the contractual tie in as well. It is also likely that you will opt for a call package and at least Caller Display, what are the respective costs for those services? As you are currently a ZEN user, displaying their pricing seems a useful exercise to do. You are most likely to go for a retail package but you may wish to enquire from each about their business packages.

Forget any idea about upgrading while in contract since activation fees may be related to the package chosen and also the upgrade will just start of another contract period.

IMHO you would be better served by staying with ZEN and less likely to experience a loss of service of any noticeable duration in the upgrade process.

Thanks for the heads up. When I started my search TalkTalk's business option seemed a positive option. However, they haven't yet updated their databases to include our exchange.

I've added the breakdown of Zen's offering to help anyone comparing. The prices are all over 18 months however, it's just that some have dual pricing to draw in customers.

In reply to a post by trolleybus:

In your yearly comparison of costs between SKY/PlusNet/BT/EE you rather skew the figures by showing the prices for year one only; you really need to think about the cost for subsequent years and the contractual tie in as well.

The original poster's focus on costs for the first 18 months skews the comparison heavily towards those ISPs offering introductory offers. It would seem worth setting down the monthly full-price cost alongside those introductory offers.

Zen don't offer introductory pricing, so they will never come out well in a 'first 18 months' comparison. However, I believe their prices are pretty competitive once startup costs and discounts are a distant memory.


Zen's business pricing for FTTC and phone bundles is identical to residential pricing, with two exceptions.

Line rental is higher on the business products to reflect the business nature of the line: 48 hour estimated time to repair on a business line, 96 hour estimated time to repair on a residential line. Residential line rental in an FTTC bundle is £16.99 including VAT. Business line rental in an FTTC bundle is £20.40 including VAT.

The 5000 minute call bundle is £6.51 including VAT on a residential line and £7.80 including VAT on a business line. I expect that Zen assume business customers are likely to make greater use of a call bundle and adjust their prices accordingly.


When comparing prices, be aware that prices on the residential part of Zen's web site include VAT and prices on the business part of Zen's web site exclude VAT.