Thanks Zen, but time to leave

Hi,

BT have recently upgraded my area to Infinity, I can get it with an estimated d/l of 27.6Mbps and u/l of 10Mbps ('up to' speeds of course).

Zen have been my broadband provider at various homes over the years, and I've always been very happy with the service and don't mind paying a small premium for that. However, I just can't seem to find a Zen FTTC package that matches what BT are offering for a similar price.

At the moment I'm on a puny 1.5Mbps connection, with an average monthly download of 12GB. I can't stream any HD content, iPlayer/4od are slow and jerky, downloading games through XBox live or Steam takes days, Spotify hoses the connection and streaming from Lovefilm isn't fun either. With an FTTC connection I intend to take full advantage of all of these. The missus is the same, but at the moment if one person uses the net for any of the above, then no bandwidth left for the other As for uploading, 10Mbps will seriously help working from home too.

BT's FTTC offering is:
Download: 40 Mbps (27.6 rated)
Upload: 10Mbps (10.0 rated)
Usage cap: Unlimited
Setup/install costs: £6 (postage for device)
Monthly cost: £26.80 (inc VAT)

The nearest Zen package that comes close is:
Download: 40 Mbps (27.6 rated)
Upload: 10Mbps (10.0 rated)
Usage cap: 200GB
Setup/install costs: £80 + cost of router
Monthly cost: £66 (inc VAT)

So over the first year, the Zen package will cost me an eye-watering £500+ more. Is it worth it? The only differences I can see is that the Zen package is a 12 month then 1 month contract whereas BT's is for 18 months, and the Zen package has a 'best efforts' minimum speed. Am I missing something really obvious? (aside from BT's legendary poor customer service)

Advice, comments appreciated!

Thanks

-----------

I posted this on Zen's forums but it was moderated out of existence. More disappointed by that than the pricing really. I was hoping for feedback from other Zen users telling me their good news stories.

That's pretty much decided things for me now, so sorry Zen, thanks for the great service over the years, but you've priced yourself out of my range.

BT Infinity is traffic shaped. Support is outsourced to India. You get what you pay for.

In reply to a post by ANUser:

I posted this on Zen's forums but it was moderated out of existence. More disappointed by that than the pricing really. I was hoping for feedback from other Zen users telling me their good news stories.

Why not try another post just asking for peoples experiences.
I moved to Zen for the UK based call centre, knowledgeable tech service, and because it's got a decent reputation.

True http://www.speedtest.net/result/1652916561.png

In reply to a post by Zadeks:

BT Infinity is traffic shaped. Support is outsourced to India. You get what you pay for.

Perhaps true, but to be honest, it is not worth the £500 price difference.

Can you prove the traffic shaped statement - or even if it has any impact, as my mileage varies - hugely.

BT Infinity installed July this year, Unlimited package. Leaping from 1.5mb to a full-on 40Mb; the difference between being 6miles from the exchange, and 50m from the cabinet

The line was, frankly, hammered. Two PCs, a PS3, iPad, three mobiles, and a TV all hitting it and the net was a joy to use. Constant, consistent, and sustained 4200kbs usenet downloads. Linux distros in the time it takes to have a brew. SBS server install from scratch

I'd agree that BT throttle, based on anecdotal evidence from an acquaintance who 'troughed' it for three weeks, but I don't know if he had opted for a cheaper package, or was using torrents.

As for the support... well... I've always viewed the few quid a month premium that Zen charges a worthwhile insurance, but the costs here far in excess of that.

In reply to a post by Zadeks:

BT Infinity is traffic shaped. Support is outsourced to India. You get what you pay for.

Yes, but as has been said previously only torrents are shaped and that can be got around. I'll agree that BT c/s is pants. If I ever get a fault I shall use the online forums rather than the phone support.

Hi there,

Just picking up on your last point regarding Zen's forum; I've checked the deleted posts (which is where moderated posts go) and can't find anything of this nature there, so I'm worried as to what might have happened to your post. Can you PM me the username you've used on our forums please so I can try and get to the bottom of what's happened please?

Kind regards
Phil.

Hi,

The zen support forum is set to auto-moderate certain posts. Ie if there's too many links or forbidden words it marks it for moderation (this is purely to prevent spam). I've checked the moderation panel, and can see what I think is your post, which I've approved.

Edit - just as an aside it appears the word "download" was configured in a list which increased the chances of a post being marked for moderation. Not sure why, but I've removed it from that list now!

Edited by deleted (Mon 19-Dec-11 14:22:00)

A colleague of mine was raving about BT broadband the other week, now he's hit problems and is having to chase BT to fix it and says he wants to leave.

Remember you could always buy some additional bandwidth and it will roll over until you've used it.

Edited by techguy (Mon 19-Dec-11 19:58:52)

Moved to BT Infinity about 1 month ago. Quote via the line-checker said to expect 23.8 down/7 up. It's ended up floating around 32-34 down, and 6.5 up. I don't use torrents, so can't comment on that throttling, but nothing else appears throttled in any way. Engineer and customer support have been fine so far - mind you, I haven't had any problems either, so not much need for them beyond the installation.

All-in-all, best move I ever made. Stunning speeds for just £26 / month, IMHO.

I've been thinking og getting FTTC for past 2 months since exchange has been upgraded. However atm with my 4mbps connection i'm paying £25 a month for 50gb monthly cap.

However if I went to FTTC for £30 a month i'll still have 50gb cap.

Now tell me what is the point of being able to dowbnload upto 40mbps if the actual amount you can download a month is still at the same cap?

However my connection to zen is stable and not had a problem for years BUT the price premium and inadequate capping is too low.

You are getting the VAT inc. and VAT ex. prices of the Active products mixed up.

For the Home/Home Office user:-
the Zen Active price (inc VAT) is £25.52
the Fibre Active price (inc VAT) is £36.00 !!!!

Therefore, even more of a price shocker for the home user capped at 50Gb download.

I too am currently investigating other (cheaper) providers when FTTC becomes available to me around March 2012.

So far BT & ADSL24 are tempting me.

Ah right forgot about that £36 eh pretty brutal.

I do have a sense of loyalty to zen and the fact it would be a major ball ache to change my 100's contacts/websites etc email address but it really is getting to a point that even that inconvenience is preferably to low caps.

to the OP - I see the comparison you draw but just would like to ask you one thing:

If your curent monthy usage is 12Gb then do you really need to go for a 200Gb FUP?

I see the comparison in usage allowance you draw, but usage allowance is not always what you use.

I am on the 50Gb Zen FTTC product and have only gone over this once in 14 months and average about 30Gb usage.

Yes it's pricy, but its very good.

It would appear that the original poster is artificially limiting to 12GB because the performance of the line makes other uses jerky or unusable.

With a superior connection and the associated speed, the usage would likely increase pretty quickly. The mention of stuff like iplayer and steam indicates a large increase in data transferred. Not the time to get stung by a ludicrously low cap, especially with Zen's rather amusing play on the Premier Inn tagline. Everythings premium...including the price.

Interesting you mention support. If I had trouble right this moment I could call BT and get something going.

Zen? They're all tucked up in bed. That'll be useful for customers I'm sure.

In reply to a post by orly:

Interesting you mention support. If I had trouble right this moment I could call BT and get something going.
Zen? They're all tucked up in bed. That'll be useful for customers I'm sure.

So exactly how will calling BT be useful?

You can call BT Retail but they will probably just log the fault with BT Wholesale / Openreach who are not going to start looking at your fault at 2am.

Edited by deleted (Sun 15-Jan-12 17:44:35)

Let's see what would I prefer.

Dealing with an overseas call centre who are just reading a script from a screen at 2 a.m. who will just log the fault or to talk to someone who actually understands what they are dealing with even though they only work into the early evening unless you have something like a leased line.

Hmmmm think I'd go for the latter and so I have.

I've only had to call BT a handful of times over the years and usually a british person answers...typically in Newcastle. Occasionally we even get Belfast which is nice being N. Irish. I think I've been through to India once.

The straws. You're clutching.

Nice to have the option eh?

Not had broadband from them because plusnet was enough of an experience.

UK based support but completely unhelpful

He's a fanboi. Ignore. =)

Seen you in the BT forum often enough spouting nonsense. At least I bother to be factual and accurate with my words.


btw more of these torrents you think are throttled: http://i.imgur.com/hIHPD.jpg

Edited by orly (Mon 16-Jan-12 19:02:31)

In reply to a post by orly:

I've only had to call BT a handful of times over the years and usually a british person answers...typically in Newcastle. Occasionally we even get Belfast which is nice being N. Irish. I think I've been through to India once.

Can you press different buttons for different nationality options?

I'm sure there is a way.

The only thing BTs connection needs to be flawless is a static IP. Could go on a business product for that of course.

Edited by orly (Tue 17-Jan-12 19:40:27)

In reply to a post by techguy:

Not had broadband from them because plusnet was enough of an experience.

I was with Plusnet a few years back and I'm still getting flashbacks. I get a nervous twitch when people mention them.