Leaving Zen

I love Zen. Their service and reliability are second to none, but given how my usage profile is liable to change when I get FTTC its simply not going to be economical for me to stay. Zen is £38 per month for 200GB bandwidth and 13.49 each for two lines, a cost of £65 before calls. Plusnet would be £47.99 and their bandwidth is 'unlimited'; it drops to £37.99 for the first six months or £31.97 if I pay a year's line rental ahead.

Total saving over the first year is £336. Now I realise that Zen does not have the economy of scale of this competitor, and I also realise that Zen's service is second to none. I understand that these Plusnet are 'good enough' as regards service, and that while unlimited bandwidth probably means throttled or shaped bandwidth, I actually save the best part of a week's basic take-home pay over the first year. It's enough to buy a laptop!

While you do get what you pay for but I would love it if my favorite broadband provider was a BIT more competitive on pricing! It's a shame to part company

This, almost exactly the same.

In reply to a post by swirus:

While you do get what you pay for but I would love it if my favorite broadband provider was a BIT more competitive on pricing!

The fact is a company like Zen, or for that matter any of the smaller providers (iDNet, AAISP etc) will never be able to compete on price compared to the big boys who in all cases offer economies of scale and, in some cases bundled services such as TV.

What to some extent is happening already, is that they will compete in value add services where the quality of service is paramount. This is more likely to be in the corporate/SME and small business (self-employed) sectors, where such things as ultra reliable hosting and converged comms, backed up by exemplary quality of service will attract a price premium.

A small business which is increasingly dependent on communications is far more likely to be willing to pay a premium for quality of service if only for peace of mind and the security of the business.

I have been with Plusnet mae, I did it for the same reason as you are stating, within a month I was pulling my hair out...which there is not a lot of.
Im a gamer, poor pings, really bad lagging in games.
I was connected at 18MB, all I could actually get through the router was 6MB at tops,
After a near coronary with there supprt team...I use that term loosely with them I changed back to Vivaciti.
Where a perfect service has been delivered since.
it costs more, but what a difference

Hi

Can you please PM me your account details

In reply to a post by Remidizer:

it costs more, but what a difference

This is something customers understand BUT 200gb limit stuck there for 18-24months or pay the duration for the privlage of upgrading? i personally don't come close to using my 100gb allowance at the moment but i did when i subbed to lovefilm and can see my household well outgrowing 200gb within 2 years.

I can't understand how a company like Zen just sit back and allow BT to basically dictate their buisness practices, something that grew them to where they are today in fact - monthly no nonsense contracts for example. if you don't like our service move. How many customers did that kind of attitude generate for zen? BT are basically cutting them out of the compatition in more ways than one. There must be a law against that and if there isn't there should be. If they (BT) provided you (Zen) with a service before, especially if you built your company or part of your company round something they should be obligated to continue doing so.

Edited by deleted (Tue 02-Apr-13 14:37:58)

I am in the same boat. Been with Zen for over 5 years and they upgraded my 25Gb allowance to 50Gb free of charge, and then further to 100Gb free of charge.

I am at the point now though where 100Gb is beginning to be insufficient and I cant justify paying even more for the next allowance band as its a £9 jump. I cannot justify paying £38 + VAT per month when I could get unlimited from somewhere else for about half teh price.

I don't mind paying for quality, the last 5 years show that. It is beginning to get a bit tight now though. I am definitely wavering.....

I thought the same. Moved from Zen to a 3rd party LLU supplier and then bit the bullet and moved to SKY. Have not looked back. Initially had the ADSL2+ service for 2 years and have had SKY Fibre for 5-6 mths. Not had any problems yet.

In reply to a post by swirus:

Zen is £38 per month for 200GB bandwidth and 13.49 each for two lines, a cost of £65 before calls. Plusnet would be £47.99

Can you be sure that PN will cover 2 phone lines on a single BB package? Orange can't handle them.

It took BT Openreach 7 months beyond the promised activation date to install the FTTC cabinet in my village and make it live. This was long enough for Zen to come up with their new unlimited downloads pricing structure, so in the end I am still with them and very happy. I don't expect Zen to be the cheapest broadband provider, but with the new pricing it doesn't make Zen an unaffordable luxury

Thanks Zen!