They are a rep...

This is an old debate, IDNet do not have capacity for all users to make 100% utilisation of their connections at the same nano second is my understanding, but that they monitor usage and make sure their actual capacity on the network they directly control and own always has a large degree of headroom.

The £10 priority is for priority just across the Openreach/BT Wholesale segment, and may or may not make a difference. Experience over the years suggests it can make a difference for mild congestion in the local area but as usage continues to grow your performance can still be impacted.

For a business with servers on the IDNet network this sort of traffic behaviour will be very good though, for consumers making much more random extensive use of the internet at many locations, it is likely that the wider internet contention will be a limiting factor.

Thank you Saffron for explaining that. I wouldn't want to pay the extra £10 a month, it's approaching Aquiss pricing then. Hmm will have to think it over, but I guess I'm right in the general consensus being either of my choices will do and I probably won't notice any difference between them. My line is currently getting 27mbps, it has got 30 before until the Hub did its usual reboot and it went back down.

Thanks for the "rep" confirmation Andrew, and I agree with the rest of your post.

I was more worried about the woolliness of the assurances the rep was giving. That they didn't really amount to what they seemed.

Despite my criticisms of the IDNet rep's posts, I think of the two ISPs you mention IDNet is likely to have the more consistent throughput.

Is it really cheaper than Aquiss?

Not sure if it's area dependant but for me that's a no.. For a 40/10 package the lowest IDnet can do is Fibre Lite @ £35.40 and Aquiss is £35.00

That all said IDnet do a 50GB cap so if we ramp it up to the 80/20 package IDnet is £41.40 and Aquiss is £37 (option 3)

Yes for home use Idnet is cheaper because they include line rental and phone for about 41 a month, aquiss is that Plus line rental and phone.

In reply to a post by markyr74:

Yes for home use Idnet is cheaper because they include line rental and phone for about 41 a month, aquiss is that Plus line rental and phone.

Never knew that - in which case totally agree with you and the choice has probably been made.

It's actually about a 6 pound a month difference, still a difference. I'm still deciding which one to choose.

I think IDNet's Fibre Lite (including line rental, no calls) is £42.60 (include VAT - you have to be careful to look at the prices) and Aquiss cheapest separate broadband and line rental price (cheapest - again no calls) is £46 (prices quoted to include VAT as they should for private customers). The bugbear, if there is one, is IDNet's 50GB cap (downloads only) which I suspect it's easy to hit unless you're a really light user, Aquiss are unlimited. If you buy more capacity from IDNet then the prices aren't much different, but their unlimited Fibre Pro is only £6 more. So really we are talking about a couple of quid either way. Does it break the bank?

IDNet's network is superb in my six year experience (there was just a short term temporary hiccup a couple of years ago when BTw were slow to provide ordered capacity). As the rep said IDNet now have more options, so they've dealt with that problem quite vigorously. Though the alternatives aren't available everywhere, even on bigger exchanges.

The constraint is your local loop. How much of a constraint in practice, only you can tell. Latency and packet loss isn't an issue with IDNet I found, unless it is on your local loop and then it'll be the same with every ISP. That's my dilemma, and why I'm thinking of leaving IDNet, regrettably.

Edited by deleted (Sat 01-Apr-17 19:36:09)

It's £42.60 a month for unlimited usage on Idnet. The 50GB cap option is cheaper. Why would you leave them just because of having a poor line?