In reply to a post by Rebecka:

I appreciate there has been a bank holiday, but a week later but no reply.

It was the start of April when I first contacted them to ask a question about their VOIP service, to which they never replied but I ended up finding the answer elsewhere. Based on this I am not feeling like they would be any better for me to be able to communicate with than the warnings people have given about Zen.

Contacting Zen by email is a waste of time. Invariably the request is ignored

I was referring to AAISP though!

If I am understanding everything correctly, the monthly cost for an 80Mbps SoGEA broadband line is £45 from AAISP (500GB quota level), £34.99 from Zen, or £30 from IDNet. That is quite a difference just for customer service and modem options (depending on contract lengths).

My current experience of trying to contract AAISP's sales department suggest they are not worth it. If they are ignoring me when I am asking to give them money, why would they be interested in helping me when they already have it?

Is the quality of service with FTTC or from any of those providers such a problem that I should expect to need to use customer services often? I have been with Sky since then bought O2 Broadband which was a long time ago, and only once can I recall ever having a problem

In reply to a post by Rebecka:

If I am understanding everything correctly, the monthly cost for an 80Mbps SoGEA broadband line is £45 from AAISP (500GB quota level), £34.99 from Zen, or £30 from IDNet. That is quite a difference just for customer service and modem options (depending on contract lengths).

My current experience of trying to contract AAISP's sales department suggest they are not worth it. If they are ignoring me when I am asking to give them money, why would they be interested in helping me when they already have it?

Is the quality of service with FTTC or from any of those providers such a problem that I should expect to need to use customer services often? I have been with Sky since then bought O2 Broadband which was a long time ago, and only once can I recall ever having a problem

I contacted AAISP sales using IRC (under Help on their website), within seconds I was speaking to a staff member who then immediately called me. I contacted them again regarding a couple of things and the same response with emails answered in minutes.

It could be your email isn't getting to them or is going into SPAM.

IDNet service is good as I've used them, although left them due to them using Zen backhaul and issues that was creating for me which they couldn't fix. Note that IDNet is £36.00 a month with VAT, the £30 is ex VAT.

IDNet (and AAISP) are not large ISPs so you are less likely to be held in a queue or get typical first line support responses of "turn it off and on again".

Without knowing in advance if you will actually need support and for what faults you may have, you can never really know which is going to be the better ISP before joining.

Basically you are wanting the best service and support at the cheapest price, and don't we all, but its usually a case of picking one, you don't get to have both usually.

If price is important and you want the cheapest, then IDNet will be fine. If you want the most reliable and the most likely ISP that will go the extra mile to sort out problems that you may never have, then AAISP might be better.

Just forget Zen and make a choice of two. Price and desire, do you desire the reputation of AAISP more than saving on price by going to IDNet?

In reply to a post by Rebecka:

I was referring to AAISP though!

They have a lot of methods, if email doesn't work, try phone, or you can use IRC, or Live Chat, or even twitter and other social media.

https://www.aa.net.uk/etc/contact/

In reply to a post by Rebecka:

My current experience of trying to contract AAISP's sales department suggest they are not worth it. If they are ignoring me when I am asking to give them money, why would they be interested in helping me when they already have it?

Here's your chance to message the General Manager of AAISP and let him know your experience of trying to get in touch through the official routes - Andrew Hearn

Edited by deleted (Thu 05-May-22 15:24:12)

In reply to a post by dect:

Here's your chance to message the General Manager of AAISP and let him know your experience of trying to get in touch through the official routes -

Whose bio says please don't PM him. :-/

In reply to a post by E300:

It could be your email isn't getting to them or is going into SPAM.

IDNet service is good as I've used them, although left them due to them using Zen backhaul and issues that was creating for me which they couldn't fix. Note that IDNet is £36.00 a month with VAT, the £30 is ex VAT.

I did get auto-reply messages with AAISP, so I assume my emails were getting through okay.

But thank you pointing out the VAT for IDNet as I did notice that it said that. It is not something I would have expected for a domestic Home broadband page to even have thought to check it.

So they are a little more expensive then Zen but everyone seems to agree worth that difference Though with a rolling contract it wold always be easy to move later if things change.

Thank you.

In reply to a post by Rebecka:

But thank you pointing out the VAT for IDNet as I did notice that it said that. It is not something I would have expected for a domestic Home broadband page to even have thought to check it.

Thank you.

Not sure it is even legal showing ex-VAT prices when you are selling to consumers. The link to click on for HOME broadband goes to https://www.idnet.com/home-broadband.php and that should default to inclusive of VAT. Everything on that pricing page says Home broadband and family friendly packages and isn't selling to businesses. IDNet say they pride themselves on being a B Corp, they boast about making a difference and being honest, but yet mislead with ex VAT pricing to consumers. Guess that is marketing for you, take it with a pinch of salt.

It is good to know that those other means exist in case they are needed, but as I said at the start of the thread, using the phone is a problem for me (so I only use it with my dad, and which is why I want to keep my phone number for him to use in emergencies) so I do rely on email. And with a set of connected questions it is much easier to write things out that try to go through things interactively in chat. Certainly for me, anyway.

There is a "Help for vulnerable customers page" on the AAISP site that has a special email address that goes to various leaders but it also says that they "regard all methods of communicating (as per the ‘contact us’ page on the website) as acceptable and accessible." Not that I would call myself "vulnerable" but they seem to mean any sort of accessibility issues etc. by it too.

I did consider contacting them that way before posting yesterday, but the time spent waiting a reasonable time for a reply (and I think a week is actually generous) lead me to discover IDNet and reconsidering my options again. But I do not think I should have to do that whenever I need help that I am no longer feel I want to commit to a six or 12-month contract with them, which is what I was considering so asking about.

Almost everyone has warned me away from Zen, and I appreciate that and have ruled them out. But having to IRC, for example, instead of email just to contacted AAISP similarly feels like something to be wary of.