Should I Upgrade to FTTC with Zen or Migrate ?

Just had FTTC enabled in my area and I�m looking to move from Zen Active (ADSL 2+ which I get approx 3.5- 4Mb) to FTCC Active to hopefully 31.7Mb

Just been looking at the prices and I know Zen are more expensive for good reasons i.e. the stability and excellent support plus additional services compared to other ISPs.

However the FTTC costs look very high

My current Zen Active account is £25.52 inc vat (£21.26 ex vat) per month
Zen Fibre Active £36 inc vat (£30 ex vat.) per month
That�s almost a 50% increase on pre vat prices !!!! Then there is the 90 inc vat cost for the initial install.

This is making me seriously think about either not upgrading or moving ISPs.
I already know one college who has regrettably moved back to BT from Zen purely for the pricing.

Whilst I want a good ISP, and don�t mind paying for that I think this pricing is over the top.

Some ISP�s for example
BT (Unlimited Broadband and Calls with superfast BT Infinity broadband)
Appear to be swallowing the costs for the initial install,
Lower monthly costs
Includes Phone calls
Includes free router
Higher transfer rates

Plusnet (yes I know part of BT)
Also offer free install and router more interesting they have different pricing for different areas

�Plusnet Extra Fibre: If you live in a low cost area it costs £21.49 a month. If you live outside one of these areas it costs £21.49 a month for the first three months, then £27.99 a month depending on where you live.�

Are these options available to Zen ?

Its very tempting now not to upgrade or migrate, but if so to who ?

Will Zen be changing their prices?

Andrew

ADSL24 seem a popular choice for new FTTC connections.

I did not think adsl2+ (24) had anything to do with FTTC

ADSL24 is a company. ADSL2+ is a technology

I've just had my FTTC install done for Zen. The engineer was quite surprised at the stability of the download I had - he thought it may be something to do with being on Zen instead of BT.

I know it's more, but it's still cheaper than ADSL was when it first launched - and experience tells me that it's just not worth going for the cheap ISPs.

i understand not to go for ultra cheap BB if you dont want issues,
As i have said i don;t mind paying more for ZEN i have for years, but i feel that almost 50% increase in pre vat price + £90 install fee is way too high...

What do other people think about Zens FTTC pricing can it really be justified ?

In reply to a post by AndrewW:

What do other people think about Zens FTTC pricing can it really be justified ?

I would happily pay for Zen FTTC, if I could get it.

If I had the choice as it stands at present, what I would do is

1. Keep my Zen line on ADSL
2. Move my secondary line to an ISP that sells the 10Meg upstream at a reasonable price, but where performance may drop at peak times.

In short keep Zen for stability, but another ISP for raw speed.

if only i had two lines, but i agree i would use that approach if i could.

Is this still valid
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/4411-openreach-ex...

i.e openreach only charge £35 install not 75 as zen say ?

Edited by deleted (Thu 21-Apr-11 17:22:42)

Just spoke to Zen sales, who told me they still get the £75 charge from openreach, and this is for BT customer only ???


Can any one comment ?

Edited by deleted (Thu 21-Apr-11 17:23:04)

Stay with Zen.

You could have a look at iDNet. It depends on how much bandwidth you use each month, but their home plus fibre is £28.50 and gives you 120Gb (30Gb peak/90Gb off-peak). 12 month contract and £48 install fee. Service seems to be regarded as being on a par with Zen and the (unofficial) support forum has a good reputation.

I think it comes down to how badly you want to save money and, if so, how much. In the end that's a decision only you can make

Thanks Tacitus,
It's not i want to save money, i just don't want to spend when i can get the same for a better price or feel i'm being ripped off....

I will have to look at them

At the end of the day the choice is yours. I left Zen when I was paying £50+ for 512Kbps RADSL line and have been through several ISPs since then.

In my opinion I got exactly the same support from all other ISPs I have been with as I did with Zen, and the others were open evenings and weekends too which Zen were not at the time.

My last move was to BT Infinity and I don't regret it one bit. I have had no need to ring support for myself although my son did the other day. He lives a long way from his exchange, gets a low speed because of this, and was getting momentary loss of signal for a few seconds every couple of hours. Called support, answered immediately (albeit in India, one of my pet hates), went through the normal script stuff, got to the line test bit. They rang back within 5 minutes having found something in the exchange. His connection has been OK ever since.