Moving TO Zen?

Having bit of a mare with BE and have been looking for a good ISP that dont become congested at peek times, im happy to pay the extra and I was pointed in this direction.

I see in the forum there are problems with billing, high price, and hardware - To be honest the lack of complaints about connection issues is encouraging.

That said id like to hear it from the horses mouth so to speak.

Maybe Zen will end my everlasting quest of finding a good isp that dont fall on its backside a few months after me joining.

Any "Reviews" of the stability of your line during peek times would be most welcome!

Thanks!!

Ps would anyone with a zen connection mind doing tracert to 91.121.135.91 and sharing?
Much appreciated

traceroute to 91.121.135.91 (91.121.135.91), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets
1 192.168.2.1 (192.168.2.1) 2.838 ms 0.383 ms 0.361 ms
2 gamiel-dsl1.ls.zen.net.uk (62.3.86.7) 25.840 ms 24.971 ms 25.351 ms
3 nietzsche-ge-0-0-2-204.ls.zen.net.uk (62.3.86.205) 26.488 ms 24.760 ms 25.749 ms
4 nozick-ae1-0.ls.zen.net.uk (62.3.80.74) 25.751 ms 25.286 ms 24.608 ms
5 lorenz-so-0-1-0-0.te.zen.net.uk (62.3.80.78) 35.479 ms 32.392 ms 39.919 ms
6 195.66.226.220 (195.66.226.220) 35.520 ms 31.075 ms 33.413 ms
7 * 20g.rbx-1-6k.routers.ovh.net (91.121.131.13) 40.051 ms 37.217 ms
8 rbx-41-m1.routers.ovh.net (213.251.191.119) 36.073 ms 36.777 ms 37.385 ms

I can detect no difference in speed or reliability between "peak" and "off-peak" times. AFAIK, Zen doesn't even bother to use these terms. Over my three years as a Zen customer, my connection has been consistently fast and always reliable. My son plays WoW every day (and night) and is happy with pings and latency.

Simon

Thanks for the reply, a few more good reports and I can feel safe about moving...

Just for the record for those who thinks Be are the muts nuts :
1 33 ms 100 ms 99 ms dsldevice.config [192.168.1.254]
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 * * * Request timed out.
4 * * * Request timed out.
5 42 ms 24 ms 22 ms 212.113.15.69
6 26 ms 39 ms 36 ms ae-31-53.ebr1.London1.Level3.net
7 45 ms 35 ms 36 ms ae-1-100.ebr2.London1.Level3.net

8 34 ms 36 ms 54 ms ae-2.ebr2.Amsterdam1.Level3.net [
9 43 ms 32 ms 30 ms ae-2-52.edge3.Amsterdam1.Level3.n
]
10 231 ms 213 ms 228 ms 30g.level3.ams-1-6k.routers.ovh.n
.69]
11 * * 32 ms 40g.rbx-2-6k.routers.ovh.net [91.
12 32 ms 52 ms 31 ms rbx-41-m1.routers.ovh.net [213.25
13 49 ms 31 ms 31 ms ns202015.ovh.net [91.121.135.91]

Dont do it!

Edited by deleted (Wed 03-Dec-08 18:04:24)

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>tracert 91.121.135.91

Tracing route to ns202015.ovh.net [91.121.135.91]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 2 ms 99 ms 99 ms dsldevice.lan
2 39 ms 39 ms 37 ms gauthier-dsl1.hq.zen.net.uk [62.3.82.17]
3 38 ms 43 ms 41 ms lotze-ge-0-0-1-136.hq.zen.net.uk [62.3.80.137]
4 38 ms 38 ms 40 ms nietzsche-ae2-0.ls.zen.net.uk [62.3.80.70]
5 39 ms 38 ms 39 ms nozick-ae1-0.ls.zen.net.uk [62.3.80.74]
6 45 ms 45 ms 46 ms lorenz-so-0-1-0-0.te.zen.net.uk [62.3.80.78]
7 61 ms 47 ms 46 ms 195.66.226.220
8 * 52 ms 50 ms 20g.rbx-1-6k.routers.ovh.net [91.121.131.13]
9 53 ms 50 ms 50 ms rbx-41-m1.routers.ovh.net [213.251.191.119]
10 49 ms 49 ms 49 ms ns202015.ovh.net [91.121.135.91]

Trace complete.

Have been with Zen about 2 or 3 years now, no complaints whatsoever, found them reliable, connection does what it says on the tin. The times I have had to call CS I have found them to be well versed, helpful and efficient.

Hi Mayuki
Here's mine just got home from work so this is at 19:25pm.

Tracing route to ns202015.ovh.net [91.121.135.91]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 13 ms 99 ms 99 ms dsldevice.lan [my network]
2 35 ms 33 ms 33 ms gauthier-dsl1.hq.zen.net.uk [62.3.82.17]
3 34 ms 34 ms 34 ms lotze-ge-0-0-1-136.hq.zen.net.uk [62.3.80.137]
4 36 ms 35 ms 37 ms nietzsche-ae2-0.ls.zen.net.uk [62.3.80.70]
5 43 ms 35 ms 35 ms nozick-ae1-0.ls.zen.net.uk [62.3.80.74]
6 42 ms 41 ms 42 ms lorenz-so-0-1-0-0.te.zen.net.uk [62.3.80.78]
7 43 ms 41 ms 43 ms 195.66.226.220
8 * 47 ms

We dont do anything to your traffic, connnection etc. so this is real world.

Regards
Gary

Tracing route to ns202015.ovh.net [91.121.135.91]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms . [My Network]
2 19 ms 25 ms 21 ms gauss-dsl.zen.net.uk [62.3.82.18]
3 20 ms 21 ms 22 ms spinoza-ae0-160.hq.zen.net.uk [62.3.80.161]
4 23 ms 21 ms 21 ms lotze-ae1-0.hq.zen.net.uk [62.3.80.66]
5 26 ms 25 ms 25 ms nietzsche-ae2-0.ls.zen.net.uk [62.3.80.70]
6 29 ms 23 ms 25 ms nozick-ae1-0.ls.zen.net.uk [62.3.80.74]
7 30 ms 30 ms 36 ms lorenz-so-0-1-0-0.te.zen.net.uk [62.3.80.78]
8 34 ms 28 ms 27 ms 195.66.226.220
9 31 ms 32 ms * 20g.rbx-1-6k.routers.ovh.net [91.121.131.13]
10 31 ms 32 ms 33 ms rbx-41-m1.routers.ovh.net [213.251.191.119]
11 31 ms 31 ms 31 ms ns202015.ovh.net [91.121.135.91]

Trace complete.

I've been with Zen for a couple of years now and the connection has always been excellent. I sync constantly at 8128/448 (FAST Path) and notice little (if any) difference between 'peak' and 'off-peak' times. The fact that Zen don't traffic shape is a comfort. Similarly, their technical support has always been knowledgeable. My only criticism is that Zen seem to be slow at picking up on the ADSL 2+ market (perhaps for good reason). Overall, they're the best ISP I've been with (even compared to NewNet!).

Cheers,
Marc.

Edited by mbaldw (Wed 03-Dec-08 20:18:12)

Hello. Just moved back to ZEN, stupidly tried BE and then TALK TALK for 18 months. If broadband is really important to you then I could not recommend ZEN enough. The support actually know what they are talking about and don't put you through some painful script. The speed is consistent no matter what time of the day.

They are expensive, and I'm looking forward to them moving over to ADSL 2+, but I;m sure they will do this soon.

Thank you everyone for the imput!

To be honest its been kinda hard to find bad reviews, im sold!

Im going to change over at the weekend once ive got a new modem/router (no doubt Be will want theres back) But heres a question for you Zenops, The site says that upload isnt counted in the usage limit, thats great but I do stream media from my home pc to work 9am till 4pm a lot (dull job) is that going to be a problem? And will I then face any kind of intended latency in the evening - shaping and such?

Would be nice to know before I sign up

Thanks

Zen do NOT shape traffic whatsoever (thats why i'm with them), nor do they have any contention on their network from what I can see

Pipexer beat me too it :-)

No contention - other than what may be in your exchange which is outside our control but thats the same for every ISP if non LLU and uploads don't count towards your usage.

Regards
Gary