Zen Fibre Office Plus VS Recent Packages

Subject line is very limited so here is the real one:

Zen Fibre Office Plus VS Unlimited Fibre Office VS Unlimited Fibre 2

With GCHQ and the NSA making a mockery of what was supposed to be the free(dom)/secure/private internet, and the Snooper's Charter (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investigatory_Powers_Bill) now law, I can no longer justify paying >£90/month for the Zen Fibre Office Plus package I've been on for years.

I've had a quick look at the other packages available - comparables seem to be Unlimited Fibre Office (£76.20/mo, I'm assuming this is the 'modern' version of the package I'm on?) and Unlimited Fibre 2 (£35.40/mo) - all three packages are uncapped and capable of using all available VDSL2 bandwidth, does anyone know what the real differences between them are (e.g. the business line is over twice as expensive as the comparable residential line)?

Thanks for any help.

In reply to a post by ByteTraveller:

I've had a quick look at the other packages available - comparables seem to be Unlimited Fibre Office (£76.20/mo, I'm assuming this is the 'modern' version of the package I'm on?) and Unlimited Fibre 2 (£35.40/mo) - all three packages are uncapped and capable of using all available VDSL2 bandwidth, does anyone know what the real differences between them are (e.g. the business line is over twice as expensive as the comparable residential line)?

Unlimited Fibre Office includes 24/7 support... might be of value, I assume Zen pay Openreach and/or BT Wholesale as appropriate to repair issues that Zen itself cannot resolve to make this an end to end 24/7 service, and service credits/SLA although the latter offers a £25 credit for issues which obviously isn't amazing since the premium to start with is huge but obviously does mean you do get something back (no different to other SLAs mind).

It is less clear to me what value may, or may not exist other than that or with the other package options.

In reply to a post by therioman:

In reply to a post by ByteTraveller:

I've had a quick look at the other packages available - comparables seem to be Unlimited Fibre Office (£76.20/mo, I'm assuming this is the 'modern' version of the package I'm on?) and Unlimited Fibre 2 (£35.40/mo) - all three packages are uncapped and capable of using all available VDSL2 bandwidth, does anyone know what the real differences between them are (e.g. the business line is over twice as expensive as the comparable residential line)?

Unlimited Fibre Office includes 24/7 support... might be of value, I assume Zen pay Openreach and/or BT Wholesale as appropriate to repair issues that Zen itself cannot resolve to make this an end to end 24/7 service, and service credits/SLA although the latter offers a £25 credit for issues which obviously isn't amazing since the premium to start with is huge but obviously does mean you do get something back (no different to other SLAs mind).

It is less clear to me what value may, or may not exist other than that or with the other package options.

bt critical care thats why the hike in price from the standard residential offerings

Edited by tommy45 (Thu 15-Dec-16 01:05:23)

In reply to a post by tommy45:

bt critical care thats why the hike in price from the standard residential offerings

Yes I'm familiar with the care options - but it isn't stated as such (well in the bit on the Zen site I read) which level of care is provided - they'd need it on both the Broadband AND the PSTN Line for the circuit to get to that point - I didn't check if the line rental is required to make it possible for them to do this.

Well the critical care offered by other ISP's is 1 hour response and 4 hour fix time - with access required 24/7 at the EU. I've had an Engineer fixing my line at 3am in the past.

Not really sure if there is another level to that outside of leased line territory.

In reply to a post by 23Prince:

Well the critical care offered by other ISP's is 1 hour response and 4 hour fix time - with access required 24/7 at the EU. I've had an Engineer fixing my line at 3am in the past.

Not really sure if there is another level to that outside of leased line territory.

I think you're missing my point. As I say I fully understand the various care levels available. I'm querying/questioning what you get in practice.

Zen claims 24/7 technical support
It offers a credit of £25 if fix time exceeds 12 hours

It is not clear:

(a) If they actually pay the various bits of BT plc for enhanced care (they could offer 24/7 support by answering the phone, and accept occasionally without paying BT plc more that once in a while when the fault isn't on Zen's side, they'll pay out £25).

(b) If they do pay BT plc more, if they get the enhanced level of care for both Broadband and Phone Line faults (because BOTH are required to get the complete level of care from BT plc) - and if a customer does not take a Zen phone line rental agreement as part of it - which seems to be possible) if the customer is advised of the reduced level of care if so, unless the customer pays whoever is providing line rental for the same care level.

It's not at all clear and I didn't spot anything on a very quick skim of the main terms/conditions either - although certainly I haven't read it thoroughly.

Well they wouldn't get the service from BTOpenreach if they didn't or wouldn't want to pay for what they charge.

Of course they won't be paying BT more than they charge you - they would be out of business of that was common practice.Stands to reason Zen would advise of reduced cover and advise the new provider does it - Spent years at an ISP having my ear bent over phone faults with other providers, people thought because their ADSL was with that ISP then it was also our job to sort the rest out.

BT recently enhanced the fix time anyway - but also after the 12 hours Zen can and I am sure do claim the £35 per 24 hour compensation that BTO pay.

In reply to a post by 23Prince:

Well they wouldn't get the service from BTOpenreach if they didn't or wouldn't want to pay for what they charge.

Of course they won't be paying BT more than they charge you - they would be out of business of that was common practice.Stands to reason Zen would advise of reduced cover and advise the new provider does it - Spent years at an ISP having my ear bent over phone faults with other providers, people thought because their ADSL was with that ISP then it was also our job to sort the rest out.

BT recently enhanced the fix time anyway - but also after the 12 hours Zen can and I am sure do claim the £35 per 24 hour compensation that BTO pay.

Sorry, you're still talking at cross purposes.

ZEN are saying they provide 24/7 Technical Support. Not 24/7 fix. They have said that if it takes them longer than 12 hours to fix a line they'll give you a £25 credit.

This is NOT the same as them saying you can have it fixed on a 24/7 basis. For example, Plusnet offers Business customers 24/7 technical support, but it is not all inclusive and does not include line fixes - and even doesn't include fixing all types of issues that might be reported.

It is also not as simple as you make out that Zen must be paying BT for this service - there's absolutely nothing to say they do that I could see, as there are 4 care levels for example on the PSTN, it could be on ANY of those 4 levels. If the customer chooses not to use Zen for the line rental, unless that customer has had the line provider (eg the company paying Openreach for the WLR3 service), provide a suitable enhanced care a fault that takes out the PSTN line will NOT be something Zen could get fixed.

Equally, as there is both an enhanced care available for the WLR3 (eg the copper pair, PSTN line) *AND* another enhanced care for the broadband part (that Zen may or may not be able to use since it will sometimes not use the BT Wholesale service), a further complexity and difference may exist.

It is entirely possible that Zen might choose (as could any other provider) to offer a service that includes a compensatory element (eg the £25 credit) if they can't get you sorted in 12 hours but without needing or choosing to pay for enhanced care levels upstream. For the simple reason, it is likely commercially cheaper for them NOT to do so. Whether they do so or not in practice is a different matter, and which care level they do or do not use for each component is not clear.

For example, care level 3 offers clear by end of same day if reported by 12:59, or 12:29 the next day if reported after that.

Care level 2 offers response within 4 working hours (not all hours!), and clear by end of next working day.

Critical Care offers a 6 hour fix on a 24/7/365 basis.

...but Openreach exclude all manner of events - and it is not clear from the Zen stuff I've read what they do or do not include - for example if a major flood takes out service, Openreach will declare an MBORC and will not compensate... does Zen??

There are many questions not answered and I merely am trying to answer the OPs question but suggest a level of caution in taking the words as printed.

I suggest if the OP wants to pick the website wording apart they ring Zen and do it wth them.

I've told you how it works, even if Zen have chosen not to publish that - But clearly that's not being accepted so I will bid you and the OP good day.

Thanks for your feedback - yes, I remember reading elsewhere in this forum that the 'critical care' isn't really worth much (i.e. the brain reads that and thinks 'SLA for everything involved in the broadband service' but of course it is far from that).

So it sounds like 'Unlimited Fibre 2' would be a sensible option - I bet the regrade will start another 12 month lockin period even though I've been on rolling month contract for a few some years now